Front Porch | Issue 126

FLYING FISH

45 years ago, Lonoke farmers went on a wild ride to Central America and changed the world.

p. 12

Ag Hall of Fame Inductees p. 20; Hunters Feeding The Hungry p. 24; Delta Child p. 36

Seasonal Recipes: Herb Roasted Lamb

Recipe & Photos by Shaylee Wallace Barber

Spring is here, and what better time to gather fresh ingredients for this easy meal? Lamb is often an overlooked protein, mostly because it’s not something commonly learned to cook, but with its hardy nutrients and this simple recipe it can easily become a family favorite. The key? Quality ingredients that compliment lamb, instead of overpowering it. You can also roast alongside a full head of garlic to use on bread and side dishes!

Ingredients

Directions

Cooking lamb depends on your preference from rare to well-done. We’ll focus on a medium-rare finish, the internal temperature should register at 135˚F on an instant thermometer.

1. Pat the lamb rack dry with paper towels, season it with salt and pepper all over and set aside.

2. In a food processor or blender combine the olive oil, parsley, garlic, rosemary and thyme leaves and pulse until everything is thoroughly mixed.

3. Using a sharp knife, score the fat layer with a crossed pattern and rub the garlic and herb mixture to thoroughly coat the rack of lamb.

4. Place the rack of lamb in a large bag or container, seal it and leave it at room temperature for a max of two hours. You can also prep your lamb and marinate it overnight in the refrigerator, just be sure to allow it to reach room temperature before cooking.

5. Preheat your oven to 450˚F. Take the lamb out of the container and place it on a baking pan or large cast iron, fat side up. (Be sure to cover the exposed rib bones while cooking so they don’t burn.)

6. Roast the rack of lamb for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reads at 135˚F for mediumrare.

7. Remove the dish from the oven and loosely cover it with foil. Let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting.

8. Cut the rack of lamb and garnish with chopped parsley or your favorite herbs and serve.

About the Cover: A USAF C-130 Hercules aircraft assigned to the 24th Wing (Coronet Oak), 310th Airlift Squadron, Howard Air Force Base, Panama lands on a dirt strip. The aircraft is used to transport people and cargo on a variety of logistical contingency support missions. Contents of the plane are unknown, but it is the same type of aircraft landing at the same base as Lonoke farmers used in the cover story.

Credit: SMSGT William B. Belcher/The U.S. National Archives

Cover Design: Bryan Pistole

FARM BUREAU MATTERS with Rich Hillman

GETTING IT RIGHT

Most of you have noticed the price of a dozen eggs recently. There are several reasons why the cost has jumped, but it shows that our food supply can be disrupted. Our food chain is the best in the world but as strong and resilient as it is, it can still be affected by outside forces. As we move beyond the COVID pandemic, which also tested our food chain, we must get it right. You may ask, “get what right?” My answer to that is everything.

First, we must make sure the public understands that our food doesn’t come from the back of your local grocery store. I don’t want to insult our reader’s intelligence, but you would be surprised how often people don’t understand the origin of their dinner, much of which comes from local farms and ranches, some of you might know or recognize.

Here in our great state, getting it right, is happening currently with our legislature. With their help we can get it right in making sure that our farmers and ranchers in Arkansas can compete with our neighboring states, even on the national and world stage. That means rural communities – including our schools – must have the same quality services available to them as our larger communities. That means broadband connections are fully implemented in every county and community in our rural state. Quality healthcare is a necessity for rural Arkansas so that our farmers and ranchers, their families and those working there are all kept healthy to run the farms and ranches so vital to our food supply chain. It also means that our rural roads and fire departments must be maintained and our law enforcement at the county and local level are supported and properly funded. Arkansas Farm Bureau will be involved in all these plus many more issues during this legislative session. Our membership is highly involved in this process because it affects them and their livelihoods.

We must get it right on the federal level, also. Our congressional delegation is very supportive of rural Arkansas and agriculture. Our federal farm bill is due to be overhauled this year. We must get this right so that

agriculture in the U.S. can compete on the world stage. A country that cannot feed itself cannot prosper. Nor will it be secure from the tyranny of other countries that might interrupt our food supply chain. We are very thankful for Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton and Congressmen Steve Womack, Rick Crawford, French Hill, and Bruce Westerman, who give of their time and expertise, always with our farmers and ranchers in mind.

Our whole state depends on the complex agriculture policy and certainly that includes a sound federal Farm Bill. We are also very appreciative of our senior senator, John Boozman, who is the ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Sen. Boozman works tirelessly for the citizens of our state and there is no doubt his leadership will help us get it right on the Farm Bill.

Inflation, energy costs and environmental policies all play a big factor in the prices you see in your order from your favorite fast-food, restaurant and in your grocery store.

The price for that dozen eggs I mentioned earlier will stabilize, hopefully soon. The supply chain problems will eventually be remedied. But our food supply is very dependent on every one of the issues discussed. Make no mistake, America’s food supply is the best in the world and that is something we should never forget or take for granted. Arkansas agriculture plays a significant role in this country’s food supply, while also being significant producers for cotton and timber products as well. Agriculture is still the largest industry in Arkansas.

Almost every family in our state can trace their roots back to a farm or ranch. I believe most people treasure those connections. Our Farm Bureau will strive to work to make sure you and your family will continue to be able to sit down and have a healthy and affordable Sunday dinner. To do this, though, we all must get it right! •

ARFB PRESIDENT

Arkansas agriculture plays a significant role in this country’s food supply, while also being significant producers for cotton and timber products as well.

The ABCDEs of Melanoma

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Asymmetry - Is one side different from the other?

Border - Are the edges irregular or poorly defined?

Color - Are there shades of tan, black, white, red, or blue?

Front Porch

Official membership publication of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation mailed to almost 190,000 member-families.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Included in membership dues

A RKANSAS FARM BUREAU OFFICERS: President • Rich Hillman, Carlisle Vice President • Mike Freeze, Little Rock

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The Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation reserves the right to accept or reject all advertising requests.

FIRST LOOK profiles Arkansas farmers at work with full-page photos, first in each edition of Front Porch.

ICE BREAKER

Tel Parker tosses snow from a trough Jan. 26 at Parker Farms south of Harrison in Newton County. The same storm dropped its deepest covering of 14.5 inches at Dennard in Searcy County. Fortunately for farmers, neither frigid temps nor gusty winds accompanied the inclement weather, making it easier on their herds.

Whit’s Adventures Photography

Arkansas Young Farmers & Ranchers committee

chair Monica Paskewitz welcomed multiple angus-cross calves this winter to her farm south of Ash Flat in Izard County. A year ago, 760,000 calves were born on Arkansas farms. The state’s cattle inventory totaled 1.63 million to start 2023.

photo by Matthew Magdefrau

OH, BABY!

SERVICE BELL

Ellis Bell operates an Arkansas Century Farm established in 1878 near Forrest City. Bell, dually driven to successfully farm and advance agriculture among minority youth, works land purchased by his great-great grandfather after his return from the Civil War. See Bell and other new Arkansas Ag Hall of Fame inductees starting on page 20.

photo by Workhorse Creative

You Deserve More. You Deserve a Promise.

For over 70 years Farm Bureau® Insurance’s commitment to our customers has never wavered. In that time, local agents and adjusters have served communities all over Arkansas with home and auto insurance, and more. We believe that your family is part of our family. And protecting families has always been our pledge. Talk with your local agent to learn more about the Farm Bureau Promise.

Flying

45 years ago, Lonoke farmers went on a wild ride, landing in Panama and changing the world

Former Georgia peanut farmer Jimmy Carter set the stage for a remarkable story by signing two treaties just seven months into his presidency. The archived papers put Panama in operating control of arguably the most crucial man-made waterway in the world — a 51-mile shortcut connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans — and opened it to vessels of all nations.

The Panama Canal had a big problem, though. A serious aquatic weed problem. Floating vegetation masses and submerged plants with strong, tangled roots were strangling the passage. The spread was so thick ships struggled to navigate.

Panama needed help. A real American solution. The help of Arkansas farmers. Some sharp Lonoke County country boys with a can-do attitude.

Leon Hill was one of the men with the will and acumen the canal needed in the spring of 1978, assisting in one of the more fascinating feats in Arkansas farm history. Forty-five years later the story seems impossible.

Lonoke, and Hill was a well-respected leader. Smart, humble and debt free like his dad taught him and Romans 13:8 admonishes. Hill employed 28, farmed 1,200 acres of row crops and had 1,000 acres of water, mostly for catfish.

Hill also raised White Amurs — an Asian vegetation-eating carp with a ferocious appetite.

ONLY IN ARKANSAS

Panamanians had tried countless chemicals to clear the water, but the aggressive hydrilla plant with up to 8 whorls around its stem, tough leaves and tangled extensions, continued its choking charge. Its density not only weeded out boat usage but caused drownings and provided breeding sites for vectors of malaria.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. John J. Plunkett, assigned as the Panama Canal’s Director of Engineering, had learned of the Amurs in Arkansas. The Natural State was the first to legalize use of the silver scalawags as a biological tool to control aquatic vegetation. In the spring of 1977, Col. Plunkett showed up to purchase 125,000 fingerlings in Lonoke.

Hill and two other local fish farmers agreed to share the big bid. That was easy. Then, the uneventful task of hatching and raising the fish was put into motion.

U.S. president Jimmy Carter (waving) signed two treaties on Sept. 7, 1977 giving Panama operating control of the most crucial man-made waterway in the world. Locals tried chemicals to clear the Panama Canal of vegetation, but the aggressive hydrilla plant with up to 8 whorls around its stem, tough leaves and tangled extensions, continued its choking charge.

“It was quite a deal all the way through,” says the 90-year-old Hill with a laugh. “It wore me out.”

In the late 1970s, farmers were flourishing in

The contract required more, though, a lot of logistics and a lot of unknown. It stated the Amurs were to be 1.5 to 3 inches long and delivered in January of 1978. Delivered.

From Lonoke’s frigid winter waters to tropical Panama. Panama. Roughly 3,200 miles or twice as far as Lonoke to Los Angeles. And, of course, the fish would need

U.S. National Archives

Fish

to be delivered alive. This was not going to be easy.

PLANES, TRUCKS AND HELICOPTERS

By Thanksgiving Day 1977, technical equipment and supplies were being readied for something never done before — flying fish.

An ambitious transportation plan would start much like any other fish transport, with a 32-foot, tandem, 33,000-pound hauling truck, but this voyage would also include a U.S. Army C-130 cargo plane and a UH-1 Huey helicopter. Farmers were unaware their journey would also requisite a taxi ride with police escort past soldiers armed with submachine guns stationed on Panama City street corners.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

January 1978 was wet and frigid in Arkansas with freezing precipitation falling on 12 days and rain on 7 others. Weather twice pushed the trip back. On one scheduled departure day, Lonoke ponds were frozen 6-inches deep. On the other, all C-130s at the Little Rock Air Force Base were dedicated to hauling supplies to other regions of the country crippled by ice storms.

February didn’t start any better, and in an act of desperation, ice was chopped out of pond drains on Feb. 11 and 1,000 gallons of (warmer) well water per minute was pumped in. This allowed the Amurs to be seined behind northern banks where they were dipped into buckets and transported to a shed for overnight.

On Sunday, Feb. 12, the next target date for departure, prayers were answered. Temps climbed from 19 degrees at midnight to a balmy 32 at 6:58 a.m. sunrise, allowing the fish to be handled for loading without shock. Non-stop drizzle and 10-15 mph northwest winds only made it miserable for the farmers.

TIRED AND TROUBLED

Hill recalls his share of the order was loaded last. It was late afternoon and sitting on the vinyl bench seat of a warm truck felt good to the already-tired farmers. A C-130 awaited them at the Air Base, ready to drop its gate and let the truck drive aboard.

A curve in the road caused water in the tanks to shift and create a short in the truck’s lighting system. So, a convoy of other farmers and assistants guarded

A Lonoke fish company’s 32-foot, tandem, 33,000-pound truck hauling 125,000 White Amurs landed in Panama on Feb. 13, 1978, aboard a C-130 cargo plane. The fish tanks were later slung beneath a U.S. Army UH-1 Huey helicopter for delivery to different drop points along the Panama Canal.

fore and aft to augment any further complications. Arriving at the air base, the variable of a C-130 filled with fuel hadn’t been considered during an earlier practice loading. The ramp leading into the belly of the plane was now too steep. After two attempts driving up the incline, a group of men stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind and halfway up each side of the truck to push it aboard.

The truck had been approved by the U.S. Air Force “but occupied about every inch of the plane,” Hill remembers. “We were snug in there.”

Hill and the technical party were finally in the air at 10:30 p.m. The crew included Custer, Mark Stephens of Leon Hill Catfish Farm, Inc., Bill Whiting of Sea Ranch, Inc., in Sheridan, and an employee of another Lonoke fish producer.

WHITE WATER

Congratulations seemed in order but according to papers obtained from the University of Central

UCA Library/Special Collections

UCA Library/Special Collections

Arkansas library, “all hell broke loose” shortly after take-off. The oxygen metering equipment on the truck went berserk. A difference in cabin pressure from ground level pressure threw off all calibrations. The water temperature dropped from 40 degrees to 36 degrees and was saturated with oxygen before landing at 6:30 a.m. Tempering (changing the water temperature to acclimate) the fish on the way to the unloading site had likely been lost.

Nevertheless, a long list of U.S. and Panamanian officials met the Arkansans upon arrival at Howard Air Force Base. They provided a police escort through Panama City — a town of 1.5 million. The natives were on edge due to the U.S. military presence, the recent canal treaties and corrupt military leader Manuel Noriega, who would later be sentenced to prison for amassing millions through drug trafficking.

As expected, an attempt to temper the fish at Calamito Bay, the first unloading spot which was located deep in a tropical forest, proved futile. The Amurs were dying on the truck and in the bay. The water turned white with floating fish bellies turned heavenward.

Hill says some of the fish “acted like they were drunk” and he attempted a rogue technique learned to revive them. “I went and grabbed a limb with some brush still on it lying close to the water,” he says. “I picked it up and started slapping the water with it. I saw some guys do that to make the fish jump, get their gills functioning and oxygen going. One of the other farmers saw me doing this and came over and asked, ‘What in the hell are you doing?’ I said, I’m trying to get those fish turning upside down off the top!”

More than 90 percent died.

Panama was not happy.

MAKING IT RIGHT

According to the archived papers from UCA, the Panama Canal Company had received the fingerlings in good health at the air base in Little Rock. So, contractually, the farmers were in the clear. Exhausted and disappointed but not liable, the farmers would get another chance.

Before the disaster, Plunkett had already extended the contract for an additional 125,000 fingerlings. After the disaster, he remained committed to import-

ing the Amurs. The farmers vowed to deliver on a second trip and to make up for losses on the first.

The parties agreed that the Panama Canal Company would construct a holding facility for the second shipment to Paraiso, a town located on the north side of the canal. Water from the canal would be drawn through a pipeline into plastic swimming pools, which were set up in the open-air gymnasium of an abandoned school. Two 30-ton chillers were installed to drop the water temperature to 57 degrees and the flow rate set to 58 gallons per minute. This would allow the temperature to be raised slowly and fish to acclimate.

It was all a waste of time and money, according to 94-year-old Wade Finley, another retired Lonoke fish farmer. “The Army Corps of Engineers wanted to see the fish living in that pool for a week before putting them in the canal,” he says. “It wasn’t necessary.”

Finley, a pioneer in tranquilizing fish, would be on board with his expertise and a portable oxygen meter for the second trip. He had flow meters installed on the truck, too, because “you have to be able to measure the flow of oxygen and they didn’t have that on the first trip,” he says. “They just had valves and turned on the oxygen.”

TURN DOWN THE AIR

No rain and 55 degrees (11 degrees above normal) were the conditions in Lonoke on Wednesday, March 12, 1978. Netting the tiny Amurs, driving them to the air base and onto the C-130 was a breeze.

In flight, Finley focused on regulating the oxygen.

“Their defense mechanism is for their gill tissue to die to limit the amount of oxygen going in their body,” Finley says. “The same thing happens when fish gather beneath a dam to feed where water is flowing fast. They get used to that higher oxygen rate by killing their gill tissues and then when they migrate back down the river into normal oxygen levels they die.”

Researchers report fish first appear disoriented in super saturated water, consistent with Hill’s observation on the first trip, before dying. Too much oxygen is fatal.

“I monitored it all the way (to Panama) and found out I needed to turn it down as far as I could where they could barely live,” Finley says. “When we got down there, the Corps of Engineers had a big oxygen meter

Leon Hill (90) recently visited his old hatchery south of Lonoke where he raised White Amurs — an Asian vegetation-eating carp with a ferocious appetite.

setup with those tanks, but it couldn’t give you an instant reading. It took several hours to get the results of the oxygen level. You can’t do that with fish, they’ll die while you’re waiting on the results, so I used my portable meter.”

PROBLEM SOLVING SOLUTION

Upon arrival, all fish were alive and water temperature in the tanks on the truck and in the swimming pools were 57 degrees. The transition rendered no losses and after a week of non-stop monitoring, the fish were primed and ready for release in the canal.

On March 16, 1978, the Amurs were loaded into tanks equipped with agitators and slung beneath the Huey helicopter for delivery to different drop spots along the canal. During flight to the first stop at Laguana Bay, the water rushed to one

15,000 ships making close to 1 million passes through it annually. It’s perhaps the most crucial piece of infrastructure supporting the free flow of international trade in the western hemisphere. It saves 8,000 miles from a journey around the southern tip of South America.

It wasn’t like that in the spring of 1978.

Sitting by the kitchen bay window at his historic home on Park Street in Lonoke, Hill points to a swath of archived papers lying on the table and says, “I read all that, again, this morning. I’ve read it twice. I had forgotten all that went into (getting those Amurs in the Panama Canal). It helped the world.” •

Today the Panama Canal is a conduit of maritime trade with about

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MAXIMIZE Y R TY F WILDLIFE

Hall of Famers

Arkansas Agriculture Class XXXV loaded with leaders

Leadership and service that brought distinction to the state’s largest business sector is the hallmark for five new inductees into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame.

These will be inducted March 3 in a ceremony at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Ellis Bell, Forrest City

A fourth-generation minority farmer who spent decades overcoming obstacles, Ellis Bell now operates an Arkansas Century Farm established in 1878. After graduating in 1956 from Lincoln High in Forrest City, Bell worked 13 years as both an aircraft mechanic and as an insurance industry broker in St. Louis before returning to the farm in 1971 when his father retired.

Bell earned a pilot’s license so he could fly back and forth to St. Louis, allowing him to maintain his work there and at the farm. He has also been dually driven to successfully farm and advance agriculture among minority youth. Bell’s determination led him to found

Bert Greenwalt, Jonesboro

A professor of Agri Economics at Arkansas State University since 1991, Bert Greenwalt co-founded and directs the college’s annual Agribusiness Conference and sponsors the Agribusiness Club, including trips to the Chicago Board of Trade and Federal Reserve Bank locations. Greenwalt’s friends say he teaches Agribusiness, Ag Policy and Ag Finance with a passion at A-State. He and his brother, Eric, nephew, Chad and mother, Idena, manage the Greenwalt Company farm in Hazen, striving to conserve natural resources, especially water. From 1999-2013, Greenwalt served six years as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis followed by seven years on the St. Louis Fed Agribusiness Council.

A passion for the subject he was teaching, a desire to make it relevant for his student’s futures and an appreciation of the economics of soil and water conservation are what former pupils say they remember most about Greenwalt.

Greenwalt has been recognized for Excellence

Bell’s Ag Tech and Bell Community Services, which was formerly known as Future Agriculture Resources for Minority Youth.

Today, Bell farms on land purchased by his great-great grandfather after his return from the Civil War. Bell says he always wanted to farm and his earliest ag memories include showing animals as part of New Farmers of America. During his years in St. Louis, he operated a distribution program offering food to thousands of needy and still returned weekends to help on the farm. Bell noticed young people needed activities and developed programs to teach them where food came from, and who was responsible for growing it.

Shenzhen, China. in Mentoring and Advising at A-State and as a Distinguished Alumnus by the University of Arkansas Department of Agricultural Economics. Greenwalt Company earned Farm Family of the Year for Arkansas’ East-Central District in 1984 and garnered an Outstanding No-Till Farm Award in 1985.

Bert Greenwalt made the USA Rice Leadership Program’s field trip in 2014 to

Chuck Welch

Ellis Bell operates a farm established in 1878.

Workhorse Creative

Chris Isbell, Humnoke

Innovative Chris Isbell was the first farmer to grow prized Koshihikari rice outside of Japan, and the thrill of doing it spurred him on to develop and grow a premium variety of Yamanda Nishki rice used to make Japanese sake. When covid shut down Japan exports in 2020, Isbell had Japanese sake rice ready and waiting, and he now sells rice to sake breweries around the world. His product and Hot Springs’ sparkling spring water are now being used to create a new Origami Sake in Arkansas. Isbell’s moto of “never says no” to research has led to meaningful partnerships with both the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University. His sustainability efforts include water-saving methods, solar fields helping power the farm and flooded fields for water-

Steve Stevens, Tillar

fowl in the offseason. Isbell earned USA Rice Farmer of the Year honors in 1996 and the Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Farm Family of the Year award in 2019. He has served on the Bayou Meto Water District Board of Directors since 2020.

Isbell’s family has been raising rice since 1948 and he made agriculture more than a way of life with a broader vision of the farm. His understanding, wisdom, forward-thinking, ability to communicate ideas and see them to fruition, made farming better. His was a place to dream, experiment and learn. He strived to make ag an amazing way of life for himself and those around him, including his children and grandchildren.

Appropriately, Isbell attends Harvest Church, where he serves as an elder, plays guitar in the church band and teaches a small group.

commitment to improving farming have helped Arkansas generate millions of dollars using practices and technology developed on his farm. He served on the National Cotton Council Board and in leadership positions on the Cotton Inc. Board. In 2020, he was inducted into the Arkansas Conservation Hall of Fame.

Steve Stevens has a long history of learning from and working with researchers to make farming better. One of the more significant cotton seedbed-preparation innovations was first implemented in Arkansas on Stevens’ farm in the early 1990s. He was an early adopter of computerizedhole selection for irrigation and COTMAN (Cotton Management program), improving soil, water and insecticide use. Arkansas Discovery Farms selected Stevens’ fields for cotton research in 2013, and it has had more waterquality, water-use and nutrient-loss data collected on it than on any other farm in America. His contributions and

has had more water-quality, water-use and nutrient-loss data collected on it than on any other farm in America.

Steve

Stevens learned working with Discovery Farm and installing soil moisture sensors, irrigation waters were not moving below six inches and cotton roots were not going deeper even with water stored at 18 inches. So, he started using cover crops like cereal rye, which opened the “soil profile” allowing cotton

continued on page 22

Bill Robertson

Stevens’ land

Rice farmer Chris Isbell developed and grows a premium Yamanda Nishki variety to make Japanese sake.

Keith Sutton

roots to extract water from 18 inches. Yields increased, especially in dry years, resulting in substantial profit gains.

Jesse “J.D.” Vaught, Horatio

A pioneer in contract livestock production, J.D. Vaught adapted early in both chicken and swine production and used technology like performance records and artificial insemination to improve purebred Charolais (early 1970s) and Angus cattle (1980s). He built chicken houses in the early 1960s and a contract hog facility in the mid 1970s, produced poultry from 1964-1999 and was a partner in Poultry House Cleanout Service from 1968-74. Vaught was a member of the Arkansas Farm Bureau state board of directors from 1991-99, a Sevier County Cattlemen’s Association officer and was instrumental in founding regional pork producer associations and the Grannis Trail Riders. He owned and operated a 400-acre family farm from 1963 until his death at age 82 on Dec. 26, 2022. At the time of his death, Vaught had 150 cattle and 520 swine sows. He served on the Horatio School Board for 23 years and was a founding member of the school’s Ag Booster Club.

Vaught also served 25 years on Farm Credit of Western Arkansas’ board for 25 years. Other awards and

recognition he earned include: 1975 Sevier County Farm Family of the Year, Perseverance and Quality Awards from Cargill Pork, Pioneer Pork Producer Award from the Arkansas Pork Producers, Pilgrim’s Pride Poultry service award, 2007 Sevier County Farm Bureau’s Agriculture Citizens of the Year and Sevier County Rural Water Association’s service award.

He and his late wife of 50-plus years, Linda, loved the life of agriculture and raised four children. •

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J.D. Vaught maintained a sizable herd of cattle and swine until his death in December 2022.

Farm Bureau teams up with

The Generous Will Be Blessed, For Sharing

Ronnie Ritter doesn’t believe in retirement. He says it isn’t biblical, and the 28,000 miles he drove on Arkansas roads last year proves the 67-year-old is no hypocrite.

“I think I will always work,” says the director of Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry after dropping 660 wild-game meat sticks on a Friday afternoon in February at Malvern Elementary.

Exiting the school, Ritter excitedly shares how Ashdown Public Schools in Little River County is signing up for the program, too.

Earlier in the week, he was heading from his office in Hot Springs to Marianna when he found state Hwy. 49 outside Brinkley too icy to travel. So, he diverted south on Hwy. 79 in his Dodge 3500 truck towing a trailer and 350 pounds of venison. At a cautious 30 miles per hour for 37 miles, he arrived in Stuttgart before noon and finished the long day with two more stops at community food pantries on his way home.

The need is great in all 75 Arkansas counties and Ritter is on mission – a calling motivated by compassion. He has heard the heartbreaking stories of children hiding their snack sticks because bullies, other siblings, or even their parents, will take the food for themselves.

“One little boy says he holds the package between his mattresses when he opens it so others in the house can’t hear it being opened,” Ritter says. “He can’t let anyone in the house know or it will be taken.”

FARM BUREAU JOINS CRUSADE

Made from wild game, mostly venison, and mixed with pork, 75,959 meat sticks were distributed to schools last year in more than 50 counties. That’s up from about 40,031 when the Wild Game Snack Sticks Program started in 2018. The fiveyear total of meat sticks distributed is a whopping 338,403.

“I think this is where Farm Bureau Foundation’s matching money can help,” Ritter says. “It will help identify areas and schools we are not in and where those local contributions and matching funds can be used.”

Local contributions marked “Hunters Feeding the Hungry” are tax deductible and will be doubled to provide meat sticks for children in their area schools.

Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry director Ronnie Ritter drops 660 wild-game meat sticks to school counselor Stephanie Sawyer Feb. 3 at Malvern Elementary. Ritter says a new level of cooperation with The Farm Bureau Federation will enable his program to supply more school children with the nutritious snacks.

Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry distributed 338,403 wildgame meat sticks to schools the past five years.

Hunters Feeding the Hungry

Their Food. Proverbs 22:9

Farm Bureau’s goal with its initial donation and pledged matching funds is to total more than $75,000.

STICKS ARE FOR KIDS

Bob Barringer started Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry in 1999, turning the state’s abundant white-tailed deer population into a renewable food source for the hungry. It was all venison burger back then, distributed at no charge through churches and shelters.

Ritter met Barringer at a Big Buck Classic in Little Rock in January of 2000 and began volunteering because he “liked what they were doing,” he says. In 2008, Barringer approached Ritter about taking over. Ritter, riding a 31-year career at International Paper Company, prayed and knew he wasn’t going to ease off into the sunset.

“I have retired friends who say they get bored playing golf every day,” he says with a laugh.

Ritter and “about 8 volunteers” have grown Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry over the past 14 years with relentless promotion, media appearances, and most notably, the snack sticks program for schools.

Venison used in the snack sticks comes almost exclusively from urban hunt seasons in nine Arkansas communities, including Russellville, Helena-West Helena and Hot Springs Village.

BURGER HELPER

“We’ll still do between 50 and 70,000 pounds of burger per year,” he says. “We give that to local food pantries. With the prices of meat going up at grocery stores, we always get more requests than we can fill.”

An 80-hour work week is not uncommon for

Ritter. For example, a partnership with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s annual Archery in the Schools requires lots of logistics, coordination, and time, he says. Participating schools donating the most canned food during the competition get cash prizes from Hunters Feeding the Hungry.

The canned goods go with the burger to shelters. Ritter delivers.

HOW TO HELP

Donations to the school meat stick program should be marked “Hunters feeding the Hungry” to get the matching funds and submitted either online at arfbfoundation. gvtls.com or mailed to Arkansas Farm Bureau Foundation, P.O. Box 31, Little Rock, Ark., 72203. Amanda Williams can answer questions at 501-228-1493.

Hunters are encouraged to donate field dressed wild game, ice chest quartered deer or just “a couple of packs” of their harvest. Close to 60 participating processors across Arkansas are listed at arkansashunters. org or contact Ronnie Ritter at 501-282-0006. •

“(Farm Bureau’s support) will help identify areas and schools we are not in and where those local contributions and matching funds can be used.”

Ronnie Ritter

Find ingredients from LOCAL producers here.

Seasonal Recipes: Herb Roasted Lamb

Spring is here, and what better time to gather fresh ingredients for this easy meal? Lamb is often an overlooked protein, mostly because it’s not something commonly learned to cook, but with its hardy nutrients and this simple recipe it can easily become a family favorite. The key? Quality ingredients that compliment lamb, instead of overpowering it. You can also roast alongside a full head of garlic to use on bread and side dishes!

Ingredients

• Frenched Lamb Rib Rack

• Salt

• Black Pepper

• ½ Cup of Olive Oil

• 1 Bunch of Parsley Leaves

• 2 Garlic Cloves

• 1 Bunch of Rosemary Leaves

• 1 Bunch of Thyme Leaves

• Chopped Parsley for Garnish

Directions

Cooking lamb depends on your preference from rare to well-done. We’ll focus on a medium-rare finish, the internal temperature should register at 135˚F on an instant thermometer.

1. Pat the lamb rack dry with paper towels, season it with salt and pepper all over and set aside.

2. In a food processor or blender combine the olive oil, parsley, garlic, rosemary and thyme leaves and pulse until everything is thoroughly mixed.

3. Using a sharp knife, score the fat layer with a crossed pattern and rub the garlic and herb mixture to thoroughly coat the rack of lamb.

4. Place the rack of lamb in a large bag or container, seal it and leave it at room temperature for a max of two hours. You can also prep your lamb and marinate it overnight in the refrigerator, just be sure to allow it to reach room temperature before cooking.

5. Preheat your oven to 450˚F. Take the lamb out of the container and place it on a baking pan or large cast iron, fat side up. (Be sure to cover the exposed rib bones while cooking so they don’t burn.)

6. Roast the rack of lamb for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reads at 135˚F for mediumrare.

7. Remove the dish from the oven and loosely cover it with foil. Let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting.

8. Cut the rack of lamb and garnish with chopped parsley or your favorite herbs and serve.

Recipe & Photos by Shaylee Wallace Barber

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1. How much of Arkansas is comprised of farmland?

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7. What popular Arkansas crop can produce over 82,300 crayons per acre?

8. How many calves were born in Arkansas in 2022?

9. What popular red fruit is harvested in Arkansas from mid-April through May?

10. What type of chicken lays colorful eggs and is named after a springtime holiday?

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Field Trip Days

I’ve always considered March to be a fickle month.

When I was a kid, the weather was neither cold enough to bless us with a snow day nor warm enough for running wild and barefoot outside. For all its uncertainty, though, March was the perfect time to begin counting down to that magical last day of school. I looked forward to cleaning out my desk and hauling my tired notebooks and eraser-less pencils home for the summer. See ya later dodge ball, long division, and cafeteria milk. I despised all three things.

But not so fast.

Each morning while eating breakfast, I stared at the Keiser Supply calendar on the kitchen wall. End-of-winter days sure passed snail-slow when waiting for spring to arrive. By St. Patrick’s Day, I imagined even the teachers were marking off school days on their Keiser Supply calendars. (Every kitchen had one.)

Yes, Keiser Elementary School saw a particular kind of madness in March, brought about by distracted young minds, at-wits-end teachers, and beckoning fair skies. And because of this, March became the month of field trips.

The best was to the Overton Park Zoo in Memphis. As we left Mississippi County and rolled toward Tennessee, we all sat a little taller in the bus seats and felt a bit special. After all, if the school district thought our grubby group of fourth graders warranted a tank of bus gas, our futures surely held at least a scrap of undiscovered greatness.

In reality, by the time the bus came to a stop near the Turrell/Twist exit on Interstate-55. The whole class was in trouble — punishment to be doled out when we returned to home base — because a group of boys had been wrestling in the back of the bus.

Who started it?

No one would point to the culprit. We were a lot of things, but we were not tattle-tales.

All for one and one for all.

We took our lunch on nearby picnic tables before being allowed through the zoo gates. Lunch was a paper sack affair of baloney sandwiches and barbecue chips that stained our fingertips orange. One of the homeroom mothers, bravely along as chaperone, brought a platter of

By Talya Tate Boerner

homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

“Just take two,” she instructed because if she didn’t, someone would snatch the whole platter and feed them to the peacocks always strutting around the park grounds.

Another March field trip was to the Hampson Museum in Wilson. For such a small building, the artifacts inside held power to blow our young minds. Pottery, rudimentary tools, and ancient bowls formed from our very own delta soil — the idea that early civilizations lived and breathed in Mississippi County all those years ago fueled many a history lesson once we returned to the schoolhouse.

One night after a recent museum field trip, Daddy pulled an arrowhead from his shirt pocket and laid it on the kitchen table. “I found another one,” he said. Over the years, Daddy had uncovered several artifacts while plowing, amassing a small collection he displayed in the den.

“Every day is a treasure hunt when you’re farming, isn’t it?” I said while Momma filled our supper plates with Daddy’s favorite salt pork and fried potatoes.

“Hardly. Come spend a day on the tractor, and let’s see what kind of a treasure hunt it is.”

I thought about my upcoming school day — a math test loomed, but Mrs. Mills had planned no field trips. “Sure, I’ll go with you tomorrow. I don’t have a field trip.” I would gladly trade word problems for an afternoon of farming.

Daddy stared at me with that look he sometimes got. Then he said something I’ll never forget. “So far, your whole life has been one long field trip. School is your treasure hunt.”

I snorted iced tea through my nose, and wondered if Daddy had come down with a fever.

The next morning, I went to school, took my math test, and probably made a good grade, although I don’t remember now. What I do recall is how my fourth-grade class endured the remainder of that school year without morning recess (our punishment for never naming those wrestling boys). Mostly, I remember how a baloney sandwich and a bus ride to the zoo provided enough magic to carry us to summer. Even with dodge ball, long division, and cafeteria milk, school truly was a field trip. •

Talya Tate Boerner, a fourth-generation Arkansas farm girl, has been published in Arkansas Review, Ponder Review, and Writer’s Digest. She blogs at Grace Grits and Gardening and is the author of three novels — The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, Gene, Everywhere, and Bernice Runs Away