The Homegrown by Heroes Farm to Fork Celebration on May 21 at the St. Joseph Center in North Little Rock showcased military veterans who farm.
The celebration was hosted by the Arkansas Agricultural Department and Farm Credit. Veteran Damon Helton, owner of The Farm@Barefoot Bend, catered the event.
The barbecue lunch included Helton's forest raised pork and food from other veteran-owned farms. There were handmade cheese from Willowbrook Farm and microgreens from Thorntree Ranch. Fruit of the Vine Farm provided the flowers for table centerpieces.
Guests were welcomed to the lunch by Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward. The guest speaker was Yani Bunch with the Farmer Veteran Coalition which administers Homegrown by Heroes, a program that assists farmer veterans in branding their local agricultural products and marketing them by labeling them as veteran-produced.
During the program, five Homegrown by Heroes Scholarship recipients were honored -- Baylee McLellan, Baxter Wallis, Taylor Brandt, Emma Ragsdale and Paul Cole. Each received a $1,000 scholarship funded by Farm Credit.
Two new members to the program received personalized Homegrown by Heroes/Arkansas Grown signs. They were Michael Sparks, owner of Honeycomb Ridge Farm, and Frenchie Young, owner of Coal Oil Trading Co.
High Profile on 06/02/2019