The Backstory:

My wife Jenny and I started Dogpatch Urban Gardens (DUG) in 2014. Jenny is the operator of DUG and says we are in the urban farming business. I say we are in the real estate business. Honestly, we both are correct! This is a different life project compared to anything else in my professional career, but I love it!

Here is some backstory on how the business came to fruition:

Prior to my Real Estate career, I was a member of the band Euforquestra. Early on in the band’s existence (2004), Euforquestra partnered with farmer Jerry Hotz. Jerry is a man of the arts and his farm/property is beautiful.

We decided to work with Jerry to create a music festival on his farm just outside of Iowa City in Lone Tree, Iowa. We named the festival Camp Euforia. In the summer of 2022, we hosted the 17th (and final) Camp Euforia Music Festival.

To say that I have spent a lot of time on Jerry’s farm would be a huge understatement! During the first six years of the festival’s existence, I lived in Iowa City (go Hawks) and was Jerry’s farm hand. During that time I worked on Jerry’s property and did a lot of work on the houses that he, and his brother, owned.

This proved to be a very formative relationship in my life. I often say that I learned more working on his farm than I ever learned in my 4 years at the University of Iowa. It took me a while to understand the common thread but I loved both working on the farm and also creating an agri-tourist operation. Sharing the beauty of the land with the community via Camp Euforia is something I found a ton of satisfaction from.

Fast forward to 2014:

Jenny was teaching at Dowling High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. She taught there for six years and we had our three boys in that timeframe. She loved teaching but was feeling pulled in a different direction. She originally pitched an idea to make a huge backyard garden so she could get more into homesteading. I was not interested at all because I love my yard!

During this time, we saw a home on Meredith Drive that was for sale by the owner. The property is just down the road from our personal home AND it had an empty lot right next to it. I figured I could have an investment property and Jenny could garden to her heart’s content. We purchased the home (with the adjacent lot) and that has become the home base of Dogpatch Urban Gardens. We have not looked back ever since and boy has this grown!

We now farm/operate the business across three city blocks on Meredith Drive. The home we initially purchased is now an Air BNB that we call the Urban FarmStand. The main property also is home to the DUG FarmStand, our event space that we use to host FarmStand to Fork dinners, and some farm plots.

We recently purchased an abandoned parking lot directly next to the original property and in the spring of 2023 launched the Dogpatch Garden Center. This will be a new hub for the community to purchase plants, soil, compost, gardening tools, hanging baskets, and more for their green thumbs!

The house directly next to the garden center is owned by Kathy. We lease and farm her land as well. We call those plots “Kathy’s Plots”.

My role in all of this has had little to do with the actual farming and all to do with the business planning and the REAL ESTATE! I have developed the properties to serve Jenny’s ever-expanding desires and business needs. I often joke that Realtors are all just wanna-be developers and with DUG I am able to scratch that itch in a major way!

This has been a passion for both Jenny and me because we are both able to grow together (pardon the pun) something that serves our careers and more importantly, our community. We both take pride in how the farm has made positive impacts on the Dogpatch community and also on Des Moines as a whole!

If you work with me to buy or sell your next home make no mistake, you will likely learn a thing or two about Dogpatch Urban Gardens!