Couple’s approach nurtures food, flowers and family

Kim Doughty-McCannon and her husband, Zack McCannon, pose with their son Leo at Bell Urban Farm.
Kim Doughty-McCannon and her husband, Zack McCannon, pose with their son Leo at Bell Urban Farm.

CONWAY — In the summer and fall, heirloom-variety sunflowers reach up to 6 feet tall in front of a small farm along Conway’s busy Tyler Street.

Behind them sit two small houses on just under an acre of property, with row upon row of herbs, flowers and other produce.

Depending on the season, the gardens are home to herbs such as oregano, lavender and basil; multicolored flowers such as orange marigolds and pink celosia; and edible flowers that include bachelor buttons and nasturtiums.

At the helm of Bell Urban Farm are Kim Doughty-McCannon, 33, and her husband, Zack McCannon, 38.

Along with friends and relatives who volunteer at the farm are the couple’s sons, 2 1/2-year-old Winfield and 3-month-old Leo. Though Winfield goes to day care these days, a carefully swaddled Leo joined his mother shortly after he was born as she picked dahlias and amaranths.

Doughty-McCannon didn’t set out to become a farmer, she said. She studied biology at Arkansas Tech University and joined the Arkansas Department of Health in 2008 as a microbiologist.

About six years later, she gave up the laboratory job, along with its stable salary and benefits, to work outdoors. The lab job “was fun, but I was stuck inside all day,” she said.

She volunteered for a time at the Little Rock Urban Farming program and later spent a year volunteering with the Arkansas GardenCorps, an AmeriCorps program, for the Faulkner County Urban Farm Project.

“This change was worth the risk to me because I wanted to do something I was very passionate about — working outside with my hands and growing food,” Doughty-McCannon said. “I didn’t want to grow old and regret not having taken the chance in my youth.”

It was at that urban farm, a community garden behind the library in Conway, that the couple met and were later married in 2016.

For several years, the library has offered annual seed swaps, where residents can share heirloom seeds with each other. Among the documentaries and other educational content that McCannon, a filmmaker, has helped produce is the 2012 Arkansas Educational Television Network documentary Seed Swap.

“I think that’s what attracted us to each other,” said McCannon, who also manages real estate.

The pesticide-free farm focuses on naturally grown plants and is home to a small flock of multicolored chickens, two beehives, two peach trees and a black-walnut tree.

The hens wander free range during the day. Inside their coop, they line up to lay their eggs. Breeds range from yellow Buff Orpingtons that lay large brown eggs to Easter Eggers, whose eggs are blue and pink.

The couple hope to increase their local-food efforts in the coming year by turning one of the houses on their property into a small grocery or farm stand devoted to selling Arkansas-grown produce, grains and meat, with as much coming from farmers in central Arkansas as possible. The stand would also offer locally roasted coffee.

To do that, the couple need a rezoning permit, which will be the subject of a public hearing at a Conway Planning Commission meeting, starting at 7 p.m. Monday. Commission recommendations are subject to City Council approval.

The farm got the name “Bell” from McCannon’s family lineage. A large iron bell is mounted atop a tall wooden post between the farm’s two small houses.

Doughty-McCannon said the name reminds of her of the days when people rang a dinner bell.

“The bell is a metaphor for a lot of our mission,” her husband said. “It just has the power to bring community together.”

Sean Ott, the Faulkner County Library’s garden programmer, said the couple “have been instrumental in developing the local agriculture scene … in Conway.”

Sandra Leyva is director of The Locals, a nonprofit organization that promotes local farmers and other community efforts. Leyva said Doughty-McCannon, a member of The Locals’ board, and her husband have done important work in promoting local food grown in a sustainable way.

“As far as I’m concerned, doing it this small-scale way [amounts to] being a hero for our community and the planet as well,” Leyva said.

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