Joyce Connelley awarded the NSDAR Conservation Medal

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has named Joyce Connelley of Marshall Grain Company (no. 84 on the Garden Center magazine 2018 Top 100 list) in Grapevine, Texas, as their choice for this year’s NSDAR National Conservation Medal. Connelley was also recognized by the DAR’s Captain Molly Corbin Chapter for her volunteer efforts to promote sustainable landscape practices, including native landscaping, pollinator protection and creating “backyard biospheres.” Connelley was honored, along with other local award winners at the chapter’s annual award ceremony on April 11.

The NSDAR Conservation Medal is awarded annually to an individual with an “outstanding volunteer record in educational work — kindergarten through 12th grade or college level; distinguished teaching; major replanting efforts by an individual; wildlife and nature center work; resource management; youth leadership; conservation related media work; and park establishments.” Candidates must be recommended by a local chapter or state organization.

As Marshall Grain’s VP of Marketing, Connelley regularly speaks to garden clubs, civic groups and community events in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area about organic gardening and related issues ranging from water conservation, habitat restoration, and soil biodiversity, to companion planting and employing beneficial insects in the garden. Through her position with the company, she has supported or initiated many local conservation efforts over the years.

Connelley is also the founder of “Backyard Biospheres,” an effort to teach and promote ways to network residential and commercial gardens into contiguous areas of native habitat designed to support a full range of local wildlife. Her credentials include being a featured speaker at the Dallas County Community College District’s Annual Sustainability Summit.

“I am very humbled and grateful to have been recognized by such a prestigious organization at the NSDAR,” Connelley said. “To receive both local and national honors is beyond anything I could have imagined. Although it is an individual award, it would not have been possible for me to accomplish so much outside the context of the store and our organic message. I’m also grateful to my husband for his support. It takes all of us working together to make a real impact on the local community.”