We’re seeking applications for our Fall 2022 cohort of our Food and Leadership Fellowship! The Fellowship is a hands-on, paid leadership development program on the farm for young folks between the ages of 17 to 23. Not only do Fellows learn to grow large quantities of sustainable produce, they learn professional development skills like leadership, task management, and mindful communication skills, and deepen their understanding of food justice and equity. The Fall 2022 session will run from September 20, 2022 through December 16, 2022 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. The program will be in person, and Fellows will earn $13.50/hour for their hard work. The application deadline is Friday, September 9th. Apply today!
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It’s Farm Fact Friday, everyone! This week we’re talking about honey, a delicious, shelf-stable and antioxidant-rich food and sweetener made by the honeybee. Typically beekeepers keep bees in multi sectional boxes where bees make their home, made for easy and safe extraction of honey and bee tending.
Honey is made from the nectar bees collect as they pollinate flowers. Inside their honeycomb, it breaks down into sugars. The flapping of bees’ wings dries out the nectar, creating a thicker substance without much water content in it. This is why the wax caps the bees make are important, to keep the honey dry, since the lack of water is also why honey is antimicrobial. The antimicrobial properties of honey is why it was used in dressing wounds at one point, to protect the wound from infection.
Bees make more honey than they need once they have time to acclimate to their nest and area. So long as the beekeeper is using gentle methods (like using smoke to relax them, and using calm, slow motions) the bees are not hurt, and the honey extraction doesn’t harm them. Bees can make around 50 lbs of extra honey a year!
The beekeeper takes off the wax cap that protects the honey in each cell (beeswax) and places the honeycomb frame in an extractor, which uses centrifugal force (spinning away from the center) to extract the honey. The frames are reusable and able to be placed back in the bee home for bees to repeat the process.
Thanks to honey’s high sugar and low water make up, it can last for 1,000s of years with proper storage. Archaeologists have even tasted honey 1,000s of years old – still delicious and sweet!
Additional sources:
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We’re proud of the youth of the Summer Farm Program and their growth, which wrapped up on July 16th. The final month of the program has been a busy one, with the youth working with Chef Rick Lopez of La Condesa, Chef Amada Turner of Olamaie , and Chef Fiore Tedesco of L’oca D’oro to feed and lead our Community Lunches. They also volunteered with Farmshare Austin and Community First!, where they participated in workshops about food equity. The youth did more community building until the program finished, and had to say goodbye. We wish a wonderful summer to our new summer alumni and hope to see their leadership and community building skills continue to flourish! Congratulations, Ana, Aaron, Nick, Melanie, Isaac, Oasis, Skylar, Jocelyn, Max, Ethan, Jannae, Abner, Ashley, Morgan, Leah, Mazzy, Yoselyn, Leo, Eric, Ivan, Ethline, Kenyce, Guadalupe, Saylor, Alejandra, Michelle, Dax, Quinn, Amberly!
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We’ve successfully wrapped up our summer Farmers’ Market season, and we owe a big thank you to the Sustainable Food Center’s Sunset Valley Market for letting us participate! We’re grateful to everyone who came out to talk with youth, buy our farm fresh produce, and to support Urban Roots. The booth went great, and we can’t wait to come back again in the fall! We’ll be returning November 12th, and running the booth those consecutive Saturdays until December 17th; keep an eye out on our upcoming newsletters and social media for more details.
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This recent summer season we were able to bring back one of our favorite summertime events, Community Lunches. These lunches brought us together for food and fellowship as we celebrated youth voices and leadership. They were also a special way for us to thank partners, friends, and volunteers. Urban Roots is very grateful to everyone who helps us do what we do; we truly couldn’t accomplish our mission without the youth, but also without the support of our community members, and dedicated Board members.
They’re an opportunity to learn about the experience of the youth; the youth work with local chefs and restaurants to create a delicious meal made from Urban Roots produce, discuss what Urban Roots means for them, and get to eat their delicious hard work.
For this summer season, we were very thankful to work with Chef Rick Lopez and La Condesa, Chef Amanda Turner and Olamaie (thank you to Sustainable Food Center for letting us use your kitchen!), and Chef Fiore Tedesco and L’oca D’oro who taught our youth to make their mouth watering and delectably delicious menu items! Cooking is culture, and we’re delighted that the youth enjoyed joining these different kitchens, learning different cooking skills, and learning new cuisine while sharing bits of each others’ culture. We can’t wait to see the youth learn and cook for the autumn Community Lunches too!
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Even with the impressive Texas heat, our farm team managed to take the height of our summer season in stride by harvesting and sharing the most we have this summer, hitting 4,500 lbs of food shared with our partners and sold at the farmers’ market! We shared carrots, green beans, onions, squash, and tomatoes with our partners, worked on irrigation projects, and began wrapping up for the season and planning for the fall. We can’t wait to hit the ground running in autumn! Read more about it and what we’ve been doing in our July Newsletter!
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Happy Farm Fact Friday, everyone! This week, we’re talking about one of the farmer’s biggest ally’s in the field, the bee! A fun farm secret you may not know, we often keep bees on our East Austin farm! We have a small comb hidden away in the back where they sometimes make their home.
Bees feed on the nectar from flowers, where their fuzzy bodies pick up pollen, and bring it to the next plant they feed on. Some bees will even buzz rapidly to loosen the pollen on the plant it is pollinating (this is sonication or buzz pollination). This allows the plant to fertilize, where it can reproduce and create fruit and seeds. Did you know that out of all the pollinators, bees are responsible for pollinating about 75 percent of fruits and vegetables?
Different varieties of bees also have different systems of living; while you may be familiar with the honey bee’s hive building and queen, worker (female bees who are not the queen) and drone (male bees) who protect and work together to nourish their larvae, some bee species live completely differently. Many don’t build hives at all, instead laying their eggs in protected places like flower stems or tunnels, simply left with nectar and pollen for the larvae to consume and grow on their own. The cuckoo bee, for instance, will lay their eggs in the nests of other species, and potentially kill the larvae of the original nester to ensure its eggs grow well.
Bees are a crucial part of what we do, and a very varied and interesting creature! Tune in next week to learn more about how honey is harvested.
Additional source: Nwf.org
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Happy Farm Fact Friday, everyone! This week we’re talking about one of our friends on the farm, who you may see out and about in the early morning… the armadillo! They’re the only mammal to have a hard shell, and their name in Spanish means “little armored one” reflecting that. Armadillos are closely related to the sloth and anteater, and sleep like the sloth as well – did you know that armadillos sleep 16 hours a day? Meanwhile, their tongue is similar to the anteater; long and sticky and designed to lick up bugs from the holes they burrow. They eat some pesky bugs on the farm like fire ants, spiders and scorpions, while only eating crops when lacking in other food sources, and their burrows provide great homes for other critters, enhancing an area’s biodiversity.
Here in Texas, you may see the nine-banded armadillo and further to the south of Mexico, the northern naked-tailed armadillo, with the other 18 species being exclusive to South America. The nine-banded armadillo is the only one to be found in the United States, growing 7 to 11 bands, and though the common misconception is that they can roll away as an armored sphere, the nine-band armadillo cannot curl in all the way (that would be only two species of the three-banded armadillo).
Despite the nine-banded armadillo being typically exclusive to the southern regions of North America, armadillos have been expanding into northern parts of the U.S., even as far as Virginia! It’s a scientific mystery, according to National Geographic, but it may be in part due to warming winters that is allowing them to expand their normal habitat. They’re surprisingly adaptable creatures, and they need just three things to thrive: a mild enough winter season, moist soil to dig for food, and plenty of insects to hunt! (Unlike their northern expansion, they’d be unable to go further west in Texas due to the dry land and insects to eat).
Aren’t they interesting creatures? Due to the vegetation, nearby creek, and density of trees on the farm, they seem to like visiting the East Urban Roots farm for a safe place from the world, just like we do!
List of sources:
General armadillo information source one and source two.
Armadillo effect on environment source one and source two.
Armadillo diet source.
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As we’re winding down for the season, we’re book ending our harvesting with the refreshing gourd family member, the cucumber! They have high water content, and they provide antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties (try putting a few slices on a sunburn to ease the swelling). Cucumbers have been shown to be helpful in cancer prevention and have a number of vitamins in them, from vitamin K and B, potassium, copper, and manganese.
Did you know that they’re considered fruits in the scientific sense, as they grow from the small yellow flowers and contain seeds to regrow? And yet like the tomato, are considered a vegetable in the culinary world due to their flavor profile.
Cucumber can be an easy and refreshing addition to a dinner as part of a stir fry, something to add to a fruit salad, or even as a healthy snacking staple that can go well with a spread. Throw some in water to shake up your hydration game, or try your hand at at-home pickling for an easy home project to have as a side or snack (they’re great for experimenting, and you can make some recipes in as little as a few minutes with some basics around the house!). The cucumber is a versatile, cool fruit and veggie to work into your diet (and can eliminate bad breath, if you leave a slice on the roof of your mouth for 30 seconds!).
Link to our source.
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