• Home
  • popular
  • Events
  • Submit New Event
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • News
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Home + Design
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • Innovation
  • Sports
  • Charity Guide
  • children
  • education
  • health
  • veterans
  • SOCIAL SERVICES
  • ARTS + CULTURE
  • animals
  • lgbtq
  • New Charity
  • Series
  • Delivery Limited
  • DTX Giveaway 2012
  • DTX Ski Magic
  • dtx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Your Home in the Sky
  • DTX Best of 2013
  • DTX Trailblazers
  • Tastemakers Dallas 2017
  • Healthy Perspectives
  • Neighborhood Eats 2015
  • The Art of Making Whiskey
  • DTX International Film Festival
  • DTX Tatum Brown
  • Tastemaker Awards 2016 Dallas
  • DTX McCurley 2014
  • DTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • DTX Beyond presents Party Perfect
  • DTX Texas Health Resources
  • DART 2018
  • Alexan Central
  • State Fair 2018
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Zatar
  • CityLine
  • Vision Veritas
  • Okay to Say
  • Hearts on the Trinity
  • DFW Auto Show 2015
  • Northpark 50
  • Anteks Curated
  • Red Bull Cliff Diving
  • Maggie Louise Confections Dallas
  • Gaia
  • Red Bull Global Rally Cross
  • NorthPark Holiday 2015
  • Ethan's View Dallas
  • DTX City Centre 2013
  • Galleria Dallas
  • Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty Luxury Homes in Dallas Texas
  • DTX Island Time
  • Simpson Property Group SkyHouse
  • DIFFA
  • Lotus Shop
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Dallas
  • Clothes Circuit
  • DTX Tastemakers 2014
  • Elite Dental
  • Elan City Lights
  • Dallas Charity Guide
  • DTX Music Scene 2013
  • One Arts Party at the Plaza
  • J.R. Ewing
  • AMLI Design District Vibrant Living
  • Crest at Oak Park
  • Braun Enterprises Dallas
  • NorthPark
  • Victory Park
  • DTX Common Desk
  • DTX Osborne Advisors
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • DFW Showcase Tour of Homes
  • DTX Neighborhood Eats
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • DTX Auto Awards
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2017
  • Nasher Store
  • Guardian of The Glenlivet
  • Zyn22
  • Dallas Rx
  • Yellow Rose Gala
  • Opendoor
  • DTX Sun and Ski
  • Crow Collection
  • DTX Tastes of the Season
  • Skye of Turtle Creek Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival
  • DTX Charity Challenge
  • DTX Culture Motive
  • DTX Good Eats 2012
  • DTX_15Winks
  • St. Bernard Sports
  • Jose
  • DTX SMU 2014
  • DTX Up to Speed
  • st bernard
  • Ardan West Village
  • DTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Taste the Difference
  • Parktoberfest 2016
  • Bob's Steak and Chop House
  • DTX Smart Luxury
  • DTX Earth Day
  • DTX_Gaylord_Promoted_Series
  • IIDA Lavish
  • Huffhines Art Trails 2017
  • Red Bull Flying Bach Dallas
  • Y+A Real Estate
  • Beauty Basics
  • DTX Pet of the Week
  • Long Cove
  • Charity Challenge 2014
  • Legacy West
  • Wildflower
  • Stillwater Capital
  • Tulum
  • DTX Texas Traveler
  • Dallas DART
  • Soldiers' Angels
  • Alexan Riveredge
  • Ebby Halliday Realtors
  • Zephyr Gin
  • Sixty Five Hundred Scene
  • Christy Berry
  • Entertainment Destination
  • Dallas Art Fair 2015
  • St. Bernard Sports Duck Head
  • Jameson DTX
  • Alara Uptown Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival fall 2017
  • DTX Tastemakers 2015
  • Cottonwood Arts Festival
  • The Taylor
  • Decks in the Park
  • Alexan Henderson
  • Gallery at Turtle Creek
  • Omni Hotel DTX
  • Red on the Runway
  • Whole Foods Dallas 2018
  • Artizone Essential Eats
  • Galleria Dallas Runway Revue
  • State Fair 2016 Promoted
  • Trigger's Toys Ultimate Cocktail Experience
  • Dean's Texas Cuisine
  • Real Weddings Dallas
  • Real Housewives of Dallas
  • Jan Barboglio
  • Wildflower Arts and Music Festival
  • Hearts for Hounds
  • Okay to Say Dallas
  • Indochino Dallas
  • Old Forester Dallas
  • Dallas Apartment Locators
  • Dallas Summer Musicals
  • PSW Real Estate Dallas
  • Paintzen
  • DTX Dave Perry-Miller
  • DTX Reliant
  • Get in the Spirit
  • Bachendorf's
  • Holiday Wonder
  • Village on the Parkway
  • City Lifestyle
  • opportunity knox villa-o restaurant
  • Nasher Summer Sale
  • Simpson Property Group
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2017 Dallas
  • Carlisle & Vine
  • DTX New Beginnings
  • Get in the Game
  • Red Bull Air Race
  • Dallas DanceFest
  • 2015 Dallas Stylemaker
  • Youth With Faces
  • Energy Ogre
  • DTX Renewable You
  • Galleria Dallas Decadence
  • Bella MD
  • Tractorbeam
  • Young Texans Against Cancer
  • Fresh Start Dallas
  • Dallas Farmers Market
  • Soldier's Angels Dallas
  • Shipt
  • Elite Dental
  • Texas Restaurant Association 2017
  • State Fair 2017
  • Scottish Rite
  • Brooklyn Brewery
  • DTX_Stylemakers
  • Alexan Crossings
  • Ascent Victory Park
  • Top Texans Under 30 Dallas
  • Discover Downtown Dallas
  • San Luis Resort Dallas
  • Greystar The Collection
  • FIG Finale
  • Greystar M Line Tower
  • Lincoln Motor Company
  • The Shelby
  • Jonathan Goldwater Events
  • Windrose Tower
  • Gift Guide 2016
  • State Fair of Texas 2016
  • Choctaw Dallas
  • TodayTix Dallas promoted
  • Whole Foods
  • Unbranded 2014
  • Frisco Square
  • Unbranded 2016
  • Circuit of the Americas 2018
  • The Katy
  • Snap Kitchen
  • Partners Card
  • Omni Hotels Dallas
  • Landmark on Lovers
  • Harwood Herd
  • Galveston.com Dallas
  • Holiday Happenings Dallas 2018
  • TenantBase
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2018
  • Hawkins-Welwood Homes
  • The Inner Circle Dallas
  • Eating in Season Dallas
  • ATTPAC Behind the Curtain
  • TodayTix Dallas
  • The Alexan
  • Toyota Music Factory
  • Nosh Box Eatery
  • Wildflower 2018
  • Society Style Dallas 2018
  • Texas Scottish Rite Hospital 2018
  • 5 Mockingbird
  • 4110 Fairmount
  • Visit Taos
  • Allegro Addison
  • Dallas Tastemakers 2018
  • The Village apartments
  • City of Burleson Dallas

    The Farmer Diaries

    Texas farmer faces down climate change with water-saving program

    Marshall Hinsley
    Sep 7, 2014 | 6:00 am

    In a new study to be published in next month's issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, scientists report that our current drought is likely a taste of longer, more arid dry spells to come in Texas.

    The lead author in the study is Toby Ault with the department of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Ault says Texas' probability for experiencing a decade-long drought is 50 percent if we look at the most optimistic data, but perhaps more realistically it's 80 to 90 percent. The driving force behind this likelihood of such a persistent drought in the years to come is climate change, says Ault.

    "The more warming we see from climate change during this century, the more we expect the risk to increase," Ault says. "And by drought, we don't mean that there will be no rainfall, or a complete lack of water. It means that we'll be looking at water shortages. What that means on the ground, for anyone growing crops, is that farming may become very challenging, and it emphasizes just how precious water will become in the region."

    The hydroponics system only needed about 140 gallons of water per week, and the plants stayed in a state of near perfection,

    The study's findings are a little disheartening for me as I hope one day to transition my endeavor to opt out of industrial agriculture into a full-time, sustainable farming career. Already this year, my farming venture has been a huge challenge.

    As I review this year's successes and failures at the end of the major growing season, I see that okra grew well, I had plenty of squash and zucchini for my own table, and I never lacked for a variety of fruits and vegetables at dinnertime. Altogether, I never bought anything but avocados and lemons from the grocery store.

    But the melon crop that I planned for commercial-scale income was a huge failure, garnering only a few hundred dollars in sales rather than the thousands I had expected. Likewise, pumpkins I planted earlier in the summer so that I'd have something to harvest and sell at the farmers market in October are turning out to be a no-show.

    I blame the lack of rainfall. Tanks of rainwater I collected to keep my crops thriving through the fall ran out by August. It turns out that 20,000 gallons of water isn't all that much, especially when my soil is so parched that cracks open up in the ground — cracks so large that they can swallow a foot up to the ankle. No amount of mulch can stop them.

    Adding more storage capacity to the rainwater collection system is becoming cost-prohibitive. Resorting to tap water is also costly, and the water in my area is full of excessive minerals that stress plants. The predictions of worse droughts to come are pushing me to pin my hopes on hydroponics more than ever.

    I first experimented with a few hydroponically grown heads of lettuce, tomatoes, basil and cucumbers last winter. So promising were the results that I decided to try a setup outdoors this summer.

    My outdoor experiment was composed of 20 containers known as Dutch buckets, filled with coconut coir and coarse perlite. Each $5 bucket holds about eight quarts of growing medium and drains at the bottom through a half-inch hole.

    The water efficiency of my hydroponics system gives me hope that I may indeed face whatever drought this changing climate may produce.

    Following the standard practice for Dutch buckets, I set the buckets in a row along a PVC pipe, situated so that each bucket's drain hole was over a hole drilled into the pipe, which allows for excess water and nutrients to be collected and returned back to a reservoir tank via the pipe.

    The reservoir I used was a 20-gallon preformed koi pool I purchased at the store, set at the end of the row and placed below ground level so the pipe from the row of buckets could drain into it.

    I placed an immersible pump into the reservoir, attached it to drip irrigation tubing and routed the tubing to feed each bucket in the row. I then filled the pool with rainwater and fortified with plant nutrients. The water full of nutrients drips into each bucket via the drip irrigation tubing and drains out the bottom and into the pipe, where it is then channeled back to the reservoir for a continuous flow to and from the buckets.

    I planted a variety of test plants in the Dutch buckets: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, squash and melons. Then I neglected the system miserably and failed to follow the mandatory practices I've read regarding hydroponics.

    I never checked the nutrient ratio with a special meter, because I lost mine. I exposed the reservoir to sunlight and let algae flourish, which was wrong. I never flushed the system like I was supposed to. I only filled the reservoir each day and added nutrients, guessing how much I needed to add.

    Despite my lack of experience and outright abuse of the system, the results were impressive as I watched my plants thrive, bloom and set fruit. My first melons, squash and cucumbers came from the Dutch buckets, not my soil-based plants. They were delicious. I had more eggplants from two plants than I needed.

    I've never been able to grow the plump but fragile varieties of heirloom tomatoes before I grew them hydroponically, but the Costoluto Genovese tomatoes from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds were robust and plentiful.

    In years past, sweet peppers from my raised beds tasted horrible. They looked nice, but the flesh was thin, and their flavor would put me off food for a while. Hydroponics cured this, producing fruit fit for the market.

    The harvest from my neglected hydroponics system was reason enough to persuade me to move from soil-based farming to hydroponic farming, but the water efficiency of my system is the result that gives me hope that I may indeed face whatever drought this changing climate may produce.

    The 20 Dutch buckets accommodated the crops that would have otherwise been planted in 10 raised beds. Altogether, the beds would have needed at least 300 gallons of water per week during the worst of the summer heat. The hydroponics system only needed about 140 gallons per week, and the plants stayed in a state of near perfection, never as much as wilting on a 100-degree day.

    So for my crops, water usage was cut in half in the hydroponics system, yet the harvest was several times greater than what the soil-based counterparts produced.

    Despite living in a state with a high probability of drought becoming the new normal, I have found hope for farming and gardening in face of looming water shortages and restrictions. I won't abandon my raised bed garden, but I will rely more on hydroponic crop production, especially for anything I intend to grow in quantities large enough to take to the market.

    A sampling of Costoluto Genovese heirloom tomatoes grown hydroponically in Marshall Hinsley's trials.

      
    Photo by Marshall Hinsley
    A sampling of Costoluto Genovese heirloom tomatoes grown hydroponically in Marshall Hinsley's trials.
    unspecified
    news/restaurants-bars

    Ice Cream News

    Kwality Ice Cream shop to bring creamy exotic desserts to Frisco

    Raven Jordan
    Jun 13, 2025 | 5:14 pm
    Kwality Ice Cream
    Kwality
    Kwality Ice Cream

    An ice cream chain with an Indian flair is dipping into Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Kwality Ice Cream, it's a concept founded in New Jersey that specializes in traditional Indian ice cream and cold drinks, and it's opening a location in Frisco, at 13089 Main St. #500, in a new shopping center.

    According to franchisee Raju Vikey, the shop will open sometime in 2025. It joins two DFW locations already open: Irving at 8600 N. Macarthur Blvd., and Euless, at 1060 N. Main St. at Harwood Crossing shopping center, which opened in April.

    Kwality Ice Cream was founded by food scientist Dr. Kanti Parekh and his son Anand, in New Jersey in 2003. It has expanded with 38 locations in 14 states including Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas, where there are three locations in Houston and one in Austin.

    “The idea was to create a South Asian-specific ice cream, which is more known for fruits and nuts,” Anand says. “As a Ph.D. in food and nutrition, my father’s background and expertise were in flavor. He used that to create very unique flavors and top notes to give a really good mouth feel and experience.”

    They have close to 50 ice cream flavors with classics like cookies & cream, chocolate supreme, and butter pecan; but South Asian and Indian flavors dominate the menu with exotic options like green guava, lychee, and Nuttie Tuttie Fruitee, a berry-flavored ice cream with nuts and candied fruit.

    There is also kulfi, a frozen dessert that's like ice cream but with less added air so it has a stiffer, creamier texture. It's served in slices and comes in popular Indian flavors like pistachio, mango, and rose.

    Other novel frozen treats include cassata, an ice cream cake with three flavors of ice cream layered over sponge cake.

    As with many Asian desserts, they're often less sweet than American-style confections. Wild inventions include the mawa rabdi cup, with ice cream, rice noodles, basil seeds, and rose syrup, topped with nuts and candied fruit; and Thandai ice cream, a staple at Indian festivals, consisting of almonds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, watermelon seeds, rose petals, pepper, cardamom, saffron, milk, and sugar.

    Rabdi is like a pudding, believed to have originated during the 1600s. Kwality makes it following the traditional method of slow-cooking milk until it thickens and reduces, enhancing its sweetness and creaminess, then adding ingredients like cardamom, saffron, and pistachios.

    Pints of ice cream and frozen desserts range from $8-$11, and cassata ice cream cake slices are $7.

    ice creamopeningsdesserts
    news/restaurants-bars
    Loading...