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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.

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.

This year I hope to instill within the students of the Searcy County School District an appreciation for the entire cycle of vegetable production from planting seeds in the ground in early Spring, to toiling in the heat and humidity of Summer in order to cultivate the plants the seeds mature into, to finally enjoying the healthy harvest that their hard work produces in the Fall. If we all work hard together we will produce a successful garden and there will be lots of new memories made this season.