Innovative Farming In Georgetown

This month's local business spotlight is coming to you a week early because of the holiday – and it’s a good one! On my continuing life adventure as a realtor in Georgetown, I had the opportunity to meet with Steve from Turpin Heritage Farms, visit his farm, and hear his story. Steve and Lexie have turned their 45-acre property into a wonderland of good-natured farming experimentation with a mix of old-fashioned farming techniques and permaculture. Really, I just don't believe most other communities have the diversity of people pursuing things ventures like this. In this community, we have enough to feature a monthly blog on them!

It would be hard to find a couple of people who care more about food and your health than Steve and Lexie. Having suffered from severe food allergies, Steve made it his mission to eat clean and eliminate all GMO and non-organic food from his diet, after months of this experiment, Steve was able to introduce foods back into his diet which had previously been allergens (such as nuts, breads, and even wine!). He was cured! A former aerospace engineer with a healthy curiosity, he has taken a scientific approach to discovering the reasons behind his disappearing food allergies and has applied all that he has learned to produce healthy, hearty, and healing, foods on his farm.







A Beautiful Farm In Georgetown

Walking around, you can see old tomato vines, now bare and trampled on by chickens, goats, and sheep who are happily munching on dead grass and little bugs all the while fertilizing the soil in preparation for next springs planting; raised boxes of blueberry bushes and herbs spilling over their wooden boundaries; winter greens blowing in the breeze; experimental garden towers and barrels; and perhaps Steve’s most prized new addition to the farm: a Food Forest. Steve’s food forest is planted with fruit trees divided by berms and swells engineered to provide the most water possible to the trees in a natural way. In between the trees, other edible plants will be popping up next spring and will begin a natural fight to win space and sunlight which Steve plans to interfere with as little as possible, “Plants are really intelligent, they know what’s best for them, so why should we interfere so much?” he asks as he describes his method of spreading seeds over the berms and swells much like you might toss out chicken feed a handful at a time.

Steve is filled with ideas for his farm and for the community; they bubble out of him in his excitement to share his farm with you: sweat equity for food for families on welfare; his new (and very cool!) rabbit ‘tractor’ where the rabbits eat down old grass, stir up and fertilize the soil on a plot of land to ready it for the next seasons planting; ways to educate and train new farmers to feed communities, and so many more.

They have dairy cows, goats, chickens, and sheep all living a dream life out on the farm: free ranging, grain fed, and well loved these animals are part of the Turpin Heritage family.

Steve and Lexi care about the community and have a heartfelt desire to provide the community with nutritious, organic, non-GMO, foods grown locally. They are passionate about what they do and warmly welcome guests to their farm. Steve sums up his dream for Turpin Heritage Farms like this, “I want to change the world. If I can change the life of even one person living in Georgetown – that’s huge.”

Get Involved in Georgetown's Farming

So how can you join Steve and Lexie in their mission to change the way Georgetown thinks of farming and food? Join their CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, program! A full share buys you roughly 5% of the produce from the farm plus artisan bread baked just for you by Lexie. Picked fresh the morning of delivery, the produce is packed with nutrients and ready to eat. The best part? It’s delivered right to your doorstep every week! It doesn’t get any easier than that to eat fresh, healthy, local, foods. If you are interested in this amazing farm, check out their website at www.turpinheritagefarms.com

Turpin Heritage Farm and people like Steve and Lexie are great Georgetown assets. They make practicing real estate in Georgetown, Texas a really unique experience. And I would point out--as I frequently do!--that they contribute a distinct value to the community here that adds to the value of the homes for sale in Georgetown in a very real way. I love this community! Until next time.