Front Porch Magazine - Spring 2018

SPRING 2018

From Ranch to Restaurant Arkansas ranchers explore local meat processing, direct sales to consumers

IN THIS ISSUE

Farm Bureau Matters

Randy Veach | Page 3

Helping Farmers, Helping You Warren Carter | Page 5

Porch Front

Custom(er) and Farmer Friendly Gregg Patterson | Page 6

2017 Arkansas Farm Family of the Year Maddison Stewart | Page 14

Member Services Update Autumn Wood | Page 28

In The Kitchen

Keith Sutton | Page 32

Delta Child

Talya Tate Boerner | Page 36

ON THE COVER Cover design by Bryan Pistole Circle photos by Keith Sutton and Maddison Stewart

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Farm Bureau Matters

by Randy Veach | President, Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

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have been in place for years, some dating back to the 1950s. All pparently on the table for discussion by the Arkansas these variables are why the work of the Arkansas Tax Reform and Tax Reform and Relief Legislative Task Force are all Relief Legislative Task Force carries a heavy responsibility. tax exemptions currently utilized by businesses in We believe agricultural sales tax exemptions provide Arkansas. The exemptions that apply to our state’s farmers and essential support for the entities they serve through increased ranchers, exemptions that are applied to items ranging from purchasing power for businesses, individuals and non-profit bailing twine and baby chicks to diesel fuel and the seed and fertilizer used in crop production, are among the most critical organizations. As such, they are an important economic tool that keeps Arkansas business competitive. Most Arkansas sales and incentives available to our state’s largest industry, agriculture. use tax exemptions, particularly those that support agriculture, While we have had ongoing discussions with members of have been vetted many times. These exemptions are good public the task force, and other members of the legislature, it is with a policy and bring a measure of both stability and profitability cautious eye that Arkansas Farm Bureau tracks this debate. It is to our state’s agricultural sector. Agriculture, in turn, provides no exaggeration to say that if these tax exemptions are removed, stability to Arkansas’ economy, especially in rural areas. the impact to Arkansas farms and ranches could be devastating.

Sales tax exemptions are an important component Our industry is already subject to the quirks of Mother Nature toward overall farm profitability. The and tariff decisions by foreign governments exemptions utilized for agricultural that affect trade opportunities for our Arkansas Farm Bureau products and input items keeps our farm products. Already facing thin policy is very clear: state’s ag industry competitive with profit margins, removing these sales tax farmers and ranchers in other states, exemptions could cause many farms to go “'We vigorously oppose globally, and on-par with other out of business. any attempt to remove whose raw materials and Arkansas Farm Bureau policy is sales tax exemptions on industries inputs are also tax exempt. very clear: “'We vigorously oppose any It is essential that the tax treatment for attempt to remove sales tax exemptions on agricultural production agricultural production input items and input items and support agriculture be comparable and competitive with our surrounding states. We currently support inclusion of other agricultural inclusion of other sales leakage, particularly in our input items not currently exempt.” agricultural input items suffer border counties, as neighboring states offer Our state government benefits from certain exemptions that we do not, such the significant amount of taxes generated not currently exempt.” as machinery parts and repairs, fencing

by Arkansas’ agricultural activities, and materials, and other supplies used on farms. Staying competitive our national security is strengthened by an industry that with our border states on farm exemptions will aid in keeping this produces food, fiber and shelter for its citizens. retail business in-state.

The Arkansas Tax Reform and Relief Legislative Task Agricultural exemptions account for about 15 percent of Force was charged with four critical issues: Arkansas’ net farm income. The value of these exemptions • Modernize and simplify the Arkansas tax code; vary greatly by size of farm and type of operation; but, • Make tax laws competitive with other states to without these exemptions, costs to our farmers and attract business; • Create jobs; and ranchers would increase significantly.

• Ensure fairness to all individuals and entities affected Arkansas' agricultural sector represents 25 percent of our by the tax laws. gross state product, $21.4 billion in value added to the state Certainly, those are concepts that we all can support. But any and provides 264,215 jobs. Maintaining, and even expanding, evaluation of tax structure in our state must contemplate many the agricultural sales tax exemptions are vitally important to factors, including tax policies from neighbor states, past taxation preserving profitability and sustaining this state’s foundational decisions, other taxation rates that impact business costs, etc. industry. Because of the thorough review and evaluation being Some of our neighboring states collect no state income tax, others undertaken by the Arkansas Tax Reform and Relief Legislative no property tax, others significant tax exemptions for businesses Task Force, we believe it will see the importance of keeping input items. Some of the tax exemptions allowed for agriculture Arkansas’ agricultural exemptions in place.

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Porch Front

Official membership publication of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation mailed to more than 190,000 member-families.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Included in membership dues ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU OFFICERS:

President • Randy Veach, Manila Vice President • Rich Hillman, Carlisle Secretary/Treasurer • Joe Christian, Jonesboro Executive Vice President • Warren Carter, Little Rock DIRECTORS:

Jon Carroll, Moro Terry Dabbs, Stuttgart Sherry Felts, Joiner Mike Freeze, Little Rock Bruce Jackson, Lockesburg Tom Jones, Pottsville Terry Laster, Strong Jeremy Miller, Huntsville Gene Pharr, Lincoln Caleb Plyler, Hope Rusty Smith, Des Arc Joe Thrash, Houston Dan Wright, Waldron EX OFFICIO

Magen Allen, Bismarck Donna Bemis, Little Rock Adam Cloninger, Keo Mark Morgan, Clarksville Executive Editor • Steve Eddington Editor • Rob Anderson Contributing Writers • Ken Moore, Gregg Patterson, Maddison Stewart, Keith Sutton ADVERTISING

Contact David Brown at Publishing Concepts for advertising rates dbrown@pcipublishing.com (501) 221-9986 Fax (501) 225-3735 Front Porch (USPS 019-879) is published quarterly by the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation 10720 Kanis Rd., Little Rock, AR 72211 Periodicals Postage paid at Little Rock, AR POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rhonda Whitley at rhonda.whitley@arfb.com Front Porch • P.O. Box 31 • Little Rock, AR 72203 Please provide membership number Issue #106 Publisher assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation reserves the right to accept or reject all advertising requests.

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Helping Farmers, Helping You

by Warren Carter | Executive Vice President, Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

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Though it’s difficult to put an exact dollar value ll across the state, students and teachers are on these education efforts, we estimate that close to ready to wrap things up. Fom Kindergarten to $200,000 is spent on programs, workshops, materials college, the educators and educated are counting and youth organization support annually and the state the days until summer break arrives. (Trust me, I know. and county Farm Bureaus combine to spend around My wife is an elementary school teacher.) But this season $160,000 on scholarships each year. of endings is also a season of beginnings. For some In early April, we announced the 2018 Ag in the students, it’s time to think about careers and next steps, Classroom Teacher of the Year, which honors an while for others it’s time to think of summer jobs, camps Arkansas educator for “efforts and achievements in and new activities. For teachers, it’s time to consider teaching students the importance of agriculture.” This everything from professional development and summer year’s honoree, Angela Jones of Greenwood High School tutoring work to supplies and lesson plans for the next in Sebastian County, joins a growing list of outstanding school year. educators who are weaving lessons about agriculture into The formal process of education may pause, but their curricula and reminding emerging learning and teaching never stop. generations of the importance of We know this well at Arkansas The formal process of farming to our state and the world.

Farm Bureau, because education is education may pause, In fact, it was the announcement critical to what we do. In order to be but learning and of this Teacher of the Year honor that an effective “voice for agriculture,” we teaching never stop. inspired me to write this column. It must help lay the foundations for the reminded me that, as an organization, future of our state’s largest industry by Arkansas Farm Bureau is only one piece of a much larger helping to prepare and train its future leaders. And, just puzzle. While we dedicate staff, funds, supplies and as with students and teachers, summer is less a break for countless hours to educational efforts, we can do nothing our education efforts and more a time of transition, new alone. We are there to support and encourage the activities and preparation for future efforts. dedicated teachers and students in both our rural and For Arkansas Farm Bureau, summer and the days urban communities and it is they who do the hard work leading up to it mean awarding scholarships to college of preparing for the challenges and changes of the future. students across the state, hiring for summer internship The incredible pace of change in technology, business programs, attending important education conferences and culture means the agriculture industry is changing and preparing for and holding M*A*S*H (Medical rapidly as well. New skills and knowledge will be Applications of Science for Health) camps for high required to keep farms and ranches alive and thriving in school juniors and seniors interested in healthcare the coming years and that means we need more bright, careers. In addition, our Ag in the Classroom team will hard-working teachers like Angela Jones. We need spend time examining the teaching tools and equipment them to engage students and instill in them a deeper they use when traveling the state to visit classrooms, understanding and respect (or even love) for agriculture camps and special events. and we must continue to support them year-round.

The Ag in the Classroom program was created to As you may recall, we have launched the Arkansas promote awareness of the importance of agriculture Farm Bureau Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit for our communities, state and the world to students fundraising arm designed to “further the understanding in all grade levels. The program offers K-12 classroom of agriculture and rural issues,” through such things as materials, garden grants, educational programs and providing financial support for educational efforts. We teacher workshops, and the work of this program believe the Foundation will be critical to supporting continues even when school is not in session. Indeed, education and building the future of Arkansas the Ag in the Classroom team is currently scheduled agriculture and you can help. To find out more, I to conduct six educational workshops during the encourage you to visit www.arfb.com/pages/foundation. summer months.

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CUSTOM(ER) AND Selling custom meat directly to consumers is a growing trend with benefits for both shoppers and farmers

by Gregg Patterson

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Photo by Keith Sutton

Arkansas cattleman Brett Ausley’s herd near Bismarck.

FARMER FRIENDLY A

mericans like their meat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates on average each person will eat 222 pounds (primarily chicken, beef, pork and turkey) this year. That places the U.S. as a top 5 meatconsuming country. The government recommends we limit meat consumption to 5-6.5 ounces daily. Yet the USDA says Americans will consume an average of 10 ounces a day this year.

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Several factors are leading the resurgence of meat as a key source of protein. Price drops to the most popular meats, especially beef, are due to lower feed, fuel and other input costs. U.S. beef production has rebounded, too, through rebuilding herds in the aftermath of the extended drought that crippled cattle country during 2011-12. This resurgence in meat production combined with the “know-your-farmer,

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Kenny Simon points to cattle on his land near Saltillo. know-your-food� movement also helped the locally driven custom meat market.

The custom meat market is mostly supplied by smaller livestock growers selling quarters, halves or whole cattle and hogs to individual buyers or small groups of people going in together to pay for butchering and buying meat straight from the farm.

Small poultry growers also sell dressed chickens and turkeys direct to consumers using this business model.

The customer gets to know the farmer, and satisfied customers become loyal repeat buyers, providing stability to farmers.

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Photo by Keith Sutton

Kenny Simon (facebook.com/SimonBeef) is one of these farmers. The 40-year-old is a third-generation family farmer who operates Simon Farms in the gently rolling hill country near Saltillo, a tiny farming community in Faulkner County. The farm has been in his family since 1936. His dad is still active on the farm and two brothers help when needed. Simon earned an agriculture business degree at Arkansas Tech and then one in general agriculture at the University of Arkansas. He’s an Extension agent focusing on forage management for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Simon is a pastureland

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preacher and recites the 300-days-of-grazing sermon he and his Extension apostles are spreading ranch by ranch throughout the state.

“It’s a series of management steps that producers can implement to extend their number of grazing days,” he says, a congregation of his cattle milling on new, brightgreen spring grass in the field below. His 120 acres of pastureland is a living testament to the program’s success. “The more days we can keep the cattle grazing and let the cattle harvest the forage for us, the less our expenses are.”

It was the pressing accumulation of those input expenses and lack of more pasture acreage that drove Simon to seek a different business model to raise his cattle. He remembered the last time he ever went to the sale barn to sell his calves. It was 2012, in the midst of a severe two-year drought.

“We hit it on a bad day. The market dropped,” he recalls. “We wound up going home shorthanded and feeling like we’d left some money on the table.” He remembers thinking “there’s got to be a better way.”

He decided to ditch the traditional cow-calf operation he’d been following, as well as begin implementing the 300-day grazing system. He would now keep the calves longer and raise them to 1,200 pounds Instead of selling them at 700 pounds under the old traditional sale barn cow-calf model, he’d skip the sale barn and sell the bigger calves as custom beef direct to individual consumers.

“We’d done that already with ourselves,” Simon said. “The family would raise a calf, feed it, process it and split the cost. We’d done it all our lives.”

A year after abandoning the traditional cow-calf model, Simon was selling beef to The Root Café restaurant in Little Rock. His friend Tom Riley, who also was raising custom beef, introduced him to The Root Café co-owner/operator Jack Sundell. The Root Café prides itself on sourcing as much locally raised food as possible. It’s part of the restaurant’s vibe, and customers expect that freshness and the feel-good knowledge that they’re supporting local farmers.

Simon Farms provides 120-150 pounds of beef weekly for the restaurant.

Sundell is pleased with the product. “Our mission is ‘building community through local food,’ so local food is really at the core of everything we do,” he says. “When we think about our menu, we start with the food that’s available, first, and then we figure out what we can make with it to put on our menu. When we find a great beef producer like Simon Farms, obviously that leads right into having a great burger. We also serve meatloaf in the evenings now. Those things are possible because of the great beef supply we get from Simon Farms.”

Sundell says the locally sourced meat and other local farm products that are so endemic to the Root Café’s menu are what his customers expect. “Our customers who have been eating here since we opened, that’s what they look forward to. It’s clear that local foods is not just a trend that is going away anytime soon,” he says. “Local foods is a concept that’s gained a lot more recognition over the last 10 years. We have seen that grow in a measurable way just in the number of farms that are available to us and have products to offer to The Root. You can also see it in the number of

Cattle feeding on the Simon ranch.

Photo by Keith Sutton

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Photo by Keith Sutton Photo by Keith Sutton

Brett Ausley’s prized bull on his ranch near Bismarck.

Brett Ausley shows off some prime cuts of his waygu beef.

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farmers markets across the state, which has tripled since 2010. There are obvious ways local foods are appealing to people. They want to find sources of local foods that they can use at home. But then, obviously, people want to find local foods that are available in a retail restaurant setting. They have the same values when they go out to eat as they do at home.”

Sundell also purchases custom-meat chickens and pork from Grassroots Co-op (grassrootscoop. com) in Marshall and pork from Rabbit Ridge Farm (rabbitridgefarm.com) in Bee Branch. He also points to the economic benefits of working with local farmers and that money staying in the state. “That money cycles through the Arkansas economy time and time again. It’s a win-win for everybody,” he says. “We focus on local foods, because we know that it makes a difference in the freshness and flavor.” This emphasis on locally sourced ingredients creates a unique marketing factor for the restaurant compared to other eateries when competing for customer loyalty.

Rancher Brett Ausley also decided to create a unique marketing factor to attract buyers willing to pay for a premium for his custom beef (facebook.com/ ausleyfamilypremiumbeef). The Bismarck farmer has been crossing Black Angus, the most popular cattle breed in the U.S., with wagyu bulls since 2014. Wagyu refers to several cattle breeds, primarily from Japan that are bred for the dense marbling of fat within the meat tissue that chefs prize for the rich flavor it provides when properly cooked. His family has been involved in custom beef production for more than 30 years. His grandfather broached him on getting involved with wagyu beef after reading a magazine article about the breed.

“We saw the opportunity with the wagyu to increase our product quality dramatically,” Ausley explains. He also saw it as a breakaway opportunity to differentiate his product from the rest of the custom beef producers in the state. “We’re just trying to take it to the next level and not only be all natural, homegrown, antibioticfree with no added hormones but also add to that the wagyu beef brings with its higher mono-unsaturated fat content versus saturated fats.” Ausley is bullish on the value-added side of his wagyu-Angus custom beef market. “A lot of feed yards are willing to pay a premium for wagyu cattle.”

Chefs and the consuming public are also willing to pay more for wagyu quality, along with its other benefits. Ausley says working with restaurants is a priority. The key is finding restaurants that have the clientele willing to pay for wagyu. “You’re not going to sell a wagyu burger for $7 or $8. It’s going

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Photo by Maddison Stewart

A look inside the processing plant at Cypress Valley Meat Company. to be cost prohibitive and not profitable. So we’ve had to find some chefs who understand the product well enough to market it successfully in their restaurant.” Ausley says the restaurant he supplies in Hot Springs Village, the Beehive Neighborhood Hangout, recently told him that the wagyu sliders are its top seller and the wagyu sirloin skewers are #4 on the list. “I was excited to hear that. It means our product is doing something right that other product choices can’t match.”

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For a custom meat market to even exist, there has to be a reliable processing plant to cut and package the meat. Cypress Valley Meat Company in Pottsville is that place. It’s not what comes to mind when you picture a slaughterhouse. It’s a 12,000-square-foot facility where one side is the actual processing facility and the other is a crisp, clean, well-lit café. You can order food to go or sit down to a plate lunch or a homemade sandwich and bag of chips. Before you leave, you can look over a long open refrigerated case that runs the length of a wall and

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Photos by Maddison Stewart

Cypress Valley Meat Company owner Andy Shaw (top) sits near rows of packaged meat (bottom) in the café and store on his company’s property. choose supper from the offerings of hams, steaks, roasts, ribs, chops, sausages, breakfast meats, hamburger and organ meats.

“We wanted a place where customers dropping off animals could come in and get a sandwich and something to drink before they headed back to their farms,” says owner Andy Shaw. Cypress Valley Meat Co. is the only fulltime USDA inspected processing facility in a 65-mile radius. That USDA designation is critical to livestock producers like Simon and Ausley. Both have their beef cattle processed there. All meat going to a restaurant must be USDA certified. Sundell of The Root Café says he’s constantly talking with the folks at Cypress Valley Meat Co., making sure he gets the custom cuts of meat he needs.

The processing side of the facility has butchering activity throughout, yet is clean and receives regular inspections

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from the USDA. These inspectors allow custom meat producers like Simon and Ausley to legally sell their product into the public marketplace. The USDA inspection label lets people know the meat, poultry and egg products are “safe and wholesome.”

Shaw says he really started to see a shift in the public’s desire for custom meat purchased directly from the farmer around 2012. “That local farm movement of people wanting to know their farmer, see how their meat was being raised and where their meat was coming from really took off. We help the farmer get their product to market. We’re a strategic partner with them. We help them know their market, add value to their product, and we have a facility that allows the public to come here, too. We know that we’re successful because of the success of the farmers.”

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Farm F

2017 ARKANSAS

The Alston family standing next to the official Century Farm sign at Holly Springs Homestead, their farm and agritourism business in Polk County.

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Family OF THE

Year

by Maddison Stewart Photos by Keith Sutton

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The open-air produce market at Holly Springs Homestead.

W

hat are four words to describe the 2017 Arkansas Farm Family of the Year?

Humble, hardworking and faith driven.

Okay, that’s technically four words, but the last two are essential.

“The reason this family is here, is we turned it all over to God,” Luke said during his acceptance speech at the 2017 Arkansas Farm Family of the Year luncheon.

Luke and Deedee Alston, along with their sons Ryan and Drey, started their journey to becoming the 2017 Arkansas Farm Family of the Year when they were named the Polk County Farm Family of the Year in April of 2017. The Alstons, who own Holly Springs Homestead, were then named the Farm Family of the Year for the state’s western district, and finally on Dec. 7, 2017, Mark Morgan, the 2016 Farm Family of the Year winner, took the stage at the award luncheon and made the following statement:

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“The 2017 Arkansas Farm Family of the Year is, from Polk County, Luke and Deedee Alston!”

In such an exciting moment, however, Luke’s mind wasn’t fixed on himself; he was humbled by thinking of the seven other farm families who were in the running for the same honor.

“My first emotion was disbelief that we had actually been chosen with so many other farms just as deserving,” Luke explained. “My second emotion was pride for my family’s hard work being recognized.”

Luke recalled how Deedee was overcome with emotion that day, “She takes so much pride in our family and our work, it just moved her to tears to have won.”

Luke and Deedee are proud to be called the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year, not only for themselves, but for the ones who came before them, and the ones that will come after them.

“We feel this not only recognizes our present

family but gives credit to our past family and their generational contributions to agriculture,” Luke said. “At the same time, this award lays a path for our sons and shows them that faith and hard work will always pay off, even in a career that many are leaving.”

The Alston family is sharing their love for agriculture through their farm, Holly Springs Homestead, which is the headquarters for their family business. They describe Holly Springs Homestead as a place where tradition, an entrepreneurial spirit and a love for their roots is available for all to see.

“Both Luke and I were fortunate to grow up with parents and grandparents who believed in hard worked and self-sustainability,” explained Deedee, who is a fourth-generation farmer. “It is our goal to pass along the old traditions and retain the wonderful and simple ways of life back in the olden days.”

The Alstons – (L to R) Ryan, Deedee, Luke and Drey – on the front porch at Holly Springs Homestead.

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Some of the family entertainment available for visitors to Holly Springs Homestead.

But old traditions and the simple life doesn’t mean there are no challenges for the farm family.

“Finding people to work is a challenge,” Luke said. "We want to invest in our folks, we attend training year-round and we offer that to whoever works for us. However, finding good hardworking, committed individuals continues to be a challenge.”

Another challenge for Luke and Deedee is educating and sharing their farming story with the public.

“We have to be a bigger voice and need to educate others,” Luke said. “Farmers are good, hard-working people and we’ve fallen behind in our message. That’s got to change quickly and it will take us all speaking up to stamp out the false messages being spread.”

However, the big challenges Luke and Deedee face do not stop them from continuing to reach their dreams. Luke said he believes “it’s an honor and privilege to be a land owner and we will keep farming and finding innovative ways to make our land produce and ensure sustainability for our sons.”

It took hard work and dedication to build the Alston's farm, but they did not get where they are without some help. They are a family who trusts

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God to get them where they need to go.

Before Luke and Deedee started to farm fulltime, they felt they “had it made” by the world’s standards. Luke was an insurance adjuster for 11 years and Deedee was the chief operations officer of a multi-clinic, multi-specialty health care organization for 13 years. Working in the corporate world, they had healthcare, retirement, paid vacation and secure futures.

However, the couple dreamed of having a larger impact on the world and their sons. So, three years ago they took “a leap of faith” and gave up their security to work on the farm full time. Luke and Deedee described leaving the high intensity jobs behind to farm as a great relief for their family: “This is what I was born to do, I was born to sit in a tractor seat and look over a green hood,” Luke said.

“Looking back three years later, we are so thankful that we trusted what we felt God laid out for us.”

The Alston’s kindness, discipline and strong faith in God exemplify what it means to be an Arkansas Farm Family. To learn more about them and their farm, visit www. hollyspringshomestead.com or visit or see their profile on the Arkansas Farm Bureau website at http://www.arfb.com/pages/get-involved/farm-family/.

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IN THE KITCHEN

Arkansas Favorites with Chef Jamie McAfee Story and photos by Keith Sutton

C

hef Jamie McAfee, executive chef and manager of the Pine Bluff Country Club, was introduced to the culinary arts by his father, Mac McAfee, the longtime chef at the Delta Country Club in McGehee.

“I grew up in Dad’s kitchen in the 1960s and ‘70s,” Jamie says. “My daily chores involved prepping foods for him — peeling shrimp, cutting up chicken and so forth. Then he would come in and do the cooking, and I’d help clean up. I had two options: work in the kitchen or work outside on the golf course. It didn’t take long to realize that in summer you wanted to be in the kitchen.”

Jamie was just 14 when his father let him start cooking hamburgers, corn dogs and other foods by the club pool. “That led to a lifelong love of cooking and a decision to follow my dad’s footsteps and make it my career,” he says. After graduating at the top of his class at the Memphis Culinary Academy in 1985, he became manager and chef at Delta Country Club, where he stayed until taking the Pine Bluff job in 2003.

Now a Certified Executive Chef and an instructor at Pulaski Tech’s Culinary Arts Institute in Little Rock (where he earned two culinary arts degrees), McAfee has received numerous honors, including being chosen Arkansas Chef of the Year three times and induction into the American Academy of Chefs, one of the highest honors bestowed by the American Culinary Federation. His son Jay, also a teacher at the institute, is the third generation to became a chef after learning to cook in the Delta Country Club kitchen.

“The friendliness of the people in Arkansas makes being a chef here very enjoyable,” Jamie says. “And we have so many delicious local commodities we can use in our cooking — everything from Arkansas rice and chicken to grass-fed beef and garden produce. We’re in the season now where we can get fresh Arkansas strawberries you bite into and get that wonderful sweet juice running down the edge of your mouth — not like the tasteless strawberries shipped in from other states. Tomatoes will be ready to pick soon, too, including pink tomatoes from Warren, which are

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Chef Jamie McAfee plates his dish in the kitchen at the Pine Bluff Country Club. among the best tomatoes in the world, and the many varieties of heirloom tomatoes from Arkansas that have become so popular in recent years.”

Chef McAfee is always ready and willing to explore the boundaries of culinary creativity, but when asked to share some recipes, he chose these easy-to-prepare favorites made with Arkansas-grown beef and rice.

Both are sure to draw rave reviews from your family and dinner.

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PAN-SEARED ARKANSAS RIBEYE • 1 large butcher-cut ribeye steak, 13/4 to 2 inches thick, (room temperature) • 2 teaspoons salt • 2 teaspoons black pepper • 1 teaspoon of your favorite steak seasoning • 1 tablespoon soft butter (room temperature) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season the steak with salt, pepper and/or your favorite seasoning. Heat a cast-iron skillet or griddle on the stove top for 10 minutes or until it is white hot. Sear one side of the steak in the skillet for 4 minutes, and flip. After flipping, place the skillet in the oven for 5-6 minutes. Top the steak with the butter and it’s ready to enjoy at medium rare.

Yield: 1-2 servings.

ARKANSAS AU GRATIN RICE • 1 cup chopped celery • 1 cup chopped green onions • 3 oz. butter • 8 cups cooked long-grain Arkansas rice (cold) • 5 cups heavy whipping cream (save 1 cup for the end) • 1 cup sliced almonds • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese • 2 oz. chopped parsley • 2-3 cups cooked protein (ground chicken, duck, beef, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat the butter in a skillet. Add the celery and green onions, and sauté until tender. Combine the sautéed vegetables with the remaining ingredients in a l arge bowl and mix well.Transfer to 2-3 large casserole dishes and pour equal portions of the remaining cream over each dish. Cover each dish loosely with aluminum foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. Yield: 15-20 servings.

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DELTA CHILD In Delta Child, author Talya Tate Boerner draws on her Mississippi County childhood to deliver readers back to a simpler time when screen doors slammed, kids tromped cotton, and Momma baked cornbread for supper every night. Boerner, a fourth-generation Arkansas farm girl, has been published in "Arkansas Review," "Deep South Magazine," and "Delta Crossroads." Her award-winning debut novel, "The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee," is also set in northeast Arkansas. Follow her blog "Grace Grits and Gardening" (www.gracegritsgarden.com) for more tales of Arkansas farming, gardening, and comfort food.

by Talya Tate Boerner

The Boys Who Climbed the Water Tower

I

once knew two boys who climbed the water tower just because it was there. Nothing happened to them. They didn't dive to their deaths or accidentally fall. The volunteer fire department wasn't summoned to rescue them. That wasn't the point of it. In the same way they climbed the impossibly tall steel ladder, their high-top Converse delivered them safely back to our delta soil.

No, I didn’t see it happen. To tell you the truth, I may be making the whole thing up. Even so, all these years later, the details are clear to me. How their shaggy hair blew in the wind.

How the town looked from up there, the house lights glowing beneath the cottonwood trees. How when they got home, they scrubbed and scrubbed their hands. Spray paint always leaves a stain on the nozzle-pressing finger.

The one thing I know for sure? Climbing the tower was exactly like something those boys would have done on a Sunday night in mid-April while most of our town attended church services. And, if they did it, they would have left their mark up there. Without evidence, bragging rights were nothing more than another tall tale.

In our town, we had plenty of those.

By Monday morning, the school hallways buzzed with news of it. During home economics class, our teacher asked, “Do you girls know who did it?” We had our suspicions but laughed and continued stitching together lopsided aprons no one would ever wear.

In study hall, my friends and I made a list of four potential suspects. Then lickety-split, we eliminated two of those names for reasons we promised never to disclose, cross our hearts and hope to die. It was far from rocket science. No one but

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a boy from the Class of 78 would write CLASS OF 78 on the water tower.

After cheerleading practice, some of us walked over and stared up at the beast-like thing simply to get a better look.

Way up high, a steel walkway and a mesh fence surrounded the tank. A dozen or so blackbirds sat in a tight row on the railing as though a meeting had been called to discuss the writing on their roost.

I can’t speak for the birds, but as for my friends and me, the water tower had always been part of us. We noticed it in the same way we watched the sun dip below flat fields at the end of the day. It was visible from the front schoolyard and the Experiment Station where test crops grew in straight rows. Every trip to the grocery store meant glancing at it, paying silent homage to divine water in much the same way we automatically put our hands to our hearts when we said the Pledge of Allegiance.

It was the crown of our town.

As with most things, the excitement soon died down.

The PTA parents found other things to fret over while eating coconut pie at the Yellow Jacket Café. Without realizing it, the water tower graffiti became part of our town, something we saw yet didn't much notice. Like our stop sign riddled with gunshot holes.

The message is no longer painted on the water tower. But for a long, long time, CLASS OF ’78 stayed up there, written above the trees. To my knowledge, those boys never admitted anything.

But they did it alright. During a time when life felt immortal and never-ending, those two boys somehow recognized their impermanence. And we seventh-grade girls secretly admired them for it.

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