Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy

Bemis Family Farms is a family-owned and operated holding company for three Bemis Family businesses. In 1992, Tracey and Donna Bemis purchased a tree farm and established Bemis Tree Farm with their two sons, Nathan and Jeremy The tree farm specializes in a variety of residential and commercial shade trees, evergreen trees, ornamental trees and shrubs. In 2012, the family business expanded into professional stump removal with the purchase of Stump Busters which then became known as Bemis Stump Busters.

What started as five hives and a means to pollinate their family's existing commercial tree farm, Jeremy and his wife Emily quickly realized there were no beekeeping suppliers in their area and very little sources for information. Not wanting other new beekeepers to have the same difficult experience in getting started, Jeremy and his wife established the Bemis Honey Bee Farm in 2013. As the bee farm’s number of colonies began to grow, so did their business and the demand for more education. Bemis Honey Bee Farm now provides honey bees and offers a wide variety of beekeeping supplies, resources and educational classes. The informative classes are offered year round and range from beginner to queen rearing. The classes are hands-on and taught by qualified and experienced instructors.

Two admission free events are held at Bemis Honey Bee Farm each year that are geared to be educational and entertaining for all. Bee Day is held in the spring and focuses on teaching and bettering beekeeping practices. This is also the day that packaged bees are picked up. The day is filled with food, fun and information for all ages. The number of people attending the event has doubled each year. The Arkansas Honey Festival is held in the fall and focuses on products from the hive, as well as honey production. A honey contest is held and tastings are open to the public. Free classes and activities are offered along with food and information. Both events feature many live demonstrations in the bee yard.

With three generations of farmers and entrepreneurs, Bemis Family Farms looks forward to providing Arkansans with quality products, quality supplies and exceptional services. All three companies are run with the help of friendly and invaluable employees, family members and friends. We invite you to take a drive through the tree farm, visit the Bee Store to pick up a few supplies, and meet new friends in the tree and beekeeping industries.

This week, Kerry sits down for an interview with Nate Coulter, the Executive Director of Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) to find out all about the public library system, and what makes it such a pillar to the central Arkansas community!

Hank Kelley grew up in Heber Springs, AR. He received his Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he graduated with honors. In the late 1970s he went to work in the northwest Arkansas real estate market and during that time met and married former Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey’s sister, Stephanie Dailey. In 1980 they moved to central Arkansas and Kelley got his MBA in Finance and a Commercial Real Estate Brokerage License. He has instructed Real Estate courses at University of Arkansas at Little Rock and created the Endowed Scholarship to enable students to attend the U of A. Kelley is the CEO of Flake and Kelley Commercial Real Estate firm and over the past 35 years has represented clients that include AT&T, Panera Bread, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Acxiom, City of Little Rock Parks & Recreation and the Pulaski County School District.

Born in a small delta town in Mississippi, Percy Malone has lived and understands the problems of the poor; those often overlooked and forgotten. That is why, while serving in both Arkansas houses (first as a representative and later as a senator) Malone sponsored no less than 50 bills with a focus on protecting children, caring for the sick or incapacitated, and helping those living below the poverty line. He is a successful businessman who in 1975, founded the first AllCare Pharmacy in Arkadelphia, AR with a #2 pencil, ledger book, and a typewriter. Today he has over 17 community pharmacy locations across Arkansas. At a time when monopolies and big business are bankrupting smaller companies, Percy has stayed true to himself. Over the last 5 decades he has seen radical change in the pharmaceutical industry: From mom-and-pop drug stores with soda shops in the back to "big pharma"; from pencil and paper accounting to computer pharmacy tracking systems. Percy Malone has successfully led his company, AllCare Pharmacy, through the ever-changing complexities of business and consumerism in the 21st century.

Paul Allen Smith Jr is the oldest of four children, was born on March 12, 1960, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He grew up in McMinnville, Tennessee, in the Cumberland Mountains, where his father’s family had farmed for several generations and also operated an ornamental plant business. Smith calls himself a fourth-generation nurseryman and horticulturist.

The family moved back to Little Rock when Smith was twelve due to a career opportunity for his father, who unexpectedly died just three months later. To cope with his grief, Smith planted a small garden in the backyard and began raising chickens.

After graduating from Little Rock’s McClellan High School in 1979, he attended Hendrix College in Conway to major in biology, with plans of becoming a veterinarian. After graduation in 1983, he earned a Rotary International scholarship to study ornamental horticulture, garden design, and history during an eighteen-month stay at the University of Manchester in England. After returning home to Little Rock, Smith entered the nursery and garden design business with his family. He also became a private tour guide to European gardens and began teaching gardening workshops at the nursery.

Regular appearances on local radio led to a weekly gardening segment on Little Rock television station KATV’s Daybreak show in 1989. It soon led to a syndicated program starting in 2000, P. Allen Smith’s Gardens, which was largely shot at Smith’s historic home in Little Rock’s Quapaw Quarter. The original Garden Home is a 1904 Colonial Revival cottage surrounded by a series of garden rooms designed by Smith. He purchased the house for one dollar and relocated it to a 15,000-square-foot vacant lot. Smith divides his time between that home and his 650-acre Garden Home Retreat at Moss Mountain Farm in Roland, Arkansas, which overlooks the Arkansas River Valley.

At Moss Mountain Farm, Smith promotes the local-food movement, organic gardening, and the preservation of heritage poultry breeds. Smith founded the Heritage Poultry Conservancy in 2009.

Smith is a Certified Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and a board member of the Royal Oak Foundation, the U.S. affiliate of the National Trust of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. His awards and recognitions include the 2009 Arkansas Cultural Enrichment Award from the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, the 2011 4-H Celebration of Excellence Award, the Medal of Honor from the Garden Club of America, Garden Communicator Award from the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA), Horticultural Communicator Award from the American Horticultural Society (AHS), and the Odyssey Award from the Hendrix College Board of Trustees honoring the achievements of Hendrix College alumni.

This week Kerry sits down for an interview with Mr. Tommy Foltz, editorial writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Tune in to hear about the big business of natural gas, Tom's pivot from sports to politics to writing, and about the rocky journey of recovering from personal tragedy.