Behind the scenes.
Kara Tweedy
I grew up in the Waldo area of Kansas City. I had two older neighbors who lived behind me. They were sisters who had lived there for their entire lives. These ladies were badass. They had a big vegetable garden and cherry trees in their backyard and grew almost everything they ate. I loved going over and helping them work in the yard. They would always bring me large cucumbers, juicy tomatoes, or some sort of dessert they had cooked up with something they'd grown. I remember always wanting to be like them: to have my own garden and to be able to walk out to my backyard and find delicious food to eat.
When Drew and I bought 3 vacant lots in 2017, we were determined to start an urban farm. Our dream was to grow food in a place where farmer's markets and local produce were pretty much nonexistent. After three years of trying to grow successfully, and failing each time, we learned that it all comes down to the soil. Without healthy soil, anything that grows will not be healthy. It makes so much sense, but it wasn't that simple.
We dedicated almost two years to studying soil biology and developing a way to help others heal their soils to grow the healthiest plants, vegetables, grass, or whatever they need to grow.
Kara Tweedy
I grew up in the Waldo area of Kansas City. I had two older neighbors who lived behind me. They were sisters who had lived there for their entire lives. These ladies were badass. They had a big vegetable garden and cherry trees in their backyard and grew almost everything they ate. I loved going over and helping them work in the yard. They would always bring me large cucumbers, juicy tomatoes, or some sort of dessert they had cooked up with something they'd grown. I remember always wanting to be like them: to have my own garden and to be able to walk out to my backyard and find delicious food to eat.
When Drew and I bought 3 vacant lots in 2017, we were determined to start an urban farm. Our dream was to grow food in a place where farmer's markets and local produce were pretty much nonexistent. After three years of trying to grow successfully, and failing each time, we learned that it all comes down to the soil. Without healthy soil, anything that grows will not be healthy. It makes so much sense, but it wasn't that simple.
We dedicated almost two years to studying soil biology and developing a way to help others heal their soils to grow the healthiest plants, vegetables, grass, or whatever they need to grow.
I’ve always loved growing. Reflecting on my past I find it hard to recall where that passion came from because, unlike now, there was no end game to the garden, no need to reduce my food costs or maximize my yields, I was just a little kid with a shit-eating grin, intrigued I guess by the slow magnificence of flowering marigolds.
I bought some vacant land, and although I've lived in Kansas City all my life, I'd never been to this part of town before. The land and community had been rejected, but both were beautiful. Kara and I began to farm and we failed. For three years. We tried local compost, mulching, tilling, sod-cutting, and cover cropping. Nothing worked until we discovered that the foundation to healthy soil is the incredible microscopic organisms that exist and thrive beneath your feet as you tramp through the mountains, prairies, and forests.
We spent a year and a half learning and developing the tools we needed to heal our land by bringing these organisms back into our soil. We failed nine times. But now it's on.
Drew Arensberg
Drew Arensberg
I’ve always loved growing. Reflecting on my past I find it hard to recall where that passion came from because, unlike now, there was no end game to the garden, no need to reduce my food costs or maximize my yields, I was just a little kid with a shit-eating grin, intrigued I guess by the slow magnificence of flowering marigolds.
I bought some vacant land, and although I've lived in Kansas City all my life, I'd never been to this part of town before. The land and community had been rejected, but both were beautiful. Kara and I began to farm and we failed. For three years. We tried local compost, mulching, tilling, sod-cutting, and cover cropping. Nothing worked until we discovered that the foundation to healthy soil is the incredible microscopic organisms that exist and thrive beneath your feet as you tramp through the mountains, prairies, and forests.
We spent a year and a half learning and developing the tools we needed to heal our land by bringing these organisms back into our soil. We failed nine times. But now it's on.
The Principle
At East Aster we believe that we all have nature within us and that nature is intelligent. It is not something our society can define through reductionist approaches because the variables are so complex, but its simplicity is felt deeply as soon as we walk into the forest of step waist deep into the ocean. Our work is a reflection of this perspective. Our products are not made in a lab. Instead they are crafted by natures intelligence and then wrapped in scientific observation. Let’s create a new narrative for agriculture, urban landcare, and wild bioregions. Let’s make chemicals irrelevant in growing.
– Drew & Kara
The Principle
At East Aster we believe that we all have nature within us and that nature is intelligent. It is not something our society can define through reductionist approaches because the variables are so complex, but its simplicity is felt deeply as soon as we walk into the forest of step waist deep into the ocean. Our work is a reflection of this perspective. Our products are not made in a lab. Instead they are crafted by natures intelligence and then wrapped in scientific observation. Let’s create a new narrative for agriculture, urban landcare, and wild bioregions. Let’s make chemicals irrelevant in growing.
– Drew & Kara