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The Sanctuary Blueberry Farm
MONTGOMERY Tom and Evangeline Reed opened their pick-your-own organic Sanctuary Blueberry Farm to the public May aer planting its rst berry bushes in . “We’d been having friends come out and pick as a little private group since the beginning,” Evangeline said. “Last year was our trial run opening to the public. Last year, we didn’t even know if we’d have enough berries to come pick, but ... it’s becoming clear we can have as many people as will come.” The farm is home to , blue- berry bushes on acres—formerly hay elds—with the couple’s red barn and farmhouse at the back of the drive, where visitors can weigh in and pay for their berries for a pound. Tom said the couple began plant- ing the blueberry bushes by the thousand in sections, and can point pickers to areas ripening each day. Evangeline said visitors came by the farm last year, spending an average of each. “We don’t just grow organic because it’s a thing. We actually live that lifestyle,” Evangeline said. “We’re very toxin-free in our home and want to teach other people how to do that, too.” The farm has three full-time employees who hand-weed or till instead of using Roundup like other farms, which is linked to carcinogens. The Reeds also installed an irrigation pond and dug a well for the bushes. “Irrigation was the hardest chal- lenge—setting it up to collect the runo—so if it rains really hard the
The cafe’s fried chicken and waffles dish features fried chicken and jalapeno-bacon cheddar waffles served with blueberry butter and Cajun syrup.
Kings Blu Jam Cafe
Tom Reed plucks a blueberry from one of his more than 7,000 bushes.
SPRING For sisters Dana King Railey and Connie King Reddington, food was a way of life long before it became a way to make a living. “That’s what we did when our family got together—it was cooking, it was food. Everything was centered around the table,” Railey said. Originally from Louisiana, the sisters relocated to the Spring area more than years ago from Hous- ton’s Inner Loop. Both formerly in real estate, the duo said they had a hard time nding Southern cooking while working in the area and found themselves leaving Spring to eat. The sisters opened Kings Blu Jam Cafe on July of last year. The Southern-style kitchen oers Cajun-inspired breakfast, brunch and lunch options ranging from chicken and waes and huevos rancheros to shrimp and grits and Creole po’boys. The restaurant prides itself on using locally sourced meat, produce, seafood and even coee, Railey said. “We go local when we can go local because we are local,” Reddington said. “It’s a little piece of Louisiana in the Spring area.”
The sisters oer daily lunch spe- cials during the week and regularly add new items to the menu. “We didn’t go with a franchise because we’d be limited on what we could serve and we’d have to use their recipes,” Reddington said. “So we thought we’d give it a shot with our own recipes.” The restaurant features an outdoor patio and oers catering services. Patrons can also bring their own alcohol to make mimosas on-site. Boasting a kitchen with made- from-scratch dishes, the sisters even make their own jam and are working to obtain a manufacturing license so they can eventually sell it by the jar. “We’re fresh, local and everything’s homemade,” Railey said. FULL STORY BY HANNAH ZEDAKER
18430 Kinkaid Road W., Montgomery 832-510-6207 www.sanctuaryblueberryfarm.com just say ‘Let’s go pick blueberries,’ but ‘Let’s go see our friends at the blueberry farm.’” FULL STORY BY JULES ROGERS runo goes into the pond, and it gets pumped back up here to the plants,” Evangeline said. “The pond’s really nice, mineral-rich water.” She said their biggest success has been creating the blueberry farm with no farming background. “We want to build a place where people can create memories with their family, where neighbors can be neighbors, and eventually we want to do a lot of fun classes out here to bring the community together,” Evan- geline said. “I want people to come in and see who we are as people, and trust us so we can make friends—not
4711 Louetta Road, Spring 713-389-5555 www.kingsblujam.com
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Thursday, July 25 7 p.m. / 6 p.m. Gates The United States Army Field Band and Soldier’s Chorus The oldest and largest of The U.S. Army Field Band’s performing components, The Concert Band and Soldier’s Chorus combine to present a powerful and diverse program of marches, overtures, popular music, patriotic selections, and instrumental and vocal solos.
FREE EVENT! NO TICKETS REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT. www.woodlandscenter.org
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