My dad, uncle, and grandmother (Mama Nell) visit the JBG booth at the farmers market.

Last week, I was lucky enough to get a visit from my dad, uncle, and grandmother, Mama Nell.  I say lucky because they almost didn't make it onto the plane!  What happened is my dad dropped Mama Nell off at the terminal after driving from Alabama to Atlanta.  Then, he went to park his car; however, he didn't quite make it to the parking lot as his car died on the way there.  To make matters worse, he had a really hard time getting anyone to help him because he had broken down in a kind of no man's land that wasn't technically airport property.  Finally, an airport facilities manager took sympathy on him - and on Mama Nell's plight since she was still waiting in the terminal - and offered to drive my dad to the terminal in his company vehicle.  Then, this manager said he would come back and deal with the broken down car.  Given his predicament, my dad decided to trust the manager and handed over his keys with the agreement that he would call as soon as he landed in Austin to find out what happened with the car.  Once at the terminal, my dad got Mama Nell a wheelchair and they raced to the gate, making it just in time!  Then, after touching down in Austin, he called the manager only to find that his car had been impounded!  Apparently, by the time the manager made it back to the car after dropping him off, security had located the car and impounded it.  The good news is that my family made it safety to Austin - the bad news is my dad had a real headache to deal with once he got back to Atlanta.

Blue skies over JBG. Photo by Scott David Gordon

While they were here in Austin, my family really enjoyed themselves: we went to Zilker Park, Barton Springs, Lake Travis, Blacks BBQ, Chapala, Sandy's for ice cream, the Triangle, Downtown, & Barton Creek farmers markets, and, of course, to see JBG's River Road farm.  The last time they visited, it was 2006, and I was still at Holly Street growing in my backyard.  Seeing the farm as it is today, they couldn't believe it!  My dad was really impressed with the quality of the vegetables and the organization of the farm.  Hearing this from him made me really proud of what we've been able to accomplish at JBG.  As I said to him, I couldn't have done this without the dedication of our amazing crew and the support of this great community.  Mama Nell kept saying how much she wished my grandfather, who passed away two years ago, could see JBG as he would have been equally as proud.  He worked for the Farm Service Agency making loans to farmers in Alabama and had a farm of his own as well.  I couldn't help but think back to when I first graduated from Auburn University with a degree in engineering and was telling Mama Nell about an internship I had just applied for on an organic farm.  She said, "You're an engineer now.  It's OK to apply to work on some hippy farm, but make sure you apply for some real jobs as well."  I took her advice and ended up with a real government job at the Bureau of Reclamation and stayed there for ten years.  Now, I can finally say my real job is farming.  When I saw Mama Nell looking over the fields at JBG, I could tell she was proud.