On January 22, 2026, nearly two years after first applying, Overalls Farm Three secured its Certificate of Use from the City of Jacksonville to operate legally as a neighborhood farm. Winning a certificate of use granting us permission to grow took 2 years, 3 citations, 4 meetings with city officials, the backing of 5 operational non-profit partners, 11 letters of support from neighborhood business leaders, 13 Greens & Beans community meals, 15 American Gothic inspired community posts, 125 neighborhood uPick Farm Members, 500+ families on our farm member wait list, over 1350 signers on the Petition for Permission to Grow (including 350 immediate neighbors), and over $50,000 in lost revenue – not to mention: having our USDA farm serial number...
"So, I want a garden, but I was wondering if you could build and plant it using the principles of Square Foot Gardening?" Well, "um..." I squirmed. What was Square Foot Gardening? This was back in 2009, just as I was putting on my Overalls. Carol, a friend and the customer asking the question offered, "I've got a copy of the book. I can lend it to you to review, and then when you come tomorrow,...
I want you to grow your groceries.
Could you grow enough food to feed your family if you needed?Could we, as communities, sustain ourselves - even temporarily - if there was some major disruption like a cyber attack, supply chain failure, hyper inflation, economic fall-out, or - God forbid - war? Though I'm a fan of salads & tasty treats like sugar snaps, if you're hungry, those just won't cut it.
With this Arctic blast headed our way, I wanted to share a quick note with a couple resources.
Growing Year 'Round - video
What To Do When It Freezes (pdf)
The main takeaways are:
Most cool season crops should be fine; they'll freeze, thaw, and keep growing. It's the warm season crops growing out of season you have to worry about like... tomatoes, peppers...
Make sure your soil is good and moist...
There's something about coming out of the cold, darkness of winter into the warm light of spring that swells our sense of the possible, and so spring is - universally- the most popular gardening season. And for good measure: potatoes, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, pumpkins, melons and all those other frost-tender crops thrive in the early spring warmth - before the onslaught...
