30 Sep 2025 Person of the Month: Dan Spatz
HOMETOWN:I was born in Fayetteville (Washington County) and was young when we moved to Conway, where I started kindergarten at Second Baptist Church when it was located on Polk Street. But above all else, I am a sixth-generation product of Central Arkansas. My great-great-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Weatherly Moore, was a sheriff in Conway County before Faulkner County existed! On Jan. 3, 1864, Nathaniel mounted his horse and rode to Little Rock to join the Union Army. His daughter, Florra Elizabeth Moore, married Daniel Osbon Harton; they were my great-great-grandparents.
This couple and their business partners played an instrumental role in moving Hendrix College from Altus (Franklin County) to Conway. My great-grandfather, Daniel Osbon Harton, Jr., was one of the first directors on the Board of Conway Corporation. His wife, my great-grandmother, Hattie Gibbons Harton, was the matriarch of our extended family in Conway. The later generations of Hartons, Spatzes, Phillips and Sirias served and influenced public health, education, medicine, ecology, geology and even the trades in Conway, Central Arkansas and beyond. My generation of siblings and cousins has scattered, but we all grew up in Conway and I love that the 501 region feels like home.
FAMILY: My wife, Nadia, and I established our family in Russia and raised our three kids, Alina, 24, Emily, 21, and Daniel, 18, mostly in Franklin, Tenn. I currently split my time between Conway and Franklin, working with our family’s farms, which we call Healthy Flavors.
EDUCATION: I graduated as a Wampus Cat in 1984, earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Hendrix College in 1988 and a Master of Arts in foreign service from Georgetown University in 1991. Later study afforded me a certificate in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University in 2009.
CHURCH: I am a member of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I am a Methodist by upbringing and in practice.
HOBBIES: I tell people that farming is a lifestyle, so it is both a profession and a hobby. It is all-encompassing in many ways. I enjoy learning about the natural world and ways of taking care of our planet. Being outdoors and experiencing nature is a passion. My son started in Scouting as a Tiger Cub and became an Eagle Scout. We had many adventures camping, hiking, canoeing and learning how accessible remote areas are when you have the knowledge and skills to take care of yourself “out there.” I also enjoy cooking when time allows.
WHAT LED YOU TO FARMING? My life journey has taken me around the planet several times. Nadia and I got into farming through an acquisition in 2012. We purchased the first commercial-scale, hydroponic greenhouse farm in Tennessee (established in 1985) and renamed it Healthy Flavors. Healthy Flavors Arkansas is an extension of my family’s legacy farm in the Lollie Bottoms, which we call the Dan-Harton Farm.
WHAT IS THE C.H.E.F. CHALLENGE? [Read an article about the C.H.E.F. Challenge in North Little Rock schools on page 90.] The Children’s Health through Education and Food (C.H.E.F.) Challenge was born out of a six-year personal learning journey focused on getting locally grown and minimally processed foods into our schools’ cafeterias. I owe a lot of the “thought capital” behind this program to Dr. Steve Jenkins, department chair at Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food in Bentonville. He has helped me understand the pivotal role that minimal food processing and the culinary arts play in connecting farms with prepared food in our institutions.
