Little Rock's Vantage Points

April 28 - May 4, 2014

Natural State Horticare: Growing organic ideas and lawns

By Becca Bona

The smell of Earth mixed in with the sweet aroma of cut grass fills the air at 5305 Kavanaugh, the location of the newly minted community garden project in the Heights. The force behind the project follows two friends’ idea to make money, initially just by cutting grass. 

The idea eventually spun into a full-fledge business now known as Natural State Horticare.

“We get some funny looks when we tell people we do organic, only,” said Andrew Kenley, co-owner of Little Rock’s newest full-service organic lawn-care service. Kyle Melton, his partner-in-crime chimed in, “We had an idea that we wanted to install gardens in people’s backyards, but we didn’t think we were really going to do it.”

It turns out the two have been able to really do it, and then some. 

Melton and Kenley both grew up in the Central Arkansas area and attended Central Arkansas Christian. Kenley had a stable career as the art director for the Raney Information Group thanks to his studies in graphic arts and business from UALR. Melton was in the process of going to nursing school.

The two have always been at home outdoors, so when Kenley stumbled upon Little Rock Urban Farming’s (LRUF) plots near his apartment he started asking questions. 

He explained, “I met Ben Matthews, … and I asked him what was going on and he told me about LRUF, and I just kind of started showing up and bothering him for a while.” Kenley started working as an apprentice for the garden shortly after. 

LRUF is a community based food enterprise specializing in the production of organic fruits, vegetables and cut flowers for local markets. The business is dedicated to urban organic food production and the urban agrarian lifestyle.

Melton, at the same time, needed a place to live. Together, the two took a chance. 

“I was literally placed with a decision, do I enter nursing school or do I become an apprentice, both were full time. Through thinking I decided that LRUF made more sense to me, personally.”

The apprenticeship gave the pair a solid canvas focusing on organic techniques and introducing them to the local farmer’s market circuit. Unfortunately, it eventually came to an end. 

Kenley said, “We thought, ok, what’s next?”

Melton laughs as he looked at Kenley and said, “Wait one step back from that. We were completely broke. I had this thought, I’ll cut some grass.”

In that same vein, Melton was originally going to ask a different friend to help him out, but when he asked Kenley to make a flyer, they got to talking and formed an idea. 

The planning progressed quicker than the two could have ever expected, and before they knew it, they were purchasing a truck to haul lawn care equipment.

Last July found them signing paperwork at the dealership. “When we were waiting on the vehicle, we were brainstorming back and forth and came up with the name,” Melton laughed. 

Natural State Horticare, according to Kenley, made sense because, “We’re native boys, and we were just thinking, how do we identify with the people that would be our client base?”

Melton added, “We knew we wanted an organic approach and we wanted play on that a little bit.”

Initially cutting grass was the focus, but the idea quickly expanded. 

For Kenley, running the Little Rock Half-Marathon three years ago was enough to get him interested in local, organic food and health in general. Once Melton, along with Kenley, served his apprenticeship with LRUF, the two were hooked in having a local, organic impact. 

“The next key idea we had, making raised beds, that was an organic transition,” explained Kenley. 

The services offered by Natural State Horticare are varied, ranging from building chicken coops, teaching people how to care for chickens, cutting lawns, making raised beds, to organic fertilization. 

The scope is wide, but the two like it that way. Particularly, their interest in organic fertilization has grown. Following projects such as the Harvard Soil project, they have researched and learned countless facts, and now they’re ready to share it with the community.

Kenley explains commercial fertilizers to his future clients like this: “It’s kind of like models and the trend to have ultra-skinny as beautiful. … People are thinking the same things about their lawns. This sterile, pristine, fairway of a lawn is what is ideal. We’re trying to say that’s not right, natural or healthy to be bulimic. Weeds are cool and they’re healthy. It’s cool to love your curves and it’s cool to love your weeds.” 

Kenley and Melton work to truly treat the soil. Where three inches of roots might grow with commercial fertilizer, up to 10 inches could grow from their regimen. 

Melton added, “You get to the point where you don’t have to fertilize as much because you’ve created a sustainable lawn.”

On top of providing these varied services they’ve also started up a new community garden in the Heights neighborhood. Leasing the property next to the Heights Clinic, the two have prepared plots for local residents to learn the ways of organic gardening. 

The for-profit plots come with access to Karl Heinbockel, the business’s Director of Backyard Farming. Dubbed as “the hardcore brains behind the gardening aspect” by his employers, Heinbockel will teach garden renter’s once a week, and will be available by email for questions. The garden is provided with organic fertilization provided by Natural State Horticare. 

This ‘guided gardening’ model is intended to bring in the teaching aspect that the two want to see more of in the future. Kenley said, “Once a week you get to learn about your cycle as you go.”

Beyond already sinking into the community with the Heights Garden project as well as several backyard gardens that have been finished over the past month, the two believe the future looks ripe for success.

Kenley hinted, “We think we’re onto something. Maybe three to five years from now, we will do more teaching to schools and people.”

For now, if you’re interested in the services offered by Natural State Horticare, check out their Facebook page, as well as the Heights Neighborhood Garden’s page. 

You can also visit their website for more information: http://naturalstatehorticare.com