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State of Arkansas Agriculture 13 on the property. Except for items like flour, sugar, salt and coffee, they raised all the vegetables and fruits that they consumed.
“ My mother, Mary, was a hardworking housekeeper, cook, baker, quilter and canner,” Marvin said.“ She stayed busy canning and freezing, often working over a giant, black pot under a woodfire in the backyard. She worked in the garden, grew flowers, gathered eggs, made lye soap and kept guineas.”
Marvin’ s daughter, Kimberly, remembers her grandmother fondly.
“ When I was 3 years old,” she said,“ my grandma gave me a pink peony and planted it with me in my backyard. I even have a precious picture of this memory. It still blooms to this day, always right around the first of May when decoration is held at McKendree Cemetery, which is where most of the Spicer family is buried.
“ Grandma always made me and my sister homemade coconut cakes for our birthdays,” Kimberly continued.“ She was a creative cook and baker. Our grandfather was deathly allergic to eggs, and she could make anything that should have required an egg, like a cake, taste amazing.”
In 1963, Marvin bought several acres of the family’ s land. After Marvin married Shirley Gattis in 1966, he continued to help with his dad’ s dairy business while he was slowly establishing his own.
Marvin bought more of Hartsel’ s land in 1966, bringing the total acres that he owned to 80. He built his dairy barn in 1980 and sold milk to AMPI, milking 60-plus cows.“ This required getting up at 2 or 3 a. m. every single day to milk, which was repeated again at 2 or 3 p. m.” Marvin said.
He rented several acres of nearby land to process hay for winter feeding and did most of the work himself, working seven days a week for years on end. His wife Shirley also worked tirelessly keeping the household running, cooking, cleaning and raising children, as well as lending a hand outdoors.
Congratulations Arkansas Century Farm Program Inductees! KELVIN BENNETT FAMILY Benton County FRANKIE FITCH FAMILY Madison County
His girls, Kimberly and Karen, helped on the farm on a daily basis. If Marvin got sick, the girls would get up early before school and head to the barn after school to help milk the cows and clean the barn.
“ At a very young age, Kimberly started driving in the fields, not on the road, learning how to drive a stick shift,” Marvin said.“ Farm helpers and I would load square bales of hay. Kimberly and Karen helped with just about everything.”
Karen, has warm memories from her childhood, too.“ One of the best memories growing up on the farm was making homemade ice cream with the fresh whole milk that the cows had just produced,” she said.“ Another fond memory is relaxing outside with the family after a hard day’ s work watching the fireflies come out with the smell of hay lingering in the air and the stars coming out.”
In addition to his love of farming, Marvin also cares deeply about his church – the same church that George helped establish in the early 1900s. Marvin was one of the founders of the Subiaco Crossroads Rural Fire Department. At the time, the community had no fire protection, and Marvin helped ensure the establishment of the local, volunteer fire department.
At 87 years old, Marvin still owns 51 acres of his Grandpa George’ s land. Marvin is still raising vegetables that he sells at the farmers market, and he maintains four bee hives. He now has a cooperative farming relationship with one of his neighbors who pastures beef calves on the land and produces hay for Marvin who retains some of it to sell.
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Marvin continues to pass on the family legacy to his grandchildren, Lorien and Evan Lambert, who reside in Conway, by teaching them farm skills.“ The kids know what it’ s like to pull weeds, water the garden, raise plants from seed, hoe vegetables and harvest potatoes,” he says proudly.
Kimberly is continuing the family legacy on the farm and has worked on the farm her entire life. While she works full-time at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, she is active in the everyday activities on the farm, where she helps her dad.
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“ Farming involves being at the mercy of the weather and other environmental factors that you can’ t control,” Marvin said,“ and requires that the farmer’ s family have tremendous amount of faith, determination, resilience and grit.”
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