Before Hot Spell
Before it was Hot Spell Farm, it was something else altogether. What resides as a small corner in a 315-acre property is a growing space that previously went by many other names: Guinea Hill Farm, Mast Family Farm, and numerous independent growers and historic Black landowners. However, it is still known as 3 Creeks Farm to those who inhabit and steward the land.
The Hot Spell team has been lucky to stumble upon the generosity of our landowner, Jon Beall, and his
dedication to preserving this space for farmers and growers in the greater Elgin and Littig area. on June 16, 2017, 3 Creeks Farm officially closed on its 7th conservation easement, Funding for the purchase was obtained through the USDA Farm Bill’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (now called the Agriculture Conservation Easement Program) and the Travis County Conservation Easement Bond Program, as well as the bargain sale of the easement from the landowner.
Native and prime farmland soils in the Blackland Prarie define the acreage surrounding Hot Spell farm. There is a critical wildlife habitat for songbirds, wintering raptors, and other native species alongside stream bank habitat along Wilbarger, Willow, and Dry Creeks in Littig, TX, which receives runoff directly from the Colorado River Alluvium.
Land History and Acquirement:
Here are some excerpts from a 2016 Conservation summary of the 3 Creeks Property:
“At one time, the property was owned by the first African-American postmaster. This Conservation Easment increases the land held in perpetual protection by Pines and Prairies Land Trust to over 2500 acres. The Town of Littig was founded in 1883 along the Houston and Texas Central Railway on land donated by Jackson Morrow, a former slave and first African-American postmaster in Texas.
Although Littig declined in the mid-20th Century, it remains an important Travis County Freedmen’s Town. 3 Creeks Farm was part of a larger parcel of land owned by Mr. Morrow, who used it for farming. His niece, Johnny Adams, inherited the land from him and sold it to the Jon and Becky Bealls in 1998 When she was approximately 93 years old.”
Jon purchased it with a loan from the Texas Veterans Land Loan Program after serving as a marine in the Vietnam War.
“The fact that three creeks come together on this property would have provided valuable access to water during prehistoric times, attracting human habitation for hundreds or even thousands of years. Portions of the property had been farmed for over 100 years.”
