Tripping with Tripp

This is Jeff, the head farmer and gardener and Habitable Spaces. A.K.A. Jefe, which means CHIEF in Spanish. A.K.A. the Shirtless Farmer. His constant sense of humor makes it so much fun. Jeff is the social vortex of the space and takes new volunteers under his wings and shows them the ropes. If you're city folk visiting for the first time, trips to the river and rope swings are inevitable. He's also a wealth of information on stars and constellations. Long card games, bonfires and walks through the woods with the gang of dogs are always part of her Jefe's mix. We talk a lot about volunteer farming organizations. He is of a new generation of people unconcerned with money and owning things, but plays a mad ukulele. It's a hoot 'n holler watching him and Becks Love the Content Clown dueling their songs. In the kitchen, he's known as the Bread Master. He creates loaves in so many amazing flavors. Soft on the inside and crunchy on the exterior. Meet Jefe, the Head Farmer!

Mayor Shirley Nolen was my first quarantine interview at the local downtown farmer's market inspired by the pandemic and lockdown. The first time I met the Mayor of this newly incorporated train town was at a farm to table dinner and pop up art show in postcard perfect downtown Kingsbury, TX. The theme was Texas Germanic Immigrant Heritage and apparently a Brit with the last name of Kingsbury. The town's namesake went to Germany, passed out fliers in certain towns encouraging settlement, and Kingsbury, which he described as the "Land of Milk and Honey".. That's when Shirley's family emigrated here. Turns out Kingsbury was a bit of a shyster, and when the German immigrants got here, they arrived in the middle of a godforsaken, snake infested, barren desert because the area had been experiencing about a 5 year drought. But they stayed anyway. Many of them not by choice, but because they didn't have the resources to get back. Many of the newbies didn't speak English and in fact, there involved an entire Germanic dialect, distinct only to Texas. Not even the Germans could understand it. We talk about her family's history here and is she is full of central Texas trivia. We discuss the history of Kingsbury, and its history as a train town as well, which is fascinating.

Thanks for joining our journey to a farm and artist residency in Kingsbury called Habitable Spaces. In the premiere episode you were introduced to me and my back story. This episode was recorded on New Year's Eve 2019 going into 2020. It was intended to be archived for a project in the very distant future. I was living in New York preparing to sell my business and enrolled in a podcasting class in NYC. It was beginning to look like the start of a new, exciting chapter. After a family visit to Dallas for the holidays, I drove to a farm near Austin to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends and founders of the farm. We were firming up plans for a camper rental park collaboration. Thankfully, on a whim, I decided to document our progress with an interview just to have for possible future content. Join the experience as we land on the farm that has taken a sleepy rural railroad town and grown a community. Habitable Spaces!

Interview of me by former co-host. The podcast was called TrippnLarry, and my co-host's name was Larie Pidgeon of Instagram's Hudson Valley Happenings. She had such a hand on the pulse of the Hudson Valley. And after our interview, I turned off the recorder and she said, You know what? I've been wanting to get into podcasting for a long time. And I know through what you've done in the Hudson Valley what I've done, we could really pull in a lot of very unique, interesting, fascinating people. And would you be interested in the possibility of co hosting a podcast with me? And of course, I jumped on the opportunity, which is just so fun. Fabulous. We had a great chemistry and the few interviews we did do were so much fun. And everyone involved said, gosh, that was just the greatest time of us has and the finest chemistry and we just can't wait to see what's going to happen. So unfortunately, that had to come to an end as I came to Texas in quarantine and transition to my podcast from the East Coast to Texas.

My fun and frivolous NY podcast took a turn to LOCKDOWN on a farm in deeply rural TX. Join my life-changing adventure and transition from 20 years in NYC and the Hudson Valley to residing in Austin during our horrendous coronavirus pandemic. A visit for a concert and SXSW evolved into embedding on friends'sustainable farm & artist residency Habitable Spaces in rural Kingsbury. I'm learning LOTS and will Immerse you in a multitude of experiences and personalities on the farm over the past year.

CREDITS:

Producer - Caitlin Pierce

Editor - Ben Montoya

MUSIC:

Train Town Band Members:

Seth Armstrong - Song Writer, Vocals, Guitar

Jerry McNulty - Steel Guitar

Dru Bengsston - Bass

Producer - David Beck

SPECIAL THANKS to 2020 Podcast Fellows, Stonybrook University