Photographic Art from My Visit to Eden's Organic Garden Center and CSA Farm

About three weeks ago I shared my trip to Eden's Organic Garden Center and CSA Farm. I mentioned in that blog post that I had turned a couple of the images I had taken there into new photographic art prints. In this post I will give a bit of a back story on how those images came about and show my photographic art images created from them.

While I was waiting for the tour of the farm to begin, I shopped the organic produce offered for sale from local farms. I selected a couple of different types of squash and placed them on the counter. The purveyor was not there to check me out at that moment. I looked at the squash laying on the counter and thought it had the makings of a still life image. I took the liberty to add some greens and beans to the composition and scoot some of the other items on the counter out of the frame. I took a few shots and returned the items I had moved to their original locations as best I could. The size of the squash dictated a landscape orientation for the image and one whose aspect ratio worked well for a 5x7 print, which is what I developed from one of the images I shot.

At one point in the farm tour, I glimpsed a commotion out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to see something flying away from a large spider web. I asked if anyone else had seen what had happened and we went to look more closely at the web. No one else had gotten a better look. The spider was a large orb spider, however its web was missing its signature Z pattern. We surmised that a large grasshopper or cicada had likely been what we had seen escaping from the web and it tore up the Z section as it got away. I managed to get a few shots of the orb spider in its disheveled web before the tour resumed. I titled the resulting 8x10 photographic art print "Just Missed".

You can find more information about Eden's Organic Garden Center and CSA Farm on their facebook page. They host small neighborhood farmers' markets on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturdays of a month from 9am to noon (April - Dec.). Look for their sign out front and drive all the way back down the driveway to the big shade tree by the barn.

Eden's Organic Garden Center and CSA Farm in Balch Springs

I had the pleasure of taking a tour of Eden's CSA farm earlier this year. I got there early and prior to the tour I observed as some other visitors were given a cup of scratch and headed off to find and feed the free range chickens. I stopped in at the Garden Center to check out their produce and what a lovely surprise to be serenaded by a harpist when I walked in. (A member of the CSA donates his talent on market days.) I picked out the largest butternut squash I have ever seen and a pattypan squash too.

They looked like the start of a still life when I placed them on the counter so I added some beans and greens to the grouping and took some photos that I hoped I could use for my photographic art. (I have since turned one of them and an image I took of an orb spider in its web into new photo art offerings. I will share them in an future post.) The squash was so large we enjoyed it sauteed, baked and made a big batch of squash soup. It had a wonderful flavor and texture.

The stated mission of Eden's Organic Garden Center and CSA Farm is, "To bring healthy, clean food to the

people of this community in a way that reunites them with the source of that food. To teach people how to grow, harvest, store and prepare great food." If you are interested in learning more about Eden's, in buying some locally grown organic produce, eggs and meat or in becoming a member of Eden's CSA (community supported agriculture) farm, I encourage you to visit when they host a small neighborhood farmers' market each 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturday from 9am to noon (April - Dec.). Look for their sign out front and drive all the way back down the driveway to the big shade tree by the barn.