 In our modern food culture, most grocery shopper's attention tends to lean toward pricing, taste and labeling (not necessarily in that order). It's doubtful that many folks would be thinking much about dirt while shopping for the best price on a can of Beef-A-Roni at Kroger. Be that as it may, nutrition comes from the ground. Healthy soil produces healthy nutritious food. At the downtown Dallas Urban FARM Park, we are building our own soil in what we call a Soil Reclamation and Healing Project. The FARM Park sits atop a 2-acre asphalt and concrete parking lot at 700 S. Good Latimer Expressway in Dallas. Using donated wood chips, clay, shale and compost, FARM is engineering a thick layer of rich, living soil for growing and teaching others about fresh healthy organic food.
The base and foundation of our 1-acre growing plot is black clay donated from a local construction site during excavation. The clay itself is great, but it was filled with debris, such as concrete chunks, broken bricks, pieces of metal and even some glass. Cleaning and recycling the clay was a painstaking process of sifting through the clay, and picking out the debris by hand. A large group of volunteers from different organizations showed up on the 17th Annual Freedom Day to help us speed things up.  Freedom Day Volunteers
Once cleaned, the clay is used as a moisture containing barrier, isolating the asphalt from the growing area. It will also be a component in the recipe for our soil planting mix of compost, shale and decomposed wood chips.
A group of volunteers from Tango Tab came by a few days later, after the soil was mixed and added to one of our growing areas, to help separate and husk our best homegrown organic garlic bulbs for planting while Steve prepared the finished bed.
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 Another year around the sun and North Texas Giving Day is only 6 days away! Last year, with your help, F.A.R.M. raised $10,000. This year we are upping the challenge in hopes to raise $20,000! Help us make that happen!  What is North Texas Giving Day? Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day is an 18-hour online giving event designed to empower every person to give back to their community by supporting local non profits and causes the care about. The event helps bring awareness and support to local non-profits. In its 9-year tenure, the event has raised a total of $195 million for the community, making it the largest community-wide event in the nation! Who your donation helps Since 2014, F.A.R.M. has been on the forefront of change in our local food system. In order to enact that change, we enlisted our fellow brothers and sisters in arms to take on their new mission of healing Americas distressed food system, their communities and the earth. This is why we give… 
On Tuesday, September 11th, Communities Foundation of Texas hosted its 17th annual Freedom Day, a community service event honoring the lives lost, and those forever changed by the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
This year, 50 volunteers and family members served side-by-side at the FARM Urban Park in downtown Dallas. In recognition of the courage and bravery of the men and women who fight for our freedom, and those first responders who protect us, we dedicate this day of service to you. "Thank You!" to all who came out to celebrate this special day of remembrance with your service! SALUTE!
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