Category: Nutrition

Community, Connection, Emotional Health, Faith, Farmers Markets, Food Justice, Gratitude, Health, Music, Non-Profits, Nutrition, Opal's Farm, Prayer, Relationships, Service Organizations, Service to Others, Social Justice, Spirituality, Texas Music, Thoughts From the Porch, Unity Unlimited, Inc., Urban Farming

Impatient Patient

gregoryjoel

I’ve learned that if you won’t take a break from work then the universe tends to make you! I’ve spent the last five days in the hospital (more on that in a minute) due to a raging infection that started with what appeared to be a fire ant bite. No one knows for sure but that triggered it. The swelling, redness, and heat have gone down a lot, thanks to some high-powered IV antibiotics. I can actually see my knuckles again! Hopefully I will be discharged from the hospital and switch to oral antibiotics on Monday and then it’s back to the farm.

When they admitted me, they put me in the “Hospital at Home” program. I feel like I should have an ankle monitor since I’m required to stay home (it’s a good version of house arrest), but “facts are not feelings”. This is a wonderful care program developed by Texas Health Resources. They put in all the tech equipment necessary to keep me in touch with my care team. I receive several visits per day from paramedics to help with medications and IVs as well as from Nurse Practitioners. The iPad keeps virtual doctor and nurse contact, and my vital signs are monitored the same as in the hospital itself. They’ve also discovered that patients heal quicker in their own homes. I get it. I never thought I would say that I’ve enjoyed a hospital stay, but the care team is amazing. Texas Health Resources is not only a great sponsor of the farm but a great health partner personally.

Amber and Amanda have done an outstanding job of keeping things going at the farm. This is probably the worst possible time to be down, but they have kept the growing season going strong. They’ve also kept me updated several times a day. They had the best day so far at Cowtown Farmers Market this morning for Opal’s Farm. Amber has done such an incredible job with the biointensive beds that we have more produce than we have storage for. That’s a great problem to have, but it’s still a problem. Thanks to the Rainwater Foundation and Grow SE we will be getting a cargo trailer and a chill bot to handle cold storage issues.

I’ve tried to be a good patient and follow doctor’s orders. I stay in bed much of the day and prop my arm with a pillow. I’ve seen more Netflix in the last five days, than I’ve seen in a year. I’ve been able to catch up on the endless stream of paperwork that comes with the farm. I’ve also had time to reflect on this life I’ve been given. I recently reconnected with my best friend in high school and college, Tim Dwyer. Twenty years and quite a few miles have come and gone since we’ve talked. Facebook provided a wonderful opportunity to connect with each other.

I remember little of my childhood. The mental health folks assume I must have some kind of repressed trauma that restrains my memories. The only trauma I can think of was growing up in the Church of Christ but that didn’t become apparent until my adult years. What I do remember is having loving parents and growing up in a white middle class home, but never quite fitting the mold of all the other kids.

Music made life tolerable, but when I discovered alcohol, the world became alive – at least for a while. Music was always by my side. Alcohol and drugs betrayed me. Tim was my friend through both.

That’s why this reconnection was so important to me. True friends, like Tim, are rare.

Enough of waxing nostalgic for now anyway. I can hardly wait to get back to the farm and although I will have to stay “out of the dirt” for a few days I can still do the tractor work waiting for me there. I will try to be better at posting updates and writing. It’s been quite infrequent over a very long Spring. Amber and Amanda have posted some great stuff on Instagram though. See what’s coming to market there – @opalsfarm.

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What is bio-intensive farming?

gregoryjoel

We are asked that question frequently as we move our first third of an acre to bio-intensive farming versus the “tractor” farming we have done for the first four years at Opal’s Farm.. The simplest definition of “bio-intensive farming” is to use organic methods to achieve “maximum yields from a minimum area of land, while simultaneously increasing biodiversity and sustaining the fertility of the soil.”( http://bionica.org/library/biointensive-method/ )

When properly implemented, bio-intensive farming has the potential to:

  • topsoil at a rate 60 times faster than in nature” (Worldwide Loss of Soil – and a Possible Solution Ecology Action, 1996).

At Opal’s, the third of an acre that is being transformed this Spring has 134 twenty-five-foot beds. Most of these beds are for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants but they also contain some of our carrot crop, radishes, greens, and lettuces/salad mixes. Each of these beds yield produce equal to what our 100-foot rows have done in the past. We hope to add more bio-intensive beds over the coming growing seasons.

Bio-intensive means just that – intensive. Management of these beds requires constant attention, but even the time spent on each bed is lessened as the soil becomes cleaner (less weeds) and healthier. The system is perfect for the home gardener or small producer like Opal’s.

Building the infrastructure for bio-intensive farming is time-consuming. That’s one reason we have not utilized it in the past. We’ve simply not had the labor to build and maintain these beds in the past. Now that we’ve added Amber Carr and Amanda Vogel to our staff, we are able to change our focus, knowing that once the infrastructure is in place we never have to build it again! We’ll be sharing our successes with you over the coming Spring and long-term plans are to have educational classes available to the community.

 

Side Note!

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you how much we appreciate the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). On February 23rd, they came in mass with engineers to help design a more efficient irrigation system for us. We already have drip irrigation for our bio-intensive section, but having more efficient water use over the whole farm is something we’ve been striving for since the beginning.

NRCS and its parent agency, the USDA, have begun to concentrate on urban agriculture and smaller producers in a big way. We can lead the way in developing practices and programs right here for future urban farms in North Texas. We would love to thank our Urban Agriculture representative, Michael Higgins, and our NRCS rep for this district, Michael Brookes, for the extra attention and help they are giving Opal’s and urban agriculture throughout the metroplex!

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Locally Grown!

gregoryjoel

November is almost over. Thanksgiving is behind us, and Advent started today. Here in Fort Worth the rain fell over the holiday to make it the fourth wettest Thanksgiving on record. Still, the sun is shining, the day warming, and the soil is making less mud so it’s off to the farm soon.

Opal’s Farm has had to be in two places at once this month, so we took a break during the rainy holiday weekend. We’ll be at Cowtown Farmers Market (the Grand Pavilion at Veterans Park in White Settlement) this weekend with fresh, local, organically-grown produce – Dinosaur kale, Russian kale, Salad Mix, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Sugar Snap peas, Beets, and more…

We’ll also be at the Funkytown Mindful Market (Texas Wesleyan University) for the Holiday Market on December 10th. Come out and enjoy the activities and wellness vendors there as well as our local Grow SE farmers!

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Day of Service

gregoryjoel

Happy Sunday and the beginning of October! Thank you to everyone who participated in the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health at the Watch Party on Wednesday. We are so thankful attention is being given to the food insecurity and the health issues that stem from it. The conversation has started and now is the time for action – changing how we think about food, giving access to healthy food for everyone, and pursuing food justice. This is 2022 – there is no reason that 1 in 5 of our kids goes to bed hungry each night.

One of the things that stood out to me the most is that the food advocacy community here in Tarrant County is already doing and growing into many of the actions the conference discussed. We are blessed to have a small but vibrant community of food advocates here in Fort Worth and Opal’s Farm is proud to be part of that community.

In support of the White House Conference and the Administration’s drive end hunger by 2030, Opal’s Farm will be hosting a Day of Service at both the Community Food Bank and Opal’s Farm. Not only will be doing some excellent service work at both places, but we will also be walking “Opal’s Walk for Hunger” from the Community Food Bank to the farm, immediately followed by a celebration of Ms. Opal’s 96th birthday! Please come and join the festivities.

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Betting on Spring

gregoryjoel

I was sitting on the porch drinking coffee and listening to the sweet songs of the mockingbird that perches on our catalpa tree every Spring. When I got to the Opal’s Farm, I saw the first robins skittering across the newly turned soil. We had what I hope is the last freeze this past Friday night. The lettuces and Tokyo Bekana that was beginning to sprout survived with flying colors. I feel ready to say that Spring has finally sprung here in North Texas. Then again, it is North Texas…

I love when the robins flock to the farm. I enjoy watching them because I know that they know where the worms are and earthworms are one indicator of healthy soil. I pulled some turnips yesterday and saw the mycelium covering their roots. My kids laugh at me about how excited I get to see such things but quite frankly, I don’t care. Healthy soils mean healthy plants. Healthy plants mean wonderful flavor and maximum nutritional value for our customers and those we serve!

This Spring promises to be a pronounced difference from last year. The historic 2021 ice storm and the uncommonly wet May caused dramatic losses to our Spring crops. Everything seems to be on track this year for a successful Spring for Opal’s Farm. Our compost pile is growing (Thank you Carpool Compost!) along with our wood chips for mulch (Thank you J Davis Tree Company!). In fact, we have wood chips available to our community if anyone needs some for their Spring gardens!

We weren’t at Cowtown Farmers Market this week, but we will be there next Saturday. It’s been hit and miss since the first of the year. We didn’t even get to go to market from the first week in January until last week. It was so good to see so many of our regular customers and share Saturday morning with our fellow vendors. We missed you all! We have some of the most awesome folks who share their Saturday mornings with us.

Our Spring Volunteer Sign Up calendar will be updated today. Stacey Harwood, our Volunteer Coordinator, tells me that weekends are beginning to fill up with large groups coming out so be sure and schedule your groups as soon as possible.

We can’t even begin to tell you how excited we are that Spring is finally here. Come and join us as we work the soil, plant Spring crops, and eagerly await the anticipated abundance Opal’s Farm gives us each year!

As always – you can donate to Opal’s Farm at http://www.unityunlimited.org or at our stall at Cowtown Farmers Market. Every dollar you donate to Opal’s Farm is goes to providing a healthy meal to our neighbors. Every dollar you spend at Cowtown Farmers Market helps those with no access to fresh, nutritious produce have a healthy meal and builds our neglected communities!