Healthy food options are out there — if you put your mind to it.
Mind Your Garden Urban Farm is such a place.
Located at 3815 S. Timberline Drive in the Glencrest neighborhood of southeast Fort Worth, Mind Your Garden specializes in offering healthy food choices. Glencrest is in a food desert where fresh and healthy foods are scarce, and fast food restaurants and convenience stores are abundant.
The founders, the husband and wife team of Steven and Ursula Nunez, purchased 3.5 acres in 2013 with a dream of starting a sustainable and thriving farm in the city.
“Our family owned the property. We let them know we would buy it once they decided to sell it. The rest is history,” Ursula said.
Steven was born in California, but raised in Fort Worth. Ursula was born and raised in southeast Fort Worth.
The mission is to help improve the health of the community through three pillars of access, education, and community. They address this challenge holistically by growing nutritious food (access), connecting people to their food systems while encouraging healthy eating habits (education), and fostering a community centered on wellness (community building).
How it started
As a veteran, Steven was seeking a sense of community and belonging. He participated in agricultural workshops specifically designed for veterans. This is where the seed was planted for Mind Your Garden.
Neither grew up with a focus on consuming fresh fruits and vegetables. In fact, it wasn’t until they noticed the impact on their health and the health of their extended family members that they fully understood their importance.
“On my father’s side of the family, there is a history of heart disease that began with my great-grandfather, who passed away from a heart attack,” Ursula recalled. “My grandmother also had a heart attack and subsequently underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Recently, my father also had to undergo quadruple bypass surgery.”
Stevens’s side of the family has a history of type 2 diabetes, beginning with his paternal grandmother and subsequently affecting his father.
In 2015, Steven attended a week-long agriculture training workshop titled “Armed to Farm,” hosted by the National Center for Appropriate Technology. The workshop was designed for veterans interested in agriculture and was a self-proclaimed life-altering experience.
“I discovered that many farmers are aging out of the industry and saw an opportunity to step in and contribute,” Steven noted.
He took initiative to help grow food, supporting efforts to sustain agricultural production and to provide education. He said it gave him a renewed sense of purpose and fulfillment, nurturing not only the land but also the future of his communities.
His education included learning more about the food and health crisis America is experiencing, and how farmers are actively making a difference by providing local and healthy food for their communities. This workshop also introduced him to the therapeutic potential of farming — not just for veterans, but for all people.
In 2016, with a renewed purpose, Steven decided to return to graduate school to pursue his degree in landscape architecture. In December of 2018, he graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a master’s degree in landscape architecture.
His thesis titled, “Addressing Issues Relating to Food Deserts Through Empowerment,” focused on researching the local food desert where he resides.
Where to find
Mind Your Garden sells its produce on its homestead farm stand, the Mindful Market at Texas Wesleyan University, on the first Saturday of every month. Folks can also purchase products at the farm on given days, check their social media pages for dates and times.
On the farm they grow leafy greens, hot and sweet peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, melons, broccoli, onions and okra.
“Our produce is naturally grown. We do not use any synthetic chemicals on our farm,” Ursula said.
They also participate in a grower’s buyback program through Texas Health Resources where the produce is delivered to their food pantries.
And while they are a for-profit company, they do work with people’s budgets. Eventually they plan to incorporate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program .
Cooking lessons
Along with raising healthy food, Mind Your Garden offers cooking lessons to help people prepare it properly.
“Through our cooking demonstrations, we are able to share our health journey, provide nutritional education and awareness, and inspire our community to make small changes that will lead to a healthier lifestyle,” Ursula said.
In their demonstrations, they create culturally relevant plant-based foods and share recipes using common ingredients available at local food pantries, farms, and grocery stores.
“The majority of our cooking demonstrations are out in the community, with future plans of hosting more cooking demonstrations here at the farm,” she added.
Landscaping
If you want to grow your own healthy food, Steven and Ursula can make that happen. Through their professional backgrounds in architecture, landscape architecture and construction they offer landscaping classes.
“The master plan that we designed early on has allowed us to develop the farm with direction and intentionality,” Steven said. “We offer our landscape design and consultation services as a way to help others develop a plan to achieve their visions for their gardens - whether that is a community garden, a farm, or a private garden.
“We understand from experience that developing a master plan is a worthy investment.”
If you’d like to help them in their mission, Ursula said volunteers are welcome. Reach out to them at mindyourgardenfw.com , where you can also get information about upcoming events connected to the farm.
“We accept anyone willing to learn,” she said.
Local News
Comments / 0