Gary: The climate would generally be considered 'very mild'.   There are short extremes -- Winter/Spring of 2007 had ice storms and late freezes.   Exactly where we live is a higher elevation and we don't have the severe summer storms (tornados), but sometimes we are more dry than we would like.

We moved here from the high desert of Wyoming where it was Dry and winter one day or Dry and Winter the next day.  We hoped summer would come on Saturday when we had the day off. 

True snow days were few.  Schools did close frequently, but the main roads were seldom  if ever closed.

Mary -- With the introduction of hybrids, volunteers get lost by the wayside.  Thank goodness for heirlooms.   They are a serious topic in our area and the source of a dandy business started by the owner while still in High School

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds    This is becoming a destination point for the area.

I hope the small pieces give someone a view of the potential area they are considering for a home.  The Ozarks has become attractive as a place to move because of the perception the cost of living is low.  Some of the change in costs is connected to the climate which allows for different utilities, small family food production and fewer commercial entertainment opportunities which made sneak attacks on the family economy. 

When my kids were in rural school at a lumber camp, one night the teacher ran a film about solar power.  I just hadn't thought about it.  But after being told that enough power goes by every day to meet all the earth's energy needs, I was immediately converted!

In Missouri, we have fewer bright days, but my little solar powered fairy lights along the sidewalk always manage to get some charge, even on a rainy day.  The original ones were electric and temperamental.  Solar is a different shade of light, but no juice required. 

The vine is growing more and more every day!   There are some little pumpkins, but on the vine tips which are also working their way out through the slats in the pallet.  I think the babies are touching the wood as the vine moves which messes them up.  Last year, I picked a vine up with little pumpkins to move it out of the way of the mower.  They shriveled almost immediately.

The green take over continues.   The set of pumpkins growing at the trellis are accepting training so they can be climbing up the trellis.  The vine had tendrils, which when they begin to curl are easy to wrap around the trellis bars, then back on themselves.  They are really quite strong. This little pumpkin was born on the fence and the two top boards will support it if we don't bump it.  Moving them usually results in having them shrivel and rot.  I have this particular vine wrapped above the pumpkin so it won't move around.  There is more at Legacy Gardens,

These topics are all things that can make good dinner table topics for extra education of our children outside the classroom.  Gives them a chance to see their parents know a few things too.  A recent visit to our yard by a speckled king snake (a good one) has intrigued our 6 yr old grandson and become part of his conversations other places.  This wasn't a dinner table encounter, but rather I mailed him some pictures.   This sort of homeschooling is something I wish we had done more.  It seemed like we did cover political science and economics pretty well, but we could have done more.  My kids used to be late for school because we got to talking and forgot the time.