Our farmer friends at Tecolote Farm have been one of the best quality growers serving Austin, TX for over 15 years, and now with in the last 2 years they have been struggling to stay in business. Urban sprawl is sucking up all the water, putting local agriculture out. Is irrigating ball fields more important to a community than local food? Read the article in the Austin Statesman, and watch the video...
How can you help? Here is a note from Farmers David and Katie at Tecolote Farm:
Dear Friends of Tecolote Farm,
You've probably all heard about our water wells going dry this year, or read the article and seen the video of David talking about it in the Statesman. If not, you can still read the article and see the photos and video online at:
http://www.statesman.com/green/content/news/stories/local/05/24/0524farm.
html
What can you do to help?
Thank you so deeply for your many offers to help. I have been talking to a lot of people who know the ins and outs of water usage in the area, and now I have concrete action items for you, our supporters and customers, to do to help the cause of securing our water supply. Finally, something you can do! Please take a minute to do the following:
1. **Most Important: Let's all do this before June 13th!!
Contact your County Commissioner. I have attached a sample letter you can send to him/her, and you may personalize it as you see fit. For example, expressing your relationship to the farm or expressing your appreciation of our weekly delivery service would be an effective way of letting your politician know that local family farms' success is important to you.
Also, be sure to fill in the blank lines in the letter with the appropriate information.
To find your commissioner's email address and telephone number, go to the following website:
http://www.co.travis.tx.us/commissioners_court/default.asp
You can also determine who your commissioner is there, if you don't already know. (It is important that you write to your commissioner, not ours, because your commissioner cares about your vote. Pressure on one part of the County to solve the water problem the County created will be effective, no matter which division of the County it is.)
2. Contact the media (Texas Monthly, TV stations, Dallas Morning News, or wherever you have leads), your state representative, and your state senator to alert them that you do not support rampant development near Austin without concern for agricultural sustainability. They need to know that you are upset that County wells are sapping water from your organic farm.
Find your state senator and representative:
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/Members.htm#FYI
Thank you all, and please let us know what skills or services you have that you'd like to offer to help us stay put and keep growing veggies for you!
Sincerely,
Katie and David
