A Mighty Big Backyard

Texas Organic Farm Continues Growth

Photos by Scott David Gordon

Now encompassing more than 200 acres, Johnsons Backyard Garden began in Brenton Johnsons backyard.
by Claire Bontempo
The Johnsons of Johnsons Backyard
Garden, or JBG, cant seem to grow vegetables fast enough, but theyve managed
to keep up with the demand and remain
a successful local organic farm located
just outside of Austin, Texas. From the
very beginning it has been all about organic. I never even considered farming
a different way. I didnt have a history of
farming so Ive never farmed anything
but organically, said Brenton Johnson.
In 2008 JBG became certified organic
by the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Now encompassing more than 200 acres,
the farm began in Brentons backyard on
a cozy 30 x 50-foot plot in 2004. That

spring he ventured to the local farmers

market for the first time with his yield of
vegetables.
We piled all the vegetables up on the
table and the only problem was I didnt
know how much to charge. Although
he had never sold vegetables before, by
the end of the trip to the market, they
had sold nearly everything they brought.
After doing that, it made me want to go
back every week, said Johnson.
After a year of selling to farmers market patrons JBG started a Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
The farm started their CSA in 2006 with
just 10 members, and by the end of the
summer it had grown to more than 25.
The CSA now serves more than 1,000

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members. He soon realized his backyard,

side yard and front yard were not big
enough for the amount of produce he
wanted to grow. Ive always been one
to take things to the extreme, so I ended
up taking over the whole yard with vegetables, Johnson said. With vegetables
growing everywhere, his children had no
room to play, and finding a new location
was imperative.
During his search, Johnson stumbled
across 20 acres just east of downtown.
On his way back from taking a look at
some land for sale, he bumped into the
landowner of the neighboring plot who
offered him a tour. By the end of the
conversation a deal was struck and Johnson ended up buying property next door

May 2014 Vol. 43, No. 3

Pipe links for the farms Rain Bird sprinkler system.

to the land that he originally went to
prospect. The next step was figuring out
a way to finance such a large purchase.
Brentons father and grandfather had
careers with the Farm Service Agency,
formerly known as the Farmer Home
Administration. This government-run
agency helps beginning and struggling
farmers who lack access to the resources
commercial farms have. Johnsons family
experience with this agency helped him
to navigate the documents and proof
needed to present to the department. A
significant amount of time was spent reevaluating paperwork and amending tax
documents in order to prove they had at
least three years of farm history. After
submitting the loan application, their
farm had to go through an inspection.
Finally, they were approved and given an
adequate amount of money to finance
the land and equipment.
In 2007 Johnsons Backyard Garden
expanded to the 20 acres 5 miles outside
of town. On Saturday afternoons volunteers were invited out to help with the
harvest. Brenton would pile everyone
onto a truck and till the 300-foot rows
by hand. He quickly realized that his
backyard farming practices werent fit
for large-scale farming it was a completely different dynamic, the farm had
grown from 30-foot rows to 300-foot
rows. For his backyard garden, Brenton
would drive around gathering leaves and
scout out horse farms for manure. It
became apparent that it wasnt economi-

cally viable to bring in large amounts of

off-farm inputs. Johnson also hoped to
have enough land to adequately rotate
crops, but the 15 acres in production
filled up fast and once again the Johnsons ran out of space. With the help of a
sympathetic CSA member, JBG was able
to expand to a 200-acre dairy farm down
the road. Currently they are still working
to prepare, irrigate and plant all of the
new land.
Organization & Irrigation
Brenton Johnsons background provides a solid farming foundation even
though he doesnt come from generations of farmers. He has a degree in agricultural engineering that he switched
to halfway through pursuing a degree in
mechanical engineering. Both his father
and grandfather are excellent business
consultants since they both worked for
the Farm Service Agency. Brenton himself has 10 years experience in water conservation. Before becoming a full-time
farmer in 2008, Brenton was the water
conversation manager for the Bureau
of Reclamation. This was ideal when
it came to designing the irrigation and
water system for his farm. Designing
an efficient, water-conscious irrigation
system is no simple feat (especially in
Texas) and required a lot of time to figure out how to best lay it out. According
to Brenton, Once the fields are cleaned
up and the water supply is there, growing the vegetables is the easy part. JBG

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worked on this ambitious irrigation system for over a year and a half, and finally
completed it in December of 2013.
The Central Texas region is used to
functioning during times of drought,
and having a successful harvest during
dry times all comes down to being efficient. This requires looking at all aspects
of irrigation. While its important to be
conscious of water use, it is also good to
be mindful of energy and other resources used in the process. Older irrigation
systems Brenton witnessed as a water
resource manager often relied on flood
irrigation techniques. This way of furrow flood irrigation is very wasteful, but
Brenton pointed out that this technique
excels in other aspects of efficiency.
From a natural resource perspective,
gravity-flow irrigation requires minimum outside resources and uses very
little energy. However, JBG doesnt use
furrow flood irrigation although this
method does have additional benefits
such as flushing away salt accumulation
in the soil. Instead, Johnson uses a combination of drip and sprinkler irrigation
and analyzes irrigation efficiency from
more than just a water use perspective.
I would rather have a sprinkler irrigation pipe that I can re-use for 30 years
and be a little less efficient with my
water than fill up the landfill with more
plastic drip irrigation than I have to,
said Johnson. Materials used to transport the water are just as important to
consider as the water itself. Most of their
direct-seed crops start with a sprinkler,
then depending on the crop, will either
continue on it or have a drip irrigation
system set up.
When farming near urban areas like
Austin, Texas, where land costs often
exceed $10,000 per acre, space conscientiousness is almost as important as a
reliable water source. With a limited land
supply, its crucial to get the most out of
every inch. Johnsons Backyard Garden
is set up on a block system to maximize
land use and manage effective crop rotation. To do this, the farm is divided into
54 rotational units or blocks, which
makes it easier to keep records to ensure
each unit is being planted based on nutritional requirements, planting and harvesting techniques and time to maturity.
The farm consists of 54 standardized
blocks that are each 300 x 420 feet. This
allows for easier management of the
irrigation system and crops along with
minimal material waste. For example,
normally the header line on a drip sys-

May 2014 Vol. 43, No. 3

tem comes as a 300-foot roll. These can

be cut in two 150-foot sections that can
be attached to the central riser, leaving
none of the roll to waste. Every block
has a 4-inch irrigation riser that serves
that rotational unit and is extremely
flexible to allow a variety of irrigation
techniques. On top is a valve opener
with a handle to manually open the valve
and release water. This can be attached
to a lay-flat header line for plastic drip
irrigation or links of aluminum irrigation pipe with rain bird sprinklers on
top. All of the wells are connected to an
underground pipeline system and can
be turned on or off depending on how
much water is needed.
Soil Fertility
For his backyard garden, Brenton relied on outside inputs to maintain soil
fertility, but he quickly discovered he
couldnt apply his previous methods to
the much larger farm. This meant he
had to learn how to grow his own fertility. Since the land was previously a dairy,
the fields were used to grow Johnsongrass for hay. Johnsongrass is a vigorous
grower and hard to kill, which means it
requires an equally vigorous cover crop.
This past summer they used a sorghumSudangrass and sunn hemp legume combination. The sorghum-Sudangrass provides high biomass and grows tall which
helps to shade out the Johnsongrass. The
sunn hemp is also tall-growing and helps
to diversify the cover crop. As a farm in
central Texas, JBG also needs to take into
account the extensive limestone beneath
the soil. Steve Diver has been JBGs fertility consultant going on three years and
explained that the soils that have formed
from this geology are calcareous soils
with alkaline pH. Multiple labs are used
for soil analysis because they offer different types of testing protocols. A blend
of minerals and trace elements is then
created for mineral balancing all based
on the Albrecht approach.
JBG grows about 300 different varieties of vegetables and more than 60
different kinds of flowers, herbs and
vegetables. Every week there is much to
be harvested and planted which means
much to be managed. Having each bed
labeled and the same length keeps things
organized and makes communication
between departments less complicated.
The farm work is divided into three
departments, each headed up by one
manager: the field crew, irrigation/cultivation crew and the harvest crew. The

The Johnson family from left: Jimmy-5, Beth, Drew-9, Lilah-12, Brenton,and Aida-6.
field crew is responsible for bed preparation, fertilization, transplanting and
direct seeding. The irrigation/cultivation
crew grows the plants. They check that
the plants are watered, administer any
needed fertilizer injections through the
drip system and perform the necessary
measures for disease or insect control.
The harvest crew ensures crops are harvested at their peak time, that none of
the field is wasted and that the highest
crop quality is maintained.

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Aside from the 75 employees at Johnsons Backyard, community members are

invited to volunteer at the farm. Over
50 volunteers are scheduled every week
by a staff member to help in a variety
of tasks from working in the packing
shed to preparing produce for market
to transplanting or weeding out in the
field. Volunteers dont typically harvest
unless its a bulk crop. Incorporating
volunteer work on the farm helps build a
relationship between the consumer and
producer.

May 2014 Vol. 43, No. 3

computer system to manage customers but now there are tools available to
help farmers. Just like out in the field,
organization is imperative to running a
CSA smoothly.

A JBG team member washes carrots to prepare for CSA boxes.

CSA is here to stay
A huge driving force behind Johnsons Backyard Garden is the CSA program, now serving more than 1,000
members. A CSA consists of a network
of people who have a direct relationship
with the farm. Consumers have a steady
source of local, organic produce and in
return the farm is guaranteed a consistent market. Although JBG vends to

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restaurants and farmers markets in the

Austin area, the CSA takes precedent.
The CSA is how we started our farm
through a direct relationship with our
customers. Our CSA customers get our
first class treatment, said Brenton. JBG
has continued to utilize customer feedback to improve its CSA program and
now offers customizable shares in various sizes and flexible delivery options,
tailored to meet customer needs.
Starting a CSA is very different from
going to market. It requires that a farm
be reliable and well executed. Brenton
explains that if you have a crop failure
and go to market, its not a big deal
no one gets angry, you just dont take as
much to market. With a CSA there is a
lot more to coordinate because people
are relying on a consistent, quality crop.
Brenton stresses starting small and selling at farmers markets for at least three
years to build a positive reputation and
gain farming experience.
The worst thing you can do is give
a sour taste to consumers by them having a bad experience with a CSA, he
said. During that time its also essential
to evaluate the community itself. As a
city, Austin is very receptive to the Slow
Food movement and is a huge reason
for the quick success of JBGs CSA. A
farm share program relies significantly
on the health and environmental consciousness of the community. There is
also the customer management side to
a CSA. Originally, JBG had to build the

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Go Organic or Go Home
In 2008 JBG became organically certified through the Texas Department
of Agriculture. Now several staff members as well as a soil fertility consultant
are dedicated to maintaining all of the
required records. Soil tests are taken
annually and sent to a soil lab in order
to maintain crop quality and organic
standing. JBG is also certified to be an
organic produce distributor. This entails
more food safety and certifications to
ensure that the organic integrity of any
product they sell is maintained. Every
vegetable and herb that JBG delivers
is organic, and everything is grown by
them except the citrus, coffee and eggs,
which are purchased, but are certified
organic.
FarmShare
The nonprofit Farmshare Austin is
Johnsons newest endeavor. There are
four specific areas of focus for Farmshare Austin: food access, education,
research and farmland preservation.
Johnson compares Austin to a pie.
Our farm has been feeding half of
the pie. Weve been feeding the half
that has the resources available to buy
it: restaurants, grocery stores, farmers
markets, CSA. There is another half of
the pie that cant afford the luxury of
locally produced food, he says. This is
where Farmshare Austin comes in. It
is intended to be a research and training center that will create a pathway for
farmers to learn about sustainable agriculture. Along with educating people
about organic agriculture, Farmshare
Austin will help to feed those who cant
afford the higher prices of organic food
by donating farm fresh produce. And
lastly, the nonprofit will be part of the
effort to save farmland. Already, JBG is
surrounded by gravel pits that have gutted the land and made it permanently
unsuitable for farming. With this budding nonprofit, Johnson hopes to raise
awareness and get more of the community involved in farming.
For more information on Johnsons Backyard
Garden call 512-386-5273 or visit www.jbg
organic.com.

May 2014 Vol. 43, No. 3