Houston CityBook features Hope Farms in August 2017.

Hope Blooms in Sunnyside

An urban-farm project a decade in the making is on the grow in south Houston. And, if its founder has her way, bringing fresh produce to one of the city's worst food deserts -- and to H-Town's top chefs -- is just the beginning. By Daniel Renfrow, Photos by Shannon O'Hara

On the corner of Scott Street and Airport Boulevard in the historic Sunnyside neighborhood in southern Houston, a garden blooms. Behind a chain-link fence, in a field formerly occupied by the now-torn-down Carnegie Vanguard School, lie row after cheery row of cherry tomatoes, eggplant, bell pepper and okra. On a bright day in July, the two currently cultivated acres of the seven-acre plot are being carefully tended to by a handful of workers -- all U.S. veterans -- who are just as eager to see the fruits of their labor at Hope Farms as Gracie Cavnar, of the nationally lauded and Michelle Obama-endorsed Recipe for Success. Cavnar is the founder of and visionary behind the urban vegetable oasis, which is bringing fresh and healthy produce to one of the city's largest food deserts. Read more.