Hub of Prosperity: Where Food Meets Community

Three UTRGV students at the Hub of Prosperity call the urban farm their home. They work at their convenience to grow and sell produce at farmers markets while balancing their schoolwork.

According to The Rider, Alex Racelis, agroecology program director and associate professor, received land behind the Edinburg First United Methodist Church. The church is located at 3707 W. University Dr and that is where the Hub of Prosperity was formed.

Fatima Garza, an anthropology junior; Taylor Snowden, a sustainable agriculture and food systems senior; and Suzanne Elhaj, a sustainable agriculture and food systems senior, are student-employees who work at the farm. Some of whom have been with the Hub of Prosperity since its establishment.

           “These are the students who come to mind [regarding] the real leadership at the farm,” Racelis said over the phone. “In many ways, they supervise the other students. They’ve participated in talks, they have been highlighted in the newspaper, [and] they’ve been on the news. I think they’re kind of natural leaders of the group.”

Currently, Garza and Snowden are working on projects to improve the farm’s efforts to support the local community. Elhaj also works to promote events hosted by the urban farm.

Garza is raising chickens and is expecting they will start laying eggs soon, making them feel excited. They got the eggs from a local farmer. Watching the young chickens hatch to seeing them mature gave Garza the learning opportunity to raise them. The student said they want to bring the eggs to the farm.

“It’s cool to see this process, from the egg [to a full-grown chicken],” Garza said.

The anthropology junior said they did not struggle too much while working on their chicken project, but they do more than that. Garza also oversees the maintenance of the vegetables on the farm. During the interview, they mentioned the freeze back in February worried them because “you can only do so much to protect what you have worked so hard for.”

“Knowing that you have your team …that is there to continue pushing forward despite all these hindering obstacles,” Garza said.

Alongside new chickens to the Hub of Prosperity, Taylor is working to collect rainwater for the produce grown. After the water gathers in a 3000-gallon tank, the plants receive it through irrigation. That saves the farm water.

During the interview, Taylor mentioned they plan to complete the project that day. Taylor said they are excited to complete the project and like that they learned how to build it.

While working on it, the project purchased a rainwater harvesting set-up kit from the United Kingdom, but it showed measurements differently than in the United States. Thus, Taylor and their classmates created the parts from scratch.

“That’s been stressful, but also fun, because we’re learning how to D.I.Y. it,” Taylor said.

Elhaj, not only working on the farm, makes flyers, organizes, and coordinates events such as the farmers market on and off campus. According to the student, the farmers markets held on the Edinburg campus lasts about five hours.

“At times, it can be labor intensive because everything that we do at the farm requires labor,” Elhaj said regarding handling the workload at the farm. “Sometimes, the heat can get really overwhelming. To work at the farm, you need to have patience because a lot of the tasks [we do] are repetitive.”

While these students work on the farm, they also have to balance their coursework. Elhaj is taking three courses, Snowden has five courses, and Garza is in four. The extra work from the farm does not go unnoticed. They feel stressed keeping up with their schoolwork; Snowden mentioned they dropped a class.

           “I think I was finding this semester to be very overwhelming, and I was struggling to keep up with my classes,” Snowden said. “I fell very behind. I think most of that is due to the online format of these classes.”

Elhaj is in a course taught by Racelis. In it, students spend time at the Hub of Prosperity. According to Elhaj, she will complete 40 volunteering hours at the end of this semester. She also holds officer positions in other organizations. So, she uses planners to stay organized with her responsibilities.

“The goal of my type of instruction as an educator [is that] these student [grow] professionally and personally, so that they can have as much of an impact on whatever their next career endeavor might be,” Racelis said.

Regardless of the intense heat or heavy workloads from school or the farm, the students enjoy working there. Snowden and Garza both feel lucky to work at the Hub of Prosperity. Elhaj, also enjoys the busy schedule because it gets her to support the local food production in the Rio Grande Valley.

For more information regarding the farm, contact Racelis at alexis.racelis@utrgv.edu.