So you live and work in Dallas. This is home. You like to let loose in Deep Ellum. You’re a guy trying to woo a girl, a local chef wanting to source your produce locally, or a busy anybody on the go.

You like the idea of purposeful shopping. Eating with intent, supporting local business owners, and finding exactly what you need. Kindness and integrity are important to you. Quality, affordability and availability all rank pretty high for you.

Now imagine the Dallas farming communities of just a few generations ago. You won’t have to research very far back to find amazing historical accounts of urban farms right here in Dallas.

My grandparents on both sides had a little farmer in them. My mom’s parents were hard workers, urban farmers at heart. They lived in Richardson, but my grandma cooked like they were still in Oklahoma on the farm that my mom grew up on. In fact, one time when my sister and I were little girls, we went to spend the night with my grandparents. I can’t remember much about the day I’m referencing, except that my sister and I were asking, more than likely begging, for McDonald’s. Grandma said no. A couple hours passed, I think, and my sister and I were called to the table in the kitchen. There before us was a meal like you wouldn’t believe! Vegetables, fruit salad, all the fixings. We sat down to eat, prayed, then dug in. Grandma looked pleased as she asked proudly, “now ain’t that better than mac donalds?” The point is, my grandma didn’t raise her kids on fast food, and she wasn’t going to start with her grandkids. I ate like a farmer when I was there.

Now my dad’s folks were a different lot than the farming side of my family. Sure, they all came from the same time period, historically, but they lived very different lives. When my dad’s parents settled in Dallas, they got a plot of land in the little town of Buckingham. They had a couple acres, so my grandmother had a full blown garden…and a horse. This was a mystical place for me. Cucumbers grew there. Pickles were made there. We played hide and seek in that garden, on that little urban farm.

My mother had a huge garden when we were kids. We ate food she grew, I picked fruit from our orchard in the back yard. I remember growing my very own side garden one year. My sad little carrots were my pride and joy. Oh my, they were tiny!
When I was a kid, we ate real food. Then the 90’s came, and so did the rush of poison into our food supply. Our bodies are starving for whole foods, real food. Our grandparents had it right, guys. Both of my grandmother’s kept that farmer mentality alive. My mom kept it going. Though they all lived in relatively urban settings, they all still made sure that the family ate food that they produced.

So it is with glee that I get to carry on that farming spirit now. Dallas Urban Farms is looking forward to calling Deep Ellum home. We will offer farm fresh, vine ripened, delicious produce grown right in the heart of Dallas. We will supply the freshest, most unadulterated farm to market produce to Dallas’ most discerning foodies, as well as the hard working artist wanting to throw together a snack of nutritious, organic foods. We want everyone to remember how we’re supposed to be eating, then come shop with intent. Be purposeful in your choices. Your decisions are powerful. It comes down to you. Take back control of what you and your family eat. Then after some thought, grow up and eat like a farmer.

kindness and peace,

Farmer Cate