34
people
This Patch of Earth words Liesel Schmidt images courtesy Sulphur Springs Truck Patch
F
For Bryan and Meredith Moats of Sulphur Springs Truck
With a background in community and radio work, Meredith
Patch, life isn’t just about claiming their patch of land and
is now currently the co-director of the River Valley Adult
creating their own dream—it’s about enriching that patch
Learning Alliance, an adult education organization that helps
of land, feeding back into the community, and bettering the
adult learners and their families meet self-appointed learning
future all while respecting the past. It’s about sustainability
goals that include obtaining a GED, learning a new language,
and respect for the environment and their fellow man, and it
finding better employment, and helping their children in
all starts with mealworms.
school. Deepening her ties to the community, Meredith volunteers at the McElroy House in addition to serving on the
To be more accurate, there’s more to it than that. And really,
board and helping with the programming there.
it goes back to the days when Meredith was working at Barnes and Noble after college and Bryan traded in the sunny shores
Meanwhile, Bryan is a graphic designer who does freelance
of Hawaii for the green hills of Fayetteville, Arkansas. The two
design, volunteers with the rural fire department, writes
began playing music together, started a band and became close
poetry and is also quite the handyman. On occasion, he still
friends. “Everyone thought we were together, but we weren't,”
does commissioned art pieces and design work.
Meredith recalls. After realizing they needed to be together, they were only engaged four months before marrying. Nineteen
But home life is where it all gets interesting. The parents of twin
years later, the landscape of their lives has changed drastically,
boys and a girl, Meredith and Bryan have a lot to keep them
including the direction of their professional lives.
busy – and then there’s the farm, set on land that has been in DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
