Just as a capital ‘X’ represents an animal that has been crossbred, teXga Farms (tex-guh) is a blend of its owners. Kyle Lewallen grew up in Austin, Texas, where he perfected a recipe for smoked brisket and owned a BBQ food truck for a few years after college. His wife Caroline grew up in Commerce showing livestock and selling steers to local customers. Their paths crossed in a church group when Caroline was in graduate school at Texas A&M, Kyle’s alma mater.
After marrying in 2015, they began looking for farmland in Northeast Georgia to call their own. In 2017, they fell in love with a foreclosed farm in Clarkesville. It was a diamond in the rough, and the Lewallens believed the Lord had this property on hold for them as it had been on the market for four years before they made an offer to purchase.
One of Caroline’s favorite quotes says, “To some people it’s just dirt, but to a farmer it’s potential.” The potential they saw was to start an agribusiness raising steers to sell exclusively direct-to-consumers. This adventure would allow them to combine their home states and passions for cooking and agriculture.
Together Kyle and Caroline have spent the past five years rehabilitating the property’s pastures and fences. Thanks to the sound advice from their local UGA Extension Service and White County Farmers Exchange, teXga has been able to focus on rebuilding soil nutrients and creating additional pastures for their steers to graise. In 2020 teXga was awarded a grant from Southeast Aquatics to focus more on erosion control and protecting the area’s watershed. They were able to implement four heavy use areas for feeding steers in addition to installing several non-freezer waterers for their cattle as well as additional cross fencing to further promote rotational grazing.
Without a doubt their heavy use areas are critical to what they do at teXga. While the Lewallens believe they still have a long way to go as beginning grass farmers in terms of improving the health of their soil, they know that improvements do not happen overnight. It takes a plan and day-by-day steps.
A challenge the Lewallens face in addition to other farmers is the shrinking market and skyrocketing prices of viable ag land that hasn’t already been earmarked for residential development or scooped up as a recreational property. Furthermore, for direct-to-consumer operations facilities are critical for business growth.
This year has been the 5th year of land and agribusiness ownership for the Lewallens. Kyle and Caroline now have a two year old son, Kemper, who has definitely fallen in love with all things farm animals and tractors. The Lewallens feel that it is their calling to be in agriculture and pray they can honor the Lord in all that they do.