Green Gate Farms’ Interns, who work and learn on the farm each semester,

have created a series of profiles so residents can share their stories.

Lori MacAuley, Farm Volunteer Extraordinaire

by Cameron Kerr, Senior Communication Major, St. Edward’s University, 2022

When I came to Village Farm on a Tuesday afternoon to interview Lori MacAuley—my first in a series of profiles on the agrihood’s residents—I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the familiar flutter of nerves that comes with anticipating any new experience quickly dissipated as Lori opened her door and welcomed me before I even had a chance to knock. Barefoot and probably no more than 5’4, Lori wore dark, rectangular glasses framed by short, brown hair, a dark blue v-neck, and light purple shorts: clearly comfortable in her home base and full of energy.

Lori is a 60-year-old Village Farm agrihood resident, state employee, gardener, and Ayurveda adherent with a warm smile. She has been living in the agrihood for about six months, and, despite my efforts to find something to the contrary, has largely positive things to say about the experience thus far.

 As we sat and talked on the reddish-cushioned bench on her shaded front patio overlooking Green Gate Farms’ east Austin location, enjoying the October afternoon sunshine and a light breeze, I could start to see why. Just eight miles from downtown, this space was quiet and serene—a reprieve from the chaos of an increasingly congested Austin. Birds chirped, distant cars passed, and a few friendly neighbors even said their hellos as they strolled by on the front sidewalk.

 After a little back-and-forth gushing about the nice weather, I began by asking Lori outright why she decided to move to this community, and though much of the allure was already apparent to me, this notion was only reinforced when she replied, “as you know, Austin’s getting so expensive and difficult, so I was looking at other options, and I just loved the concept of living on the farm, sustainable living, community—I mean it’s got everything; everything you could want”.

Despite my impression that Lori is someone who has just always lived like this, I got more of the “story” as we spoke. Lori grew up in rural Vermont, joined the military right out of high school, stuck with it for four years before working on bases around Corpus Christi for most of her life while “partying,” and ultimately moving to Austin for a fresh start and a new job. She eventually found herself living in an increasingly expensive two-bedroom condo with no yard or green space, missing the ability to garden, wondering about retirement plans, and beginning to experience some health issues. She was vague about what those issues were, so I didn’t pry, but what matters more than the specifics is the wake-up call this gave her.

Faced with a “now or never” choice, Lori reevaluated her priorities, realized that her health and wellness needed to be put first, and committed to the Ayurveda lifestyle—a holistic way of living based on ancient Indian practices which emphasizes the importance of a healthy diet mainly comprised of local and seasonal foods, yoga, meditation, and alternative/natural medicines. Though Ayurveda certainly isn’t a prerequisite for those living in the agrihood, it’s clear that Lori sees the connection between her values and the agrihood’s sense of community centered around organic food and farming as completely intuitive.

Some time into our conversation, I asked whether she felt this way of living should be implemented in more places around the country/world. It admittedly felt like a silly, redundant question on my end, and when Lori said, “Oh yeah, I think that would be great, and I think people would be so much happier,” with a slightly dumbfounded smile, I realized that it truly was. There wasn’t a hint of condescension on her end, to be clear, but that moment drove home how obvious the benefits of this lifestyle are to her: “affordable, sustainable, healthy, good sense of community”. Again, in her words, “everything you could want”.

And from what she told me, it was love at first sight: “I came out on a Saturday for open house, and on my way out the door this voice in my head said, ‘you might as well grab your checkbook, you already know you want to live there!’”

“I was still in the condo at the time [of the winter 2021 storm Uri] …HOA rates were going up, insurance was going up, taxes were going up, and that’s why I started looking at this place…like ‘I gotta get something more affordable.’” Her particular unit was listed for around $100,000 when she made the deposit, but like everywhere else, prices have gone up, and similar units are now around $150,000.

Still, relative to the Austin real estate market, this is a small price to pay for a (cute, well-designed) tiny home with an in-unit washer/dryer, loft space, and plenty of natural light which provides immediate access to fresh, organic produce and a built-in community of like minded people who value, “sunshine, and being in nature every day, and digging in the dirt.”

Though Lori said there isn’t anything about the agrihood she’d like to see change yet, she did express a desire to keep the community relatively small and tight knit in light of the “phase four” section of tiny homes currently planned for construction, and that she hopes new developments don’t encroach on any more on the farmland—a vital part of the agrihood experience. Most of Lori’s produce comes from Green Gate Farm, where she helps out every Saturday morning (and as often as she can, work schedule permitting). Many other Village Farm residents rely on the farm for food and maintaining a sense of community through collective care, and for Lori, preservation of this land is critical.

“I’m so grateful for Skip and Erin (Green Gate’s founders) for keeping this going and the vision that they had…we’re really blessed to be here and grateful that they fought for [the farm] …it’d probably be a golf course by now!” Ostensibly a joke, a shared glance told me that a golf course wouldn’t be at all outside the realm of possibility.

In addition to being able to skip trips to the grocery store, going “once maybe every two to three weeks,” one of the upsides of living in the agrihood is the sense of community. “I’ve met more neighbors here in the first four months I was here than I did in ten years of living in the condo,” Lori explained. “There’s a few in their 20s, I think the majority are 30s and up—it seems like a pretty good mix of single and couples.”

It's clear that this is an “everybody knows everybody” kind of place, and that this is a treasured aspect of the agrihood in general. It’s no secret that the modern American life is often one without deep, meaningful connection to our food sources and the people we loosely call “neighbors”, but this community is actively trying to redevelop what’s been lost to time and conventional measures of “success”—and it seems to be working.

I asked Lori what she’d tell people considering moving to the Village Farm or similar communities, and her response said it all: “I’d say keep an open mind and—priorities. Review your priorities and maybe adjust them if you need to…do you want to live in a big house with extra space that you don’t need? Do you want to pay that extra money that you don’t need to be spending? Do you want to—or would you rather have this?” And with “this”, she smiled, opened her arms, and looked around at the tranquil, green beauty of the space, knowing that she’d found her utopia.

No place is perfect, and I imagine I’ll uncover obstacles faced by other agrihood residents as I continue this series of profiles, but for all intents and purposes, Lori is living proof that changing one’s priorities, lifestyle, and day-to-day surroundings in a way that honors sustainability, health, and community is not only possible but empowering.