Harvest Homes Farmers In Residence

HARVEST HOMES FARMERS RESIDENCE IN

by Diane Ciarloni | photos courtesy of Page Austin/Harvest Farms.

Somewhere along the way, someone decided that all people must make a choice regarding their residency. The choices were: 1) live in the country, far from stores and neighbors and doctors and most modern conveniences or 2) bake the soles of our feet walking on the concrete sidewalks and alleyways of cities. Whatever our choice, we lost more than we gained.

Finally, developer Hillwood Communities opened the doors at Harvest in Argyle and Northlake in Denton County, christening it as the flagship for their Live Smart development. Harvest eliminates the stress of making a choice, combining all the amenities of city living with the literal agricultural roots that pull our souls back to the dirt.

It all began in 1877 when Tennessee native John Wesley Faught and his wife, Etta, traveled by train to Fort Worth. They lost little time starting their journey, loading themselves and their possessions into a wagon and rattling across rutted dirt roads to Denton County. They paid $6 per acre for their first land deal. It gave them a roof over their heads, food on the table, and cash in their pockets. For the Faughts, it also laid the groundwork for birthing and raising five generations of North Texans. Eventually, the Faughts built an impressive, two-story farmhouse. It rose from the very dirt that gifted the Faughts all their other blessings. Now, 144 years later, that house still stands. It’s a coffee shop for friends and neighbors to gather and an expressive testament to the grit, passion, and plain ol’ North Texas dirt that held together farming and family.

The heartbeat of Harvest is a commercial, conventional, producing, sustainable farm. It’s operated by a “professional farmer” who shares his expertise with the community’s children and with the adults who opt to have their own raised beds where they can grow more than enough fresh produce to fill their tables and their freezers.

All of that is wonderful, but it’s not the best part! Harvest also shares its bounty with the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB). Since the first residents hung their clothes in closets in 2014, Harvest is responsible for donating 136,373 meals to the NTFB.

Page Austin, resident and Lifestyle manager at Harvest, is justifiably proud of her community. “Despite the inconvenience of COVID, neighbors still donated to help first responders, hosted a food drive for NTFB, and supported neighbors in need,” Austin said. “It was truly inspiring.”

Austin added, “Last year, we donated more than 1,414 pounds of fresh produce to the Roanoke Food Pantry, which is a partner to the NTFB.”

People at Harvest have, quite literally, been given the opportunity to put their hands back into the same Texas dirt that lived under the Faughts’ fingernails. Surely, there must be the feeling of lightly twining fingers with someone who was in that spot 144 years ago.