FORT WORTH, Texas — In South Fort Worth, what were once fairways and tee boxes are now just rough.
The former Timberview Golf Course was sold nearly a decade ago and, in the years since, the life of the land has taken a big swing.
“This is a place that all people can come together and be one,” said John Siburt, president of Timberview Farmstead. “This is a place where new life and creation can happen. This is a place where dreams can be born.”
Timbmerview Farmstead is a new teaching farm that opened last week where that old golf course once was.
The farmstead seeks to serve the people of Fort Worth and Everman, particularly kids in low-income and at-risk communities.
“The dream was to have a place where kids could come and dream and belong,” Siburt said.
Siburt says kids can experience all the joys of creation through things like aquaponics, where produce grows without the use of soil. Water from nearby fish tanks fertilize the plants, and the plants then filter the water back to the fish.
As a result, the produce will do more than just teach.
“The production of that grow house is going to be a source of healthy food for this community and address some of the issues you see in a food desert,” Siburt said.
It’s an agricultural oasis for kids to explore not just produce but poultry, cows, goats and the dozens of other livestock who live at the farm. Siburt says there’s a real benefit to this brand of duck, duck, goose.
“I think it gives people hope, I think it brings people together, I think we’re our best selves when we do this kind of work,” he said.
He said he believes the farm gives kids a chance to push past what they know and create a future they never thought possible.
“I think we’ll have kids that come back 25 years from now and say, ‘I’m a veterinarian now because I went to Timberview Farmstead,’ or, ‘I’m a physician because I went to Timberview Farmstead,’ or, ‘I transformed communities through architecture and construction because of what I saw at Timberview Farmstead,’” Siburt said. “I think many dreams over the next generation will be launched right here.”
Life can grow into something beautiful by simply planting a seed and watching it grow.
Timberview Farmstead is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.