While he’s on the road or in the kitchen, Chef Andrew Gerson is always investigating the cultural and culinary landscapes of the cities around him. The Mash Files are snapshots of each city on our Mash Tour in Chef Andrew’s own words. Read about Chef Andrew’s tour of one of New England’s leading oyster producers while visiting Boston, then check our Mash site for when he’ll be in your neighborhood.
Austin may have the coolest small town vibe in the country, but development is fast encroaching on this laid back oasis in the heart of Texas. Over the last three years of our Mash tour, I have spent a lot of time on the urban farms of East Austin, getting to know the farmers, produce, animals, and community hubs that play such a valued role in the Austin landscape. The influx of people, rapid growth, difficult city zoning, and urban sprawl continues to jeopardize the very existence of these farms.
Farmers like Paula and Glenn Foore of Springdale Farm and Carol Ann Sayle of Boggy Creek Farm have been working their land and providing sustenance, education, and job opportunities in the neighborhood since 1992. These farms play an integral role of connecting the community to its agrarian roots, providing access to delicious, healthy, and well-raised food. The difference between these farms and larger rural farms is their presence within city limits. Anyone can stop by and interact with these farms, and in a time when we are increasingly disconnected from the natural world (and each other for that matter) these interactions are becoming increasingly vital.
The Springdale Farm market operates three days a week. If you get there early in the morning, there is a good chance you will bump into the city’s finest chefs and home cooks alike, shooting the shit with Paula and Glenn, finding a moment to catch up with each other, or just fighting for dibs on some sexy watermelon radishes. These farms have evolved to be much more than a piece of land producing some of the best produce and eggs in texas (thanks to the rich, nutritious lowland soil), or markets where you can get a head of kale. These distinct farms have become a community hub where folks can go and learn, eat, mingle, and feel a part of their landscape.
I had a chance to sit down with the farmers along with some chefs and discuss the future of Austin’s farms, and what farmers, chefs, and community members can do to ensure that they remain an integral part of the community. For Zack Northcutt, Executive Chef of Swift’s Attic, it’s all about exposure. Adding the farm name to the menu and ensuring that folks know where their ingredients are coming from is key. Zack hopes that guests will be inspired to head out to the farms themselves and source their own food, like he does twice weekly for himself and the restaurant.
For Paula and Dean it’s all about diversification. Their farm hosts a weekend restaurant called Eden East, farm education classes for kids, and is a much sought-after event space. Zoning limitations have made it hard to diversify but with lots of support from the community, city council, and other organizations there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Carol Ann has a slightly more pessimistic view of the future of the East Austin farm community and feels it will get worse before it gets better. Her farm is the oldest urban farm in the country, and her home is the oldest existing structure in Austin. She is able to live almost exclusively off of her farm, never entering a supermarket, but she is painfully aware that this is not the norm. The busy pace of life, an industrial farm system pumping out cheap commodities, and the convenience of chain stores has eroded people’s food-based values and priorities. Carol Ann believes it will take disastrous events in our modern food system for people to wake up and see the value of urban farms and small scale non-industrial farms in general.
My biggest takeaway is that each of these farms and the many others that dot the Austin landscape need to be looked at individually when it comes to zoning and other issues. Overall, we need to continue supporting them with our dollars and our voices, since the ever skyrocketing price of land makes it almost impossible to start a new farm. If we don’t honor, support, and fight for what we have now, Austin may end up with no farms at all.