Onions, potatoes, tomatoes and squash are some of the things that students will dig up or pluck in a new free program, a collaboration between Tarleton State University and Opal’s Farm in East Fort Worth near the banks of the Trinity River.
“As a university, we want to make sure that we’re investing in the communities that we’re a part of,” said Dana Fitzpatrick, Director of Civic and Community Connections at Tarleton State. “With the program, they’ll get a plot of practice space, because not everyone lives in a home where they have the room to physically grow.”
The application for Taste the C.U.R.E. is open to any community member who can fully commit to the program, not just university students. The free class typically meets two Saturdays a month for six months, starting on Jan. 25, 2025. Classes will be at Tarrant County College’s Trinity River Campus, and fieldwork will be done on Opal’s Farm in East Fort Worth near Harmon Field Park. Spots for the pilot class are available for 25 students, with plans to expand the program later. The application deadline is early January.
“Everything we teach them is basically regenerative agriculture. It’s all organic,” said Gregory Joel, the farm manager at Opal’s Farm, who will be teaching parts of the course. “We’re talking about crop planting, some of the things that grow well here in Texas, because we want them to be successful.”
The class goes beyond the greens of collards and mustards and kale — crops that do well in a Fort Worth winter. It goes over selecting a site, designing the plot, preparing the soil, planting the crop. It’ll also go over rainwater harvesting, recordkeeping and marketing, along with short introductions to raising chickens and beekeeping. The course will do its small part to address food insecurity and broaden access to fresh food in Tarrant County, Joel said.
Both Tarleton and Opal’s Farm want the initiative to grow. The hope is that students will take what they learn and share it with others in their community, whether at their church, near their school or at a neighborhood garden. Through the launch of the pilot program, instructors will also learn how to expand access to the class.
“We plant seeds, not just in the soil, but also with people. And we’re hoping that this becomes communitywide, where people see the advantage,” said Joel, who has been working the soil of Opal’s Farm for the past six years. “There is something spiritual that takes place between us and being connected with the earth.”
Joel wants to take that connection and give others a space and tools to learn how to grow things that are good for them and, ultimately, good for the community.
Shomial Ahmad is a higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, in partnership with Open Campus. Contact her at shomial.ahmad@fortworthreport.org.
