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Mabelvale Garden Update »Mabelvale Garden Update This past week, Karl Heinbockel and fellow Delta Garden Study interns have had the opportunity to escape the fluorescent lights of the office and work in the bright sunshine at the Mabelvale Magnet Middle School gardens and greenhouse. In spite of the oppressive heat, there is still much to do to prepare for the coming school year at Mabelvale Magnet Middle School. We are removing the residue from last year's crops (and weeds!) and replacing them with a buckwheat cover crop to revitalize the soil. The buckwheat cover crop suppresses weed growth and once tilled in will add important organic material back into the soil. This allows new plants the ample nutrients necessary to blossom with great vigor. Healthy soil has been our focus this summer. In the fall, we will concentrate our efforts at producing a variety of food crops with the help of our students at Mabelvale! In the coming weeks, we will be continuing to clean up and organize the garden and greenhouse spaces so that this school year will be a great one for Delta Garden Study's showcase garden - Mabelvale!

FrontPage Article »See the Progress on our New Gardens! Don't forget to visit our Garden Schools’ webpages for pictures and stories about the progress of our new gardens. Liana, Kevin, Ryan and Cale have been busy developing their sites, planting a late summer garden, and getting to know their communities. Many thanks to all of their community members who have donated materials, equipment and labor!

About The Delta Garden Study »About The Delta Garden Study The Delta Garden Study is a $2 million research study funded by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service designed to prevent childhood obesity and social risk behaviors, and improve academic achievement, in middle school children in the Delta and Central regions of Arkansas.

Marshall Update

Our students finally received a much appreciated break early this week due to snow on Monday and icy road conditions on Tuesday. When we returned to school we were able to taste sautéed broccoli and Romaine lettuce with hothouse tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette dressing salads with our classes on Wednesday and Thursday. The students discovered several bright yellow heads of Cheddar cauliflower beginning to peak through their large leafed canopies in the greenhouse this week. No one has tried this variety before and everyone is excited to see if it’ll really taste like cheese! Hopefully, we’ll have an update from everyone next week.

Marshall Featured Student: Carly Lindsey

The thing I love most about our school’s garden is being able to do something I do for fun over the summer during school all year round. I enjoy seeing plants grow into beautiful fresh produce that everyday people eat. I enjoy being able to harvest and care for the produce our school garden has grown. Also, it’s a great source of exercise.

Garden Program Specialist

Cale Nicholson

I grew up gardening with my Mom, Dad, and Grandma in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. I remember many muggy Saturday afternoons siting with my family shucking corn and shelling beans under the welcoming shade of a nearby Maple tree or, if we were lucky, by the cold airconditioner in the house! These experiences ingrained in me a love of vegetables and an appreciation for the hard work that goes into raising my own food. To me the physical labor required to produce a successful vegetable garden in the heat of an Arkansas summer is both extremely challenging and extremely rewarding and the best way to do this work is with the help of friends and family.

FoodCorps Service Member

Rachel Spencer

Though Rachel's college career wound a winding path through the study of international affairs, human geography, epidemiology, and assorted other things, she recently graduated with a degree in Environmental Health Science from the University of Georgia. At UGA she helped lead efforts to start the campus community garden UGArden, bring Real Food Challenge's Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit to Athens, GA, and establish the university's Office of Sustainability. Interning at that office and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Environmental Health Services Branch led Rachel to develop a passion for work at the intersection of sustainability and public health, interests that she is excited to explore further by working with the Arkansas Delta Garden Study. Outside of all things food related, Rachel enjoys taking flights of fancy through books, capturing moments of life on film, marveling at the elegance of the periodic table, and one day aspires to be as saucy as Lauren Bacall.

Meet the Staff

Pictured from left to right: Heath Massey, Science teacher, Alan Yarbrough, Principal, and Kenda Dearing, Chemistry and Physics teacher.

Marshall High School Website

To find out more about Searcy County School District and their garden study, visit their website at: http://searcycounty.ar.schoolwebpages.com/.

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