North Texas family starts an urban farm during the pandemic

Whether it’s bees, birds or berries, Nathan recommends anyone wanting to dabble in urban farming take the plunge

By Lupe Zapata
Spectrum
May. 15, 2021

Excerpt:

Now, planter beds growing produce including strawberries, turnips, green beans and carrots cover parts of the front lawn.

Over the past year, urban gardens have thrived as pandemic-bound city dwellers got what’s been called the “farming bug.” A year ago, the Cougheys’ garden didn’t exist but the kids helped to plant nearly all of the fruits and vegetables currently growing. They’ve learned a lot along the way.

“We’ve found that different gardens, different types of plants want different types of nutrients in their soil, so that’s been a learning process where we’ve lost a lot of crops, but we’re still in the early days of figuring those kinds of things out,” Nathan said.

The family had a couple of chickens and ducks prior to 2020 but didn’t cook with the eggs the ducks laid daily. Like many during quarantine, the family has enjoyed baking, and they now know the difference between their bird eggs.

“We use our chicken eggs for eating and we use our duck eggs for baking,” Tara said. “Duck eggs are superior to chicken eggs when it comes to baking. Cupcakes are fluffier and things are richer.”

One project the couple’s oldest child, J.D., is passionate about is the two beehives the family has acquired over the past year. He’s 12 years old and has aspirations of one day becoming an aerospace engineer and working for NASA. He’s extremely knowledgeable about beekeeping thanks to a college course he took with his mom.

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