Arkansas Food & Farm | Summer Issue 2018

Summer Harvest 2018 | arkansasfoodandfarm.com

JESS WILKINS,

THE FUNGI

FARMER

LOCAL FESTIVAL

GROWS THEIR ROOTS

plus!

FIND FIND

ARKANSAS ARKANSAS GROWN GROWN

PRODUCTS PRODUCTS HERE HERE IT'S EASY TO SPOT THE DIFFERENCE. IT'S EASY TO SPOT THE DIFFERENCE.

IN SEASON ...

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Strawberries Strawberries Cantaloupes Cantaloupes Cucumbers Cucumbers Tomatoes Tomatoes Corn BeerCorn & Wine Beer Wine And&more!

And more!

Just about every Just about item every grocery

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CHANGE IS HOME-GROWN

Heifer USA works with small-scale farmers and farmer-owned cooperatives in Arkansas to revolutionize the way people produce, sell and eat their food. With increased access to technical support and reliable markets, these farmers are using sustainably produced, local food to provide for their families and ignite change. Come see for yourself at Heifer Ranch in Perryville!

L E A R N M O R E AT W W W. H E I F E R . O R G / R A N C H O R 8 5 5 . 3 4 3 . 4 3 3 7

Summer Harvest 2018

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LIVIN’ IT UP IN THE NORTHWEST Fayetteville Roots Festival

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RARE FUNGI Upstart Little Rock Mushroom Grower Making Waves

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FIGHTING WORLD HUNGER Heifer Village Educates and Fortifies Since 1971

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SUNSHINE IN A BOTTLE Scott Farmer Offers a Healthy Arkansas Grown Oil

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A TASTE OF SUMMER Arkansas’s Version of Fruit Candy

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HERE COMES THE CORN Esau Family Farm

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KEEPING BEES Lake in the Willows Apiary

ON T H E COV E R :

Chad Esau holds partially-shucked ears of Triple Sweet Corn, the variety grown by Esau Farms.

Photography by Katie Childs.

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ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

arkansasfoodandfarm.com KATHERINE DANIELS Publisher katherine@arktimes.com

townsendspice.com 870-368-3688

LACEY THACKER Editor lacey@arktimes.com

725 EAST MAIN ST. MELBOURNE, AR 72556

MANDY KEENER Creative Director mandy@arktimes.com PHYLLIS A. BRITTON Sales Director phyllis@arktimes.com ASHLEY GILL BROOKE WALLACE LEE MAJOR LESA THOMAS KIMBERLY BENNETT TRACI BERRY Account Executives WELDON WILSON Production Manager/Controller ROLAND R. GLADDEN Advertising Traffic Manager LARISSA GUDINO Advertising Coordinator JASON HO KATIE HASSELL MIKE SPAIN Graphic Designers KATIE HASSELL Social Media

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Is your agricult in the event of a PROMOTING AGRICULTURE SINCE 1939 Ag Comp is an af policy for workp Join us today! farms, agricu agcouncil.net/join Learn @AgCouncilofAR facebook.com/AgCouncilofArkansas

THE AG COUNCIL ofARKANSAS

@ A R Fo o d Fa r m ALAN LEVERITT President alan@arktimes.com Arkansas Times Limited Partnership 201 E. MARKHAM ST., SUITE 200 LITTLE ROCK, AR 72201 501-375-2985 All Contents © 2018 Arkansas Food & Farm

THE AG COUNCIL ofARKANSAS PROMOTING AGRICULTURE SINCE 1939

We are committed to telling the story of row crop agriculture in Arkansas. We advocate for farmers and agricultural businesses to ensure the continued success of our great state.

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Is your agricultural business adequately protected in the event of a workplace injury? It is with Ag Comp!

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PERMIT ME A BIT OF HERESY

Alan Leveritt with one of his non GMO Goldie heirloom tomatoes.

Alan Leveritt President, Arkansas Food & Farm Arkansas Times Limited Partnership

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16 | Arkansas Wild ¸ WINTER 2015

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ETHAN LEVERITT PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIKE WINTROATH, ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION

“F

eed the soil not the plant” is the bedrock my small farm is founded upon. I’ve found regular additions of composted leaves, grass and manure into my 27, 150-foot raised beds will remedy all kinds of sins when it comes to growing heirloom tomatoes, which is one of our specialties at India Blue Farm. That focus on feeding the soil has led me to employ a number of other organic farming practices, though I will occasionally use chemicals in an emergency. You can think of me as Episcopalian rather than a Catholic when it comes to organic doctrine.

A pillar of the faith among the sustainable farming movement is a total rejection of genetically modified organisms or GMOs. These are plants and even fish that have had their genes altered to resist diseases, add herbicide resistance or even, in the case of some soybeans, to increase the level of oleic acid that can lower bad cholesterol. The most common vegetables that have been genetically modified are soybeans, corn and squash.

There is something visceral about our dislike of GMOs. They are completely banned within the European Union. We fear GMOs because we fear that corporations like Monsanto will control the seed supply and that they may somehow be unhealthy.

I can’t speak to the economic arguments, but while the sinister narrative of mutant GMOs affecting our health is appealing emotionally, it flies in the face of science. I am aware of one small study in Europe that indicated the possibility of some ill health effects of GMO corn. But that study is contradicted by every other major study on the health effects of consuming GMO products. When it comes to the science, there is absolutely no rationale to ban or fear GMOs. As someone politically on the left, I view with disdain the rejection of science on the part of climate change deniers. Scientists are nearly unanimous in pointing to human causes behind climate change, yet many on the right still reject the clear evidence. They try to discredit the science because they don’t like the facts.

Either one believes in science or one doesn’t. If we allow organic farm philosophy or unrestrained capitalism to become our religion, then science is impotent. The GMO-hating liberals and the climate-denying right-wingers are pretty much sharing the same boat.

“Facts are stubborn things,” wrote President John Adams. Those of us in the sustainable farming movement need to hold ourselves to the same standards that we hold others.

Photography by Rett Peek.

ARKANSASWILD.COM | 17

THE SOUND OF SUMMER

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Lacey snags a photo with the stars of the 2017 Perryville Goat Festival.

very time I step outside, I’m greeted with what one friend calls “the sound of heat”—cicadas. It seems appropriate enough a sound to hear, now, when we’ve gotten so little rain the rocks at the bottom of the creek are clearly visible and the cattle is flocking to the shade of the pasture.

This issue just so happens to taste like summer—the ripe juiciness of a peach, the sweet texture of honey and the biting crunch of grilled sweet corn. You’ll also learn more about Heifer International’s Little Rock headquarters and their work in the state and around the country, as well as the Fayetteville Roots Festival. And, meet Jess Wilkins, a Little Rock mushroom farmer.

Grab the Summer issue of Arkansas Food & Farm, pour an iced tea and take a few minutes to remember all the glory summer has to offer.

Lacey Thacker Editor lacey@arktimes.com

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COME FOR THE ART.

STAY FOR DINNER.

Johnston Foster (American), BuzzKill, 2017. Mixed Media.

Chef Matthew McClure | James Beard Award Semifinalist 200 NE A Street Bentonville, Arkansas 479.286.6575 | TheHiveBentonville.com #thisis21c

Located at

BENTONVILLE

SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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LIVIN’ IT UP IN THE NORTHWEST FAYETTEVILLE ROOTS FESTIVAL

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very hour of Fayetteville’s best kept secret is planned with “front end intention,” according to Jerrmy Gawthrop, the Fayetteville Roots Festival co-founder and co-producer. The festival’s infrastructure is built for maximum planning and minimal waste. Gawthrop, a chef, and his partner, Bryan Higbee, a musician, have been developing this successful enterprise since 2010.

More than 35 staff in production-level management and hundreds of volunteers will pull off this year’s five-day music, food and live arts festival in Fayetteville and Bentonville. For months now, farmers have planned their harvest partially on the Festival’s massive need for meats and vegetables. Chefs have planned their Ozark-based menus, and musicians have set their playlists. Local and area businesses have contributed funds and resources, and festival organizers have collected solar energy for pre-loading into the grid. All of this is done with a spirit of doing what is best for all the participants and guests in a sustainable and mindful manner.

“We want to use what is best for [farmers] to donate or sell to us and doesn’t hurt their margins,” says Gawthrop, so Roots’ organizers develop “serious relationships” with the farmers. Planning started last winter when they approached their Farmers of the Festival, a consistent 10

ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

group of area farmers. The pig farmers, for instance, are approached over the winter, so farmers have enough time to raise and slaughter the pigs according to the festival’s needs. With this planning, the chefs are fully supplied and farmers do not completely deplete their stock a month before the Festival.

Festival organizers also work with Fayetteville’s and, as of this year, Bentonville’s farmers markets to manage and arrange for the substantial vegetable needs for the festival. “We will need, say, one hundred pounds of tomatoes and every cucumber they have,” says Gawthrop. They buy from the farmers everything they have an abundance of during August’s bounty. Last year, they spent $13,000. This year, they will spend twice that and will invest as much as $20,000 into local farms.

The Festival’s mindfulness extends beyond connections with farmers. As a 501C3 organization, the Festival acts as a culture company and shifts business to several other partnering non-profit organizations including Tricycle and Brightwater. These partnerships make it possible for the Festival to offer multiple opportunities for people to participate in free and low-cost programming, offered in addition to the higher-ticket music and food venues.

The Festival’s green team aids with sustainability efforts,

PHOTOGRAPHY: MEREDITH MASHBURN

By Jennifer Atkins-Gordeeva

Above, left to right: Chef Rob Nelson of Tusk & Trotter American Brasserie (left) and Chef Digby Stridiron (right). Trying delicious food is one of the perks of a ticket to the Roots Festival. Prosciutto on sourdough and a gorgeous heirloom tomato dish are only a couple of dishes visitors were able to sample last year. Below: Blind Boy Paxton strikes up a tune on the fiddle. Nick Offerman plays the ukulele while he sings.

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Left to right: Chef Pecko Zantilaveevan, Executive Chef at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City prepares a dish. Chef Justus Moll and Chef Darwin Beyer of Meiji Japanese Cuisine take a moment from a food demonstration to say hello to the camera.

which include volunteers who hand sort waste at events, manage food recovery and perform on-site composting—all with the hope of zero waste. “In the end,” says Gawthrop, “we’ll even be able to measure the methane that we offset.”

In 2016, two guest chefs were brought in and five were brought in last year. This year, fifteen “local star” and nationally-known chefs, including Edward Lee and Crescent Dragonwagon, will join the festival and drive the menu. Gawthrop tells chefs he wants to see “[them] on a plate, but with Ozark ingredients” from around northwest Arkansas.

Early in the season, chefs received inventory lists heavy with local vegetables and meats and prepared their menus, expecting to prepare 500-700 portions for festival participants. Chefs will arrive at the festival and will appear at tasting tables and at varying venues throughout the festival, including master classes, workshops and multi-course dinners. Festival organizers have created the infrastructure to make this as easy as possible for the farmers, the chefs and all the participants. And as Gawthrop says, “Every little nuance is very mindful.”

Festival participants can choose among several dining venues featuring the bounty of the Ozarks and with a few exceptions, all dining will occur near live music performed by a wide selection of talented artists. This year, organizers have added a five-day culinary pass which allows participants to choose five events, or “slices.” On Wednesday night, the festival is kicked off at Fayetteville’s The Hive with a multicourse sit down meal followed by paired tastings and musical performances at The Record. Another event, on Thursday, is the Grand Tasting, which includes every guest chef. There, guests can sample mostly local foods from each tasting station paired with offerings from local breweries. On Friday and Saturday, the public may enjoy a low-cost masterclass series at Brightwater, northwest Arkansas’s culinary school, and events at local libraries. During Sunday’s final event, families can gather at Tricycle Farms for a grand ice cream social while listening to a ten-piece jazz and funk ensemble.

Culinary passes and a full lineup of music and dining events are available at www.therootsfest.org.

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DID YOU

DID YOU

Can you grow a little extra this year?

The Arka Arkansa sustaina at no cos with you donation banks an front line in Arkan

In 2016, more than 2 million pounds of gleaned produce went to Arkansas food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens.

KNOW

KNOW

Gleaning is the age-old practice of gathering produce left in the fields after harvest to feed the poor.

Growers of all sizes are needed in the Arkansas Gleaning Project.

Call 501-399-9999 to learn how your farm can give back to your neighbors in need.

Learn more about gleaning at arhungeralliance.org

Learn ho In 2016, more than 2 million pounds of gleaned produce went to Arkansas food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens.

DID YOU

KNOW

Can you grow a little extra this year?

Gleaning is the age-old practice of gathering produce left in the fields after harvest to feed the poor.

Growers of all sizes are needed in the Arkansas Gleaning Project.

Call 501-399-9999 to learn how your farm can give back to your neighbors in need.

DID YOU

KNOW

1 in 4 Arkansas children go to bed hungry

The Arkansas Beef Project provides food insecure Arkansas kids, seniors, and families with a sustainable source of protein at no cost. The beef purchased with your tax-deductible donations will go to food banks and pantries on the front lines of hunger relief in Arkansas.

Learn more about gleaning at arhungeralliance.org

Learn how you can lend support at arhungeralliance.org

SAVE the DATE August 22-26 | Fayetteville Join visitors from over 25 other states for some of the summer’s best music and food highlighting the best of life in the “cultural hot spot” of Northwest Arkansas.

Tickets can be purchased at therootsfest.org.

SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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RARE FUNGI

UPSTART LITTLE ROCK MUSHROOM GROWER MAKING WAVES

BY DWAIN HEBDA PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATIE CHILDS

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Jess Wilkins and his dog, Ralph, take a break from inspecting the crop.

T

here are a lot of unexpected things awaiting the visitor at Wye Mountain Mushroom Farm, nestled in the shadow of Pinnacle Mountain.

First of all, it’s not a farm in the stereotypical sense of the word, nor does the operation consist of dank and dark spaces. The tasty fungi here are lovingly coaxed forth in a well-lit, temperature- and humidity-controlled space inside a nondescript building roughly the size of a garage. It’s more laboratory than cave in the woods.

Founder Jess Wilkins is himself a bit of a revelation. A self-taught mushroom farmer, he got into the business of growing ’shrooms armed with little more than a tinkerer’s natural technical aptitude and an insatiable curiosity.

“Once I started learning and found out there were all these mushroom varieties that I had not even heard of, it was just fascinating to me,” he said. “I thought, cool, maybe I can try to raise some.”

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Clockwise from left: Jess holds bags of mushrooms ready to be sold. He grows a variety of rare mushrooms, including chestnut, maitake and blue oyster. Using the spawn, a term that applies to all species, Jess makes the “substrate bags” in which the mushrooms actually grow.

Wilkins' fascination with the crop started about eight years ago and resulted in a very crude setup in his apartment that scarcely yielded five pounds of finished product. Still, it was more than he could eat, and his girlfriend at the time mentioned it to the chef at a local restaurant where she worked.

“He said, ‘Yeah, bring them by. I’ll buy ’em,’” Wilkins remembers. “I sold him what I had for 50 bucks or whatever it was. But that planted the seed that, you know, maybe there’s a market here.”

Wilkins’ hunch was correct, but it took a while for him to refine his knowledge and production process to meet a commercial demand with regular and consistent produce.

“It was a lot of Google, mushroom forums and Facebook pages,” he said with a laugh. “A lot of growers are pretty protective about their techniques, so you can’t just go on there and expect someone to hold your hand.”

“There’s so much information and if you just ask, ‘How do I do this,’ good luck finding someone who’s just going to feed you information. So, I was mostly just reading, reading and studying.”

Once he got over those hurdles, however, his exotic gourmet mushrooms caught the attention of local chefs and these restaurants quickly formed a bedrock clientele for his operation. Today, he also sells his stock out of a booth at the Hillcrest Farmers Market.

Mushroom farming is as much an art as a science, a weird dance of living beings emerging from the decay of its host food source. Imagine walking in the woods and seeing mushrooms; they’re growing on a tree or out of other nutrient-rich substrate.

The mushrooms we eat are actually a very small part of the overall organism and can be compared to the bloom on a flowering plant. Traditionally, wild mushrooms were prized and expensive due to the fact that nature is very inefficient at producing mushrooms in quantity, as too many variables exist that can prevent the edible part from forming at all.

Wilkins’ operation, while largely of his own construction, is far less random than Mother

Nature’s, and he’s constantly refining his process to improve the vitality and yield of his product in the most efficient way possible.

“The way the mushroom cycle goes, its starts with a spore,” he said. “I start from a germinated spore that’s growing—the mycelium. And so that basically has a momentum to it already.”

Wilkins innoculates bagfuls of sawdust supplemented with other grain matter with mushroom spawn which he grows separately in bags of sterilized grain. Once tiny mushrooms called primoidia appear, what growers call “pinning”, the bags are moved to the fruiting chamber where the edible parts of the fungi grow and mature under tightly controlled conditions.

Part of Wilkins’ success is his mastery at producing gourmet varieties that local chefs crave, including delicate blue and king oysters, chestnuts, the outof-this-world lion’s mane and others.

“There’s so much shitake already out there. I like growing the ones you can’t get [as easily],” he said.

“Maitake, which is one of my favorite cultures, is one I’m most proud of. They are extremely difficult to grow.

I have never even seen or harvested a wild maitake.

Yet I was able to clone it and so technically it’s my culture that I grow now.”

Timing is everything to keep 150 to 200 pounds of product rolling out the door every week, as each variety runs through its life cycle at its own pace.

Unchecked fluctuations in temperature or humidity can quickly wipe out a crop, but Wilkins takes everything in stride even as he walks the line between a bountiful crop and disaster.

Wilkins' excitement for raising mushrooms is infectious; he happily takes the visitor through every step of the process, sharing the finer points of his journey from hobbyist to entrepreneur. Every element of the farm is his own design, what he proudly considers part of the learning process that’s more or less constant and ongoing. The commercial success, which is growing steadily, runs a nice second to the thrill of discovery.

“I’ve got some cultures I haven’t even grown out yet,” he said, beaming. “It’s always exciting growing something new.”

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FIGHTING WORLD HUNGER HEIFER VILLAGE EDUCATES AND FORTIFIES SINCE 1971

alking onto the Heifer Village campus in the shadow of Little Rock’s Clinton Presidential Center is like entering another world. A beautiful glass and steel building—home to Heifer International—soars skyward, a sleek big sister to the low-slung Village building next door.

Inside Heifer Village, people take their lunch in the cafe or browse the internationallysourced items in the gift shop. All year long, at virtually any time of the day, children are everywhere. Wide-eyed and curious, they delight in the Village’s interactive displays depicting life in foreign lands, bringing the world just a little bit closer to their door.

“We have thousands of kids that come through every year and do programming or come with their families,” said Ellen Brown, campus operations manager. “That really focuses on trying to plant the seed of one, helping them realize that different people live in different ways in different parts of the world. But also, [it shows them] that they can be part of changing a life or helping a family that is suffering in poverty.”

“We have kids whose classrooms or for their birthday will raise money for Heifer and come and donate it because they’ve learned what an impact that can really have for a family.”

There’s a strange duality to Heifer International. On the one hand, it’s one of the mostrecognized and well-respected charities on earth, directly or indirectly impacting 2.1 million families at home and abroad in 2017 alone. Heifer has had a presence in Arkansas since 1971 and been a fixture in downtown Little Rock since 2006, open to all who wish to walk the grounds, have lunch or get involved.

On the other hand, even long-time Arkansans probably have little clue how extensive the downtown campus is. Behind the platinum LEED-certified skyscraper and just down a path from the Village lie greenhouses and pens of livestock all meant to illustrate the 18

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PHOTOGRAPHY: HEIFER INTERNATIONAL

W

By Dwain Hebda

A field full of healthy soybean plants. Soybeans are used in many everyday items you might not normally consider—including seat cushions in vehicles.

Clockwise from top: An employee at Heifer Ranch explains the process of keeping and caring for pasture-raised pigs. Alpacas are just one of the animals raised and donated to families in need across the world. The Heifer International headquarters in downtown Little Rock is a platinum LEED-certified building that uses 52 percent less energy than comparably sized buildings. Facing page: An employee of Heifer International checks the health of plants that will be sold through the CSA program.

stock and trade of the organization, which is to foster selfsustaining communities throughout the world in the most environmentally-sensitive manner possible.

“Heifer’s mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth,” Brown said.

“We’re working all over the world to ensure that people have not just food to eat, but that they become self-reliant so that they can take care of themselves, that they can support themselves.”

Brown emphasizes that working to help a family support themselves in a way that also allows the family to maintain or regain their dignity is an integral part of Heifer’s mission.

The expansiveness of the organization is matched only by the audaciously simple premise of its founder,

Dan West, an Indiana farmer. A relief worker during the Spanish Civil War, he handed out cups of powdered milk to war refugees, and seeing the same faces day after day inspired him to, in his words, “Give them a cow, not a cup.”

Three years later West’s organization Heifers for Relief did just that, shipping 17 heifers to Puerto Rico. Five years after that, the first U.S. project distributed dairy cattle to 25 families in Cotton Plant and Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

As the organization grew its mission, the need for space for managing the animals led Heifer in 1971 to purchase 1,200 acres of farmland in Perry County. There, a livestock center called Heifer Ranch was established to breed, raise and hold animals for shipment, the inventory of which quickly expanded to include goats, chickens and pigs. The group relocated its headquarters to Arkansas SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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Heifer International owns 1200 acres in Perryville, where the organization raises animals and grows produce.

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CHECK OUT THESE FARMERS MARKETS shortly thereafter, a move solidified with the completion of the downtown campus.

“We made a very conscious decision to stay here in Arkansas and here in Little Rock,” Brown said. “Since the 1970s, it definitely has come up, you know, should we move. But we love being here and we want to stay here. It does work for us and we have so many roots here; it also gives us an opportunity to bring other people here to Arkansas.”

Sprinkled in among the thousands of visitors are hundreds of Heifer International employees, both locally based and those visiting the headquarters from the group’s many international locations. Brown said unlike the early days when much of operations had to be done from afar, the group has employed a model of maintaining a presence in the global areas where it serves families.

But as the world is a very big place, the lion’s share of the work in growing and managing the organization’s mission locally springs from the beneficiary families themselves, of which Heifer has directly served 32 million worldwide since 1944.

“One of our cornerstones is passing on the gift,” Brown said. “With every family that we work with, we hold them accountable to pass on their first female livestock offspring to somebody else in the community, as well as all the education and training they received.”

“It’s really wonderful because that project partner becomes a donor with Heifer and socially, they become a trainer in the community. They’re helping to lift another family out of poverty which is really an amazing thing for our families to be able to participate in. They love to do it. It benefits the families and it also increases the reach of the work that we do many, many times over.”

“I think that’s borne out of hope and vision for a better life and future for themselves and their community and their families,” Brown explains.

DOWNTOWN FAYETTEVILLE SQUARE Saturdays April - November, 7AM-2PM Thursdays & Tuesdays April - October, 7AM-1PM Winter Market (indoors) at Ozark Natural Foods.

Saturdays -December -March 9AM-1PM.

fayettevillefarmersmarket.org

SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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in a Bottle SCOTT FARMER PRODUCES ARKANSAS-GROWN OIL

By Deborah Horn Photography by Katie Childs & James Wayne

I

t’s like sunshine caught in a bottle, and its nutty taste bursts in the mouth.

It’s non GMO, drought tolerant and cold-pressed, chocked full of Vitamin E and healthy fats. Sunflower oil has been the oil of choice in Europe for centuries.

James Wayne has grown sunflowers for the last three years on a few acres near Interstate 40 between Little Rock and Lonoke in the Delta’s rich, dark dirt in which plants thrive.

Although sunflowers are often associated with the northern tier of states like the Dakotas, Wayne says, “I knew sunflowers would grow well here.” The plant species is native to America and was important to the continent’s pre-European populations. Later, the Spanish took the seeds back to Europe and Russians were the first to hybridize the plant.

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PH OTOGR A PH Y BY DEBO R A H H O R N

Geek Eats' flavors go beyond the ordinary. From carrot curry to chipotle, there is a hummus to suit every preference.

James Wayne grows NuSun sunflowers, a variety that has a good balance of fats and produces a quality oil.

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Wayne in his 4,000 square foot sunflower seed oil production facility.

It gained importance as a row crop in the mid-1950s in North Dakota and Minnesota. While it’s popular as a summer garden ornamental and for its ability to attract honeybees, Wayne may be the only farmer in Arkansas growing the giant flower as a crop.

He usually drops the black seeds into the ground in mid-May, with a harvest date of late August. However, this spring’s cooler temperatures and heavier- and laterthan-usual rains prevented him from planting his crop, so he’s relying on last year’s seed harvest for this year’s sunflower oil production.

saturated fat levels, and it supplies more Vitamin E than any other vegetable oil.

After harvesting the sunflowers, Wayne cold presses the seeds into oil, selling his products, Virgin Sunflower Oil and Rejuvenate Bath & Body Oil, through local venues and online. Like others, Wayne hopes the local food scene is expanding beyond vine-ripened tomatoes to using Arkansas grown foods to produce secondgeneration products like Geek Eats’ hummus or his oils.

At this point, Wayne admits, “It’s a niche market,” but he hopes it will grow.

FROM SEED TO OIL While not organic, Wayne doesn’t spray his flowers with pesticides. “So far, I don’t have to deal with bugs or moths [that feast on sunflowers],” like those found in the northern areas of the country, he says.

There are more than 70 sunflower varieties, but only three types are used in oil production, including: High Oleic, Linoleic, or Mid-Oleic. Wayne grows NuSun, a midoleic variety, because, he says, the seeds have an excellent balance of “essential unsaturated fat.” According to the National Sunflower Association, the oil combines monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats with low

IT’S ALL OLD-SCHOOL Wayne has storage room for 10,000 bushels of seeds.

His processing operation is compact with the entire setup—from separating the seed from the shell, extracting the oil, filtering the liquid through a cold press to bottling and labeling—done in a 4,000 square foot facility. There’s also room for his office. Unlike some sunflower oils that are processed with heat, Wayne prefers the cold-press method—nearly identical to cold-pressed coffee—because it retains its nutritional value, he says.

Production runs at about a gallon-and-a-half per hour and is done on-demand, that way the cooking or body oil is

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Wayne Plantation sunflower seed oil is Arkansas grown.

Find Recipes & More at ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

DIY SUNFLOWER CONDIMENTS FROM SUNFLOWER SEED OIL SUNFLOWER OIL MAYONNAISE 1 cup sunflower oil 1 whole egg 1 egg yolk 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon whey protein 1 teaspoon mustard powder Pinch of salt and garlic Blend until creamy and refrigerate.

FOR A SUMMER SALAD OR CHICKEN MARINADE 1/2 cup sunflower oil 3 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoon raw local honey 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon sea salt and pepper Mix together and enjoy.

Founded just one year ago in 2017, Robertson Smokehouse, nestled in the quiet town of Warren, Arkansas, has already made a name for itself– and it’s not hard to see how. Visitors from all over the state travel to this BBQ destination to try their smoked meats and made-from-scratch sides. “Arkansas Capital looked past the statistics and believed in our vision,” says owner Cody Robertson. “We are grateful they gave us the opportunity to follow our dreams.”

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A R C A P I TA L . C O M SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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guaranteed fresh. He supplies a number of Central Arkansas restaurants and stores, including The Green Corner Store and Drug Emporium, both in Little Rock, and Barnhill Orchards Market in Lonoke.

“I have a good internet following and loyal customers from as far away as New York,” he adds.

A HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE Ekko Barnhill is a distributor and loyal customer, who says, “I love Wayne’s Sunflower Oil.” She describes its flavor as light with a slightly nutty flavor and great for salad dressings, and adds, “It’s excellent for cooking and sautéing…It has a higher flashpoint than olive oil, meaning you can use it to stir fry and not worry about scorching the oil.”

Wayne says he infuses sunflower oil with herbs like rosemary, basil and thyme. The infused oils, he says, also make a great chicken marinade, and Wayne suggests people try it in pesto for a lighter taste. Wayne often refers to his oil as a “bio-fuel,” and in addition to a food-grade product, the darker, It takes a huge amount of sunflower seeds to create each bottle of leftover oil is used to run his “older, fuel injection oil. The oil is produced in Scott, and even the bottles are labeled diesel” farm equipment. The solid material that is extruded is turned into dog treats and animal in-house. feed. “Nothing is wasted,” he explains.

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GETTING BACK TO HIS ROOTS Wayne is actually James Wayne IV and grew up across the road from his sunflower fields. Four Wayne family generations have farmed this land since 1889.

Instead of remaining on the farm, Wayne left in the early 1970s and was successful in a number of financial, food and beverage, and sales businesses before returning about 10 years ago. All the while, Wayne and his father, James Wayne III, had a running conversation about farming and how it was changing. For example, prior to Wayne’s birth, the family produced most of what it needed, including beef, milk, pork, tobacco, sugar cane, vegetables and seeds and manure for next season’s crops. Except for flour and petroleum products, Wayne says, “They were basically self-sufficient.”

The seeds of sunflowers’ potential were planted in Wayne’s mind long ago. It was his mother’s, Edwarda Wayne, favorite flower and his father, who was a farmer and sometimes stained-glass artist, completed a sunflower pane in the early1980s. It hangs above Wayne’s desk today.

“Something kept calling me back. I missed the farm…Looking out over the crops and watching the seasons change,” he remembers. More than just a desire grow sunflowers, he says, “It’s a God thing.”

Still, he says there’s nothing easy about farming. So why do it? “I’m driven to,” and then he adds, “I love farming.”

ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

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A TASTE OF SUMMER ARKANSAS’S VERSION OF FRUIT CANDY

PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD LEDBETTER

By Richard Ledbetter

Notice the "prop" stick in place to support limbs overburdened with ripe Elberta peaches.

I

spent a good deal of my formative years on my grandparents’ farm, where Mamma had an Elberta peach tree in her yard. The sensation of eating unpeeled fruit right from the tree was like taking a little bite of heaven.

So when I decided to take up gentleman farming in 2008, I planted the requisite fruit trees standard for early Arkansas pioneers: apple, pear, fig and peach. The first of those I sought out was a Kim Elberta. Ten years later, that tree produces a nice batch of annual fruit that is just as delicious as my cherished memories.

To know when a peach is ripe, first take a sniff. It should smell sweetly fragrant. Also, a ripe peach shouldn’t be too firm to the touch. Varying peach varieties come to maturity at different times. The Kim Elberta is medium sized, red skinned with yellow streaking, reaching perfection in early June with a flavor that’s just as good fresh or canned.

Fordyce native and well-known tree-expert Roy Johnson said, “The fruit is normally borne on new growth. Pruning your trees in the fall will promote new branches. Fruit trees need sunshine up to six hours a day. Without it, the limbs 28

ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

will reach out searching for light and become so long and spindly they won’t support the weight of the fruit.” Peaches grow fast. When they double in size, they double in weight.

To counteract branches becoming so overburdened that they snap off, I select and cut small elm saplings that are the proper length with a handy fork in one end to prop up and protect the drooping boughs from damage.

Johnson also mentioned, “Old folks used to think you needed to cultivate near the roots to aerate the tree once a year. You don’t think about oxygen to plants, but I guarantee it’s as important as water.”

Most fruit trees have been grafted, but one can also weigh down a low hanging, fruit producing limb to the soil with a rock or brick. It’ll sprout roots where it touches the earth. After a year, cut that limb off, pull up the new roots and replant it to as a whole other tree.

“I came upon an old log smoke house,” Johnson shared, “out in the middle of the woods that was mostly rotted down. I found some peach preserves that had been there fifty-years. They were still good and delicious. A big part of keeping that long was being stored at a constant

temperature. Insulated logs under a spreading oak made all the difference across half-a-century.”

Johnson emphasized that, because everybody’s stove is different, one must keep an eye on in-progress canning. Otherwise, over cooking can cause the sugar mixture to turn to candy. Johnson mixes fruit and sugar by equal weights, not portions. Generally, one cup of fruit will weigh the same as half a cup of sugar.

Johnson grinned as he concluded, “You know you’ve done it right when you hear the lids snap down.”

Above: The three simple ingredients for canning: Fruit, sugar and heat.

Below: The finished product in jars. Don't forget to label your canned goods with date and contents.

EASY PEACH PRESERVES 1) First pick, peel and slice fruit into a proper size cooking pot.

2) Proportion two to one fruit to sugar. I mixed half crystallized sugar with half confectioner’s sugar just for fun.

3) Cook at medium temperature until it comes to a gentle boil and remove from heat.

4) Wash and dry canning jars and lids beforehand. Place jars in shallow boiling water to sterilize and warm to approximately the same temperature as contents before filling.

5) Spoon in preserves and wipe clean the jar rims before setting metal lids in place. Finger-tighten the lid rims and set aside to cool.

LET US HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PERFECT TOOL BOX 4310 Landers Road North Little Rock, AR 72117 (501) 687-1331 www.krebsbrothers.com M-F 8-5 Sat. 9-5 OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

ESAU FAMILY FARM

BY LACEY THACKER PHOTOGRAPHY KATIE CHILDS

SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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Tall rows of corn wait to be harvested. Facing page: An employee in the corn shed works to fill bags with exactly 62 ears of corn.

C

had Esau was just 13 years old when his family moved from south Louisiana to Dumas, Arkansas. His parents had been raising peaches, but after watching them freeze for five consecutive winters, decided it was time to make a new start. Dumas offered everything they were looking for. The farming community had good land they could afford and solid irrigation was in place. The area also had a young Mennonite community with no pastor, and Chad’s father, Chester, happened to be a Mennonite pastor willing to relocate to pastor a young congregation.

After moving to the area, the small family found 20 acres to rent on which to grow produce for farmers markets. It was their experience at farmers markets that led them to realize there was a demand for good corn. “That’s why corn, I guess—there was a demand for it,” Chad says. Sweet corn is the corn we wait for all year long, and if you live in Arkansas, it’s quite possible you wait for Esau Corn specifically.

“My dad has always had an interest in growing produce for people,” Chad says, explaining that in addition to peaches, the family also had a blackberry patch in Louisiana prior to coming to Arkansas. Today, though Chad says his father is technically semi-retired, Chester still gets to the fields at 4 a.m. during harvest season—from around June 20th to the third week of July, a job he much prefers to the stressors of day-today operations. By the time the crew arrives at about 5 a.m., to begin loading corn to be sorting and bagging corn to be loaded into customers’ vehicles, “He’s 32

ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

already got a couple of loads ready,” Chad says. For that roughly one-month period, Esau employs between 20 and 22 temporary workers to help in the corn shed.

Every year during the harvest, the Dumas Chamber of Commerce puts on a special supper featuring Esau’s sweet corn, provided by Esau ready-to-boil for this special occasion. Adults eat for $10, children for $5, and toddlers eat for free. The menu features corn on the cob, corn nuggets, fried chicken, salad and tomatoes.

Though there is certainly a commercial demand for Esau’s excellent produce, Chad acknowledges that selling commercially comes with its own set of problems, including being subject to market fluctuations. For that reason, they sell primarily to consumers. “The fresh market is just more steady. If you provide a good product, the people will come,” he says.

SWEET, SWEET CORN Esau Sweet Corn’s chosen variety is the Triple Sweet, which is non-GMO and consistently produces a crop to write home about—in fact, the ears are larger than many store-bought ears. But that’s not the only thing that makes Esau Corn so tasty. The growers only pick the corn when it is at peak ripeness, ensuring that each bag consumers receive is at its peak. In fact, their product is so popular, most customers place their order a few days or weeks ahead of when they’d like to pick it up to guarantee they can get all they want. A small selection of grocery stores around the state also order bags of corn to resell.

"If you provide a good product, the people will come.”

—Chad Esau SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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Workers in the corn shed help bag corn, load it into customers’ vehicles and assist customers as they shop the small selection of produce and added-value goods available from the shed.

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ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

Orders can be picked up at the farm stand, where jellies, honey and a small selection of vegetables grown by Chad’s wife, Sherry, and his mother, Carol, are available. Chad’s aunt, Joyce, often works the farm stand, where her friendly telephone demeanor is appreciated by callers and visitors. “Lots of people come to the window here and ask, ‘Are you Joyce?’ They want to know who Aunt Joyce is,” he says with a laugh.

Chad’s brother, Weston, grows watermelons and cantaloupes nearby, which are also available at the farm stand. His children, ranging in ages from 17 to 4 years old, also work on the farm, as do his nieces. It’s truly a family effort.

About that corn Corn was first domesticated around 10,000 years ago from a wild grass that didn’t much resemble the corn we eat today.

It became an important crop for Native Americans, and colonists also came to rely on it once they arrived in the New World.

Flint, or “Indian” corn has a hard outer shell and comes in a range of colors.

Field, or “dent,” corn, is most commonly grown to be ground into livestock feed.

And of course, sweet corn, our favorite, which can be eaten in a variety of ways: Raw. Grilled.

Boiled. Steamed. Sautéed. Corn fritters. Corn Soufflé. Corn chowder. Cornbread. Popcorn.

The list of goodness goes on.

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KEEPING BEES

LAKE IN THE WILLOWS APIARY

By Lacey Thacker

Above, below: Desmond Simmons holds up a frame recently pulled from a hive. Bees, seen here in an observation hive, work diligently to keep their home clean.

CARING FOR BEES Today, the Simmons have between 70 and 75 hives, depending on the year. They have placed several hives on local farms at the owners’ request, and they recently purchased an additional twelve acres where they live in Scott on which to put additional hives.

Beginning beekeeping isn’t necessarily complicated, but it does require commitment and a certain level of observation. “Spring takes a little management to make sure they’re not swarming, and honey takes a little time to gather in summer,” Desmond says, but otherwise it’s a matter of maintaining the area through basic yard care like weed eating and ensuring that there is a water source consistently available, particularly in summer.

Joyce, a retired manager of quality standards in manufacturing, says, “Beekeeping is easy for me because that’s what I’ve been trained to do all those years. Of course, Desmond’s always telling me ‘Bees don’t follow a schedule— or the weather.’” Desmond, a retired member of the Air 36

ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

PHOTOS COURTESY LAKE IN THE WILLOWS APIARY

“I

t was a surprise to me,” Joyce Simmons says of her husbands’ embrace of beekeeping. Desmond Simmons points out that it was a surprise to him, too. But, when an acquaintance gave Desmond a tour of his own beekeeping operation, Desmond says he knew immediately that it was a hobby he wanted to pursue.

And a good thing, too, because Joyce already knew it was something she wanted to delve into. “We started in 2010 with two hives we purchased for our garden and allergies,” Joyce says, stating that she likes knowing where her food comes from. She’s always enjoyed gardening, but she wasn’t getting the results she wanted in her yard. She thought bees might be the answer. Once they took in their first crop of honey, she began consuming a teaspoon of honey or two a day, and after about a year, she was able to discontinue her seasonal allergy medications.

After a couple years, word got out, and the Simmons began getting calls from people asking if they’d come remove bees from their home using a “bee vacuum” that sucks up the bees without harming them, allowing them to be safely relocated.

Suddenly, their number of hives began to grow.

Raw honey is the cornerstone of all items offered for sale by Lake in the Willows Apiary.

“Excellent handcrafted foods and baked items”

“YOU JUST FALL IN LOVE WITH THEM.” —JOYCE SIMMONS

Force, currently works as a flight simulator technician training pilots. He says of raising bees that getting stung is “just part of it,” but points out that it’s not that bad and doesn’t even happen as often as one might think. When harvesting honey or inspecting frames, the bees will usually just ignore him “if you don’t pester them.”

It’s normal for beekeepers to lose 10-15% of their bees every year, and the Simmons are no different. They must constantly combat colony collapse, mites and new diseases, but they say colony collapse is getting better because of more purposeful insecticide management. In fact, the University of Arkansas, along with many other institutions on the state and national level, is doing research to further improve rates of colony collapse in the United States.

EDUCATING OTHERS The Simmons call their current variety a Razorback bee, as it’s a combination of wild bees and domestic Italian bees they’ve purchased in the past. They often take an observation hive full of these bees to local schools, state parks and even the Historic Arkansas Museum. They also manage hives at Toltec Mounds State Park and regularly host programs at the Ozark Folk Center.

Because bees provide such a valuable service—pollinating two thirds of our crops—the Simmons are committed to raising awareness about the fascinating creatures. Plus, “They’re so organized and so hygienic, you just fall in love with them,” Joyce says.

“I love to see the kids come through there,” she says of their educational programs. “You tell the kids about bees, and the next year, they’re telling you about them!”

Bees certainly make honey, but it’s not just useful for sweetening our food.

Joyce makes everything from lip balm and candles to lotion and salves. Her specialty, though, is creamed honey in a variety of flavors—lemon, matcha, ginger and even turmeric.

It’s because of that love of bees that, “We’re very diligent about using everything the bees make, and if we can’t use it we give it back to the bees,” Joyce explains. Honey or comb that isn’t used can be returned to the bees for use in storing for the winter.

For more information on the care and keeping of bees, contact the Central Arkansas Beekeepers Association.

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SUMMER HARVEST 2018 | ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM

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Fireflies in the Garden

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies, And here on earth come emulating flies, That though they never equal stars in size, (And they were never really stars at heart) Achieve at times a very star-like start.

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part. —Robert Frost

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ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | SUMMER HARVEST 2018

Helping Arkansans Meet Federal Regulations for Produce Safety

GROWERS

HARVESTERS

PACKERS

HOLDERS

Do Produce Safety Rules Apply To Me?

key requirements AGRICULTURAL WATER Public Water Ground Water Surface Water Supply Supply

Does your farm grow, harvest, pack or hold produce? Sections 112.1 and 112.3(c) We define “produce” in section 112.3(c)

YOUR FARM N IS NOT COVERED

BY THE RULE.

Y

DOMESTIC & WILD ANIMALS

Does your farm on average (in the previous three years) have $25k or less in annual produce sales? Section 112.4(a)

BIOLOGICAL SOIL AMENDMENTS & SPROUTS N

WORKER TRAINING HEALTH & HYGIENE

GROWER EQUIPMENT TRAINING TOOLS & BUILDINGS

Dr. Amanda Philyaw Perez Outreach Program Director

(501) 671-2228 | aperez@uaex.edu

Josh Hardin Program Associate (501) 671-2388 jhardin@uaex.edu

N

Is your produce for personal/ on-farm consumption? Section 12.2(a)(2) N

Outreach Team Angela Gardner Program Associate (501) 671-2180 agardner@uaex.edu

Inspection Team

Is your produce one of the commodities that FDA has identified as rarely consumed raw? Section 112.2(a)(1)

N

Is your produce intended for commercial processing that adequately reduces pathogens (for example, commercial processing with a “kill step”)? Section 112.2(b) Does your farm on average (in the previous three years) have <$500k annual food sales AND a majority of the food (by value) sold directly to “qualified end-users”? Section 112.2(b) N YOU ARE COVERED BY THIS RULE.

YOUR FARM Y IS NOT COVERED

BY THE RULE. THIS PRODUCT Y IS NOT COVERED

BY THIS RULE. THIS PRODUCT Y IS NOT COVERED

BY THIS RULE. THIS PRODUCT IS ELIGIBLE FOR EXEMPTION FROM THE RULE, Y

provided you make certain statements in documents accompanying the produce, obtain certain written assurances, and keep certain documentation, as per sections 112.2(b)(2) through (b)(6).

Y

YOUR FARM IS

ELIGIBLE FOR A QUALIFIED EXEMPTION TO THIS RULE, which means you must

comply with certain modified requirements and keep certain documentation, as per sections 112.6 and 112.7

Scott Bray, Inspection Program Director scott.bray@agriculture.arkansas.gov

John Lansdale, Inspection Program Manager john.lansdale@agriculture.arkansas.gov

Tammy Winsor, State Inspector

tammy.winsor@agriculture.arkansas.gov Arkansas Agriculture Department: (501) 225-1598

www.uaex.edu/arkansas-produce-safety The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

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