Dripping Springs Garden is the project of gardeners Mark Cain and Michael Crane, along with the numerous interested young people who have come to learn about organic production and marketing each summer since 1984. The Garden is located in southwest Carroll County, about 15 miles south of Berryville and 50 miles east of Fayetteville, tucked into a tiny valley along Dry Fork Creek. Starting with an abandoned blueberry field and several open acres in 1984, Mark and Mike began to carve out terraced, raised-bed gardens with few machines and lots of hard work. Now some 35 years later gardens cover the slopes overlooking the creek and forest, and the garden is a lively workshop of production and learning for the owners and students who come to work with them.
The Farm
The Farmers
Mark Cain came to organic market gardening through his interest in all things biological, with a degree in biology from the University of Illinois and subsequent study in organic horticulture at the Farm and Garden Project of the University of California Santa Cruz in 1978. Mark is an active member of the Fayetteville Farmers Market Board of Directors, and often an invited speaker at local and regional sustainable agriculture conferences. Michael Crane is completely at home in the garden, and doesn’t just have a green thumb; he’s got green fingers, feet, heart, and mind as well. A native of the Ozarks (Springfield, MO), Mike learned gardening from his grandparents, learning to plant and put food up for the winter. Before coming to Dripping Springs, Michael spent years landscaping and working with native stone in the Eureka Springs area. The interns swear by his delicious fresh-from-the-garden cooking!
Organically grown and garden-fresh
For over twenty years, the gardeners at Dripping Springs have been producing organic vegetables, culinary herbs, blueberries, and specialty cut flowers for the popular Fayetteville Farmers Market. Located 50 miles east of Fayetteville, Arkansas, in a tiny valley along Dry Fork Creek, the 5 acre terraced garden is a kaleidoscope of color, smell, and taste during the busy summer months. On most days you’ll find resident gardeners Mark Cain and Michael Crane, with the help of several student apprentices, busy at the work of seeding, weeding, harvesting and marketing of over 30 types of vegetables, 60 species of cut flowers, shiitake mushrooms, and blueberries.