Founded in Dec. 2007, ArkansasFood.net is a web site devoted to local food and farming, and is the Headquarter's for the Arkansas Basket-A-Month Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)  program, as well as the Certifed Arkansas Farmers' Market in Argenta. Additionally, we are a web site devoted to our CSA members that serves as a critical organizational tool to distribute our local food to local people. 

ArkansasFood.net is also a online shop that will allow our members the new flexibility to manage their CSA subscriptions from home over the Internet through the new e-shop.  We can also offer a more real-time mamagement system, where we depend upon our web site much more than ever before.  We urge all of our members to bookmark this site, as it is expected to change every month with new ADD ON products that can be picked up when you come for the monthly BAM. We should have a great place now to communicate and offer more options, and share in an online CSA community--something that we have been unable to do until now. 

Foodshed Farm, Under Construction

We are hoping to build a model sustainable farm in the Delta, on a legendary old farm that was once a well managed, (almost sustainable) family farm. It has always facinated my imagination by what it once was, and I have worked hard  to begin building this thing I see in my minds-eye. My ancestors gave me a great pallette. Before my great uncle Joe C. Hardin exhausted himself tending to it, the Hardin Grady farm was rare and amazing.  After a long period of dilapidation and my own financial limitations, I have been trying to build on what Uncle Joe started.  What he did was remarkable, and his land stewarship was legendary in Arkansas agriculture(Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame 1987).  I think it is coming together on our 5th generation family farm in Grady, finally, and we are starting to put it all back together, with our focus on feeding and teaching about food and farming. From my heart, we hope to show how farmer's can cooperate and achieve a sustainable existance for the farm family and the community it feeds.  Food and farmer's are beginning to learn how to market their products through innovative new marketing programs, and lead a long bountiful life(this is not all about money).  I beleive that commercial or conventional agricultural forces misled the American farmer. We are all rethinking the way we eat, and Foodshed Farm is going back to some of the old practices where farmer's had viable local markets with some price protections and import restrictions.  People/consumers also bought in bulk and on the farmer's schedule and annual seasons.  Long ago, farmer's would come together in central geographic locations, meeting up to deliver their fresh goods to big city markets, cooperating on marketing and sharing transportation. Our "basket-of-farmer's" at Foodshed Farm is a concept that helps us all to sustain our families--farmers and consumers alike. Foodshed Farm essentially organizes with other farmer's on a regular seasonal and annual basis, to provide all the food groups from its informal network of farmer's who raise real food.  Our group of farmer's and consumers is growing, and we have made it a mission of ours to feed more local people with nutritious local food. It is happening, and its amazing behind the scenes what is going on with our growth opportunities.  But, slow and steady is the pace, and we have lots of obstacles in the way.

Foodshed Farm Specialty Products

We plan to grow and raise livestock, poultry and eggs in a grass based (all organic) natural diet system, while simultaneously implementing a long-term soil fertility program to support a French intensive four seasons garden. Our farm is primarily powered from the sun and animal. The sun produces the grass that produces the nutritional value we expect. Our animals all have multiple uses, and help with the work on the farm. We treat our animals humanely, with high quality care. 

Original "Hardin's River Mercantile" Closing Announcment -Nov./Dec. 2007

You are at the new home of Foodshed Farm and the Arkansas" Basket-A-Month CSA program. Hardin's River Mercantile at the Little Rock River Market was our former retail store/pickup location until recently when we ended operations there in November 2007. Since we always managed Arkansas BAM CSA from our farm in Grady, we decided that it would work better and make us happier if we were web and home-based, instead of a two hour commute to Little Rock everyday.  Now, we have time to work on improving and producing more products for the BAM CSA program. The past few weeks have been wonderful, so much progress has been made, as I discover how much HRM took out of me and my struggling old farm. We are working  aggresively to get the new store opened in Argenta by June 2008. We look forward to seeing all our customers again soon with a much better facility and environment for our local food.

FOODSHED FARM Heritage Breed Turkey CSA Program 2007 & 2008

In November, we completed the Heritage Breed Turkey CSA program, and I think it was pretty succesful overall. I learned a lot from this experience and proved that I could do it here at Foodshed Farm. It was a great experiment for us, and hopefully made many good memories at the family gathering for our 50 members. We are still contemplating a Turkey CSA for 2008.  We'll let you know!