My article about Voorhes’ homestead garden in Austin Home

June 05, 2016


A homestead garden in the city? You bet! I’ll show you the productive garden of Adam Voorhes and Robin Finlay — a commercial- and editorial-photography team (and married couple) known as The Voorhes — in the Summer 2016 issue of Austin Home, which you can find on area newsstands now.


I wrote and photographed the article, which is a first for me. I had the pleasure of interviewing Robin and Adam last fall. Their garden designer, B. Jane, whose work I love, and their bulldogs, Lefty and Lucy, made it into the shoot too. Well, Lefty did. He’s the more social one.


Adam and Robin’s garden is all about, What can it do for me? They have a large winter-vegetable garden, citrus trees and loquats for fruit, a pecan tree for nuts, a beehive for honey, chickens for eggs, cisterns for water collection, and a clothesline for energy-efficient drying. Even their custom, trough-style water feature is more than merely decorative: it provides water for their bees. They also grow herbs for cooking and pollinator plants for the bees.


B. Jane packed a lot into their smallish lot, but it doesn’t feel overcrowded thanks to the openness of a small lawn in the shade of the pecan and a generous, straight-edge path that defines the lawn and provides access to the working areas.

Check it out, if you can get your hands on a copy. There are several other garden articles in this issue as well. Update 6/16: You can read the article online too.


Also in this issue, editor Gene Menez interviewed me for a nice mention of my book on page 44, which I appreciate. I got a kick out of the title, “Penick’s Little Green Book,” which you golfing enthusiasts may recognize as playing off Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book. At least once a month someone will ask me if I’m related to Harvey Penick, a legendary and beloved golf instructor from Texas. (The answer is no, but my husband is, distantly.)


I leave you with one last image from the Voorhes’ garden: their dog Lefty and his ball, and their easygoing patio ready for summer relaxation.

I welcome your comments; please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading this in a subscription email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post.
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5 responses to “My article about Voorhes’ homestead garden in Austin Home”

  1. This blog post about the article is great. I wish I could read the entire article. Your photos are as good and even better than many I see in articles. Great job.
    I saw a highway named Penik Hwy. I wanted to stop for a picture of the sign but we were already past and going too fast for a stop. I did think about you. 🙂 Cheers.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Thank you, Lisa! I’ll link to it when it’s available online. Where was your Penik Hwy? In Indiana? There’s one Penick street that I know of here in Austin, but I have yet to get a photo. —Pam

  2. Astra says:

    I am suffering from greenhouse envy…