Category: Trinity River

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Hold On, Spring’s Coming

gregoryjoel

Down on the Farm

What an incredible week! Opal’s Farm truly is a community effort. We’re so proud to be a part of such a vibrant community; people committed to food justice and healthy food for all. Things have really been happening, especially since Giving Tuesday. Thank each one of you who donated on Giving Tuesday, both through our social media pages and through our website, www.unityunlimited.org.

Tender young growth tips of Austrian winter peas. The greens taste like sweet sugar snap peas, but have the texture of lettuce. The pea pods are also good young, or left to mature and used as dried peas, can be used to make an unforgettable split pea soup.
Austrian Snow (or winter) Peas

Winter doesn’t slow us down at Opal’s Farm. The Kohlrabi seed generously provided by The Taste Project is coming in as well as sugar snap peas, green peas, spinach, cabbage, and carrots. We’re also trying a new cover crop this winter – Austrian Snow Peas.

What are those you ask?

Austrian Snow Peas are part of the legume family. They help fix nitrogen into the soil and their long-term flowering is attractive to pollinators. They grow slowly in the winter, withstanding harsh frosts, but grow quickly in the Spring helping with weed control. Not only are they a great cover crop, they also provide great winter greens. The shoots and young pods taste like sugar snap peas with a texture like lettuce. Most of us aren’t familiar with them, but area chefs will be delighted!

Building the Soil

We’ve also been busy preparing for Spring planting. Believe it or not, it’s only two months until potatoes and onions go in! Thank you, Charlie Blaylock (Shines Farmstand), for helping us in preparing and planning for our Spring crops.

Good soil health is critical for regenerative, organic farming. The best way to build the soil is through composting. We’ve been busy spreading compost over our beds with light hay covering to aid our Spring crops.

Spreading compost to improve soil health

Brittany Rosenberg and the City of Fort Worth Code Compliance Department’s Rethinking Waste program has helped us with picking up compostable food waste from places like Sur La Table (thanks Danielle!). They’re working on other sources to help with our composting as well as limiting what goes into our local landfills. Talk about an all-around win-win!

The Tarrant Area Food Bank has been a great source of support for Opal’s Farm. Lauren Hickman works with their teaching garden and the Cooking Matters program at TAFB. With Lauren’s assistance we are now picking up compostable food waste from the Culinary School of Fort Worth. We can’t even begin to put into words how grateful we are for Lauren and the Culinary School of Fort Worth. Their help is making a huge impact on what we will be able to do with our Spring planting!

***Just so you know… the Culinary School of Fort Worth took the initiative to begin composting on their own. They provided an easy system for TAFB and Opal’s Farm to pick up compost and return the containers on a regular schedule. We’d love to talk to your store or restaurant.

Last, but most certainly not least, we are so thankful to be a part of Grow Southeast. A very special thanks to the Healthy Tarrant County Collaboration and Roderick Miles from County Commissioner Brook’s office for their commitment to urban farming and the health and vitality of our neighborhoods. This week they helped us secure an end-dump truckload of compost from Silver Creek Materials. I can already taste the tomatoes that will be growing in those beds this Spring!

Thank you Tarrant County Healthy Collaboration!

I could go on and on. The list seems endless. Thank you so much for the love and support you’ve brought to us in this, our first year of farming. We’d love to have you come out and “play in the dirt” with us. Go to the Opal’s Farm page at www.unityunlimited.org for a volunteer sign-up or to donate today.

Come on down. Overalls are optional…

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This Just In…

gregoryjoel

Several weeks ago we were privileged to be a part of the Blue Zones Project Fort Worth’s “TransFORTmation” campaign. The first You Tube video became available this morning. We couldn’t wait the share it with you. It was perfect timing as always – #GivingTuesday!

Opal’s Farm is proud to be part of helping Fort Worth become a healthier city!

#bzpfw

#opalsfarm http://www.unityunlimited.org
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It’s Giving Tuesday!

gregoryjoel

Down on the Farm

http://www.unityunlimited.org/opalsfarm

I sat down to check emails before I wrote this. I was astounded by the volume of emails I received about Giving Tuesday. I sat down to write this and, if I’m honest, I wondered if Opal’s Farm email or post would even be read today. We’d be just another one of many organizations working to make our world just a bit better. So many options…

We can’t compete with the big NGOs or service organizations. We are a small but growing (no pun intended) urban farm seeking to bring fresh, healthy food to folks that often don’t have it available. We simply believe that an urban farm can change lives and build community. Our five-acre farm makes a difference!

I could give you all the reasons you need to choose Unity Unlimited, Inc. and Opal’s Farm on this special day of giving. I won’t bore you with all the statistics and needs. I’ll just let you know that every dollar you give today is doubled, matched dollar for dollar. We need your help more than ever as we expand our growing area to reach more of your neighbors.

So please push the donate button right now or go the www.unityunlimited.org/opalsfarm to make your secure Giving Tuesday contribution. When you’ve done that come out and join us at Opal’s Farm and see how your contribution is making Fort Worth a better place – one neighborhood at a time.

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It’s Our River

gregoryjoel

Down On the Farm: Fall is a busy time at Opal’s Farm. There is winter produce such as Kohlrabi, cabbage, and spinach and cover crops to be planted. There’s rebuilding beds and design changes to be made for Spring, irrigation infrastructure to be built, and the ever-persistent weeds and grasses to be dealt with. I only wish the Bermuda grass did as well at my house!

Most of you know that September brought record-breaking heat and only a trace of rain. We had to irrigate more than usual, and the carrots had to be replanted in October, but we still had radishes, turnips, greens, beets, and Butternut squash to take to market. Unfortunately, above average temperatures were followed by an unexpected early freeze. We are probably winding down our market stand for the rest of 2019.

Halfway through this weeks harvest

When we finally had some rain, it lasted for a few days. We love rain though and, as for me, I had the first day off in three months! “Make hay while the sun shines”, my Dad used to say so I did so. When the sun and warm Fall weather returned, I looked at the spot on the Trinity River where we set up our pump. I soon found out the negative consequences of the welcomed rain…

It was obvious that I had some cleaning up to do before I could use the pump again. You see, when it rained the river rose a bit. As it receded, all the trash that washed downstream came to rest on the banks of Opal’s Farm. Plastic bottles and straws, Styrofoam cups, and an odd assortment of empty chewing tobacco tins, single gloves and plain old litter were strewn about the bank and floating nearby. The place where our suction hose usually sits and where we get our water to prime the pump was thick with flotsam. Everything had to be scooped up before we could irrigate.

Just a portion of what washed down

I mention this not only because it causes a lot of work better spent on the farm itself, but because everyone needs to know that litter on our streets has a way of ending up in the Trinity. Storm drains and precipitation runoff means that the plastic bags blowing down your street will likely end up along our banks or worse yet, much farther downstream.

In October, we had the privilege of being an exhibitor at the Tarrant Regional Water District’s Trinity Trash Bash. Nearly 4,000 volunteers spent Saturday collecting over 28,000 pounds of trash. Let that one sink in – 28,000 pounds! Unfortunately, it’s only a fraction of the litter and illegal dumping that goes on all along the watershed.

I appreciate all the volunteers who take it on themselves to address the debris in the river. It’s such a vital part of Fort Worth. Whether it’s biking or running along the Trinity Trails, rowing or boating, or catching a concert at Panther Island Pavilion the river is something we all enjoy. Here at Opal’s Farm it’s part of our life blood, whether it’s for irrigation or just taking a moment to enjoy a little bit of peace and beauty after a long day of work.

Before you throw that candy wrapper down think about where it ends up. Solving our litter problem is something everyone has a part in, not just 4,000 volunteers on a Saturday. Who knows, if each of us took a moment to clean up our little part of the world maybe those volunteers could spend their time on other ways of making Fort Worth and the Trinity River a better place!