Category: Communication

Communication, Community, Conservation, Creation, Down On the Farm, Education, Environment, Events, Fall, Food Justice, Hope, Neighbors, Non-Profits, Opal's Farm, Regeneration, Service Organizations, Social Justice, Unity Unlimited, Inc., Urban Farming

New Beginnings at the Farm

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The Fall crops are in and doing well. The greens are abundant, the tomatoes ripening quickly, and the peppers have been supercharged by the cool night air. We’re taking more and more to market and more coming in the next two weeks. Come and see us at Cowtown Farmers Market and prepare for the holidays!

This is our favorite time of year at Opal’s Farm. The mornings have a slight chill in the air. The summer heat is left behind. The high temperatures hover around seventy to eighty degrees – perfect weather for working. There’s time to clean old beds and prepare new ones for Spring.

The pace seems more relaxed and laid-back. It’s also the perfect time to reflect on our mission, our vision, and our values and focus on the truly important things Opal’s Farm is about. Are we staying the course? How can we do things better? It’s a time to refocus, make sure we’re following the best path toward our goals, and look forward to the coming year (yes, friends, it’s only two months away…).

Our Mission Statement

Building vibrant local communities through regenerative urban farming, faithful gathering, and lasting fellowship

Our Vision

We imagine a world where diversity is evident, opportunities are plentiful, and divisions are crossed, all in pursuit of lasting unity. Opal’s Farm creates community empowerment through food. Through our work we hope to generate a replicable model of community building, engagement, and empowerment.

In keeping with our Mission Opal’s Farm is proud to be part of the Farm Manager Apprenticeship program starting on Wednesday, November 3rd. Grow SE, with a grant from the United Way, is beginning a nine-month Apprenticeship Program for three new farmers from Southeast Fort Worth.

They will be working side by side Grow SE farmers to learn how to plan, build, and grow their own crops using regenerative, organic means of building healthy soil and healthy plants. They’ll each build their own fifth of an acre plot, from planting to harvest, and then market their crops. They will take the knowledge and experienced they gain to their respective communities in Southeast Fort Worth – joining the urban agriculture movement to bring healthy fresh produce to neighborhoods that need it most.

We’ll be introducing you to the inspiring young men in coming posts and keep you updated on our progress.

We’d love to have you come out (weather permitting) on Wednesday, November 3rd at 10:00 AM and celebrate the beginning of the Farm Manager Apprenticeship Program with us. Come meet our new farmers and be a part of the Opal’s community.

Business, Choices, Communication, Community, Culture, Emotional Health, Family, Generations, Monday Mornings, Relationships, Seeing Others, Simplicity, Technology, Thoughts From the Porch, Writing

Technology? Yes and No…

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(portions are rebloged from October 2018)

I was sitting here sorting through the various business cards and it occurred to me that I need a new Rolodex. Some of you know what I’m talking about: that circular file that holds your contacts, addresses, and phone numbers. I’m not sure people use them anymore. Everyone else seems to organize such things online. I guess my friend Gary was right. I’m a dinosaur…

It’s not that I’m technologically illiterate, mind you. Heck, I write and post a lot on social media for Opal’s Farm. It’s just that keyboards and screens feel so impersonal at times. Heck, I lost my phone one time and couldn’t call friends or family because their numbers were stored by the phone’s contact list. I can still remember my very first home number – GL (short for the Glendale exchange)1-0249 (and yes kids, there was a time when they had letters instead of numbers). I could tell you what part of town someone was calling from by the prefix, which was sort of Caller ID in the sixties. One memorized the important numbers in one’s life, wrote them in a phone and address book, or filed them on a Rolodex for future reference. Nowadays, they all go to the phone by name instead of having to dial. I was married two years before I could tell you my wife’s phone number. It was filed away by name on a contact screen. Sometimes smart phones make me feel dumb…

Don’t get me wrong. I love emerging technology and all the new toys. They make life, professionally and personally, so much easier. The world has become much smaller as a result, too. It’s nothing to be able to communicate, both audibly and visibly, with folks on the other side of the world at a moment’s notice. I usually find research on the internet (ever careful to check facts and sources) preferable to the long hours spent in the library, but the library smells of books and newsprint unlike the sterile internet. Unfortunately, technology is frightfully impersonal at times and that can be brutal on relationships.

As I’ve grown older I’ve come to believe that everything in life is about relationships. For all the connectedness technology enables, it inhibits real relationship. One night shortly after Margaret and I started dating, she asked me to come to ‘family night’ at her house. As we all found our seats in the living room and turned on the movie, it became apparent that no one was either talking or watching the movie. Instead, everyone’s face was buried in a phone screen. I think they were texting each other across the living room. Just so you know, we have great, loving relationships with all our kids, but after that evening I became increasingly aware of the downside of technology – stifling relationships.

I’m not a big ‘phone guy’. I value ‘face time’, and not the iPhone kind, over phones calls, texts, and emails. One of the best pieces of advice Jim, my mentor ever gave me was to spend more time watching and listening. The experts say that much of our conversations are non-verbal. We say more with our body language and actions. Just ask my wife. She hates it when I sigh or roll my eyes and still say okay…

Something special takes place between people when they sit and share together. The closer my relationship, the more one is aware of the non-verbal cues between one another. My non-verbal cues often indicate a far deeper meaning than what I say. They often turn my “everything’s okay” into “what’s really going on”. As a result, my relationship with others, and with myself, deepens.

The ultimate face time takes place over the dinner table. In certain cultures, a meal is the most intimate offering one can give to another. To paraphrase another friend, “I don’t get to choose who I am kind to, but I do get to choose who I have dinner with”. Many of my best memories are of meals shared and friendship enjoyed. I guess it’s no wonder that Jesus spent a lot of time hanging out with people over the dinner table…

I’m okay being a dinosaur. What all the great technology doesn’t do is help me be a better human being. I need other folks to help me get there. I need relationships and they are difficult to find inside a cell phone of computer screen. So before I get to the meeting, I think I’ll try the office supply store and see if they have a Rolodex…

Photo by Mike on Pexels.com
Communication, Community, Courage, Donations, Down On the Farm, Fall, Fighting Poverty, Food Justice, Gratitude, Neighbors, Non-Profits, Opal's Farm, Seasons, Trinity River, Unity Unlimited, Inc., Urban Farming, Volunteers, What Can I Do

The Unofficial End of Summer

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It’s nine o’clock on Labor Day evening. A cool front blew through yesterday and the low nineties seems like a harbinger of the coming Fall. The nights need to cool off a bit before we can finish the fall planting, but there’s still plenty to do at Opal’s Farm.

August is one of our slowest market months of the year. It’s too hot to have much of a harvest. The tomatoes go dormant awaiting the cooler nights of Fall. We skipped market for August and donated the August harvest to some of our neighbors.

Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. We’re back at Cowtown Farmers Market. We missed both our fellow farmers and our loyal customers! It was great to see you all again. We’ll be there this coming Saturday with Purple Hull Peas, tomatoes, and five varieties of peppers.

We have a huge demand for our Purple Hull Peas. Half and full bushels are available but you need to place an order earlier in the week so we’ll have them Saturday. Orders will be filled as they come in. Please feel free to call Opal’s Farm at 817.333.8367 and let us know!

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to Jamie, Melissa, and the brave volunteers who ventured into the Texas heat to help trellis tomatoes, weed, and harvest this summer. we love and appreciate you all so much.

The days are getting shorter (and hopefully cooler) and our volunteer schedule is picking up. We hope to see you soon at Opal’s Farm.

Belief, Communication, Community, Faith, Grace, Opal's Farm, Quotes, Spirituality, Thoughts From the Porch, Writing

”Sometimes growing in God’s grace resembles fumbling around in a dark and shadowy room, unable to decipher what is right in front of our eyes.” – Angela Denker

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I’ve taken a much longer break from writing than I intended. The farm has been unbelievably busy this year. I pray I haven’t expanded production too quickly given our labor needs. I’ve missed being here, being with you all, online. I still have time to read and catch up with many of you but often don’t have time to respond in the way I’d like. Now that planting season is over in for a couple of weeks (June 1st starts planting for Fall!) I’m hoping to sit down at the trusty old desk and touch base with you all.

I’ve tried to put out some of the quotes and articles I’ve run across lately. You know, just to be somewhat present…

Photo by Tabitha Mort on Pexels.com
Communication, Community, Conservation, Creation, Donations, Down On the Farm, Education, Environment, Fighting Poverty, Food Equality, Food Insecurity, Food Justice, God's Economics, Health, Neighbors, Non-Profits, Nutrition, Opal's Farm, Regeneration, Responsibility, Service Organizations, Service to Others, Tarrant Regional Water District, Transformation, Trinity River, Unity Unlimited, Inc., Urban Farming, Volunteers, What Can I Do

Earth Week Celebrations

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Join Opal’s Farm and one billion people from over 193 countries in celebrating Earth Day, April 22, 2021.

Earth Day started in 1970 to increase awareness and mobilize people to address environmental issues that affect our health and well-being all around the world. Opal’s Farm is proud to be a part of the movement to make our environment, our world, and communities a better place. Earth Day is every day at Opal’s Farm!

Homepage
http://www.earthday.org


When we began Opal’s Farm two years ago, we made a commitment to

-Building vibrant local communities through regenerative urban farming, faithful gathering, and lasting fellowship. 

Why Regenerative Urban Farming?

The first component of regenerative farming is soil health. Healthy soil makes for healthy plants and healthy plants make for healthy people. Soil rich in nutrients means plants richer in nutrients – not to mention the flavor is so much better than those raised with industrial farming methods. Building the soil health is the foundation for the other components or regenerative agriculture – biodiversity, water and cleanliness, and soil carbon sequestration.

My name is Greg Joel. I’m the Farm Manager here at Opal’s Farm. People often ask if we practice “sustainable” farming. The answer is a resounding no! We practice regenerative farming. There’s a huge difference!

“Sustainable” implies keeping things (in our case, the soil) the way they are – to keep them from deteriorating and saving them for future generations to use.

“Regenerative” goes beyond merely preservation of the existing environment. It means to leave it better than you found it – building resources for future generations!

Opal’s never uses chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. These all degrade soil health over time. That’s why so much land has become non-productive. That’s also why many of the vegetables we love have lost the true flavor we love them for.

Texas soil requires amendments such as compost, other organic matter, and organic fertilizers to build healthy soil and increase vegetable yields. Soil needs to be fed just like we do to be healthy and productive. The difference between soil and plain old dirt is that soil is a vibrant environment full of life – microbes, microorganisms, and bacteria that feed the soil and in turn, feed the plants that live there. Dirt is not – it’s void of the living things that make up what we call soil.

We are so grateful for the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) for providing our five acres for urban farming. One of the ways we show our gratitude is farm organically. The last thing we want to do is use substances that run-off into our beloved Trinity River and contaminate the water we all depend on.

This week of Earth Day celebration reminds us of the responsibility we have as good stewards of the land we’ve been given. We’ll be talking more about regenerative urban farming and about the other components of our mission during the coming week.

None of what we do at Opal’s Farm – regenerative urban farming, providing access to healthy, fresh produce in neighborhoods devasted by food apartheid, and uniting the surrounding community could be accomplished without your ongoing support. The notorious February freeze may have been an obstacle for the Spring season, but we’ve come through with flying colors because of the generous support of our friends and neighbors.

Spring has blossomed at Opal’s Farm and we need your support more than ever. Please give to our work with your donation to Opal’s Farm at www.unityunlimited.org/opalsfarm

Join us tomorrow as we get closer to Earth Day 2021!

Thanks for your help Diane!