About Us
Larry (McGee) and Debbie (Me) unintentionally started the Me and McGee endeavor with pecans. Debbie wanted to make some extra money in retirement and decided to utilize the nine large pecans trees on the property. In the fall of 2011, Debbie and Larry began collecting, cracking, and shelling pecans. Larry would take the shelled pecans and set them up on the side of the road.
In the spring of 2012, they decided to plant a small garden. Being outside and working in the garden was an enjoyable way for Larry, Debbie, and their family to do something together. Soon after that, travelers on Highway 70 began to stop by and ask if they could buy produce from the garden. The inquiries led to the light bulb moment. Larry and Debbie could work from home and make a little extra money. Pecans took over again in the fall.
Debbie’s daughter Neva and her husband Steve moved from Maumelle to the property in May of 2014. Being on the property gave them the ability to be more involved with the stand and be there for Larry and Debbie. The ups and downs of battling a terminal disease took their toll on the family. Faced with shutting down the business to which Larry and Debbie committed so much, Neva decided to leave her longtime job at Acxiom to dedicate herself to “the stand.”
Neva has an eye for decorating and picture taking. She has helped create an even more pleasing experience and built up Me and McGee on social media.
Larry passed away on September 11th, 2016. His memory and influence are strong, and the family strives to make him proud.
I, Neva’s son Logan, moved from Atkins, Ar, to join the family business in 2017. Early on, I just tried to learn everything from register to sourcing, pricing, and marketing. With a background in EMS and Real Estate, this was a whole new world. But one I quickly fell in love with.
Being able to spend time with my Grandmother, Mother, Sister, and Kids daily was such a blessing. Looking back, that period was such a pivotal moment for us. We weren’t making enough money to make ends meet and had to supplement with outside work, yet the desire to succeed and serve drove us to push through.
The families’ sacrifice and challenging work got them to the point they were, and it was merely their passion to make others happy as the driver.
In 2017, homemade pickles and loaves of bread were a considerable part of the market. Granny spent her time making as much as possible, trying to keep up.
One of the first things that stood out to me was the wide range in seasonality. To start the year, cool-season crops and plants are everywhere. The beautiful colors in life brought the market into an exciting season. As the season progressed, more plants came in, and more crops came in from green beans and peaches, blackberries, blueberries, onions, and tomatoes. Trying to keep a handle on the product is a full-time endeavor. Dealing with a perishable good has a lot of challenges and is a huge learning curve. Back in 2017, we tried to grow the bulk of what we had available at the stand. Forming is challenging as well as running a retail market. As I spent my first season trying to learn and juggle, it became clear we needed to rely upon and help establish local farmers. If we could focus on marketing and selling, they could concentrate on doing what they love growing food.
As the summer turned to fall, moms and pumpkins started to feel the market. The transition was pretty neat to see. Mom’s birthday is Halloween is a good reason to go all out. The market is filled with Halloween decorations fall colors at the start of the other holidays. As Thanksgiving approached, a big emphasis on coffee and brittle conference happened. It was a huge, huge thing that we would do every year and would go set up at other events to showcase some of the things we offered. We met many other great people at these events that we ended up incorporating their products into the market. A great example is Lake in the Willows Apiary, which is right down the road in Scott.
Adding meet was another game-changer for us. It took us from a production operation to a grocery. The meat raised right here in Arkansas was another partnership that led to Ethan’s better thanks.
Having the meat at the market as grass-fed beef, pastured pork, and pastured poultry, we could visit and tour the farms. Doing this opened up a lot of experience that we could share with our audience. Learning about how the food we ate originated gave us a better connection, and people seem to love it.
Fall of 2017, we embrace the creation of our logo. I wanted to get us something that well meaningful and give us an identity. Larry loved old vehicles, which led to the first layer of logo design. I wanted something uncommon but encompassed the agricultural component core to Me and McGee Market. An old farm pickup seemed perfect. International Harvester made a fantastic pickup model called KB. Feel in love with the idea of them. With white wall tires and sideboards, Kaitlin Schmidt brought it to life. This was the first step to a branding focus that has paid off.
In November 2017, we had our friends Count Porkula set up their food truck for the first time. Little did we know what that would mean down the road.
This first winter at the market aerial worked at honeypots, a local Little Rock pie shop started by our dear friend Sharon Woodson. This left me to run the market mostly by myself while mom and Granny made all the baked goods, candies, and gift packs for Christmas. Going through this experience was great learning, and it is such a pleasure to have experienced growth.
It quickly became evident how important social media was to be to the primary wiki market’s future. I began to learn as much as possible and implement different strategies and ways of interacting with those that follow us.
Going through another year and into 2018, we continue to add new products, new farmers, and additional partnerships. Learning and building relationships are vital to the growth of any business. We quickly learned and laid out that we were more than just trying to sell different local products we work and experience. One of our favorite quotes is, people will forget what you say. People will forget what you do, but they will never forget how you make them feel. We have this written on the chalkboard that we want by every day, and I don’t think that we have lost the fact that the way people feel when they leave me and McGee market is the determining factor in our success.
We did a whole lot of learning in 2018, and it was an enjoyable time. Another addition was my dear friend Nathan Brown and Teaberry Kombucha.
In April 2018, we did the Arkansas mage show at war Memorial Stadium. It was an outstanding show in which we could bring together our little group to show a lot of people are a small market in North Little Rock.
May was another massive boost for us in 2018 with a partnership with scatter Creek Berry Farm in Paragould, Arkansas. This partnership showed us that focusing on selling and the farmer concentrate on growing was a great combination.
Another amazing thing in 2018 was the relationship we established with Austin family farms. They are based out of my hometown of Atkins, Arkansas, and has been a true blessing.
Our first partnership on a food service was with our dear friend Ken Dempsey and his fantastic barbecue. We were able to borrow a truck from our friend Doug Stover of fathead barbecue and put together a special menu of pulled pork brisket pork and beans and a banana fostered banana pudding that still talked about to this day. The excitement of having the food venue aspect of the market opens the door for us to pursue having that more of a staple.
Another relationship made was with our friend P. Allen Smith. Allen’s film crew came and shot an episode at the market and invited Granny to cook a recipe to fill. This was another boost for the market in the exposure being on the Allen show gave us.
Towards the end of 2018 was a learning experience where we tried to get through and do the best we can. The environment and experience that we offered to others were absolutely what set the standard for our business. If we took care of people, people always took care of us.
2019 we made an addition of purchasing a sliver property beside to expand for parking. The parking and added gravel gave us more room to grow. We also added what we now refer to as the pavilion behind the hoop house. In this area, we traveled and added more of a level walking space with a covered area’s added benefit. It significantly changed the feel of the market positively.
Another spring brought in loads and loads of plants that are locally grown right down the road. As I’m writing this, I’m looking back through the pictures, and it is astonishing how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time.
In April 2019, we created the Larry McGee foundation. The foundation’s goal is to provide help and resources for the caregivers of those who have a loved one with cancer. Larry McGee foundation was named after my grandpa, and we believed that it was a way of using our experience to serve others.
One of the first things that we did with the foundation was to create a farmers market challenge. We wanted to bring the community together and explore all the other farmer’s markets in the area. We created a card to fill out the need they visited and get it back to us once completed after seven visits to other farmers’ markets. We gathered sponsors to give away awesome gifts. In July 2019, we were able to get more gravel and create a second driveway for the market our good buddy Bill Whitfield hold it spread it and help us make a better experience for those that visit.
As the market continued to blossom and relationships continue to be strengthened, we were blindsided yet again with my son’s stage IV cancer diagnosis. This news came shortly after we found out we were expecting my third baby.
This is the second time cancer has significantly impacted our family; just trying to catch our breath and get through every day was challenging. But we knew that we needed to use our experience to help other people. The support from the community was incredible, and all the love and prayers made a difference.
My family came together as I spent a large amount of time away from the market and with Lander in Children’s Hospital.
After being turned into the health department for making pickles and salsa, it forced us to reevaluate how we did some things. Pickles and salsa don’t fall under the current cottage food laws and are essentially illegal to make out of the home and sell. We figured out that working with some other established businesses was a win-win. We also brought in serenity Farm bread, a very well-established sourdough bakery in Leslie, Arkansas, just outside of Marshall.
The food trucks became a mainstay. We were able to have some excellent ones like Crepe Coop, Low Ivy, El Sur, Count Porkula, The Southern Standard, Delta Biscuit, and The Lab. Working with these food trucks allowed us to build relationships with some and credible shifts and restaurant tours. Pork rinds became a huge product for us also. Pork rinds were homemade and something that drew to those on the keto diet. We continue to grow and push through till October, when little Roland was born. Still fighting a battle with cancer and raising three children, running a business was quite the juggle. But God answered a lot of prayers, and we were able to push through and come together.
We found the truck our logo was made after and brought it to the market. We have used it for decoration and photo opportunities.
We got through 2019 by the grace of God stronger than we had ever been. With the experience of Lander cancer, we learned so much about nutrition and health. I put Lander on a very special diet, and that made a massive difference for us. With that experience, we put in the addition of a little health food store at the market. This is where we house supplements hard to find food ingredients like yak on syrup, coconut flour, and other things that are now Staples in our daily life. We called this Lander’s Corner after a boxing connotation being a fighter and us being his team is corner. Fast-forward not too far into 2020, Covid hit. This shut down the market in a way that no one anticipated. During that time, we were able to go back on the relationship we were able to make with the P. Allen Smith crew previously. Patrick Green and I came together to make videos that have now evolved into something that has been very much enjoyed.
I, Logan, became a partner in the family business in June of 2017.
I grew up in Atkins, Arkansas, formally known as Pickle City USA, playing football and living the small-town life. I had the privilege of working for my paternal grandfather’s roofing, farming, and working broiler chicken houses. The hard work taught me so much. As I got older, I also worked for a livestock veterinarian, gaining unbelievably valuable experiences.
After UACCM, a community college in Morrilton with Petroleum Technolgy and EMT diplomas, I worked on pipeline construction before getting on an ambulance as an EMT. After some years full time, I got my real estate license working EMS part-time.
A moment that still chokes me up to this day was right before Larry left us; he adamantly and repeatedly asked my mom and grandmother to “get Logan.” Granny told him I wasn’t there. This was in the middle of the night I was living in Atkins. They called me a concise amount of time later, and he had passed away. I fully believe he wanted to tell me to take care of “his girls,” as he frequently referred to Granny and Mom at the market. A promise I was unable to give him but a promise I will keep.
I didn’t know how to help but wanted to carry on my grandpa and give my family security. Nothing as formal as it was still basically a hobby-type side business. I can’t stress enough how hard work it took to get to that point and make no money. This is where hard work and sacrifice by my family willed them to this point. My Granpa passed away that year, and it was a rough go.
My focus was to turn Me & McGee Market into a business that supported the family financially and a way to grow and strengthen the community.
Over the next 2 years, we worked so hard to carry on my grandpa’s memory as we developed a brand and provide visitors with an experience that regenerates the soul. We grew and exceeded any expectations.
My mother and grandmother are the biggest people-pleasers in the world. They will say yes to any request just in the hopes of making everyone happy. Therefore we did a lot of different things. To give better experiences in the market, we had to streamline and simplify. Those were some fun conversations.
Me & McGee Market also needed marketing to identify, and I had a logo created. Larry loved old vehicles. In keeping his memory in mind, we settled on an old farm truck. The International Harvester KB2 stood out. It was not as common as other brands and a distinctly agricultural tie-in. The color red we chose is red, International Red to be exact, and has many significant reasons for being our primary. Being in Arkansas, I, among many others, am huge Razorback fans. Red symbolizes blood and fire, life and energy, passion, sensitivity, strength, and vibrance.
Then July 2019 the biggest gut-punch of my life. My then five-year-old son Lander was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer. The news came ultimately out of left field.
I often say the things I was worried about on Thursday no longer mattered on Friday.
As difficult as the childhood cancer journey was, being open and honest about our experience became a burning passion. I always believed The doctors would do their part; God would do his, and I would do mine in getting Lander through.
Learning, Research, and implementing health-promoting components to life were the daily norm. Me & McGee continued to flourish with the hard work and dedication of the family. The outpour of support was phenomenal.
In 8 months, Lander went from a significant diagnosis through multiple surgeries, chemo, radiation, and massive lifestyle changes to cancer-free. God answered many prayers.
Sharing and helping other implement life-changing things is a huge focus, and we accomplish this through creating videos, interviewing experts, writing blogs, and bringing items to Lander’s Corner.
Covid hit in 2020 and through another layer of challenges. The support we received motivated us to provide a safe place for visitors. We had plenty of pushback but overall, the appreciation for sticking to safety measures prevailed.
The future is bright and the strengthening of the local food system while moving the system towards regenerative ways is the long-term goal resulting in a Blue Zone in Arkansas.
Me & McGee never could have made it to this point without the community’s support. We appreciated all of the love and kindness we’ve received over the years. Thank you