Arkansas

Yesterday marked three weeks from closing on our new house in Fayetteville - whew! In that time I've painted the front door and shutters, purchased a used desk and chair for the living room and refinished it, repainted a bathroom vanity, and enjoyed just generally puttering around the yard. I have grand master plans for some edible landscaping, but we are unfortunately in a drought and I can't even get a shovel in the ground (it hasn't rained significantly since we moved). The temperature has finally dropped and it was an amazing 58 degrees the past two mornings at 6:30am. Hopefully the cooler weather will bring some rain soon so I can put in those blueberry bushes, fruit trees, and start a vegetable bed......

In between house projects, I've still been job hunting. I have a few applications out right now, but the search has been quite challenging. It seems there are plenty of interesting things happening around here and like minded people, but very few employment opportunities. In the meantime, I've been networking and trying to learn about some area projects.

Last week, I connected with the fine folks with Apple Seeds, Inc. - a local nonprofit working on garden and nutrition programming in the public schools. They also collaborate with GroGreen, the University of Arkansas student garden organization. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about them over the next several months...... http://appleseedsinc.org/whoweare.php

I also met the coordinator for the Fayetteville Community Garden Coalition and attended one of their committee meetings. The coordinator is actually a horticulturalist for Parks & Rec. and organizes the committee as a small part of her paid position. They serve as a networking and support group for several newly started community gardens throughout the city. It was really interesting to learn about their model of supporting the community (they recently hosted an a community workshop using asset based community development programming!) and responding to citizen interest in community gardens. Their objective is not to start gardens, but rather to provide the resources to help community members start and sustain gardens. They just started about a year ago and are still figuring out exactly what this looks like, but it sounds like they are on the right track and I look forward to supporting them as well! I think this type of organization is what Charlottesville was missing - some way to network between gardens and provide a consistent contact. Hmmm.....http://www.fayettevillegardens.org/

I also visited a farm :) I thought there may be some temporary employment opportunity with them, but they're tapped out for labor AND they're an hour drive from Fayetteville (including several miles on a very rough dirt road). It was super cool to go visit, though, and learn more about what they're doing. A nice reprieve from this city life too. I didn't take any pictures, but you can see some good ones on their website here - http://www.drippingspringsgarden.com/. They are certified organic and do primarily cut flowers (making for absolutely beautiful fields) and some produce. They've been farming there for almost 25 years and it is very clear they have a well established system and are well respected for the products they produce. I will definitely be supporting them at the farmers market and may volunteer here or there just to soak up some of their overflowing knowledge.

Whew, so between all of that, going to Bee Branch twice to see the family and spending several hours in a kayak on at least three different bodies of water it's been a busy three weeks. Many more adventures ahead! Oh, and there are a few pictures of the house on facebook that most of you probably already saw - I'll try to take some more this weekend - especially the before and after of the new deck we are building :)