Ephemeral natures. . I love birdhouse gourds for this reason, what such delicate flowers can yield. We’ll harvest these gourds early fall with our first field trips. Students will hollow out the gourds and paint the outside to welcome feathery friends to the habitat. Regenerative agriculture is about more than just growing food for human nourishment. It’s about the whole ecology, cultivating spaces so nature may flourish. #regenerativeagriculture #urbanfarming #farm #houston #texas #birdhousegourd #ecology #habitat #healthcare #healthculture

LBJ Community Farm. Day 1 and 3 months later. . #urbanfarming #agriculture #houston #texas #healthcare #healthculture #southernfarmer #progress #90days

Happiness is a rainbow of tomatoes fresh off the vine. . #tomato #rainbow #urbanfarming #agriculture #houston #texas #southernfarmer #healthcare #healthculture #farmtofork

Moments imprint on us. Every farm I’ve ever stewarded imprinted on me, and I on them. Imprints form patterns grow into ruts or, upon self-reflection, guides. My imprint, forming pattern... growing into rut or guide yet to be determined... on this new farm reminds me that my behavior and emotions carve out the spaces I love. Intention matters. Mindfulness matters. Mental health matters as much as physical. #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthawarenessmonth #urbanfarming #mindandmatter #reflection #houston #texas #farmer

Life is sacred. Let’s talk about that. . And let’s begin by removing any pretense that stripping women of their right to choose and take care of their own bodies and wellbeing is anything other than a power play for control. Anti-abortion is NOT pro-life. Pro-choice is NOT anti-life. So let’s talk about life. . According to a 2017 USDA report, over 40 MILLION adults and children screened as food insecure in the first world country of the USA. Stop. What about all the humans, adults and children, who will bare the catastrophe of the Flint lead water crisis for the rest of their lives? Stop. The global temperature has risen 1.8 degrees above pre-industrial levels creating an unprecedented acceleration of warming... potentially as much as 10 times faster than any previous warmings. Stop. The UN reports an unprecedented speeding of biodiversity extinction caused by human activity, up to 1 million plant and animal species threatened within a matter of decades. Stop. Today is YET ANOTHER anniversary of humans being gunned down. We remember those who died at Santa Fe High School in Texas. Stop. Women’s uteruses are more regulated than guns and more legislative action is being taken on abortion than concerns over real food/clean water/health access and climate change. FULL STOP. . You know who’s “pro-life”? Teachers who work endless hours to ensure their students have means to a better future. Activists, scientists, and any human being who gives a damn about protecting this earth. Small business owners that provide for their community and help build local economies. Farmers working every day to ensure ethical, ecological agriculture practices and the unalienable right to good food access. People just like you and me who genuinely want and work together for the peace and prosperity of every living being already on this planet. We are all pro-life. . This field of tomatoes, free of chemicals and moral dilemmas, is PRO-LIFE. This farmer, who believes that a woman’s right to choose abortion is her right and no one else’s to decide, IS PRO-LIFE. . So, yes, life is sacred. Let’s talk about that.

Portraits of a farm, verdant and plentiful. . #farm #urbanfarming #houston #texas #southernfarmer #healthcare #healthculture #communitysupportedagriculture #foodismedicine #knowyourfarmer #knowyourfood

Portraits of a farm... flooded. . 4.80 inches of rain fell on our farm in just the last 24 hours. 6.56 total rainfall on our farm in the last 7 days according to Harris County rainfall maps. 8.29 inches this past month. That means we received 50% of our monthly and over 70% of our weekly rain total just last night. Measurements not even close to Harvey records, or the Tax day floods, or the Memorial Day floods. Our retention ponds have full bellies. #houstonwehaveaproblem . I have seen all 3 of my farms over the last decade completely submerged underwater by these “rain events”. The weight of deep sorrow permeates my entire being like flood waters to saturated earth each of these “events”. This one is not bad and we will be fine, but what about the next? Resiliency walks a fine line with Mother Nature. . Water is sacred. It is life-giving and life-taking. It does not abide us. Water is sacred.

Portraits of a farm growing. . #houston #texas #urbanfarming #healthcare #healthculture #nurture #empower #grow

Support local foods. Support local farmers. Build local economies. . Farmers and farm advocates spent the day with FARFA at the Texas Capitol speaking with representatives and senators about important bills up for vote. Speak up. Speak out. Be loud. #localfoodaction #raiseyourvoice #texaslegislature #policymatters #farming #agriculture #texas #southernfarmer

Portraits of a farm living. . 💪 This is what #communitysupportedagriculture looks like in real time. Last Saturday, a group of LBJ’s fantastic residents organized a work morning to finish prepping our second production zone for planting. Not only did our doctors show up, but chiefs and executive leadership, too. That’s how you know the LBJ Community Farm means business. We’re here to #work. #houston #texas #urbanfarming #healthcare #healthculture #empowerment

Portrait of a farm coming alive. . #houston #texas #farm #urbanfarming #healthcare #healthculture #innovate #empower

A farm in motion deep in the heart of Houston, TX. Today we’re celebrating the first smokeless skies of the week, nature’s gift of thousands of extra farm hands showing up for duty, and a very successful inaugural “Flavors of the Farm” lunch tasting for our LBJ Hospital staff. Transforming #healthcare into #healthculture one step at a time. Happy spring equinox, y’all. ✌️ . #spring #equinox #houston #texas #urbanfarming #agriculture #hou

Today on #internationalwomensday I celebrate all the women along my journey who empowered and supported me through thick and thin. I celebrate that on this #iwd2019 I’m finishing my first week at the new LBJ Hospital #farm as the first farmer ever hired by Harris Health Systems. I celebrate the grit and determination of all the women around the world who work tirelessly to give dignity to the title #farmer. . I’m a bit in the weeds with this project at the moment, but one day at a time, row by row, this farm will transform into a verdant and flourishing oasis for our community. We will grow abundance. We will cultivate resiliency. We will champion our community. . #wegrowtheworld #iwd #women #womenempowerment #empowerment #resilience #elevate #farming #healthcare #newchapters #houston #texas #hou #farmher

Officially oriented and ready for action, Houston! 👩🏼‍🌾💪 Today marks my first day on site as the brand new LBJ Hospital farmer and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Here’s to major institutions taking risks and moving mountains, to community empowerment and self-reliance, and to the little engine who had a dream and could. Onward and upward! #houstonfarm #farmlife #farmher #newchapter #agriculture #texas #gulfcoast #farm #southernfarmer

Movements changing, not direction... . As of this week, I officially accepted the Farmer position at the LBJ Hospital’s brand new FARM! I am completely over the moon for this opportunity to serve my Houston community and to help elevate the relationship of agriculture to food and health. Big things are coming, friends. . I will continue to manage operations at Blackwood through the spring and will remain a stalwart member of their family into the future. I am eternally grateful for the experiences and opportunity Blackwood, most especially Cath Conlon, afforded me after Sown & Grown. There is much good being cultivated on that Land and I encourage everyone to continue their support of such a special organization. . My journey into agriculture never followed the straight and narrow path, but its wandering nature allowed me to meet some of the most magical humans I’ve ever known. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the love, support, and encouragement. Y’all make it all worth the while. . Sun sets and sun rises and the world keeps on spinning. Hopefully somewhere in between we can find our joy and name it. Find our space and hold it dear. I look forward to sharing this next chapter with you. . #newadventures #farming #agriculture #galvestonstatepark #estuary #safespaces #followyourdreams #nikon #film #nofilter #forreal

When did you first notice? Was it an inkling, a faint whisper, a nudge? Slowly seeping into your being as gradually as the changing tide. Or was it a crashing, an erupting, a deafening roar? . When did you fall in love with your passion, your pursuit? When did you name it, and make it your own? . Naming is such a powerful act. It acknowledges and sets forth an intention. It does not abide willful ignorance. . I named mine. She is vetch, and chaos, and depth, and the unknown-knowns of this earth. She is my muse. . #passion #inspiration #awareness #empowerment #hairyvetch #farming #grounding #studies #staycurious #soil #livingsoil #ecology

Unlocking the secrets of life below ground with the future of this earth. 🔬 #teachthem #empowerment #soilmatters #lifeinthesoil #microbes #farming #farmersarescientists #staycurious

Embracing stillness and self-care on this golden solstice day. Here’s to finding light, warmth and courage to move through these long nights. There is beauty in the darkness, momentum in the calm. Our shortest day followed by the longest, brightest night. Happy Solstice, happy full moon, happy Ursid meteor shower. 💛 #solstice #solstice2018 #fullmoon #meditation #rejuvination #farmlife

An object seen in isolation from the whole is not the real thing. . Penned by Masanobu Fukuoka in his book, The One-Straw Revolution, this statement seems an appropriate meditation for the day. How much we have yet to understand about our soils... such a vast, vibrant, and essential microcosm. The life beneath our feet weaves stories connecting eons. For farmers, of course. Ecologists and anthropologists, assuredly. But more so than any one community, for all humanity. Happy #WorldSoilDay y’all! #worldsoilday2018 #soilmatters #microbesmatter #microbiology #microbes #regenerativeagriculture #mycelium #ecology #soilstewardship #fortheloveofsoil #becurious

As sun sets and clouds vanish, southern cold creeps in. Learning to relinquish control and accept this new season as my next curriculum, once again. Winter reminds me that expectation and guarantees are a fool’s wisdom. So, at least I get a good sunset. 😌 . #farmlife #sunsets #texaswinter #farming #texas #southernfarmer