Arkansas woman embraces clean eating after head injury
HARRISBURG (AP) — For the past few years, Karon Henick, 62, and her husband, Keith, of Harrisburg, have foraged and preserved food, fresh off their land.
The couple grows a vast variety of fruits and vegetables such as blackberries, blueberries, tomatoes, corn, sassafras, garlic, cucumbers and potatoes. They preserve honey, sauces and jellies. They dehydrate various fruits with a black printer-sized dehydrator that takes hours in order to get the job done.
The freshness of her homemade salsa is evident. With just a few ingredients from her garden and some hard work, the vibrancy of flavors in each bite makes one envious.
"I wish I knew these things when I was young," Henick said about the way she and her husband grow their own food. "I would love to see a group of young women take an interest in foraging, preserving and getting cleaner (food) for their family."
Her faithful dog, Eli, stayed by her side.
"He's part Jack Russell, part I can't remember," she said with a chuckle.
Henick suffered a head injury about six years ago and has had trouble with memory ever since, the Jonesboro Sun reported.
She visited eye doctors, because she started seeing double. She saw ear doctors because she was losing her hearing in one ear.
"I just went to a whole bunch of doctors, and they told me I was getting old," Henick said. "I said, 'No. I could do these things last week, but this week I have a concussion, and I can't do any of them, now what's going on?"
Henick refused to accept the old age explanation these doctors gave her and became frustrated with their inability to find out what was actually wrong. She eventually found a holistic doctor in Clinton who fit her with something that looks like braces on her teeth, but is not. It is to try and move bone.
She sees the doctor once a month and said the treatment will last three years. She has taken the three-hour drive to Clinton in order to go through these treatments for the last year. There is a chance her memory will come back, according to Henick. She said it is worth a shot.
She has two female Angora rabbits, one white and one sand-colored, named Snow White and Cinderella, respectively. She removes the fur from each of these rabbits and gently spins them into yarn, with the use of a spinning wheel. With the soft fur, she makes scarves and does so without any dyes.
Henick is also an accomplished pianist. She played Twila Paris' piece, "What Did He Die For?" on her black, mirrorshined Yamaha Grand Upright piano. She said her husband bought it for her.
"It's a beautiful sound," Henick said about her piano. "I waited all my life for this, and I'm really thankful."