Try @ TXST

Giselle Kowalski:
Hi guys. My name is Giselle and I'm the Digital Marketing Strategist here at Texas State University. You're listening to Try @ TXST and today, I'm talking to the wonderful folks at Bobcat Farm. Located at Freeman Ranch, just about 10 minutes from the Texas State campus, Bobcat Farm is teaming with seasonal vegetables and blue skies under that sweltering Texas sun. The student-run farm is built on 1.4 acres with the goals of what they call the three sustainable E's: environment, education, and economy. Not only is a farm meant for agricultural students to learn beyond the classroom, it's open to anyone interested in farming and giving back to the community. I got to sit down with both Emily and Josh, the backbone and the right hands to the Bobcat Farm. Can you both please introduce yourselves, your names, what you do at the farm, and what you're majoring in?

Emily Nickerson:
Hello. My name's Emily. I am currently kind of like a jack-of-all-trades at Bobcat Farm. Right now, I've been kind of like a market manager doing the market in San Marcos Farmer's Market, and then I also help coordinate volunteer events out at the farm with different clubs through the university. My major is agriculture, but my focus is horticulture, so mostly about plant health and botany type subjects.

Giselle Kowalski:
Very cool. What about you?

Joshua Newton:
I'm Joshua Newton, and I'm the Farm Manager out at Bobcat Farm. We got a bunch of infrastructure projects is kind of what I focus on, as well as keeping everybody on task and advising on how to do all the different tasks around the farm.

Giselle Kowalski:
Nice. And so you're also an alumni, so what year did you graduate?

Joshua Newton:
I did my undergrad and graduated in 2012, and then I came back a few years later to do my graduate, and that was 2018 I graduated.

Giselle Kowalski:
So what was your master's in?

Joshua Newton:
Sustainability studies, and I did a thesis on intercropping systems.

Giselle Kowalski:
So for those that don't know, can you guys describe what Bobcat Farm is?

Joshua Newton:
So Bobcat Farm is a student market garden. We focus on growing vegetables and teaching students organic and sustainable farming practices.

Giselle Kowalski:
Who founded the farm?

Emily Nickerson:
A group of students actually founded the farm through the fruit and vegetable production class with Dr. Nicole Wagner. It was pretty much just a group of students who wanted to grow fresh produce and start a farm here through the agricultural department.

Giselle Kowalski:
So when we talk about the kind of research that you guys are doing, I know that there's a lot of research being done at Freeman Ranch with the livestock. But in terms of the vegetables and the produce that you guys are growing, what kind of research are you doing on the daily out there?

Joshua Newton:
At the farm, we're establishing more growing space in order to make room for projects to happen. There are projects on the way to incorporate biochar practices in the beds. And biochar is highly active charcoal, essentially, you're making out of lumber. There's berry production that we're going to be studying. They're seeing good results up in Fredericksburg at the Agrilife Fruit and Viticulture Research Station, growing raspberries under 50% red shade cloth. The color red helps the plants grow more vigorously and protects them from being absolutely scorched in our Texas sun. So we're going to try that and do blackberries, which do well here, and other stone crops.

Giselle Kowalski:
So whenever I visited with my intern, Tony, you showed us the kinds of ... I think it was cantaloupe seeds that you were planting with her.

Joshua Newton:
My hands are super dirty.

Tony Lopez:
Okay.

Joshua Newton:
You don't want to get dirt in that bag because we're not going to use all those seeds.

Tony Lopez:
They will all start to sprout?

Joshua Newton:
Exactly.

Tony Lopez:
Gotcha.

Joshua Newton:
We want to make sure we clean our hands off.

Giselle Kowalski:
So what other vegetables are you guys planting currently? I know you kind of went through a little bit of that, but for someone who's never been to the farm or hasn't even seen it, can you describe and go through what those rows and beds, what they contain?

Emily Nickerson:
Yeah. We have a lot. We don't have too much, but the fall we intend to have at least eight different varieties of crops this upcoming season.

Joshua Newton:
It was 15 last time I counted.

Emily Nickerson:
15? Yeah. But during the summer, it's a little bit more difficult to grow vegetable production due to the heat and the dryness of our area so we're focusing on summer crops right now. So we have two different varieties of tomatoes, we have eggplant, we have different varieties of peppers, and we just seeded out some watermelon. So hopefully, we'll get some watermelon harvested probably mid-September I'm assuming.

Giselle Kowalski:
I know you guys have a deal going on with Bobcat Bounty, so can you guys tell me a little bit about that and what Bobcat Bounty is, and how that partnership works between the two of y'all?

Emily Nickerson:
So Bobcat Bounty is a free food pantry for students. I'll say it again: free food pantry for students. And they're at the Family Science building across from the Recreational Center. They are a food pantry for students, and they actually receive a lot of donations from H-E-B, things that are about to be "best by" expired or just going to be thrown away. They also work with Hays County Food Bank here in San Marcos. They get a lot of stuff from them. So it's pretty much just working with them on being able to get students nutritional produce at a free cost pretty much. That's personally my goal is to try to have students get accessibility to food that is, well, locally grown and it's sustainable and it's healthy. And for us, working with Bobcat Bounty has just been kind of our extension to reach out more to the community of the students here at Texas State.

Giselle Kowalski:
Yeah, I was going to ask. How have you seen that impact spread right now with Bobcat Bounty?

Joshua Newton:
They said in the first hour all the produce was gone.

Giselle Kowalski:
Wow.

Joshua Newton:
They said even the eggplant. They said there were a lot of international students who participated and they're not as timid about eggplant because a lot of them are familiar with it in their dishes, and it's really just Americans who are like, "What do you do with an eggplant?" It's like, "Come on. Just look it up. It's fine."

Giselle Kowalski:
So for someone that is someone like me, I guess, that doesn't know anything about farming, how can they get involved and what kind of advice do you guys have for wannabe farmers?

Emily Nickerson:
I definitely say start with your local community. If you're interested in getting into more of a depth of farming, you can volunteer, too, at those farms. Just like us, we are more than welcome to give students, San Marcos residents, anybody really, a tour. And then if they're interested, then they can come and volunteer with us. We do have a club. It's called Bobcat Farm. But anyone is more than welcome to come out to Freeman Ranch and get their hands dirty.

Giselle Kowalski:
Speaking more to yourselves, how has working at the farm helped you guys grow, no pun intended, as an individual?

Joshua Newton:
It's given me an opportunity to juggle a lot of different objectives. Something I really enjoy is team leading and I've definitely had the opportunity to do a lot of that.

Emily Nickerson:
Yeah. I agree. I appreciate Josh so much because I'm also learning, myself, a little bit more about the farm management side. And so while I'm in school taking these classes, I am implementing that knowledge onto the farm itself. But I definitely want to see myself eventually have my own farm or my own homestead someday. I'm not really great with construction or carpentry skills. I actually am somebody who does not get excited to go to IKEA and buy something and, "Oh, we're going to build this." I'm like, "No."

Giselle Kowalski:
"Give it to me assembled."

Emily Nickerson:
Yeah. Please. I love plants. I like being with the plants. I'm more of a plant care person and being with people and students. I really love working with the students. For me, it brings me so much joy, and that's my growth is to be able to educate people about farming and sustainable methods, and maybe in the future get back into teaching. I really don't know. I do miss it, but I also just want to continue farming.

Giselle Kowalski:
Right. Yeah. So what kind of lessons has growing vegetables taught you about life?

Emily Nickerson:
Oh, boy. I learned how to collect seeds. I seed save now, and I recommend everyone to do that is try to collect seeds just in case. For an example, the pandemic happened and you couldn't get a lot of produce, and it taught me that growing my own produce is me relying on myself and myself only. And that's probably the most important thing that you can do.

Joshua Newton:
Growing vegetables teaches patience. It takes a long time and any number of things can prevent the fruit from actually being produced. And so it's a lot of accepting things as they wind up and knowing there's only so much you can do, and those are the things you put your mind to. And when the obstacles become too big, knowing when to step away and move on to the next thing.

Emily Nickerson:
Yeah. I've killed dozens and millions of plants before I got a successful harvest, so definitely a lot of patience.

Giselle Kowalski:
So what are you guys most excited about for the future of Bobcat Farm?

Emily Nickerson:
Oh, man. I am just so excited to see the new projects that are going to be underway super shortly, like the hydroponics, aquaponics. I'm excited for the orchard, when we get the pears, the figs, the blackberries, raspberries, the persimmons.

Giselle Kowalski:
You're making me hungry.

Emily Nickerson:
I know. We are just so excited. I know we're not going to be able to get a harvest right away because that takes some time to grow, but just to see it get started.

Joshua Newton:
I'm really excited for the raspberries. And from what they say, we should get fruit the first year. Super stoked. I absolutely love raspberries. I never thought we'd be able to grow them here because they're a northern plant. But seeing them do it in Fredericksburg and rave about it and advise us to do it, you're like, "Okay, you've been doing this for years now?" It's like, "Okay. All right, fine. We'll go."

Giselle Kowalski:
You're like, "We can do this too."

Joshua Newton:
Yeah.

Giselle Kowalski:
Nice. Nice. Lastly, do you guys have a favorite memory at the farm?

Emily Nickerson:
I think my favorite memories, I guess I have multiple memories, is when the clubs come out. For an example, we had the Eco Club come out. They're an environmental club through the Agricultural Department as well. They were just so enthusiastic. They were excited. They were happy to be there. They really wanted to just participate and learn what we were doing. We actually ended up converting an Eco Club member to switch his major into horticulture, now, from his original. I think he was in geography or something. His name is Luke.

Joshua Newton:
PoliSci.

Emily Nickerson:
Yeah, or PoliSci. His name is Luke. Shout out to Luke. And now, he's an official member of the horticulture major itself, and that to me is like, "Yes!"

Giselle Kowalski:
That's got to be a great feeling knowing that you literally converted someone to a new major because of what you do at the farm.

Emily Nickerson:
Yeah. I love that. Just for him to be so enthusiastic and be out there. And he, for a long time, was just a volunteer every day out there. Just from 7:00 AM to noon or 1:00, he would just be out there harvesting or doing whatever he wants to do because he really cared about what we were doing and learning about how to grow food, and sharing it with the local community. And so it was exciting for us, and I'm just so happy to be a part of it, for sure, working with all the clubs. I think that's probably my favorite memory.

Giselle Kowalski:
So how can people find y'all if they want to join or volunteer, or be a part of what you do?

Emily Nickerson:
Yeah. We are on Instagram, as of now, at @txstbobcatfarm, and people can follow there and they can also just direct message. I'm the one that runs the Instagram, so my name's Emily if you have any other questions about that.

Giselle Kowalski:
Awesome. Well, that's it. Thank you guys so much. I hope you guys enjoyed. Thank you for the vegetables.

Joshua Newton:
You're welcome.

Emily Nickerson:
Yes, you are so welcome.

Giselle Kowalski:
Thank you. Awesome. Thank you so much to Emily and Josh for letting me visit the farm and getting to chat with you both. It's not every day that you meet people who are just as kind as they are hardworking, and it definitely shows in the food that they harvest. Find them at the San Marcos Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, and in the future on the Quad here at Texas State. And thank you for listening to this episode of the Try @ TXST Podcast. Make sure to tune in next time to learn more about something else you can try on campus at Texas State. And also, remember to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube at @TXST. This podcast is a production of the Division of Marketing and Communications at Texas State University. Podcasts appearing on the Texas State University Network represent the views of the host and guests, not of Texas State University. Again, I'm your host, Giselle Kowalski, and I'll see you all next time. Bye y'all.