We started Tejas Tropicals, LLC in 2007 with the idea of growing tropical plants that were hardy in the southern half of the United States. We wanted to grow nursery plants using sustainable organic practises and we have done fairly well with our nursery.
Over the last several years we have grown more of our own food and have also seen the desire for folks to buy their food locally and to know where and how it was produced. This caused us to begin adding produce to our farm for sale to the public. In an effort to grow sustainably we began looking at the synergies we could create with small meat animals, eggs, milk goats, and auquaponics in addition to produce as a whole system rather than bits and pieces. The pastured rabbits and poultry graze on the grass, bugs and clover and improve the pasture with their droppings. The laying hens and breeder rabbits produce manured bedding for compost in the garden beds. The fish produce fertilized water that runs through the hydroponic beds, producing awesome microgreens and heirloom tomatoes, and the beds purify the water that recycles back to the tilapia fish tanks. The only input is organic fish food and we get organically grown produce and beautiful fish filets! The goats graze, fertilize the pasture, and produce raw milk for us and the poultry. There are fewer and fewer outside inputs to the nursery and farm as it evolves toward total self sufficiency.
We have added a “From the Farm” section to our website so we can share the products we are growing with everyone. It’s a work in progress but we hope everyone will enjoy seeing it grow and eating some of the freshest, tastiest, organically grown meat and produce available.
