Photo by Scott David Gordon

From the Farmer's Perspective: Light at the End of the Tunnel

Just like that, October is here! September was a wild month on the farm and time definitely flew. Fall is one of our two peak season for vegetable growing in central Texas, and because of this, we've just completed what might be the busiest month we'll have all year making sure our fields are full for this bountiful season. I know I say it all the time, but I'm always so amazed and grateful for our hard-working teams here at the farm who are working tirelessly to feed our Texas community. I am finally feeling like the mad rush of Fall planting is slowing down just a little bit, and so we are turning our attention to some new projects.

Photo by Scott David Gordon

I want to thank all of the smiling and dedicated volunteers who came out during the month of September to help our greenhouse staff with their astronomical load. If you remember, last year we built out 5 new greenhouses at our Garfield farm in order to meet our growing needs for organic vegetable starts. These greenhouses are now full to bursting - Brandon and Adrienne, alongside our volunteers, have been seeding 7 days a week for the last month and their work has really paid off. Just this week we planted out over 10,000 red cabbage transplants - our transplanting crew has also been working nonstop! We were happy to see so many community members come out for our weekend volunteer days during the month of September, and we hope to offer this opportunity again in the future (we need volunteers for our fall Potluck - more details below!).

Photo by Scott David Gordon

As the fields finally fill up and the weather starts to cool down, it's almost time to celebrate the season at our Fall Harvest Hustle and Potluck on October 24th! The entire staff at JBG has been putting a lot of energy towards making this the best event yet. Haven't decided whether or not you'll make it? Let me tell you why this is an event you won't want to miss. First, this is the best opportunity to see where you food is grown and the best season to see it, plus we've got a few great options for doing so! Rogue Running is sponsoring our Harvest Hustle 5k, a scenic and active farm-tour at our beautiful Garfield farm along the Colorado River. We also have a 1-mile Kid's Fun Run which is sure to be a blast. This fall, we're bringing back the community Potluck, which is always a great showcase of our community's incredible cooking skills and definitely not to be missed. This week we confirmed our bands as well - you'll be dining and dancing to the tunes of local talent Carson McHone, the Bottom Dollar String Band, and The Parish Festival!

If you've ever thrown a party before, you know it's always easier to plan with a head count - we hope you'll RSVP by getting your Hoedown ticket today!

We're also seeking volunteers to help make this the best Hoedown yet. Email us at volunteer@jbgorganic.com to reserve a spot - we'll say thanks with a free event ticket and awesome volunteer t-shirt!

Join us for the Harvest Hustle and Potluck on October 24th - bring the kiddos! Photo by Scott David Gordon

I have one other project I wanted to tell you about this week - JBG's first ever Farm-to-Gym program! Austin has such an incredible health and fitness community, and through Farm-to-Gym we're excited to partner with studios around town to make your local, organic veggie pickups even easier! JBG is offering some great promotions to our Farm-to-Gym partners that we hope you'll take advantage of - and we're not just biased to gyms either. We think that local, organic food is great for yogis, dancers, karate students, bikers, and Cross-Fitters too. Want to see if your gym is participating, or interested in becoming a partner? Email heydon@jbgorganic.com for more information.



As you can see, there's been no shortage of work at JBG this week. As things start to slow down just a little, and we see the light at the end of the tunnel of fall field preparations, I'm looking forward to even more new projects this fall. Our shade structure should be completed soon, so keep your eyes peeled for more nursery stock from JBG this spring - we loved growing figs, grapes, and pomegranates last year, both for our farm and for your gardens as well. What would you like to see us grow next year? Olive trees? Peaches? We'd love it if you would let us know in the comments.

For more of the farmer’s perspective, follow Brenton on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @farmerbrenton.