By Masi Mejia
When I first met Amanda Watson of Crazy Hoe Farms, I knew she was something different. As I started to coordinate with meeting up with Amanda for this story, I got a little worried, since she had not returned my phone calls. I did the next best thing: email. I got a response! Not only did I get a response to an email but as rain came pouring down the day I was supposed to visit Floydada, TX, I received an iMessage, which is a fancy text message shared by people who use iPhones, wanting to reschedule because of the rain. The rain prevented me from going out and visiting the farm several times but luckily, thanks to technology, I was able to learn as much as I could about Crazy Hoe Farms, LLC in Floydada, TX.
The first message I received from Amanda after our emails. Rain postponed me from visiting Crazy Hoe Farms in Floydada, TX.
I was fortunate enough to meet Amanda and her family at the Lubbock Farmer’s Market, just one of the many events that they participate in to get people to purchase produce locally. Crazy Hoe Farms also participates in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)program. This allows local people to buy shares in the farmer’s crop for that growing season. By buying these shares, not only does it help cover the costs and provide income for that growing season, but it allows people to know where their food comes from, since they get to receive five or ten pounds of produce each week during the growing season. The cool thing about Crazy Hoe Farms CSA program is that they deliver weekly to Lubbock. More information on CSAs can be found at http://www.localharvest.org/csa/.
With an ever-increasing technology in today’s world, I was surprised to learn that aside from farming , Crazy Hoe Farms has an aquaponics operations. Aquaponics is the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture to produce vegetables. Currently Amanda is farming tilapia, which she will take to market, and uses their waste as nutrients for the plants grown in water. She is also working on getting her aquaponics operation to be certified organic by the USDA.
Aside from the aquaponics operation, Amanda considers herself a dirt farmer first in growing potatoes, onions, tomatoes, green beans, corn, lettuce, wheat grain, sorghum, raising cattle, as well as many other things. Farming is a family affair with her parents, children and even her siblings’ helping when needed. She was raised on the family farm, Watson Farms, which was established in 1940 by her grandparents Glenna and Millard Watson. In her early twenties, she wanted to pursue farming but her father would not let her because he wanted her to do bigger and better things. So she took off to the big city and pursued a career in marketing, where she even purchased a hotel in Missouri. Last year, when both of her parents were hospitalized, with her father “on his deathbed”, she was able to persuade him to let her farm just like the generations before her had.
Microgreens!She has built a successful farming operation and sees Crazy Hoe Farms participating in more commercial business with aquaponics, microgreens, and CSAs in the future. Amanda credits the name of her farm with having to hoe cotton as a kid and the fact that she is not a typical face of a farmer. This is true–as I did not expect an iMessage from a farmer.
If you are interested in learning more about or Crazy Hoe Farms or would like more information on purchasing a share please visit their website at http://crazyhoefarms.com/ or contact Amanda Watson at crazyhoefarms@gmail.com .
Pictures provided by: Amanda Watson, Crazy Hoe Farms, LLC
This picture shows the Hoop house where microgreens are grown. This is one of the facilities located on Crazy Hoe Farms.