Category: What Can I Do

Community, Down On the Farm, Fighting Poverty, Food Equality, Food Justice, Gratitude, Heroes, Neighbors, News, Non-Profits, Opal's Farm, Quotes, Rangers Baseball, Role Models, Service Organizations, Service to Others, Social Justice, Spring, Texas, Unity Unlimited, Inc., Urban Farming, Volunteers, What Can I Do

The First Pitch

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“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” – Jackie Robinson

April 15, 1947 is a date that all baseball fans know well. On that day Jack Roosevelt Robinson – Jackie Robinson – became the first African American to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Today is also “Jackie Robinson Day” at tonight’s Texas Rangers game at Globe Life Field in Arlington. Even more fitting is the fact that Ms. Opal will be throwing out the first pitch at tonight’s game! Tickets are still available through the Rangers box office.

Come out and enjoy the Spring Texas evening, watch the Rangers play the Los Angeles Angels, and cheer on Ms. Opal!

Ms. Opal’s Ranger Jersey for tonight
Choices, Community, Conservation, Creation, Elders, Environment, Equal Rights, Heroes, History, Hope, Indigenous Peoples, Monday Mornings, Quotes, Regeneration, Social Justice, Spirituality, Thoughts From the Porch, Transformation, What Can I Do

“If we are to heal our ecological wounds, we need to shift from settler views of individual land ownership to Indigenous views of communal land stewardship.” – Liuan Huska, “Rethinking Property Rights”

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Activism, Belief, Choices, Community, Faith, Food Justice, Heroes, Hope, Persistence, Prayer, Quotes, Relationships, Responsibility, Service to Others, Social Justice, Spirituality, Thoughts From the Porch, What Can I Do

“It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. [God] gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on this earth. It is an awesome opportunity.”- Cesar Chavez, “Statement by Cesar Chavez at the end of his 24-day fast for justice” (1972)

gregoryjoel
Communication, Community, Donations, Down On the Farm, Environment, Faith, Fighting Poverty, Food Justice, Gifts, Gratitude, Neighbors, Non-Profits, Opal's Farm, Praise, Regeneration, Relationships, Service to Others, Simplicity, Social Justice, Spirituality, Spring, Transformation, Unity Unlimited, Inc., Urban Farming, Volunteers, What Can I Do

What a Difference a Week Makes!

gregoryjoel

Good morning from Opal’s Farm! I realize that some Opal’s supporters may not share the same scene I have looking out my office door this morning (thanks to all of you across Texas, the nation, and even the globe! We appreciate you all so much). The sun has just come up and it’s a brilliant Spring morning. Last week’s wintry morning has been replaced with cool Spring mornings. The birds are talking loudly amongst each other, and the trees are beginning to bud in radiant greens, whites, and purples. The projected high temperature for today is ninety degrees (in March)!

Spring planting is moving ahead at breakneck speed. Professor David Cole, Stephanie Schmitz, and the students at Tarrant Count College NW’s Horticulture Department grew four hundred tomato plants and one hundred pepper transplants for the farm this year. The one thing we are unable to have has been a greenhouse (no structures on the floodplain) so we can’t start out tomatoes and peppers on time. Providing our transplants saved the farm hundreds of dollars. They’re also bigger and healthier than those that come from our regular vendors. Hopefully, we will be able to provide tomatoes early this year.

All our tomato and pepper plants are in and trellised thanks to our wonderful volunteers. Melissa, Jamie, and Tony came during the week, and we had two great workdays with the Ridglea Presbyterian Student Ministries and The Hills Church Unity Builders Ministry over the last two weekends.

We skipped market this Saturday so we could pick up, deliver, and plant all our transplants. Don’t worry though. We’ll be back next week with more of the organically grown fresh produce you all look for from Opal’s Farm!