[Narrator] Creative
collaboration,
muscle building grit

and passion for
plants and animals.

That's what Travis
County Master Gardeners,

Julie Nelson and Kay Angermann,

brought to their new homestead,
dubbed Katie Bird Farm.

- We bought the
property in 2013.

We had been eyeing
it for a long time.

One of our best friends
lives next door.

And we had spent many
times on her back patio.

We kept talking about
this rough, rough patio.

[Kay Angermann] Dreaming
about living next door

and doing something fabulous.

When we first walked
onto the property.

Well, we started designing
it at that moment,

but we had to back into it,

literally our bodies because,

[Julie Nelson] well, we
had to chainsaw a path,

so we could actually pull
the truck into the property.

[Kay Angermann] First of all,

we had to locate all
of the Oak trees.

We have 26 Oaks.

So we cleaned it,
cleared it all out.

Figured out where we were
gonna build the house and all,

this was over the
course of a year.

And then all of the
sudden the Blackfoot Daisy

started showing up.

And the foreigner
daisies and some grasses.

And we were like,

Oh my gosh, once we lifted
that canopy, it was like,

everything woke up.

[Kay Angermann] We love
birds and wanna make sure

that we have a lot
of habitat for them.

So some of it was native.

Some of it we've enhanced.

All of those cedars that's
protection for the chickens,

because it's less room for
hawks or owls or predators

to swoop in.

We are on very, very
rocky property out here.

[narrator] From
previous gardens,

they knew how to deal
with rocky land and shade.

Plus they've got
gardening roots.

- Our mothers, our grandmothers,

my sister and brother-in-law

own a big greenhouse in Des
Moines. It's in the family.

- My family, they're all
farmers in South Texas.

[narrator] When they moved
to Katie Bird Farm in 2013,

the Halloween floods,
washed out the driveway.

[Kay Angermann] And so we
ended up having to bring

in a backhoe

and all of these large
berms around the property

are literally from our
washed out driveway.

[Julie Nelson] 'Cause
they had to scoop it up

and just dump it
in a couple areas.

[Kay Angermann] So we rented
a skid steer ourselves

and we started forming
all of these berms,

[Julie Nelson] We filled it in

with some of the credy
dirt that we had and then,

and then good dirt
and then mold.

So we just use this
layer this berm.

[Kay Angermann]
Everything was done

in such an organic way.

Julie and I never wrote,
drew a plan out or,

had a plant list that we wanted.

- I build all the
raised bed gardens

and we have to raise
bed our vegetables

because it's so rocky out here.

We tried hay bell the first
season and that was okay.

But then we realized
we actually needed

a different solution.

(country music)

[Kay Angermann] Julie is
really good at building

and I'm really good
at holding things

while she builds them.

(laughs)

[narrator] They did hire
out for their sturdy

and safe chicken coop.

[Julie Nelson] And
it's a mobile coop.

So technically it could
be moved, it's on wheels.

I actually brought it in on my
little John Deere Gator UTV,

and then we've kind
of just, you know,

made it our own thing.

[Julie Nelson] We
have an old dog kennel

and we attach that
to it and then.

[Julie Nelson]
Create a more space.

[Kay Angermann] So they
can free range some,

we can have them in a protected
area at times as well.

[Kay Angermann] We completely
close them up at night.

So they are
completely protected.

[narrator] The happy
hens are watched over

by our lady of Guadalupe,

rendered by graffiti stencil

and mural artist,
Federico Archie lotto,

known as El Frederico
to as many fans.

Then the chickens got company.

[Kay Angermann] The
donkeys were clearly

a midlife crisis for me.

Some people go out and

get a sports car or
do something crazy.

I got donkeys. It was
just something that.

[Julie Nelson] we always wanted.

[Kay Angermann] That
I had always wanted

and we wanted to have
a little hobby farm.

[narrator] They term up
every spot with unique

and personable vintage
funds that Kay sources

for her business hip Billy Kay.

- Kay would bring something
home that's really cool,

and she'll place it somewhere
and I'll be thinking,

now, I think it might
work, and I'll just,

I won't ask her necessarily
all move it and say,

Hey, what do you think?
And more times than not,

if it works and I'm like, Oh,
that does really work there.

So we're constantly just
kind of moving things around

and looking for
the right angles.

So we have lots of
collectible stuffs.

[Kay Angermann] And we
we utilize a lot of 'em.

I mean, a lot of them
really have a purpose,

and most of 'em has planters.

We've got a hog feeder
with circulants in it.

Over here as my dad's
old cast iron crock and.

- I didn't hear your
grandfather kept his in.

[narrator] One of their favorite
bonds is an old windmill

that inspired the barns design.

This storage building and
winter home to large container

plants had to be substantial
enough to support the windmills

weight and 10 foot girth.

[Kay Angermann] We
owned the windmill

before we owned this property.

[Julie Nelson] So we knew we
needed to do something awesome.

And then we light it up and
we keep the lights on it all

year.

It illuminates the whole
garden at night, it's fabulous.

[narrator] Then they
added a greenhouse

as a propagation station where

they also overwinter
cold tender plants.

[Kay Angermann] We
actually got the greenhouse

from the same guy that
did the chicken coop.

[Julie Nelson] We pack that
greenhouse in the winter.

You can barely get in.

You can get in just enough
to do the requisite watering.

Otherwise you cannot
maneuver in there.

[narrator] On super cold nights,

a small heater in greenhouse
and barn warms things up

nicely.

- It's probably one of the
biggest chores on this property

is the winterizing it, because
we have a big investment

in our potted plants and
we don't wanna lose them,

I mean, most of these plants
in the pots we've had for four

and five years that have
made it through the winter.

[narrator] To protect
plants from deer,

they installed a six
foot goat wire fence.

So what's behind the homesteads
name, Katie Bird Farm.

- My grandmother from South
Texas, from violet, Texas,

a little town outside of Corpus.

Her name is Katie, was
Katie, Katie Burkhart.

And she was an avid gardener.

She was a rose gardener, and
a farmer, a farmer's wife.

I just loved my grandmother
in the vegetable garden here.

We have a gate that was her
garden gate in her rose garden.

And well at first was
the gate to the house,

the old farmhouse.

And then she moved it into her
rose garden to be a feature

kind of like we have
these features around.

[narrator] One feature owners
of resident Road Butter

who adopted them from day one.

- I've always kind of thought

of my grandmother as
my guardian angel.

And so I feel like
that has, you know,

manifests itself
into this reservoir.

She followed me around yesterday
and sometimes I would come

out and she would literally
follow me all around the

property. It was crazy.

She's Katie bird and
we're Katie Bird Farm.

(country music)