garden news-jbg gardens a total loss

GARDEN NEWS-JBG GARDENS A TOTAL LOSS

this is a picture from the jbg blog showing its rows and rows of onions all frozen and now laying all dead and limp on the ground
it seems the bulbs under ground may have survived

jbg stands for johnsons backyard garden

i first became aware of them when i was doing the annual chicken coop tour in austin a few years ago
one of the homeowners who was showing her home chicken coop was wearing a jbg hat
so she told me all about the jbg organic farms

later one of my patients actually worked there one day a week
his pay was made to him in vegetables
i thought i would like to have done that to get good organic produce

jbg was started when the owner put in a vegetable garden in his back yard then later took over his front yard with a vegetable garden 
he sold his produce to his neighbors
then he expanded his garden to his neighbors yards

this all eventually led to a 200 acre organic garden along the colorado river in east austin

go to any of the organic farmers markets in the austin area and they the jbg organic farm has a booth there

now i dont go to the farmers market much anymore since i grow most of the veggies we eat in my garden plot
but when i did go to the farmers market in the austin area i also went to the jbg display and bought their veggies

even after we moved to santa barbara i still read their weekly newsletter
to read their recipes
to see all the farm photos
to read about what was growing in their garden
you name a veggie and they have at least one recipe for that veggie

they do csa boxes each week all over central texas
they extend from san antonio to dallas to houston
they provide a lot of produce to local restaurants

i never made it to the farm for a tour
it seemed they always happened when i had other things to do 
i regret not ever doing a tour

they were booming in the organic vegetable markets
then
kaboom
here came the big freeze
the texas kartrina
no power no water everything frozen 
i mean everything

i read this blog post the week before the freeze
they were tying to get ready 
they kept everything irrigated and wet
sometimes if you water plants right before the freeze
some may survive
they covered things with row cover
they moved their thousands and thousands of transplants into storage greenhouses
they picked as much as they could to store in their giant coolers

alas
it was not enough 
the pumps all froze
electricity was lost
plants like lettuce carrots kale collards cauliflower broccoli all brassicas onions 
well all their veggies froze
a total loss
maybe the onion bulbs in the ground and rutabagas might survive 
but i have my doubts

they
have transplants that survived and will be sold at their annual transplant sale
they 
have a lot of repair work on water lines and pumps to do
they 
have to start over

a big source of income is their weekly csa or community supported agriculture boxes
they have no veggies for the boxes or for the farmers markets or for the restaurants

they think they might survive all this 
time will tell
how sad it would be to lose a business like jbg organic farms

if you live in texas plus support your local organic farmers
since
like jbg organic farms
they have been devastated by this deep texas freeze

we need to keep them around

the orgaincgreen doctor