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Brad and Jennifer Stufflebeam, along with daughters Carina and Brooke, show some of the bounty grown on their "self-sustaining farm" in Wesley. Banner photo/Bud Chambers Brenham Banner Press Stufflebeams sowing seeds of farming renaissance Tuesday, June 21, 2005 By BUD CHAMBERS/Staff Reporter WESLEY - Brad and Jennifer (Strecker) Stufflebeam had figured to take their training/ideas on "the self-sustaining small family farm" to Central America as a part of World Hunger Relief's mission, but along the way they realized a great need existed to revive this dying art in our own country. "Utopia Right Here" says a headline in Rodale's The New Farm (April 14, 2005) and the story's sub-head continues, "Texas farming family drawn to international relief work discovers itself uniquely qualified to help foster sustainable community (right here) at home." Brad Stufflebeam is of German ancestry and jokes "maybe I was a bit misplaced" to have grown up in a busy Plano area (though its growth from 17,000 to pushing 400,000 has taken place during his lifetime). And he was pleased to find "the perfect place" in Washington County for practicing a profession once common in America: operating a small family farm. There's no better source than Brad's own words, using a portion of his article in The New Farm, to stress this young couple's goal: a sharing of "local farming skills" with willing citizens (while also raising daughters - Carina, 7, and Brooke, 5 - in an old-style American farm life setting): "For more than 14 years, I have pursued organic horticulture and sustainable agriculture while my wife (for much of that same time) studied nutrition with a vision of serving in Central America. "After selling our decade-old nursery business (near McKinney) three years ago, I worked as farm operations manager/instructor for World Hunger Relief in Elm Mott, Texas. "That work, along with Martin Price of Echo International's 1999 article entitled 'Small Farm Resource Development Center' defined our family's vision: to develop a model for sustainable small family farms; to do field research, demonstrating and encouraging others in techniques to support small farms; and promoting biological diversity, proper land stewardship and holistic community development. "At that time we thought we would be working in Central America. "As time progressed at World Hunger Relief, the greatest joy was (time) spent educating interns who had no agriculture experience; organizing public events and school tours; and seeing people's eyes open up to understanding where their food comes from. "(Also, to stem the trend about) how small farms are disappearing across America because of urban sprawl, the rise of land prices, and a general disinterest of the young people to stay on the farm. The Stufflebeam's plans for this Wesley area place include: "Families would come to the farm wanting to learn to vermicompost, raise chickens, and plant a simple garden we educated a lot of folks at our organic retail nursery for 10 years on how to backyard garden. "Growing one's own food has become a lost art." "A whole generation, or two (in America), are removed from the farm; (so) I began to realize the need was here, domestically, and that our family is uniquely qualified to help. "Following a two-year search, we have secured 22 acres in the earliest settled part of Texas and are restoring an old farmhouse on the property to be a future farm store/education center. "We're developing a half-acre demonstration garden featuring more than 70 varieties of heirloom, open-pollinated vegetables and we have introduced alpine dairy goats, heritage chickens, ducks and geese to our program this spring. "Our intention is to be a model small-family farm, offering workshops and demonstrations to encourage/educate others to develop a successful family farm enterprise along with providing quality food for our local community, reaching as far as Houston." A two-year search Brad and Jennifer Stufflebeam - though the path here wasn't an easy one (requiring a two-year search that ultimately narrowed to within "a Brenham to Fayetteville to Industry" triangle) - recall that of a myriad of properties viewed "just three fell within a price to make this work." The Stufflebeams shared in near unison the fact, "We sure didn't expect to find people (like Ronnie and Pat Weiss) who were excited that someone was interested in buying land for agricultural purposes." And the couple noted with both pride and thanks, "We are the first people outside of family members to be allowed a piece of the Weiss farm and we couldn't have done any of this without many great neighbors." In addition to the Weiss family, Jesse and Candy Fite - to the east - and Randy and Terry Parkison - to the west - were "of tremendous help." Now, just a few months after his New Farm article, there are already 25 families involved in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Food Club; under normal circumstances, a family will receive a half-bushel of freshly harvested produce each week - an amount described "as usually enough for a family of four, or two vegetarians." A "warm season share" (April-September season) has a Jan. 1 deadline and the produce variety includes such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, beans, squash, okra, melons, potatoes and corn. A "cool season" membership runs from October-March (deadline July 15) and features items like baby greens, lettuce, radishes, beets, turnips, mustard greens, winter squash, potatoes, herbs, cut flowers and pumpkins. Envisioning 60 members in this co-op, Brad and Jennifer are already at nearly half way to that number - welcoming area members to "the farm" each Wednesday and delivering to Katy area members on Fridays. Complete information on the CSA Food Club is available on-line at www.homesweetfarm.com or by calling the couple at 979-251-9922. Carina's 'naming' plan If it's a bit difficult to envision this unusual approach to living from two essentially "city people" - Brad and Jennifer both graduated from Plano East less than two decades ago. It was in high school that the couple's friendship began, developing into what Jennifer calls "a miracle of life" as she moved toward to study nursing and what might be called "new wave nutrition," while Brad began a strong interest in organic horticulture early. Indeed, Brad realizes his approach - which might well be called "beyond organic" - couldn't be learned through formal schooling. Thus his far different than ordinary career route - with financial help from his father, an electronics engineer with Texas Instruments, Brad read voraciously and researched his new trade with "field work" to begin and succeed in his own nursery and landscaping business near McKinney. Brad was already a Navy veteran, 1989-92, by this time. He served on the first ship that arrived to support the Desert Storm effort and it was a sharing of their plans "through constant letters" that brought Brad and Jennifer to even new closeness. About a year after his return from duty, the couple was married on Nov. 13, 1993 and have since been blessed with two beautiful daughters. Carina, at just age 7, is delighted to be able to help out. She chose many of the varieties of vegetable from a catalog that now make up such as the 22 varieties of tomatoes and 15 types of melons grown on "the farm." And she has a special talent: saving many of the farm animals "simply by naming them." Carina's biggest success so far, joining with little sister Brooke to name the live turkey bought for Thanksgiving dinner and jointly putting on such an effective campaign that it is a permanent part of the family. "She's not a vegetarian," laughs Jennifer, "but once an animal gets a name, it can't be touched. Next year, we're getting 20 turkeys." Why? "I don't think she'll be able to name them all." Copyright © 2005 The Brenham Banner-Press
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