Boggy Creek Farm

We began our “back-to-the-farm movement” in 1981, when
we acquired our Milam county farm, outside of Gause, which is located
one and one-half hours northeast of Austin. At that time we were in
other careers (real estate and art), so the farming was a week-end
adventure. We were also raising our three children and none of them
wanted to be seen with a hoe in their hands!

By
1991, towards the end of the Texas “depression,” we decided we might as
well follow our dream full-time. The children were just about grown, and
besides, what did we have to lose? Art prices had bottomed out and the
real estate bust had turned Larry into a house remodeler. Thus we began
farming the Milam county farm, growing cool weather crops (carrots,
lettuce, broccoli, etc.) and hot weather crops (tomatoes — lots of
tomatoes! — squash, cucumbers, etc) which we sold at a small farm stand
on a street corner near our home. The reception from passersby was
exciting. Although we had to explain the word “organic,” all the
customers understood “fresh”!

In
1992 we were able to buy, after much creative financing, the five acres
and historic old house in East Austin, which, with the Gause farm,
became Boggy Creek Farm, named after the creek/ditch across the street.
(Many farms are named after creeks, it seems.) Surrounded by housing
subdivisions, schools, and commercial enterprises, which had been built
on land once part of the farm, our Austin farm became one of the few
truly urban farms in the nation.

Today we
intensively cultivate the urban farm and also our country farm. At the
Gause farm, we grow our Early Girl tomato crop, potatoes, onions, hard
squash, summer squash, and other items we need in abundance. Specialty
and salad crops, okra, heirloom and cherry tomatoes, plus flowers, are
grown in Austin.

While the majority of our
produce is sold from our farm stand at the Austin farm, a good amount of
summer produce is available at our neighborhood Whole Foods Market,
which is located about three miles from the farm.

We
are both native Texans: I was born in Goose Creek, now Baytown, near
the Gulf of Mexico, grew up in San Antonio, came to UT Austin, and
stayed. My early career was as an artist, painting and producing prints
of still lifes, wildlife, and Texas landscapes. Larry was born in
Galveston and lived the first part of his life in Gause, farming and
running cows with his parents. He’s the real farmer of the two of us; I
clean up the details. After Vietnam, Larry came to Austin and had
careers in television/electronics and real estate/remodeling. We both
speak Spanish. It’s curious how all the things we’ve been come together
in this passion for farming! For farming in Texas requires a bit of
mechanics as well as art, and it’s certainly helpful to be bilingual.