How I Found Roots in San Antonio

How I Found Roots in San Antonio ' s Urban Ag Scene, Plus 24 Places to Get Your Own Start!

by Hannah Rhodes

In the summer of 2020, we all experienced something big. The pandemic, including its threat to our individual and collective health, left many of us isolated, lonely and scared. Summer protests over the murder of George Floyd galvanized many of us to connect in new and old ways, whether on social media or masked and in the streets. Amidst these and other crises, I planned to move from Austin to San Antonio. Even though San Antonio was just down the road from Austin, I was uncertain of how I could possibly find a meaningful community during this time.

With my boyfriend Steven, I made plans to move to San Antonio early in 2020. Steven was born and raised in San Antonio, and he moved back after we graduated from Texas A&M, where we first dated. I enjoyed visiting him and growing close with his family, and I loved learning to see San Antonio through his eyes. He was giddy to drive me around his former school and take me to eat at his family ’ s favorite restaurants. Flowers from Garcia Street Urban Farm

These moments of experiencing Steven ’ s city were so special when we were getting to know one another, but I could not see how San Antonio would be my home now that we would be living together, especially in the middle of a pandemic.

I was excited at the prospect of a new city and the next chapter of my relationship with Steven, but I also felt nervous. Like others, when the pandemic began, I spent my time either in my apartment, or within just a few steps of it. The summer passed slowly and then all at once as the world seemed to erupt around us. I planned to move during what seemed the most uncertain of times, but the move fell into place. Steven and I found a place to live, and

Turning food into compost with the Compost Queens

before I knew it, I packed my apartment and tried to figure out the logistics of working from a new home in a new city. The anxious feeling remained. I still could not imagine how I would find my place and settle into a city that was completely shut down.

My path to finding myself in the city started when my good friend in Austin recommended La Botanica, the now closed queer, WOC-owned vegan restaurant and performance space that lived on St. Mary ’ s from 2015-October 2020, as a place for great food and good vibes. I followed them on Instagram one late August afternoon before moving and spent some time scrolling through their feed. I loved that, even during the pandemic, La Botanica hosted outdoor, masked drag shows, offered online cooking classes with Chef Rebel Mariposa, and sold produce boxes to the community. after following La Botanica, the Instagram algorithm suggested more San Antonio accounts for me to follow. I quickly realized the city has a robust community of people, organizations, and activists doing meaningful work. I was overjoyed to see the ways the community addressed food apartheid, environmental racism, and created safe, progressive spaces. With my fears that surrounded moving and settling into a new city, I found myself excited by the prospect of being part of a community that seemed to care about so many of the things that also mattered to me.

Thanks to Instagram, I learned so much about the urban gardening scenes in San Antonio, that by the time I moved in October, I already had plans to get connected. I knew I would visit Garcia Street Urban Farm, a community farm feeding and educating east side residents. The farm often sells produce and fresh flowers at their Wednesday market when it is in season. I Instaresearched the vendors at the Pearl Farmers Market and learned that Talking Tree Farm, which uses permaculture practices to cultivate a truly sustainable and restorative farm, would be at the market weekly. I also discovered that Compost Queens partner with Talking Tree Farm to turn community-collected food scraps into nutrient-rich soil to support the local food cycle. I signed up for their residential composting services, essentially stopped producing food waste in my new home overnight, and was able to easily drop my compost buckets off over at Eco Centro, which I learned partnered with the Compost Queens and the San Antonio Housing Authority to break ground at Garcia Street Urban Farm back in 2019.

Within a few more weeks of internet sleuthing, my realization of and connection to the urban agricultural scene grew. I discovered that Green Bexar Farms offered a fall communitysupported agriculture (CSA) box with personalized farm-fresh produce. Before long, I picked up my produce at Wong ’ s Bodega each Friday afternoon. I quickly grew fond of Wong ’ s, which carries all sorts of local, vegan goods. It was also at Wong ’ s that I discovered Akhanay Coffee Roasters, which is owned by a husband and wife team sourcing coffee beans from South East Asia. I could not believe that in just a few weeks of living in San Antonio, I made so many connections that shaped my daily life!

While I heard the Gardopia Gardens buzz from Instagram urban agriculture accounts, I did not make my way to their community garden until the Spring of 2021 when I prepared to plant my own garden. After months of absorbing so much good information about gardening and the abundant resources San Antonio has to offer, I was ready to get my hands dirty. Gardopia offered free mulch to the community, and when Steven and I pulled up one Saturday morning, we were met by a team of folks working in the garden, ready to help us scoop the mulch into the back of the truck. We were thrilled! When we mentioned that we intended to buy soil that day, they kindly turned us on to Quality Organic Products (QOP). I was grateful all summer long as I bit into juicy tomatoes from the plants I bought from Talking Tree Farms and grew in a mixture of QOP soil and Compost Queens compost.

Within weeks of living in San Antonio, it was apparent that San Antonio has a deeply intertwined community of folks centered on the thing that connects all of us: food! We all must eat, and these folks CSA Box from Green Bexar Farms

are making sure San Antonio eats well and equitably. As summer fades to fall once more, I cannot help but feel amazed at all I have learned and experienced in the community. By simply following La Botanica ’ s Instagram page and feeling energized by the inclusive space centered on community health, I found people and organizations that taught me how to become part of a robust community. Although the pandemic was still all around us, and I was still coming to terms with having left behind familiar faces and places in Austin, San Antonio practically begged me to establish roots and grow in my new home.

Steven and Mickey Planting Talking Tree Tomato Plants in Gardopia Gardens Mulch

If you are looking to connect to San Antonio through food, gardening, activism, sustainability, and communityled efforts to make this city one where all people can thrive, check out these Instagram accounts that have helped keep me informed, updated, and excited about our community:

Behind the Oaks Farm Care Team San Antonio Chef Cooperatives Community Fridge SATX Compost Queens Culinaria Eastside Market San Antonio Eco Centro SATX Ethical Networks of San Antonio Gardopia Gardens Grain4Grain Green Bexar Farm Green Spaces Alliance Hew by Akhanay La Botanica Real Farm on Fest Roots of Change San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside (SAGE) San Antonio Housing Authority Sowing Strength SATX Talking Tree Farm Terra Preta Farm Two Hoes Gardening Wong's Bodega

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