The Exit and Build Farm Tours
on May 18th and May 22nd
We are so excited to have you joining us for Exit & Build III this year! Plan to participate in our Exit & Build Farm Immersion Tours!
This is an important part of the event as it serves as a hands-on demonstration of what Exit & Build is all about!
All of the farms/homesteads are owned by local folks who have returned to the land and taken action.
Each location showcases a particular aspect of what it takes to not only live a more free life, but the practical day-to-day grind required to make it happen.
There are four regional tours and each tour features two homesteads.
The cost is $40 per tour ($20 a farm visit/workshop) and the money goes directly to the hosts.
An optional lunch is available for $20 per person on each day. (menu at the bottom of the page)
Space is limited so we encourage you to register in advance and plan your travels accordingly.
Carpooling is encouraged and sign-up lists will be at the registrations table. Choose from 1 of the 4 each day.
BELOW YOU WILL FIND A RESERVATION/PAYMENT LINK FOR EACH TOUR AND LUNCH.
The LaGrange tour
This tour focuses on homesteading on small acreages for maximum production of vegetables, animals and other farm products. It contrasts what to do when just getting started and what’s possible after decades of learning what works and what doesn’t.
Plum Fabulous Farm
10am Farm Tour
6410 West Old Plum Highway, La Grange, TX (South East Central Texas) Park on the farm (not on the highway)
11am Workshop: Homesteading in Action & Bio-Intensive Gardening
You’re going to learn how to grow an abundance of food to feed your family and community.
Brianne, the owner of Plum Fabulous! Foods has been homesteading on 2 acres for 14 years and has been able to grow over 3,000 pounds a year on less than a tenth of an acre using simple, proven methods.
This tour includes a walk through her gardens and compost areas, a chicken and turkey run, and a workshop on bio-intensive gardening and homesteading tips.
She will also have her information-packed take-home guide, homemade bread & artisan goods available for sale. If you’ve ever felt intimidated about starting your own garden, you will leave feeling empowered and excited to begin.
Freedom Farms
2pm Farm Tour
(address & map will be given at Plum Fabulous Farm)
3pm Workshop: Integrating Permaculture & Identifying Food Forests
Freedom Farms is a 10 acre private property in Bastrop, Texas that is being transformed into a regenerative, permaculture farmstead.
The farm features a food forest style orchard gathering space, veggies, chickens, pigs, compost, EM, IMO/KNF and just about everything else, under the sun.
The Kingsbury Tour
This tour focuses on growing the local economy by building a members-based food network at the town level to almost never need the grocery store again (imagine animal husbandry, food forests, beekeeping, lumber mill, pecan orchards, homesteading, healthy hemp homes, and more all owned and managed by residents in your local area).
Habitable Spaces
10AM Tour of Homestead
3050 FM 1104, Kingsbury, TX
11am Workshop: Fermentation & Cheese Making or Hemping Demo
Shane and Alison Heinemeier left New York City in 2012 to return to family land in Kingsbury Texas and build a farm and arts center.
The result of their effort is Habitable Spaces – a Texas based 501c(3) community arts and agricultural project whose purpose is to create an integrated, mutually beneficial environment where artists and the rural community can take classes, learn and share ideas.
The center is a fully functioning dairy goat farm and offers workshops and classes on sustainable farming, experimental building techniques, traditional craft, and fine art that began in 2012 with an annual Fall Harvest Festival.
Through their outreach and programming, Habitable Spaces has been strengthening the social, physical, and economic fabric of the Kingsbury community through arts and culture.
In 2015, Shane and Alison Heinemeier helped to incorporate Kingsbury as a Liberty City. The city was formed in an effort to preserve rural traditions from the urban expansion of nearby cities.
Swift River Pecans & The Hive Mind Beekeeping
2PM Tour of Sawmill & Pecan Production
9975 San Marcos Hwy, Fentress, TX
3pm Workshop: Native Bat Conservation & Horizontal Beekeeping
Swift River Pecans oversees two pecan orchards totaling 266 acres located on the San Marcos River with over 1,000 planted and/or grafted pecan trees of 13 different varieties and close to 1,000 native pecan trees.
Their native pecan trees were planted by mother nature and some are over 100 feet tall and over 100 years old.
They’re constantly striving to learn new and more sustainable farming methods to be good stewards of the land and produce the best and most nutritious pecans possible.
Their most recent regenerative effort at the Fentress Orchard includes a bat conservation for native bats as well as a home to honeybees which help pollinate their local Texas wildflowers.
The NE Central Tour
This tour focuses on both small and large scale animal husbandry as well as the importance of building relationships and networks at the town level.
Quinta Boa Vida Farm
10AM Farm Tour
3128 County Road 327, Milano, Texas (park in the field)
11am Workshop: All About Goats
Rita and Val established a 7-acre homestead, Quinta Boa Vida (The good life farm), in September 2021. They are brand new to the homestead lifestyle and knew nothing when they started.
On this tour, you will see how they jumped into animal husbandry with goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, and more! They also have a small intentional community with the goal to make their own self-sustainable tiny village.
The tour will include a goat milking demo, milk tasting, animal playtime, and a hayride so you can see their master 5 year plan for the property.
Amber Oaks Ranch
2pm Ranch Tour
14165 FM112, Thrall, TX
3pm Workshop: Backyard Poultry Production
John and Molly are the owners of Amber Oaks Ranch, a 70-acre homestead just south of Thorndale, TX established in December 2015. They’re going to reveal how to monetize your homestead and profit from rural living.
On their tour, you will get an insider’s peek into their lives working a thriving meat production system while still working full-time “day jobs,” and how they turned their passion (and costs) into a profitable pastured meat-based operation.
The Wimberley Tour
This tour focuses on the various methods of growing vegetables on both a small and large scale, establishing healing treatments on your property, and using rentals for income.
Dirt Candy Farm Tour
10AM Farm Tour
150 Dry Cypress Ranch Road, Wimberley, TX
11AM Workshop: All About Sprout Production
Interested in starting your own small-scale produce farm in the Texas hill country?
Mitch and Tracey moved to Texas in 2020 along with their son, Sky, and immediately identified and fenced 2.5 acres of their 50 acre property and started tending to the land using regenerative farming methods.
They now have 1/4 acre steadily producing vegetables for their family and community. They are also adding AirBnB accommodations and have active “wwoofers” helping with daily farm work.
They will share their personal experiences with growing in this unique terrain, their vegan lifestyle, and relocating to Texas.
Mama’s Farm Healing Arts
2PM Ranch Tour
142 West Mountain Road, Wimberley, TX
3PM Workshop: Raising Free-Range Egg Laying Chickens
Free-range chickens, perhaps more than any other animal, can help the thoughtful gardener create systems of soil and food bounty through their natural behaviors: scratching, pecking, hunting bugs, eating, laying eggs and manuring.
As such, they are an ideal “starter” livestock companion for homestead permaculture design.
Mama’s Farm, founded in early 2021 by Kerrilyn and her family, is incorporating rain-water catch, solar power, Miteleider above-ground vegetable & medicinal herb gardening methods and free-range chickens to the Permaculture Design of their 10-acre homestead in the Texas Hill Country.
You’ll learn about how to care for, protect and optimize your free-range egg layers while encouraging bountiful garden vegetable production, bug control and soil regeneration.
And you’ll discover how to sustainably feed your chickens using your garden compost and seasonally grown vegetables, and how chickens can contribute to the regeneration of your farm while being year-long food producers and comical entertainment.
Lunch Menu
Plum Fabulous Farm – LaGrange Tour
Texas style lunch featuring a Bar-B-Que Baked Potato with all the fixings, Baby Carrots, Cookie, Tea & Water. (Vegan/Vegetarian option available)
Habitable Spaces – Kingsbury Tour
Appetizer: Fried herby goat cheese served with fresh crusty bread,
Beet and carrot salad with spring greens and herbs, pulled pork or sautéed spring veggies (vegetarian) served with homemade onion rolls, served with fresh pickled veggies and farm made condiments. Goat milk ice cream for dessert! (Vegan/Vegetarian option available)
Quinta La Boa Farm – NE Central Texas Tour
Texas style Bar-B-Que with all the sides: Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob and Homemade Goat Milk Icecream.
Dirt Candy Farm – Wimberley Tour
Pasta with farm veggies and Salad Goodies from the Dirt Candy garden, topped with candy sampler micro greens and fresh eggs from Kerrilyn’s farm served with Sicilian Bread a sweet treat. Vegetarian.
TOUR #1: LaGrange, Texas (1 HOUR LOOP) 75 people/50 cars
$40 pp + $20 optional lunch at Plum Fabulous: Texas style lunch featuring a Bar-B-Que Baked Potato with all the fixings, Baby Carrots, Cookie, Tea & Water. (Vegan/Vegetarian options)
10am Plum Fabulous Farm Tour
11am Workshop: Homesteading in Action & Bio- Intensive Gardening Workshop
Location: 6410 West Old Plum Highway, La Grange, TX (South East Central Texas)
Park on the farm (not on the highway)
Driving Distance: 26 miles from Bastrop Convention Center (30 mins from Bastrop)
2pm Freedom Farms Farm Tour (address & map will be given at Plum Fabulous Farm)
3pm Workshop: Integrating Permaculture & Regenerative Agriculture Practices
TOUR #2: Kingsbury, Texas (2 HOUR LOOP) 60 people/20 cars
$40 pp + $20 optional lunch at Habitable Spaces: Fried herby goat cheese served with fresh crusty bread, Beet and carrot salad with spring greens and herbs, pulled pork or sautéed spring veggies (veg) served with homemade onion rolls, served with fresh pickled veggies and farm made condiments. Goat milk ice cream for dessert! (Vegan/Vegetarian options)
10 am Habitable Spaces 10am Homestead Tour
11am Workshop: Fermentation & Cheese Making
Location: 3050 FM 1104, Kingsbury, TX
Drive Distance: 51 miles from Bastrop Convention Center (1 hour from Bastrop)
2pm Tour of Sawmill & Pecan Production
3pm Workshops: Native Bat Conservation & Horizontal Beekeeping
Location: 9975 San Marcos Hwy, Fentress, TX
Drive Distance: 43 miles from Bastrop Convention Center
(15 mins from Habitable Spaces; 45 mins Bastrop)
TOUR # 3: Northeast Central Texas (3 HOUR LOOP) 40 people/20 cars
$40 pp + $20 optional lunch at Quinta La Boa: Texas style Bar-B-Que with all the sides: Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob and Homemade Goat Milk Icecream.
10am Tour of Quinta La Boa Farm
11am Workshop: All About Goats
3128 County Road 327, Milano, Texas (park in the field)
Driving Distance: 61.3 miles from Bastrop Convention Center (1 hour + from Bastrop)
2pm Amber Oaks Ranch Tour
3pm Workshop: Raising Meatbirds
Location: 14165 FM112, Thrall, TX
Driving Distance: 37.1 miles from Bastrop Convention Center
(50 mins from Quinta Boa & 45 mins from Bastrop)
TOUR #4: Wimberley, Texas (4 HOUR LOOP) 40 people/20 cars
$40 pp + $20 optional lunch at Dirt Candy: Pasta with farm veggies and Salad Goodies from the Dirt Candy garden, topped with candy sampler micro greens and fresh eggs from Kerrilyn’s farm served with Sicilian Bread a sweet treat. Vegetarian/Gluten-free options.
10am Tour Dirt Candy Farm
11am Workshop: All About Sprout Production
Location: 150 Dry Cypress Ranch Road, Wimberley, TX
Drive Distance: 64.6 miles from Bastrop Convention Center (1.5 hours +)
2pm Mama’s Healing Arts Farm Tour
3pm Workshop: Raising Free-Range Egg Laying Chickens
Location: 142 West Mountain Road, Wimberley, TX
Drive Distance: 71 miles from Bastrop Convention Center
(20 mins from Dirt Candy, 1.5 hours from Bastrop)