Places

When Daniel and Adriana Omo moved their family from city living in San Antonio to Blanco County, they were seeking a more wholesome, rural lifestyle, where they could all slow down and have a closer connection to the land and the sense of a small community. But they probably did not foresee goat herds and cheese-making in their future. Their oldest child, Chrissy, was a teenager and it was a big change for her.

Ashe junipers, or the ubiquitous “cedar” trees covering the terrain, generally elicit scorn from Hill Country landowners. Most consider the bushy evergreens to be a nuisance, robbing the soil of moisture, causing miserable allergic reactions during pollination and serving no greater purpose than raw material for gnarly fence posts. But the Klaassen family views cedars as natural works of art that can be transformed into sturdy, attractive bed frames and other pieces of rustic furniture.

Castroville is one of those small towns you drive through coming and going somewhere else. We’re always anxious to get where we’re going and ready to be home at the end of a trip. But we always stop in Castroville early in the morning at Haby’s Alsatian Bakery on our way to Big Bend.

A photo of the view from the Hillside Boutique Hotel in Castroville will make your friends think you are on exotic vacation. The palm trees, tropical flowers, cabanas and a beautiful pool overlooking a panoramic valley is the perfect staycation. Located on a hilltop on U.S. Highway 90, this hotel was once known as the Hotel Alsace but it has changed—and that’s an understatement. The newly renovated hotel is on 13 acres owned by Joseph and Jana Winkler and Pete Markwardt. Hillside fe ...

A trip out to the lavender farm is a big part of Blanco’s annual Lavender Festival. This year’s featured farm, Hill Country Lavender, is celebrating its fourteenth year of operation with a new location at the intersection of FM 165 and FM 2325. The young plants on the new farm have reached their first year of maturity; the lovely lavender flowers enjoyed by many for their beauty and valued for their many uses as well, have begun blooming. “There is a second field nearby and we act ...

Kayte and Justin Graham take a decidedly green approach when it comes to pork production at their Zanzenberg Farm in Center Point. Instead of keeping their hogs in close quarters, they allow them to roam freely in grazing pastures to take advantage of Mother Nature’s bounty. The Grahams say the animals benefit from vitamin D supplied by the sun along with minerals from the soil and nutrition from a variety of plants that combine to create a natural “salad.” Ironically, pigweed ranks h ...

On a warm, windy day in October, I arrived at the home of Jerome and RoShell Heiner in the small community of Blumenthal, Texas, located between Stonewall and Fredericksburg. My mission: to learn about propagating and growing sweet potatoes in the Hill Country. Jerome and RoShell, along with their sons, and later, daughters-in-law and grandkids, have been growing and selling sweet potatoes throughout the area for more than 40 years. When their youngest son Randy was born, the now-family ...

From club lambs and grain fields, the Jason and Kelli Jacoby farm and ranch operation has expanded with four grown sons and families who’ve extended their reach from McCulloch County into the capital city of Austin. Along the way, they’ve added cow/calves, a feed and seed store, café, mill, rail yard and land services.

Dripping Springs & Bee Cave Lone Star Farmers Market Dripping Springs - Saturdays 4pm-8pm, Rain or Shine. Treaty Oak Distilling, 16604 Fitzhugh Rd, Dripping Springs, TX 78620 Bee Cave - Sundays, 10am-2pm, Rain or Shine, Hill Country Galleria, 12700 Hill Country Blvd., Bee Cave, TX 78738, For more info, visit www.lonestarfarmersmarket.com, email at [email protected] or call (512) 924-7503 Boerne The Farmers Market at the Cibolo - Boerne, Saturdays, 9am-1pm For more info, ...

You’ve heard it all your life — They say, “Money doesn’t grow on trees!” Well . . . I don’t know who “they” are, but I’ll let you in on a little secret. They’re wrong! Pecans here in Central Texas have been enriching humanity for a very long time — longer than recorded history. Yes -- our native nut trees have fed the locals for many millennia.