Episode 6: Farming While Black in Austin, TX with Tiffany Washington
“Everybody deserves access to fresh, locally grown food.”
Tiffany Washington is an Austin-based combat veteran and Organic farmer, and runs Dobbin-Kauv Garden Farm. Tiffany served in the U.S. Navy and was trained as an Organic farmer by Farmshare Austin, an 18-week farmer education program, as well BattleGround to Breaking Ground, a one year Texas A&M program that helps veterans get into farming as a business. Tiffany is also an Organic Intellectual whose family has lived in the Austin area for over 150 years. Tiffany has done extensive research into the lives of Black farmers and Freedman colonies in Austin and Central Texas, including the insidious history of land theft and dispossession that gave rise to the current wave of gentrification and food apartheid in one of the country’s most segregated cities. Tiffany is an heir to the agricultural legacy of such luminaries as George Washington Carver, who trained thousands of Black farmers in regenerative farming methods, and Booker T. Whatley, the founder of community supported agriculture. We feel honored to have spent time with Tiffany to hear her story. To support Tiffany, check out her GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/veterans-urban-farm-needs-your-help. Follow The Checkout on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Stream the Checkout on Stitcher, Google, iTunes and Spotify.
Episode #6 Notes
1:00 - How did you get into farming?
4:00 - How has being a veteran influenced you as a farmer?
8:30 - What role did Farmshare Austin play in your development as a farmer?
10:30 - On Battle Ground to Breaking Ground program.
12:15 - What went well with your training through Farmshare Austin and what could be improved?
15:00 - As a Black woman who has deep roots in East Austin, what is the relationship between your family history and the land?
20:00 - How has the Black community in East Austin been treated when it comes to land ownership and food production opportunities?
22:15 - On gentrification in East Austin.
24:00 - What happened to the freedman’s communities and historic Black communities in Austin?
28:00 - The history of McKinney and Mueller in Austin.
29:00 - George Washington Carver - why is he one of the most influential agrarians ever?
34:30 - Black people have pioneered many of the sustainable practices we see today - why has this generally been overlooked by the local and Organic food movement?
37:30 - Why aren’t there more Black farmers here now in Central Texas?
44:00 - How does food apartheid influence your work for what you do?
47:30 - What can be done to help support Black farmers? What’s needed?
49:30 - What’d your favorite food to grow?
53:30 - What motivates you to continue doing this work?
56:45 - What’s on your bookshelf right now?
The Black Titan, Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Gardner Hines
Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
Our Kind of People, Lawrence Otis Graham
Mycorrhizal Planet, Michael Phillips
Rebuilding the Foodshed, Philip Ackerman Leist
