What We’re Growing
We’re taking a number of different approaches to growing our fruits and vegetables at KayLeo. Some of our methods are time tested, others are experimental and a few require nothing more than patience and staying out of the way.
*Please note: We only sell our produce to the public at the Pike Farmers Market (June through September).
Vegetable Gardens
The “Big Garden” was started sometime in the 70’s. When we arrived on the scene the only thing growing in the 4,200 square foot garden was 8 foot tall weeds and a few small trees. To make things even more challenging, the garden is surrounded by enormous Black Walnut trees which have a chemical called Juglone that many vegetables cannot tolerate. It was a labor of love to reclaim the space, renew the soil and to figure out what exactly can grow there. It’s come a long way and is now home to some of our squash, melons, beans, carrots, corn, raspberries and wildflowers. We’ve also planted a few plum and cherry trees.
In the spring of 2019 we started a new space we call “The Education Garden”. It is further away from the Walnut trees (and the Juglone) and in a spot that gets more southern light. It has over 2000 square feet of raised beds where we grow potatoes, peas, onions, cucumbers, squash, radishes, tomatillos, okra, herbs and more! We also added a few Hugelkultur beds (a method of creating a mounded bed by filling in wood debris and compostable biomass over large logs). This is a time-tested method that requires less watering and creates its own compost over time. This garden has several examples of different ways people can approach gardening in small or limited spaces.
Hoop House
A few years ago we added our first hoop house. Hoop houses are a semi-permanent structure covered with a type of transparent heavy plastic that allows sunlight in and keeps the inside warm while protecting the vegetables from the elements. This kind of controlled environment allows us to extend our growing season into the early winter and to start growing sooner in the spring. The hoop house is home to the majority of our greens.
High Tunnel
We recently received a grant from the USDA that helped us get a high tunnel from Nifty Hoops. This hoop house is 30 feet wide and 75 long, so we’ll have even more space to grow early in the spring and into the beginning of winter.
The Forest
We’re fortunate to have 5 acres of woods on our property. Not only does this provide a great home for all kinds of wildlife, it also can be a wonderful source of food (once you figure out where to look and what is edible). Our forest gives us Morels and Ramps in the spring, Mulberries and Black Raspberries in the summer and Puffball Mushrooms and Black Walnuts in the fall. We’re hoping some day to collect the sap from our Walnut and Maple trees too.