Kickstarter

Dear backers and supporters,

It has been just over a month since the end of our "How to Build an Urban Farm" workshop series, and much of these past four weeks has been spent wrapping up the construction of various components of the micro-farm.

We built a shed to house our 1000 gallon fish tank for our large aquaponics system.  We tilled and planted our entire front yard, which is now growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, squash, and beans.  We purchased, assembled, and painted our beehives, and we are picking up our new bees this Friday, May 10th!  Additionally, we have been kept busy managing our 23 chickens, composting operation, and small aquaponics system, and nurturing the growing crops from our backyard field-plot.  Earlier this week we harvested the first ripe zucchini from our backyard plot - we cooked it on the grill with some olive oil, salt, and pepper - it was delicious, and we look forward to the many pounds of vegetables to harvest in the coming weeks!  

We are on schedule to complete construction by the end of this month, and are hosting a Grand Opening potluck event at our Micro-farm on Sunday, June 2nd.  All of our backers are invited to attend!  The event will last from 4:00pm to 9:00pm, and will feature live music as well as regular tours of the Micro-farm every hour on the hour.  Please RSVP to info@tenacreorganics.com if you wish to attend, so that we can know how many people to expect.  Looking forward to seeing many of you there!  

In other news, at the end of March, Ten Acre Organics co-founder Michael Hanan underwent knee surgery to replace his ACL.  He is recovering well and has been quick to jump back into working as much as he can.  However, the loss of his assistance during those first few weeks of his recovery has put several of our projects behind schedule.  Due to these delays, we have had to modify the expected delivery dates for some of our Backer Rewards.  The Rewards which will be affected include the Vermicompost Deluxe Systems (the expected delivery date has been moved from May to July) and all of our CSA Food Basket Rewards (the expected delivery dates for these have been pushed back about two months).  We estimate that when our vegetable production is at full capacity we will be able to provide up to 10 CSA Food Baskets per week.  With nearly 150 CSA Food Basket Rewards to give out to Backers, it will take approximately 15 weeks at full capacity to fulfill all of those rewards.  Please be patient with us as we build up to full capacity sometime this Summer, and we will try to get all of the CSA Food Baskets delivered by the end of Fall.  

Please feel free to contact us at info@tenacreorganics.com if you have any questions, and please stay tuned in to our progress at tenacreorganics.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TenAcreOrganics .  Thank you for all of your support!  

All the best,

The Team at Ten Acre Organics

Happy Spring and Happy Easter to all of our supporters!  It is a time of new beginnings, with new life springing up all around us, and it certainly feels that way at the Ten Acre Organics Micro-farm.  In the past eight weeks we have been undergoing major construction, transforming our backyard into a densely-productive farming operation.  Crops are sprouting in our field, chickens are inhabiting our new coop and run, and new soil is being born out of our composting system.  

Beyond that, new relationships have sprouted and grown as we have met dozens of volunteers who have come out for our "How to Build an Urban Farm" workshop series.  Each Sunday for the past 7 weeks we have hosted a different workshop with a different guest subject-matter expert, with attendance for each workshop ranging between 10 and 25 people.  It has been inspiring to have partnered with so many experts and leaders in sustainable agriculture around Austin, to have received so much generous support from so many local businesses, and to have seen such a rich, passionate community begin to grow around this project.

In the first workshop, Zach and Virginia from YardFarm gave a great presentation on chicken coop design and chicken care, and we built a 70 square foot coop with a 200 square foot run.  

In the second weekend, Michael Hanan from Ten Acre Organics presented on greenhouse design, and we constructed the frame of our 600 square foot greenhouse which will house our new aquaponics system.  

In weeks three and four, Michael and Lloyd gave an overview of aquaponics and small-scale aquaponics system design, and Rob Nash from Austin Aquaponics helped lead the construction of our new aquaponics system. 

In week five, Jimm Stack from 100th Monkey Mushrooms gave a phenomenal presentation about fungi, the role of mushrooms in an agroecosystem, and the nutritional and medicinal benefits of several mushroom varieties.  We inoculated straw-filled baskets as well as logs with elm oyster mushroom spawn, and every workshop attendee got to take home their own inoculated log.  

In week 6, Ben Ramirez from Green Brothers gave a presentation on low-cost, water-conservative methods of irrigation, and then led the construction of a greywater system (from our laundry room to our newly-planted plum tree and garden bed), and then we built a drip irrigation system for our 400 square foot crop field.  

In week 7, Sam Liebl from East Side Compost Pedallers taught us about composting, and together we built three hot-composting bays, two worm bin stacks, and a compost tea brewer.  

Our final workshop of the series will be this upcoming Sunday (April 7th), where Mark and Raul from Austin Honey Company will be teaching us about honey bee care and beehive design.  

This workshop series has been an incredibly valuable learning experience for us at Ten Acre Organics and for the dozens of people who have attended, and we are deeply grateful for the support that has made it all possible.  

From Organic Valley (a values-driven, sustainability-focused, organic dairy cooperative), we received a generous grant that covered many of the program-related costs of the workshop series.  Furthermore, we were able to provide lunch for all attendees at each of our workshops thanks in large part to in-kind donations from East Side Pies, Taco Deli, ThunderHeart Bison, Dish a Licious, and Hopdoddy Bar & Grill.

The "How to Build an Urban Farm" workshop series is almost over, but there is still a lot of construction yet to be done to complete the TAO Micro-farm.  The pace will continue at full-steam into the weeks ahead.  Stay tuned in to our blog  at www.tenacreorganics.com and our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/tenacreorganics) to get all of the latest updates, photos, and videos of our progress.  

Deepest thanks, and best wishes,

The Team at Ten Acre Organics

Hello Backers,

We would love to begin sending out our rewards and a special "Thank You" package to all of our backers as soon as possible.  Please email us at info@tenacreorganics.com with the following information:

1.  Your Mailing Address

2.  Your Preferred e-mail address

3.  Your Reward Specifications (only required for those who selected rewards with multiple options to choose from, such as "bumper sticker vs magnet", or "Personal CSA Box or equivalent contribution to Capital Area Food Bank", "Compost system for your home or to be donated to a local organization", or "T-shirt size").  

We look forward to showing you our deep appreciation by promptly distributing your rewards and a special "Thank You" package!  

All the best,

The Team at Ten Acre Organics

Hello friends and supporters,

It has been three weeks since the successful close of our Kickstarter campaign, and we have been busy!  In the first weekend after our campaign, we began preparing the construction site - with the help of a Vermeer skid-steer and a couple of chainsaws, we removed five legustrum trees and a lot of brush and leveled a 600 square foot platform for our greenhouse.  

In the second weekend after our Kickstarter ended, Ten Acre Organics had the honor of presenting at the "Food, the City, and Innovation" conference at the University of Texas, where we took part in a panel of food entrepreneurs discussing the business of local, sustainable, urban farming.  We also spent that week preparing for the start of our 8-week workshop series, "How to Build an Urban Farm."  Preparations included spreading flyers, networking throughout the local food and urban agriculture community, coordinating with all of our guest subject-matter experts, as well as seeking sponsors to support the workshop series.  On the sponsorship front, we have secured a very generous, $1,000 donation from Organic Valley, as well as in-kind donations of lunches from Thunder Heart Bison, East Side Pies, and Dish-a-licious!   

And, last weekend, we had the first workshop of our series, "How to Build a Chicken Coop."  The workshop was a great success!  Fifteen participants showed up (even though there was a 70% chance of thunderstorms) and Zach and Virginia from YardFarm gave a great presentation on chicken care and coop design.    

This weekend will be the second workshop in our series: "How to Build a Greenhouse."  We have more than 30 RSVP's and it promises to be a fun and productive weekend.  We look forward to getting this urban micro-farm built and operational so that we can start growing healthy, local food for our friends, neighbors, and Kickstarter supporters!  Also, our t-shirts and bumper sticker rewards have been ordered, and we plan to start sending out some of our first Backer Rewards very soon!  

Thanks again for your support, and we look forward to keeping you posted on our progress!

-  The Team at Ten Acre Organics

What a campaign!  It is hard to believe that two months have passed since we first launched our Kickstarter video on Thanksgiving Day.  The Ten Acre Organics team has worked incredibly hard, to be sure, but this success would not have happened without the help of an army of friends, family members, and supporters.  We are completely humbled, touched, and inspired by the outpouring of generosity, love, and support that we have received.  We are so excited to be able to proceed with building our urban micro-farm at our home in Austin.  Our wish is that our story - and our mission to create a healthier, more sustainable world through innovative food production - will continue to capture the imaginations of Austinites and people everywhere, so that we can quickly grow to our full-scale ten acre farm, and beyond.  Thank you for being with us on this journey!  

All the best,

The Team at Ten Acre Organics

P.S.  Some statistics from our Kickstarter campaign:  

Total funding raised:  $15,828

Number of backers:  187

Total views of our Kickstarter video:  2,772

Total Facebook Likes of our Kickstarter:  1,143