Jason and Joanna were married in 2003. Jason taught English as a second language for 20 yours. Joanna was a stay at home mom raising and homeschooling their 12 children. Jason and Joanna loved working with the international students and getting to know other cultures and customs. The international students loved coming over and experiencing an American home and meeting the children. In 2019, due to COVID and therefore a lack of international students, Jason lost his job at MU, in Columbia, MO. He also contracted a severe case of COVID that he has never fully recovered from. Jason had experience in construction having remodeled several homes over the years. So after losing his job at the University Of Missouri he took a large scale construction job. During that time he realized that due to his heart and lung problems left over from COVID he would not be able to work in construction long term. We had the opportunity to sell some rental property and buy some land. Jason has always loved botany and green growing things! We started looking for something with the opportunity to work close to the land and have our children work along side us and create businesses for themselves as they grow. 28 Acres with already established RV sites, and two homes in the Ouachita National Forest was just the thing! We could continue to hear the stories of travelers, share our home and family, and teach our children about the beautiful diversity of a world of cultures and peoples. The Ouachita Mountains also afforded a wonderful opportunity for our children to create businesses of their own and expand the diversity of what Edendell and the Ouachita Region has to offer to both locals and fun loving travelers. Edendell currently offers full hook up rv spots, tent camping, a guest house, kayak rentals, ATV rentals, and a growing botanical garden. Future plans include a lodge and event center, airsoft field, zip lines, and horseback riding.