Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms

One area the sustainability movement could really enhance its image is in overall approach and attitude.

How many times have you heard doom and gloom preached in the name of the environment, local food or green building? It often sounds like, “If you don’t do what I say, the world will end!”

So what other approaches are there? Two attitudes I’d like to contrast are the creative vs. the competitive mindsets.

A competitive mind believes in lack and limitation. The world isn’t big enough for everyone, and if someone gets a piece of the pie, that’s less for someone else. It’s a zero sum game where if one person wins, someone else has to lose. For sustainability, that means someone is competing for your attention by trying to take you away from something else; by telling you why what you’re doing isn’t good enough.

A creative mind believes in abundance and opportunity. There’s plenty to go around because not everyone wants the exact same thing. If we run out of pie, we enjoy baking another one. No one has to lose because we all win together. For sustainability that means we’re all doing what we can and working toward a better tomorrow each in our own ways. If you want to pick a different way, that’s okay, too. Even if sustainability hasn’t crossed your radar, we still love you. Maybe someday you’ll see our example and want to join in on the fun.

Another way to look at it was written up by marketing expert Perry Marshall. He calls it arbitrage vs alchemy. In arbitrage, you compete by trying to build a little bit better widget. A little tweak here, a little tweak there. Cut your costs and you can undercut your competition. Alchemy is about creating value where there was none before. While arbitrage often gets us better products, in the end it’s the alchemists that make the world a significantly better place.

What does that mean for Urban Patchwork? We’re not competing with local farmers. In fact, it seems to us that more people would eat local food if it were available. We want to create more abundance so more people can enjoy fresh produce and eggs. If there’s a way we can help another farmer, we’re all for it. We’re in this together.

This is reprinted from the August Crestview NA newsletter.

Imagine getting fresh, locally grown veggies and eggs delivered to your door each week for less than grocery store prices. Now that we have launched the first nonprofit urban farm right here in Crestview, this is a reality.

Urban Patchwork is Austin’s first nonprofit CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Our goal is to make local, natural food available and accessible for all of Austin and join the growing movement toward more sustainable living. Produce can now be planted, harvested and delivered all within the neighborhood. Visiting with the farmer and seeing the process is as easy as walking down the street.

The way it works is our farmers cultivate plots of land scattered across different properties in Crestview. Then we deliver weekly baskets of seasonal fresh produce and eggs to our members. We are committed to using ecologically sustainable methods without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers to control pests and diseases. We plant heirloom varieties which have been selected over generations for flavor and nutritional value.

Help us create a better tomorrow through better food. A limited number of pilot program memberships are currently available. Visit our membership page or email me directly at paige@urbanpatchwork.org.

Over the weekend, we finished almost all of the remaining plots we’ll use for the pilot program growing season. Here are some before and after pictures:

The front plot after the rock beds were removed

The front plot after the initial tilling

The completed front plot

Tilling the back plot

Adding compost to the back plot

After the compost was spread and mixed in

We’ll be back out there tonight digging rows in the back plot. Next weekend will be seed planting. Let us know if you’d like to help.

If you’re interested in having a weekly share of fresh produce, this month is the last opportunity to get the early bird pricing. After that, the prices goes up from $288 to $320 not including delivery which would add $2 per week. Sign up on our membership page.

We’re going to be doing the rest of the tilling for the pilot project this weekend. We need some volunteers who don’t mind getting out and sweating in the heat with us. We’ll go for as long as we can Saturday and possibly Sunday too depending on how it goes which leads me to the final point…

Does anyone know about a rototiller or lawn tractor with tiller attachment? We’re tilling by hand and wearing our volunteers out a little faster than we’d like. We could probably knock out the rest of the tilling in a couple of hours with something like that.

We’ll also have some less physically demanding opportunities in the next couple of weeks too if anyone wants to help but not till. We’ll need all the help we can get to make sure we get our seeds in the ground in time for the next season.

Don Tucker, Crestview Neighborhood Association Secretary, posted a recap on the Crestview website.

Here’s the clip pertaining to Urban Patchwork:

Paige Hill discussed her Community Supported Agriculture Project, the first non-profit, neighborhood-centric CSA. The movie Food, Inc. is a good summary of the state of our existing food supply (also the books Fast Food Nation, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food) – unsustainable and non-nutritious.

The idea is to lease land from residents in Crestview, have farmers raise crops on these plots, and then distribute weekly baskets of produce to share-holders. Neighbors can get to know the farmers and benefit from organically farmed, local food. Chicken coops also supported. The ideal size of the plots would be 1000-2000 sq. ft., ideal length of the leases would be 2+ years (although a 1-year lease might be possible). The price of the lease would be $0 for the first year, as the benefit to the leasor would be the added infastructure and improvement to the soil quality (including soil testing, irrigation, etc.). Afterwards, an annual dividend of $0.25-0.35/sq. ft. is estimated.

The cost of a share to receive a weekly produce basket is competitive with the cost of receiving 2-3 vegetables per day from HEB, and can either be picked up from the demo site in the neighborhood or delivered 1/week for $2/week. For the fall, the plan is to have a single plot with 25 share-holders. For the spring, the goal is to have 1/2-acre with 100 share-holders.

To participate in the fall season, leasors would need to lease their lots by October. The intention is to remain a non-profit to take advantage of grants. The goal is to eventually be able to provide employment to farmers and researchers, pay dividends to leasors annually, deliver 10% of the produce free to a “neighbor in need” each week.

Contact Paige in advance to arrange a tour of the demo lot (1115 Taulbee Ln.).