If you have either been a student in northwest Arkansas schools or been a parent of a student, you are probably aware Apple Seeds for the past several years has been bringing students to their teaching farm on Old Wire Road in Fayetteville. The students will be among the peppers, basil and produce again after Labor Day.
In October, Apple Seeds will host an annual fundraiser evening at the farm, a seasonal farm-to-table dinner. It will include food from the teaching farm prepared by chefs like Matt Cooper from Conifer and Ryn.
It's been a while since we've taken you to Apple Seeds, located adjacent to Gulley Park, and Executive Director Mary Thompson agreed to show us around, starting in the pavilion looking east.
"We get to have a view into these two huge pecan trees," Thompson said. "We've got pear trees in the distance, apple trees, our pollinator garden and then our row crops. We grow thousands and thousands of pounds of food each year.
"Can we do a quick tour?" Kellams said.
"Yeah, let's do it." Thompson said.
"And we should point out that while you and I are walking today, it's fairly quiet back here. But that's not going to be the case in a short time," Kellams said.
"No, we are gearing up for all the kids from all over northwest Arkansas to come visit our farm," Thompson said. "But today we do have FoodCorps from all of Arkansas doing their training, getting ready for their school year too."
"Any idea how many schoolchildren you'll have during a school year?" Kellams said.
"Yes. This next school year, we anticipate 20,000 students, and that includes our central Arkansas location and northwest Arkansas — both 20,000," Thompson said.
"What can talking to 20,000 schoolchildren in Arkansas a year about agriculture and food and nutrition do?" Kellams said.
"It does a lot," Thompson said. "So Arkansas is first in the nation for food insecurity. We're also in the lowest tier for child health. So the kids that come out here get to experience the garden, become engaged with fresh produce where it comes from, and they get empowered by cooking skills so they know what to do with the fresh produce.
"And then all these thousands of pounds that we grow, we return back to the schools to give to food-insecure families. So once the kids have the desire to eat better produce, we want to provide access to it. Our hope is to change the community to be more nourished and to have healthier kids."
"You mentioned cooking skills," Kellams said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go to the kitchen later."
"Yes, but that's part of the mission. We want kids to have basic skills so when they think about cooking, they're thinking about kale chips and eggplant and all of these things that promote health. We want them to learn it here in kindergarten, first grade, second grade and gradually build that skill set." Thompson said.
"All right. We've got a greenhouse here to our left. Can we go to there?" Kellams said.
"Absolutely," Thompson said. "So we've got lots of basil and eggplant and peppers growing in here. This high tunnel lets us grow on either side of the frost date. So all through the school year we're able to grow lots and lots of produce."
Kellams: Oh, wow. You can tell there's basil in here. It smells wonderful, doesn't it?
Thompson: Yeah. And then just outside the door is the second high tunnel where we're expanding to pretty much triple our capacity in the winter.
Kellams: What kind of expertise, what kind of staff does it take to grow the basil and all the other thousands of pounds?
Thompson: We have an amazing team. We have a farm manager and then a coordinator that helps grow the food. And then lots and lots of volunteers come out to help us with the work.
Kellams: All right, so say I'm on a school field trip, and I'm standing here with a staff member from Apple Seeds. I'm looking at basil. I'm looking at what is to my right?
Thompson: Peppers!
Kellams: Oh, it's labeled, yes. All right. What might happen on a field trip?
Thompson: Every kid that comes out here, they learn about what makes a plant have the nutrition to grow healthy. They get to harvest food out of the garden. They learn what is needed for their bodies to be healthy and combine that to the plants. Then they get to learn how to cook a recipe in our kitchen. So it's nutrition education, garden education, harvesting and cooking.
Kellams: You mentioned FoodCorps is here. What are they learning today?
Thompson: FoodCorps is its own program across the whole nation. We have service members here in Arkansas, and they work with elementary schools to grow gardens and support nutrition education in the schools. They are here learning from our farmer about gardening, learning about what their school year has ahead of them. Each member spends one year in a school, so this is part of their orientation to get ready for the school year.
Kellams: What else can we tour here?
Thompson: Let's see what's growing. We've got marigolds and tomatoes over here. We are starting to grow food for our annual event in October, so we have a whole row of sweet potatoes and eggplants and pears. Lots of things that will be ready by October.
Kellams: Tell me more about that event.
Thompson: Yes, every year we have a big annual, one-of-a-kind farm-to-table event. This year we are featuring chef Matt Cooper from Conifer and Ryn, along with one of his executive chefs, Jacob Burrell. They will be cooking a farm-to-table dinner out here where guests dine under the stars. We'll have Bloom Cheese Collective doing appetizers from their collection of cheeses, signature cocktails, Spanish coffee from Sourcegas. It's a whole night of wonderful food.
Kellams: It's a fundraiser because two acres of field trips don't happen without help.
Thompson: It doesn't. It takes the community to make this happen. It has to be the community that wants it. This is one of the events that helps support it.
Kellams: I couldn't help but notice. I think I saw a red-tailed hawk just fly over us.
Thompson: Yes, we have two hawks that live right over here in the trees.
Kellams: Do you have to share produce with them? Or are they more interested in the field mice in Gulley Park?
Thompson: We grow everything organically. So part of the model is to share a little bit back with the bugs and the bunnies and the turtles and other creatures that visit us. But we grow so much that it really doesn't hinder the impact of what we can grow. The hawks prefer the mice, so they're helping us out.
Kellams: All right, so what are we walking toward here?
Thompson: This is our outdoor classroom. These are raised containers where the kids do their planting, where we grow the herbs. We even have some muscadine grapes over here, this big vine growing on the arbor.
Kellams: When you say this is where the kids plant, what do you mean?
Thompson: Every kid that comes out here has a hand in planting, harvesting, preparing food. These containers provide a really contained space for the kids to plant seeds. They're measuring with rulers. So we apply real-world math to the problems they're solving while they're out here. They can plant seeds and be as messy as they want, and it's all contained. They're raised up, so there's more accessibility to students of all ability types. This is the garden where the kids plant their seeds, and they may come back on Saturdays to check on how their crops are growing.
Kellams: That's what I was going to ask. Some field trips are just one and done, but it sounds like maybe you see some of these field trip students again.
Thompson: Yes. Our curriculum is built for kids to be on a continuum each year of elementary school. So we have a program that builds on itself year after year. But after the kids do come out for a field trip, we're open on Saturdays and some kids come back and check on their crops and see how they're doing.
Kellams: Well, can we go look at the kitchen?
Thompson: Yes, absolutely.
Kellams: This is like a legit commercial-type kitchen.
Thompson: It is a commercial kitchen, yet built to feel familiar to a child who could feel like it is their home kitchen.
Kellams: There is a piece of poster board to our left that has three phrases: liked it, loved it, tried it. What's the story behind that?
Thompson: We like to give the kids words to talk about their experience and be able to articulate how they like it, give them adjectives. So if they love something, we want them to share it. If they tried it, great. That's a success. We don't want anyone to feel bad if they don't care for something but acknowledge that they tried it.
It becomes the hearth of all of our programs. It becomes cooking stations for kids. It becomes a place for chefs for our adult dinners. It's pretty much the hearth of everything.
Kellams: It started with hard work and a dream, and it's really blossomed.
Thompson: It was definitely the vision of the founders. Ozark Natural Foods was one of the founding members to make this happen. It has just grown, but always from the original core idea of inspiring healthy living through produce and fresh access to food.
More about the mission of Apple Seeds, their Evening at the Farm fundraiser on Oct. 11, and their summer classes can be found at their website.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
