Cultivating Connections with Amy Brown

 

For Amy Brown, 2023 was a momentous year.

 

“I like to say that the transformative events of that time feel like a John Prine or country western song: I turned forty, went to rehab, got divorced, and found Jesus,” Amy laughs.

 

It was during this year of new salvation that Amy discovered purpose through her faith.

 

Two years on, Amy is heading the mission at Noonday Farms to support her neighbors’ physical and emotional needs through home delivery of homegrown produce.

 

When Amy moved to Terrell Heights from Albuquerque with her family in 2016, she brought a wealth of experience in community farming and counseling. Before moving to Albuquerque, Amy co-founded Common Thread Community Farm in Central New York, selling it five years later to pursue her Master’s in Counseling

 

“Common Thread Farm is where I got into growing food, but I wanted more. I’d worked with foster kids in the summers during college, and I found myself yearning to go back to that field,” Amy says.

 

 

Finding A Spiritual Purpose in Community Farming

 

After settling in Terrell Heights with her daughter, Georgie, and her son, River, Amy began to look for ways to unite her passions. She discovered that her front yard gave her a place to practice hyper-local farming while also supporting her own emotional well-being.

 

“The urge to have my hands in the soil continues to follow me. Anytime I feel restless or discontent, I know that all I have to do is go out and pull weeds for half an hour,” Amy says.

 

Noonday Farms broke ground in Amy’s front yard in January of this year and grew over 500 pounds of produce in its first season. “It was a banger of a season! My goal was to find five households to feed. Next season, we aim to expand our reach to thirty families,” Amy says.

 

“The house has become a little corner spot where people will stop to talk when they walk by,” Amy says. After a career change last summer, Amy began working with Meals on Wheels. “That was when something big clicked for me. I realized that I could provide farm-fresh produce for the same population. The Food Bank works through distribution points, but clients have to come and get it. Meals on Wheels delivers five days a week, but it’s a hot meal. This was a big gap in meal services, and I wanted to address it,” Amy says.

 

 

Noonday Farms

 

This idea was the inception of Noonday Farms, which provides home-grown produce and acts of service to homebound and food-insecure individuals in the Terrell Heights area. Amy hopes to expand her vision through a hub and spoke model of food distribution that relies on volunteers to provide the home delivery service.

 

“My vision is that Noonday will inspire others to grow food in their front yards,” Amy says.

 

As Amy prepares for the next growing season, she is partnering with her church at Grace Northridge Anglican to establish a second farm site. Noonday has also been awarded a micro-grant by the Impact Guild and the City of San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability in recognition of its growing status as part of a “resource pod,” available to neighbors in the face of a climate event.

 

“Our true act of service is coming into people’s homes to provide companionship, and to see if they are in need of other services that we are able to connect them with,” Amy says. Rooted in the scripture from which it draws its name, this is the true work of Noonday Farms: pouring oneself out for the hungry.

 

“I get out of my own gloom and find joy by being of service to others,” Amy says.

 

Sign up to volunteer, donate, or receive produce at www.noondayfarmer.org

 

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held for Noonday’s new farm site at Grace Northridge Anglican Church on August 16th at 9am. All Welcome.

 

Follow Noonday Farm on Instagram: @noonday_farms