Crabtree Farms is one of our hidden gems
The soft, warm smoky dew drifts down from the brow of Lookout Mountain, mingling with a healthy dose of showers that greet the first morning of June.
A lone turkey tip-toes along a tree line shouldering Chattanooga Creek as an indigo bunting belts out a sharp, bold tune accenting the train whistle and pulse of humming rails as it descends, a piercing blue flash set against a gray sky, darting and dancing above the tomato plants not quite in bloom.
Two piebald goats, Molly and Phoenix, perch atop a shed overlooking the fields. Caked in the Tennessee clay, muddy yet merry, farmers in muck boots and volunteers simply donning open-toed Tevas wade through the soppy soil harvesting vibrant seasonal colors from the earth: baby carrots and fennel, Patty Pan and Zephyr Squash, collards and kohlrabi. The Friday bottleneck on I-24 and the a.m. buzz of downtown seem a million miles away—when in actuality it’s all happening just down the street.
Tucked away in the Clifton Hills neighborhood at the end of 30th Street, Crabtree Farms is a 22-acre sustainable urban agrarian oasis where cultivators toil with the land not just as a vocation but as a craft and calling, bringing to Chattanooga tables local produce to feed not just the belly, but the soul.
“Food is a great connector. Everybody eats. Food is universal,” says Sara McIntyre, Crabtree Farms’ Executive Director. “Eating from the land, eating what’s seasonal necessitates that you slow down. You pay attention. You make relationships with farms and food. It really begins to tie a person through their taste buds into the natural rhythms of the place that they live. By doing so you are creating place. Eating local is place-making in action. It’s relational and it’s gorgeous.”
What began almost two decades ago as a non-profit sustainable research farm, Crabtree Farms, which celebrates its 20th birthday this November, has grown from modest flower farm to thriving CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and wholesale farm, producing over a hundred varieties of fruits and vegetables as well as myriad herbs and other plants, including plant starts to create your own “agrihood” in the backyard.
“We grow food well and we can grow for a lot of people, but it’s even better if people grow for themselves,” Sara says, strolling along a field where zinnias and basil are sprouting. “We’re always trying to help promote that and help people to follow their own whims and desires for living a more sustainable life.”
More than two hundred years before the rise of the farm-to-table movement, before the benefits of local, sustainable farming took root—before the City of Chattanooga even existed—the land where Crabtree flourishes was “zoned” agricultural. In 1855, having purchased 640 acres on a knoll overlooking Chattanooga Creek, Daniel Cocke established Oakland, one of the largest plantations in Hamilton County.
Seventy years later, in 1925, the city annexed the neighborhood that had adopted the name Cocke had given the knoll—Clifton Hill. Following World War II, with the exception of a small portion along the creek, much of the original 640 acres had been sold to development.
The remaining 22 acres were in the hands of the Crabtree/McGauley family. In 1998, the family donated the property to the city with the stipulation that the land remain in agriculture.
“It’s kind of hard to believe now, but twenty years ago in this particular area sustainable agriculture was kind of a foreign concept,” Sara says. “Most people scoffed at the notion that you could grow sustainably here and still be able to support yourself as a farmer. That was one of the things the farm was started for—to prove, yes, you can do that.”
At Crabtree, seeds sowed go deeper than their roots. Among its many branching programs, the farm operates as a living classroom. Throughout the year, thousands of school-age children pass through the gates touching, smelling, and tasting their way through an agricultural experience led by staff and a team of dedicated volunteers who extol lessons ranging from the relationship between bee and plant pollination to composting.
“I’m really passionate about involving children in hands-on learning and sustainable urban agriculture is perfect,” says Rachel Gray, Crabtree’s Education and Volunteer Coordinator. “A lot of kids live in food deserts so we give them a place where they can actually see—even in a city, on a small scale—the steps made to living a more sustainable lifestyle. What we do on the land matters when it comes to what we are able to talk about—not just where food comes from but the choices that Crabtree makes when it comes to feeding our fields and our soils.”
The lesson isn’t limited to the tykes either. The farm offers an array of workshops, such as soap and candle making, discussions on summer cocktail mixology, fruit tree pruning and harvesting for basket-weaving classes—even first aid courses for dressing field wounds.
“We really think of our workshops as a way to engage the skills of an older time with a new twist,” Sara says.
As Chattanooga has cultivated its unique, local identity, Crabtree has found a welcome seat at the table, providing produce to restaurants such as St. John’s, Flying Squirrel, and Easy Bistro & Bar. In addition to their own farm stand, Crabtree’s fruits of labor can be found at the Main Street and Brainerd Farmer’s Markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays, respectively.
“In the last 15 years the Chattanooga area has really started becoming Chattanooga, you know?” says Mike Barron, Crabtree’s Greenhouse/Farm Operations Manager. “You have the rustic industrial city as a foundation but we also have our own unique identity now and a lot of diversity. I’m totally immersed in the local part where you are supporting folks that are making their own thing, whether it’s food related, like cheese and breads, or potters. It’s great getting connected into where your dollar goes.”
In May, Crabtree Farms partnered with EPB to further connect farm to city, creating a pop-up farm stand downtown at the corner of Market Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (the stand will be open Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.).
“What the city has sort of come into an awareness of, and I think our farmers have similarly come into awareness of, is that people are starting to appreciate ‘here,’ here being Chattanooga and this region,” Sara says. “What is delicious and appealing about the eating scene in Chattanooga is that a lot of it is fresh, local and vibrant. That is reflected in the restaurants and is reflected ever more in the presence of farmer’s markets and the presence of local products—even in chain grocery stores. I think that makes this Chattanooga/agriculture a really beautiful marriage.”
On June 16th, Crabtree Farms will host their 9th Annual 100 Dinner, a fundraiser supporting the farm’s educational and community outreach programs. Imagine an elegant outdoor picnic down on the farm—literally. As the name suggests, Crabtree and restaurants from the region serve up local cuisine—a nine course meal prepared onsite—from within a 100-mile radius to 100 guests. The evening also features local beer and wine as well as live bluegrass music.
“When people want to go to a destination, they want a place they can identify a unique experience with,” says Avery Patten, Crabtree’s Community Partnerships Manager. “The more that an area is able to connect with its landscape and the foods of its landscape, they’re able to create a truly rich, unique experience that not just benefits the folks that live in that community, but also makes that community a place where people are curious.”
While it’s true that Crabtree’s fertile soil yields nourishment both healthy and healing—not to mention tasty—there is a less tangible source of nourishment the farm provides in the form of balance and sanctuary.
“Often times people come out and volunteer at Crabtree who—that is not their normal life,” Sara says. “Their normal life is maybe very corporate and they may be very involved in emails and meetings and phone calls and all of these things. They come out and we slow them down and we let them put their hands in the earth and we give them a task, whether it’s planting or it’s weeding. They can see not only the end of, but they can see the results of their time. That is so important. You can work all day on your email inbox and not really feel or see that you are satisfied with the work that has happened.”
Therein lies the reward. In our digital age where information floods out at baffling speeds, where answers arrive before questions are asked, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Our bodies and brains instinctively search for that balance and opportunity to watch the grass grow.
“It’s not only a space where we root plants. We root people.” Sara says. “That’s a benefit to Crabtree Farms. That’s something you get when you come here. That satisfaction. That ability to care and then the ability to root and find community,” adding, “And you get free food.”
Jason Tinney is the author of Ripple Meets the Deep and two collections of poetry and prose, Louise Pairs and Other Waltzes and Bluebird. As an actor, Jason recently made his New York debut performance in “Free To Go”, which premiered at the Manhattan Repertory Theatre in 2018.
Photos by Jason Oswald