We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily Falk and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born in Corpus Christi 1988 & was adopted by my Father Ken Falk & Mother Carolynn Falk and brought to Dallas at birth. I grew up in east Dallas. Mostly Lakewood & white rock lake area. My father was mostly on business trips for his work & mom, my sister, & I spent a lot of time at home. We had a giant backyard and mom spent not just some of her time but all of her time out in the garden. Sarah & I watched & helped as often as possible. This is where I received my green thumb & am truly appreciative for it.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I came across microgreens at Big Tex Urban Farms at the fair grounds. I was immediately intrigued by everything about them, how they grew, their nutritional value, & their small part & hopefully a huge part in replacing big agriculture. I have been in the service industry for more than a decade, a lot more than a decade & while I loved it I had the desire to do more. Serving you up a glass of our finest cab simply wasn’t cutting anymore. I spent my only 2 days off visiting BigTex Urban Farms for months before I was offered a job distributing the micros I was growing at BigTex through Restorative Farms (Hatcher location). I was able to put down the service industry for awhile & continue on with my new found passion for growing and harvesting microgreens. During this learning process & far before then I had been doing a volunteer food distribution @ 4DWN every Wednesday & Sunday. We would have trucks come in from all over (Whole Foods), we’d package the food accordingly, & distribute it to many families that lived in surrounding food deserts that did not have access to fresh produce let alone food. Mike Crum, Rob Cahill, & myself thought of how I could bring what I’m doing to 4DWN. I spend majority of my time there & @ BigTex Urban Farms why not bring my growing expertise there & integrate skate culture with grow culture ?! So, that’s exactly what I did. I had my grow rack up & running in the 4Dwn skate shop within a month. This has come full circle for me seeing as how 4dwn & OAKCLIFF veggie project, skatelite, & dickies have successfully completed the first & only fully automated growing space underneath our vert ramp @ 4dwn proving that you can grow in the least likely of places. And if I can do it whose to say I can’t teach others as well !!!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Being that I am a very outdoorsy type of woman I would recommend hiking the Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve, pop in for lunch anywhere in Bishop Arts, & enjoy a patio accompanied by some wine (I personally love Tacos y Vino) I highly suggest visiting the DMA, Texas theatre for obscure movies, & Revelers Hall for some live jazz (revelers hall band kills it every Sunday !!!). Can’t forget Fort Worth stockyard for outdoor ice skating, vibey lights & shopping. And naturally you must come see what we’re doing over at 4DWN. There is all the friendly faces, good vibes, & skateboarding !!!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to give the biggest shout out possible to 4DWN for recognizing my abilities & giving me all the opportunities to grow & flourish w/ them at 4DWN. I’d also like to thank Franchesca w/ DiveDwn for providing me with the opportunity of a lifetime to be head grower for the containers. And to everyone over at BigTex Urban Farms specially Drew Demler for teaching me the micro process & allowing me to use their facilities to learn.

Website: 4dwn.org

Instagram: @crimalee (personal) or @4dwn_org

Image Credits
4DWN Bootstrapfarmer

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