urban farm in austin

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Reprinted from March 2013 Vol. 43, No.3

by Emily Sides

Paula Foore described her mother asclean and healthy, raising her and hersiblings on wholesome, nutritious foods.After she died from cancer, Paula and herhusband, Glenn, became even more fo-cused on making sure their daily diet con-sisted of nutrient-dense, non-toxic choices.

They began planting vegetables inJanuary 2009 mainly for family mem-

bers and the loyal six to eight menwho have been working for their lawnmaintenance business, Texas Trees &Landscapes, since it started in the early90s. Their three daughters moved outfor college and soon the garden startedgrowing larger.

I fell in love with it, said Paula. Wehad always followed our kids around for

sports and all of a sudden we had moretime.

Four out of five greenhouses weretaken down to make room for morecrops to be planted. The chicken coopsthat had been turned into storage forlawn maintenance tools became a coopagain when ducks and chickens werebrought in.

The almost five-acre property istucked between residential houses in

East Austin, directly behind an elemen-tary school and just a block from a police

Urban OasisSpringdale Farm Helps Boost

Austins Local Foodshed


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Reprinted from March 2013 Vol. 43, No. 3

station. Walk a block the other way andthere is a car dealership and an auto re-pair shop. The urban farm is only threemiles away from where Texas legislators

meet at the capitol building.Ellie May, a two-year-old Australian

shepherd, herds chickens into the safetyof their predator-proof coop and greetsguests when they arrive on Wednesdaysand Sundays to buy fresh produce.

When we started a garden, peoplewould stop and ask, can I have that?said Paula of how they began selling tothe public twice a week.

Then one day Jesse Griffiths, ownerof Austin-based Dai Due Supper Club,which serves local produce and meat,

bought some heirloom tomatoes andhosted a dinner on the farm. When heasked about the mountain of big uglies,as Glenn calls heirloom tomatoes, Paulatold him they were not going to be ableto sell them all. He called other localfood enthusiasts at other restaurants.

Within 30 minutes, three separate res-taurant owners were stopping by the farm.Paula thought they might be like the peo-ple from the television show Hells Kitch-en, but said they have been very agreeable.

They now sell to 13 local restaurants.She said they all have something to teach

each other. If they like baby okra, they canpick it early. If they request something,they are willing to experiment and grow it.

LOcaL SOUrcing

We can grow things that stores cantstock because they perish so quickly, saidGlenn. Its a treat to eat something so freshand fragile. Peche [restaurant] is only threemiles away. Thats a tight footprint.

Jessica Maher, co-owner of Lenoirrestaurant, said they have been buyingfrom Springdale farm for two years.Springdale farm is not USDA organiccertified, but Maher and others under-stand their organic methods and phi-losophy exists nonetheless.

We know our farmers, she said.Theyre paying people a living wage andpractice responsible farming.

Maher buys as much as she can lo-cally, including hard wheat, corn meal,honey, eggs, cream and herbs.

You get what you get and it goesaway, she said. Produce is not perfectlooking. Its not a big deal. Cut aroundit. If more people grew their own veg-etables, theyd know thats how they get.It tastes good even if theres a little bit ofbrown.

We can grow things

that stores cant stock

because they perish

so quickly. Its a treat

to eat something so

fresh and fragile. Peche

[restaurant] is only three

miles away. Thats a

tight footprint.

PhotosbyEmilySides


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Reprinted from March 2013 Vol. 43, No.3

Fall is wedding season on the farm.Paula and Glenn raise awareness aboutfarming when they host events on theirfarm that comfortably entertains 150,who gather around living flowers. Nextto where the crops that the guests arechewing were grown and drinking a pearcocktail under the pecan tree, allowspeople to escape, even for just a little

while, to a slower pace.We skipped two generations of farm-ing to the point where we dont even seewhere our food comes from, he said.Once theyre on the farm, they get thefarm-to-table concept.

Flowers are good for pollination, too.Its the best of both worlds, aestheticand utility, Glenn said. Their flowersonce decorated the tables of an Obamafundraiser in Austin. Paula said she hadno idea where her simple farm flowerswere going and not until later that shefound out where they ended up.

The Foores have received support fromthe growing local food community in Aus-tin. Early on, when she had problems withher beets, another urban farm owner cameover to lend a hand. Last year was the beetyear, she told Paula, just keep planting.

Paula said that is the best advice, nomatter what keep planting, becausethere will be bad weather, pest annihila-tion or just an off year.

The Foores and their loyal workerspocket plant more than 70 differentplants. With their small acreage, Paula

said it would be impossible to maintaincrop rotation, but they do rotate usingbrassica in the same plot. The shadefrom tall trees around the property hasallowed them to plant lettuce and otherplants that can thrive with less sunshine.

Though they have not planted trapcrops intentionally, they will let the pestshave mustard greens to keep them awayfrom other crops.

Eating with the seasons, especiallywhen it comes to salads, has become nor-mal for the Foores. Darrelle, one of theirdaughters, said that she has become more

aware of farming seasons. She said sincethe farm started, their food is more inter-esting. She found out she likes sweet potatogreens in salads more than other greens.

Its a pleasure to not go to the store tobuy, said Glenn. When lettuce season isover, Im done eating salads.

They employ a drip irrigation systemusing lawn sprinkler piping that gets wa-ter from a well. The dirt sometimes getswhite from the salt in the water. Since


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Reprinted from March 2013 Vol. 43, No. 3

they are using the sprinkler pipes, itlasts about four years. Their only worryis sediment clogging the pipe. If she no-tices a spot is dry, she knows they have toclean the pipes.

irrigatiOn & FOwL

Glenns pre-existing soil knowledgefrom working on landscaping has beenvery useful to maintaining healthy soil.After analyzing different sections oftheir soil, they will add rock phosphate,

sulfur, green sand and molasses, depend-ing on what the dirt needs.

Their greenhouse is covered in plasticthat helps keep plants warm in the win-ter, but must be ventilated when it is hot,either by creating more openings or us-ing fans. They do not save most of theirseeds yet, but they have been able to savetheir okra seeds.

They also buy heritage chickenbreeds. Their last batch was Rhode Is-

land Reds, which included a few roostersby accident.

Chickens and farming just go to-gether. We feed them fresh greens, Paulasaid, as the chickens pecked at celerybunches nearby. Their eggs taste betterthe more greens they eat.

They buy replacement chicks tomaintain good layers, but they do not getrid of the ones who are past laying age.

They also have Indian Runner ducks,which are good foragers, and KhakiCampbells. They both lay well and ev-erybody loves the fresh eggs. Everymorning they collect about four dozen

chicken and duck eggs, depending onthe time of year.The ducks are an integral part of

their insect management, but they aremessier than chickens because they needwater to get food down. They also have atendency to drop their eggs everywhere.Ducks will eat insects, while chickensunsupervised on the farm will eat theirproduce.

Glenn said his daughters use duckeggs when they bake. Others like themfor curds and meringues because theyfluff up well.

The farm does not receive an agricul-tural tax exemption and the Foores saidthat their taxes increased 800 percentlast year. They have not applied becausethe countys code requires the land to beused for primarily agricultural purposesfor five years. Springdale farm has beenaround for three years.

They hope to receive legislative sup-port from the Food Caucus. (Eddie Ro-driguez, their state representative, start-

ed a Food Caucus, the first of its kindin the United States to help relieve the

food desert by allowing urban farms toexpand their markets.)

Springdale Farm was recognized bythe magazine Edible Austin for 2012sLocal Hero award. The Foores said theyare grateful for the local food communi-ty that has been encouraging throughouttheir transition to urban farmers.

For more information on Springdale Farmvisit www.springdalefarmaustin.com.

We skipped two

generations of farmingto the point where we

dont even see where

our food comes from.

Once [people are] on

the farm, they get the

farm-to-table concept.

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urban farm in austin

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