Hairston Creek Farm is a small 36-acre certified organic farm located in central Burnet County. Gary and Sarah Rowland grow organic vegetables and sell them at the Sunset Valley Farmers Market in Austin, Burnet Farmers Market in Burnet and through a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA).

Upon moving to the Hill Country in 1990, Gary & Sarah purchased the acreage with the intention of growing organic vegetables. Gary received his degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University in 1977 and started growing roses in Tyler. Seven years later, after two hard freezes in a row, he went to work for the Extension Experiment Station in Overton, researching vegetable production. Idly looking through a trade magazine one day, he spotted an ad for a position with the Bermuda government as an agronomist. Deciding it would be nice to have a paid vacation on a semi-tropical island, he applied and was eventually offered the job. During his stay there he met and married Sarah, a legal secretary on the island, and they had two children Benjamin, now 17, and Dorothy, now 15. After six years on the island, the decision was made to return to the U.S. and start a vegetable farm. They spent some time searching for the perfect place, and found 36 acres on the banks of Hairston Creek. There was a large 18-acre field, a house, several outbuildings, a large section of brush and a nice swimming hole in the creek. The swimming hole cinched the sale.

Organic vegetables were seen as the only way a small farm could survive financially, and ensure a safe environment for the Rowland family. The first few years, the vegetables were marketed mainly at farmers markets around the local area. Wholesaling to Austin natural foods stores including Whole Foods, Sun Harvest and Wheatsville Co-Op was added to the mix after they gained Organic Certification in 1993. They have been involved with the Sunset Valley Farmers Market for quite a while, starting as original members of the Westlake Farmers Market. Gary and Sarah's youngest child Henry Rowland was born July, 1998 and loves helping out his parents on the family farm.

The Community Supported Agriculture program, started in 2000, is a subscription-based service that offers a weekly box of mixed vegetables over a 32-week season. The CSA has been a boon to the Hairston Creek Farm, providing a steady income over the season, and allowing the farm to grow a wider variety of vegetables. This wider variety of products has also been helpful at the farmers markets. A small winter CSA was added in 2003 with great success. The farm produces all the family income, contrary to the standard family farm where there is at least one off-farm income. The farm is truly a family affair, with Farmers Market customers seeing Gary, Sarah and all the children throughout the year.

For more information, visit their website at www.hairstoncreekfarm.com.