Arkansas Neighbors

Now that the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm to School Month in October has come to a close, school districts throughout the United States still have an opportunity to participate. The program benefits the schools, nonprofit entities and the local farmer, rancher and/or grower. The grant provides assistance to eligible entities who want to implement farm-to-school programs to improve access to local food sources. The USDA awards up to $5 million in competitive grants annually for training, support, planning, equipment purchases, school gardens, partnerships and the implementation of farm to school programs.

Paul and Colleen Thornton together with their partners Carl and Sue Riccelli farm the acreage whose produce and product line are quickly becoming the hallmark of sustainable family farming, providing multiple products available from their website, at the Cherry Street Farmers Market in Tulsa, Okla., as well as the Farmers Market in Tahlequah, Okla., and via the Oklahoma Food Coop.

Today, most everybody is concerned about his or her health and the health of their family. Marvin and Linda Jones, owners of AJ Grass Fed Farms in West Fork, Ark., are concerned about the way they eat.

Seniors Clarence and La Joyce Duncan met at a church potluck in 2005 and built a home together before they married in 2007. For La Joyce the home was a fulfillment of a lifetime dream. She had always wanted a home on the family homestead and land which has been in their possession for 68 years. The couple has 220 acres on Heflin-Thomas Farm outside of West Fork, Ark., and runs a 56 head herd of Charolais with 26 mommas and one bull. Though some are registered and all could be, the couple feels that registration is an unnecessary expense for them at this time.

Ralph Moore, of Lincoln, Ark., has spent the better part of his adult life around Simmental cattle. And that's just how he wants it to be.

Donald and Dale Meek’s grandparents were the Lassiters and the Meek’s. They were ranchers and farmers in 1840. The grandfather on the Lassiter side was in the Civil War, when it was over he ran a cotton gin. Then in 1867 he became sheriff. However, they always had horses and cattle to make a living.

It keeps going.

The quality and success of any cattle operation depends on the animal science knowledge of the owner as much as it depends on the marketing of their beef program. The sales or services can vary through production/consignment sales or through a private treaty.

The story of Cedar Springs Stables is one of adventure and life with horses. Kathleen Gregory did not grow up on a farm or ever lived on a farm until she purchased Cedar Springs Stables. The story really began when her daughter, Kate Marie, was 8 years old. She began riding lessons at Diamond TR, and her son, John, wanted to learn to ride by age 7. Kathleen found herself wanting to groom the horses and then decided to take riding lessons. She found a certain peace when she was with the horses. She knew she wanted a place where she could have horses and quite by accident she found just that.