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community
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Homegrown & & Homemade words and images Jenny Boulden
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There are only so many Amazon boxes you can take. Sooner or
that (minus the rest of my imaginary Hallmark movie) is
later, if you’re anything like me, you find yourself yearning for
exactly the dream. “I’m born and raised here in Arkansas,”
something authentic. Fresh. Local. Maybe handcrafted, even.
he says over the phone, his three young kids playing in the
Something grown from the earth. Something that supports
background. “I’m really proud of our state and the people in
communities, not billionaires.
it. Being able to highlight other Arkansans and be part of that community, I’m just kinda passionate about that.”
A few months ago, following my Google maps app, I found myself heading from Little Rock on a quest for that sense of
The family business is packed with classic Arkansas charm.
fresh authenticity, to a small place in the outskirts of North
Visitors wander among rows of healthy, flowering plants. I see
Little Rock. Driving slowly around a bend on U.S. 70, there it
stands of fresh fruits and vegetables; shelves of breads, jams,
was, a sign with a bright red truck pointing towards a place I
spice rubs, sauces and baked goods; bins of fried pork skins;
wanted to be: Me & McGee Market.
coolers of farm-fresh eggs, cut herbs and bagged lettuces; and sundry bits of décor like hand-built birdcages and garden
Me & McGee is a year-round, family-run farmers market that,
art with more live plants filling in all the nooks and crannies.
honest-to-God, looks straight out of a Hallmark movie about, say, a big-city lawyer who visited her grandfather’s strawberry
I take pictures of everything. They’re all Instagram-worthy,
farm, fell in love and realized her dream was not tax law, but
and it’s exciting to be somewhere outside, and away from
selling local produce and handmade goods.
the house where my family, like everyone else’s, has been hunkered for months. It’s the experience I’ve been missing,
For Logan Duvall, whose family owns Me & McGee Market,
and the local products I didn’t know I needed.
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
