Our Story

In 2011 Andrea and Matt were working on a rescue ranch in Ponder, TX while renting a house on Bradshaw St in Denton with a large and lush backyard.

With a dream to change the food system, a desire for knowledge of essential life skills and a need for access to fresh healthy food, a garden began.

Denton’s Backyard Farm joined the Denton Community Market in 2011, bringing offerings of fresh vegetables.

To farm on a small scale Matt and Andrea studied Market Gardening, and mushroom cultivation. Looking to many alternative growers that have been successful in urban gardening, quality land managment and creating value.

Matts skills of system creation and carpentry allowed for an expanding and efficient growing operation. Matt and Andrea grew mushrooms, greens and vegetables. They built a hoop house to extend the season and began renting an additional plot to garden in Denton off Windsor St.

Joining with Earthwise Gardens Matt and Andrea began selling their produce at the Coppell Farmers Market, Denton Community Market, and through the Earthwise Grocery Story in 2013.

Through WWOOF an opportunity to create a large farm in North Carolina had the couple moving out East. All of 2014, In one year the couple made a field into a farm and began selling at 3 farmers markets in Raleigh, Rocky Mount, and Louisburg, North Carolina.

2015 Had the couple return home to Denton. Where Tree Folk Farm began. At first with the thought of only growing mushrooms, then after attending the markets the realization that fresh local vegetables were needed for the community.

Through the seasons, the Tree Folk Farm crew has grown to include a market manager, and a couple of part time farm hands. Growing through changes and figuring out what works on this small scale farm has been a balancing act. Currently the crew has reduced back to Matt and Andrea working the farm and help from Marc and Alexander at the farmers market.

Going into 2023 we plan to offer our produce through True Leaf Studio and the Denton Community Market on Saturday.

Farm Practices: Regenerative Agriculture is a whole systems approach where waste becomes resource and water flow is controlled. We don’t use any synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Instead building up a healthy soil life with mulching, compost and biological pest controls through bacteria and growing what is suitable for the season and climate.

We don’t till our garden beds because soil in nature is built from the top down. Tilling mixes up old weed seeds and breaks the complex web and networks built by microorganisms that improve water holding capacity and nutrient distribution in soil. We buy in organic fertilizers based from alfalfa grass and chicken manure and we use the compost we make to feed the soil and hoe that in before we plant each new crop.

Our compost is made from our spent mushroom blocks, crop residues, yard waste, biochar and manure. When the pile gets large enough we stop adding material and turn weekly (ideally) to keep the pile at the proper temperature. This breaks the materials down into compost quickly so that they can be used to feed the soils again to grow more healthy and strong plants.

With warmth, many pests arrive. Caterpillers, aphids, beetles, and other bugs find a home in our gardens. To control pests (plant eaters) we remove them by hand, discontinue a crop for the season or use some species specific biological spray. We encourage our beneficial insects, by allowing them to be in the garden. Wasps are expert bug killers and spend all day hunting insects. Ladybugs and lacewings eat loads of aphids but we also remove any leaves for compost when we find that have aphid infestations.

Growing for our climate and a diversity of edible plants appropriate for the season in healthy living soil has proven to be a successful method to produce vegetables for our community on one acre, through regenerative agriculture.