HARLINGEN — As they walked through each lengthy garden row, their boots made soft crunching sounds while each step continued to etch imprints into the dirt.
At the crack of dawn, Diana Padilla and her husband Saul, had set out to their garden with tools and baskets at hand in search of a variety of ingredients such as organic blue corn, herbs and vine ripened tomatoes.
These all-natural farm and garden owners were preparing for a late-morning gathering with about 15 to 20 expected guests in honor of a special day.
In celebration of Mother’s Day, Yahweh’s All Natural Farm and Garden created two farm-to-table, outdoor brunches today at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., weather permitting.
Live guitar music was set to be played throughout the white tablecloth meal, which comprises homemade, certified blue corn tacos filled with farm fresh vegetables and either farm chicken or grass-fed beef.
To accompany the main dish, they were preparing moringa and mint tea and hearty vine ripened tomato soup.
According to Diana, the Mother’s Day brunch gathers people from throughout the upper and lower Valley, such as McAllen, Raymondville, Harlingen and Brownsville.
“People come from all over the place because they’re looking for organic food and there really aren’t any places. So, this really is a true farm to table experience because you’re still at the farm,” Diana said with a laugh and a smile.
The experience
Harlingen resident Kay Polt, 58, has attended Yahweh’s brunches since they began three years ago.
What she looks forward to the most every year is trying the farm’s “tasty food.”
“I think it being a farm to table brunch is unique because the farm is literally right there and not many places have the ability to do that,” she said. “The food is harvested ripe off the vine right there so you can’t get any fresher, best flavored food than that.”
Where did the idea stem from?
A few years ago, Diana and her husband began organizing dinners on their Yahweh All Natural Farm and Garden to raise money for their nonprofit, HOPE for Small Farm Sustainability.
“They were always very successful because people really want to go to the farm and have that farm experience,” Diana explained.
On occasion, they also hosted cooking classes and received “good turnouts,” so they decided to create more events.
“Everybody celebrates Mother’s Day, but nobody does anything special for Father’s Day so we created a brunch for them two years ago,” she explained. “People loved it and asked us to make a Mother’s Day brunch so we did one last year and plan to celebrate both holidays this year.”
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Yahweh’s All Natural Farm and Garden is located at 19833 Morris Road in Harlingen.
• The farm and garden produces and sells United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified organic fruits and vegetables.
• It’s open Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
