Who Are The People in Your Neighborhood: Anita Davis, The Bernice Garden

One of the intentions I had when starting this blog was to promote the businesses and people in SoMa that contribute to make it such a wonderful area to live in.   Something that came to mind and stayed was something I remember from my childhood.  On Sesame Street they use to do a segment on there called Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood, which would feature different people and the jobs they do.  It was meant to teach children that there are all sorts of things to be when you grow up and they are all important.  So I will call these posts Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood!  Catchy tune huh?

In deciding who I would feature first it was a no-brainer that Anita Davis be the first person I did a post about.  I credit her as the mother of the rebirth of this area.  Now I realize that there were people living here and doing things to help but let's not overlook her impact because it has been fairly recent.  In thinking that through I used the "if, then" approach.  If she hadn't done this or that then would we have what we have here in SoMa today?  The answer is NO. 

I got to sit down with Anita on Wednesday May 22nd at The Bernice Garden. 

We had a wonderful visit, talking about what got all this started, where we are now, where are we headed, and what if anything is on her wish list for the future.  Anita is a warm, gracious lady, and a bit shy.  Not shy in the way that someone is shy when they are unsure of themselves, but shy in that she doesn't see what all the fuss is about her.  She shared with me that having her photo taken is not something she has always been use to but it is happening more and more.  Even though she has become the face of SoMa in a way, it hasn't been by her choosing and she was quick to point out other people that are and have been making SoMa what it is today.  Joe Fox of Community Bakery, Mary Bray with Bray Sheet Metal, Steve Edwards with Edwards Food Giant, Carl Miller, Dr Nayles of Nayles Medical, and the community of quiet individuals that prefer to stay in the background were pointed out by Anita as making important contributions to the area. 

Originally from Mufresboro,  Anita came to Little Rock 25 years ago but was living in Nashville in 2005 at the time of the community meeting she attended in Seattle.  As wonderful as SoMa and The Bernice Garden have turned out, there was no master plan in mind when she bought the Bernice Building in 2004 where Boulevard Bread now calls home.  Her mother had passed away and she had a need to move things to Little Rock so that was the reason for buying the old building.  "That's all in the world it was," Anita said.  But this simple act started a wonderful string of real estate purchases which would shape SoMa into what it is today.  The Bernice Building built in 1923 was her first building, then the lot where The Bernice Garden would be created, then the Lincoln Building from 1906 where the Green Corner Store is, next the former Sweden Creme location where the Root Café is now located, and finally the building which was built in 1946 that will house the Esse Purse Museum.  The purse museum to open soon will house Anita's extensive purse collection and a museum store. 

A community planning meeting in Seattle in 2005 got her to thinking about what she could do to this area that would attract more people.  When I asked her if she went to the meeting with the intention to find out what she could do to this area to improve it Anita shared with me:  "Well just I had an old building in an area that needed some help.  I was also really interested in the "green" movement,  which means to me walk ability for an area, having goods and services so that you don't have to go west and drive in your car all that long.  It seemed like it was just a wide open space.  Nobody else wanted to be here very much.  There weren't people clamoring for any property here.  So it got my wheels turning about what needs to be here."

There are 3 Bernices that are important to Anita.  Her grandmother, the first building she bought in SoMa is called the Bernice Building (1923), and then of course The Bernice Garden in reference to the other two.  The Bernice Garden, built on the site of a burned-out Captain D's restaurant, is a sculpture garden and event space filled with the works of local sculptors and native plants.  Being that Anita is an artist it was a natural fit for the space and so much more interesting than just a park.  "We had to establish something that felt comfortable," Anita shared in reference to the fact that the area had once been a place where people were worried about crime and perhaps scared.  The garden is privately owned by Anita but a very public space at the same time, home to our beloved The Bernice Garden Farmer's Market each Sunday, Food Truck Night on the second Thursday of each month, and many other events both public and private through its event space program.  Not to be missed is the 3rd annual Arkansas Cornbread Festival on Saturday November 2, 2013!  In short, The Bernice Garden is the mascot of SoMa if there ever was one.  While we visited we were delighted by the aroma of jasmine blooming that was climbing up one of the sculptures.  The sculpture uses telephone poles to represent connecting people.  How fitting that we are all connected by such a beautiful space. 

My impression is that Anita Davis doesn't have a master wish list or a grand scheme for The Bernice Garden and SoMa.  When asked, it seems like she is just pleasantly surprised by all that has been accomplished and couldn't ask for anything more.  We talked about what we would like to have more of and what we would like to maybe see happen, but with this part of Anita's life it seems that it is best guided by serendipity and I think that is just how it should be.  I am a big believer in fate.  Fate, and ok necessity, brought Anita to SoMa in 2004 with the purchase of the Bernice Building and that led to me moving into a wonderful area in 2013.  Now that is not to say this just all happened without a lot of hard work, but that it wasn't guided by some master plan but by a need for a better place. 

Thank you Anita for needing a place to put things and creating a place where others come to put things, their hearts, their roots, their dreams, their smiles, their appetites for life and community.

All photography rights shared by Brian Kelley/Imagine Photography

Great Sunday in SoMa

As with all of my Sundays living in SoMa thus far, Sunday May 19th was a great Sunday.  I've come to look forward to The Bernice Garden Farmer's Market each week.  But the 19th was the first dinner party at my new place and I was on a mission to add some local produce! 

And this past Sunday was the return of Mylo Coffee Co from a thankfully short one week break.  Is it the coffee or the pastry I love, or is it getting to talk about them?  This Sunday I was the very first person in line!  It was a goal to finally get a pear-filled kouign amann and I did.  They always sell out in the first 10 minutes or so.  After I got out of church I came back through the market on my way home and got to stop for a visit.  The line at the booth was gone but so was the food, except for a sample of the overnight bread.  Very good indeed. 

Laughing Stock Farm has a booth I always enjoy.  Sunday I was looking for things to add to the menu for dinner that night and was intrigued by their beets which sadly I don't remember the variety.  They were suppose to be sweeter and they were striped on the inside!  So in my bag they went. 

Dinner was great that night.  Great company and a menu that came together to work with the warm bit of weather we had that weekend.  I served my hummus and kalamatta olives.  First course was a chilled pea soup, followed with a salad for dinner.  The salad had roast chicken, organic salad mix, goat cheese from Kent Walker Artisan Cheese, pickled beets, poached pears, and glazed pecans.  The dressing was based with the vinegar from the beets.  Dessert was a strawberry tart.  I glazed the tart shell with chocolate ganache before filling it with orange pastry cream. 

Yeah, Sunday was a good day.  But they always are here in SoMa!

All photography rights shared by Brian Kelley/Imagine Photography

15th Street Garden Cookout

Another highlight of my day on Sunday May 12th was a cookout with my fellow gardeners at The 15th Street Garden. 

I am extremely fortunate to be able to have a garden plot and even more so to have one so close to my loft.  Gardening has been something I have enjoyed for the past 13 or 14 years.  It nourishes my soul, it's fun, it's a good reason to get outside and enjoy, and it is something to share with others.  As a gardener you always meet other people that enjoy it like you do, but each of them are different and you learn from them.  Gardeners are wonderful people...they encourage, share, and motivate. 



The 15th Street Garden is an asset to SoMa and a personal asset to my life here.  I was introduced to Sarah Smith by my landlord Jill Judy.  Sarah is a key person in the development of the garden and its organization.  And she brought some great napkins to the cookout...green seersucker with dogs on them.  We talk and visit, we cultivate, we weed, and we harvest.  We cultivate and we harvest a sense of community from that garden soil. 

Sunday was a treat.  It was a treat to meet other gardeners that I hadn't met yet.  And it was a treat to eat their food, drink beer with them, and hear their stories.  I had a Vidalia onion dip that I couldn't keep my chips out of...and neither could any of us.  One couple brought their grill and we all got to put things on the grill that we had brought.  I enjoyed a strawberry-mint water so much!  My contribution to the potluck was a pound cake and strawberries infused with a rose syrup.  As it turns out, pound cake is good grilled!  I have to apologize for not taking more photos of my fellow gardeners and their dishes.  I just focused too much on talking and eating which is exactly what a cookout is for!  Right?

All photography rights shared by Brian Kelley/Imagine Photography

1st Annual Strawberry Fest at The Bernice Garden

Sunday May 12th 2013 was some kind of awesome day!

First of all it was Mother's Day and I got to spend it with my Mom, showing her around my new neighborhood SoMa!  And Sunday means The Bernice Garden Farmers' Market of course. 

But we also had the 1st Annual Strawberry Fest at The Bernice Garden!  It was a great event and the turnout was wonderful due to the fantastic weather we had and that it was also Mother's Day.  In addition, my fellow gardeners and I at The 15th Street Garden had a cookout later in the afternoon.  That will get its own post. 

 

 

 

I have loved strawberries ever since I was a very little boy and was just beginning to learn to talk.  My family had gotten a new fridge and there were strawberries in it that I was excited to show to family members that had come over for some type of get together.  I would lead them by the hand to the fridge, open the door, and say "staw-beh" or something like that.  Of course I remember none of this and am recounting this story that my mother has always enjoyed telling.  So, you can see that I have always been a fan of that beautiful red orb of magic we call a strawberry!


Of course a strawberry fest wouldn't be complete without strawberries and there were many vendors to choose from.  One that has become a favorite week after week during this year's strawberry season has been Barnhill Orchards.  Theirs are perfect examples and taste like a strawberry outta taste!

There were our vendors that we have come to depend on each Sunday, but Boulevard Bread was setup with all sorts of strawberry-related treats.  I wanted to just get one of everything!  This was good because Mylo wasn't there due to an out of town graduation.  Mylo we anxiously await your return!!

 

In addition to all the great vendors there were activities for the kids to enjoy! 

I am sure this event will be a repeat.  My friend Sarah Smith that I garden with at The 15th Street Garden was one of the volunteers and I thank her for the dedication to put on such a wonderful event.  Thank you Sarah!!

 

All photography rights shared by Brian Kelley/Imagine Photography

Getting Settled in More and More and Writer's Block

I just wanted to update on what all that's been going on.  It seems like I have had a bit of writer's block.  The last week or so has been a blur due to many events that I have cooked for lately and just life in general.  I realized I had not put up a new post in a bit but that is ok and things are wonderful here in SoMa.  Even with our odd weather I have been able to enjoy my bike quite a bit, learning that a bike is a wonderful way to explore SoMa and downtown Little Rock.  May is bike month afterall! 

I continue to meet new and wonderful people, amazed at how each of them are different yet similar in that they are creatives for the most part and work to make this a better area than when they found it!

Very soon I will begin a series of posts on merchants and influential people here in SoMa.  When I say influential I don't mean that they are influential in that they are big shots with power, rather that they are people that have a profoundly positive impact on this area in their own way.  I'm very excited as to who is going to be first and that is all I am going to say...it's a surprise!

As I sit here typing my writer's block goes away completely and I think of all the many things I want to tell you about, but at the same time I want to show you and so I shall hold off until I can get photos as well.  A long time friend, and former boss, shared with me tonight how much she enjoy the blog, the writing, and the photos!  Stacey thank you so much for sharing that with me!  It's so nice to hear that people are reading and enjoying the blog.  Do you remember that part in Julie&Julia where Julie talks about just writing her blog not knowing if there is anyone even reading it?  That is where I have been, just writing for my own enjoyment and wondering if there are people enjoying it as well. 

So tomorrow is Mothers' Day!  Also we are having a potluck at the 15th Street Garden so I will have photos to share of that.  More info to come!