By Veronica Meewes
Photography by Whitney Arostegui
Urban Patchwork (UP), Austin’s first nonprofit neighborhood farm network, launched three years ago, very appropriately, on Independence Day. “We wanted to claim independence on our food systems,” says Paige Hill, founder and director, with a smile. The program works to connect neighbors by turning yard space into sustainable farmland through collaborative efforts. “Our intention is to make well-grown, healthy, organically grown food accessible and affordable for folks,” Hill says.
The notion for UP came about when Hill started a front-yard garden at her Crestview house on Taulbee Lane. Her neighbors become curious—passing by and admiring her progress or asking her to identify various plants. “That was really inspiring,” Hill remembers. “[I saw] that people have this interest and want to connect with food and want to learn about it…but it’s really overwhelming. That’s why everybody’s learning out here together.”
The program’s format is basic and inclusive, allowing for gardeners with 30 years of experience to work alongside novice dirt diggers. UP follows the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, and members can choose to pay for a full share ($15 to $20 a week) or volunteer their time for four hours every other week while paying half a share. Those who offer their yard space share their land and use of water in exchange for a full share.
In the past three years, UP has grown into a sprawling edible quilt that has branched out into three networks: the Violet Crown Farm Network—which consists of 40 members tending 10 plots in Brentwood, Crestview and Allendale; the Wooten Farm Network in North Austin near Highway 183; and the Cherrywood Farm Network, compromised of 15 members tending five plots, including the newly dug plots at in.gredients, the first package-free and zero-waste grocery store in the United States.
“We farm a little bit differently,” explains Hill. “Everything we do is with a focus on creating a balanced food forest that takes care of itself after a couple years. Our methods are highly focused on a balanced ecological system.” UP’s permaculture-style approach is inspired by Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka, who encouraged a slower, more natural farming method by working with, rather than against, nature.
“Like in a regular forest, you have many layers,” Hill describes. “You’ve got the canopy, you’ve got the middle layer, you’ve got some ground stuff and you’re also paying a lot of attention to the soil richness underneath. In a forest, everything’s seed-to-seed—something grows up, some of it gets eaten, some of it doesn’t, it goes to seed and the seeds drop wherever they’re going to drop.” This method of letting seeds germinate freely not only maintains a good balance in the soil, but ultimately reduces the amount of work to be done. In fact, Fukuoka’s method is commonly referred to as “do-nothing farming.”
Rather than designating rows and pathways in their garden spaces, UP digs each plot into a series of berms (high points) and swales (low points). “We consider the whole garden growing space, and we configure the contours of the land to help capture and hold water,” notes Hill. They install buried drip-irrigation systems through the swales to prevent water waste via evaporation or runoff, and they enrich the soil and conserve space by composting in the garden. This spring, UP led a workshop on hugelkultur gardening, an Eastern European method of filling raised beds with decaying wood in order to enrich the soil with nutrients and retain water.
“This is a more regenerative horticulture rather than a sustainable agriculture,” says Hill. “What we’re trying to do is regenerate and give back more than what we take.” And it’s not just the earth they’re giving back to; UP gives back to the community by connecting neighbors with every potluck, public workshop and dig-in they host. On any given day, you might find senior citizens working with local elementary school students alongside college students learning about permaculture. UP also offers an intensive apprenticeship program that allows aspiring farmers to gain experience and build clientele before investing in their own land.
“The goal,” says Hill, “is that every neighborhood has their own CSA program, volunteer program and farm stand so people in the neighborhood can bike or walk to where their food is grown and buy [it] fresh.”
Hill says UP has encountered an overwhelming amount of interest from people wanting to offer their unused yard space for farming, and she looks forward to establishing additional urban farm networks all over the city. There are many factors that go into choosing a spot, such as containing areas of both shade and sun, proximity to other plots and homeowners who are open to non-synthetic soil amendments and pest control, rainwater catchment, a diverse collection of plants in the garden and creative use of vertical space. First and foremost, she notes, it’s important to mobilize a group of active and interested gardeners within a neighborhood to ensure that weekly seeding, weeding and harvesting can get done. Though they have a waiting list of people who want to use their yards for community food production, Hill says, “we need more people jumping in, gettin’ dirty and makin’ it happen!”
For more information visit urbanpatchwork.org.
