Author: Katie Stagliano

Many of the young Growers supported by Katie’s Krops Krops have several years of

experience before they join us. Selena Torres, a 13-year-old 7th grader in

Maryland is not one of those. She was an absolute novice at the start of the

2023 growing season, her first year with us. With a heart for helping those in

need, a willingness to learn, and a supportive mother, Diamond, who was also

new to growing, Selena hasn’t let her lack of experience intimidate her.

Diamond is a teacher who was searching for learning opportunities for her

students when she came across Katie’s Krops online. After Selena was

accepted as a Grower, they built two raised beds and grew tomatoes last year as well as a

few herbs. This year, they are building a third bed and expanding their crops to

more tomatoes, parsley, cucumbers, carrots, and peppers (if those seeds

germinate, the first seeds did not).

As an organic gardener living in USDA growing zone 7, Selena’s challenges

come from the abundant wildlife in the woods behind her backyard and

controlling the inevitable bugs. Her mother and ten-year-old brother, Daniel, help

with general gardening tasks and pest eradication efforts, using row

covers to keep bugs out and hand-picking those that make it through the barrier.

This year, she’s also planning to try shallow pans of beer to take out the slugs.

While Selena enjoys building and filling the beds, her main reason for growing is

to be able to provide food to the homeless. Two years ago, her aunt, Bliss

Power started and now runs a grassroots, mostly self-funded charity in

Washington, DC, called “Bless the Block.” Selena was deeply impacted by what

she saw when she helped distribute clothing, toiletries, and meals to people in

the homeless encampments. The produce she grows is donated to the charity to

use in preparing meals or given to people directly.

We are proud to support gardeners at all levels as they support their

communities, and we look forward to working with Selena for the next several

years.

Mikey Miceli, a 14 year old freshman in Jackson, New Jersey, may be a new Katie’s Krops grower in 2024 but he is most certainly not new to gardening. He’s been working the gardens alongside his parents and now 16 year old brother, Antonio, since he was 7. The family’s expansive gardens include an orchard with apple, peach, plum, pear and chestnut trees as well as raised beds in which they grow blueberries, raspberries, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, cantaloupes, peas, green beans, strawberries, radishes, and onions with plans to try growing endame and corn this year. 

When his father found out about Katie’s Krops on Facebook, Mikey didn’t think he had a chance of being selected as a grower. However, he still applied and his enthusiasm and personality shined through in his application video. With all of the land and beds that they currently have, when asked what he specifically wanted to do with his Katie’s Krops funding grant, he had a ready answer – buy a greenhouse. The $400 provided enabled him to do exactly that and to our knowledge, he’s become the first Katie’s Krops gardener to have one. He’s already using the greenhouse to start the seeds for summer crops while simultaneously tending cold weather crops in the uncovered raised beds. 

Mikey doesn’t rely on others for all his gardening money though. He raised and sold strawberry plants and used that money to buy seed heating pads for his seedlings. 

Gardening and living inspiration doesn’t come from just his immediate family. During a trip to Italy two years ago, Mikey was in awe of his great-grandmother, who was raising and tending to her own livestock and garden to supply all her food needs. Back in New Jersey, his family is doing much the same. They have previously raised meat birds and have 14 laying hens to provide eggs. Mikey hunts for rabbits. They preserve produce for their own needs through a combination of freezing, dehydrating, vacuum sealing and canning while still growing enough to donate to “share the wealth” with those in need. To that end, the family has contacted a local church for assistance in making sure the produce is given to those that are truly in need. 

With their experience in all phases of growing in zone 7A, from weeding, tending to the plants, laying down wood chips between beds to cut down on weeds, or consulting a master gardener recommended by Katie’s Krops to ensure that the woodpecker in the apple tree won’t hurt the tree or the apples (it won’t), the Micelis are a family that believes in growing and giving back. Katie’s Krops is proud to support them ansespecially Mikey in their efforts.

Every gardener faces adversity at some point, and 9-year-old Ezekiel and his seven-year-old brother Zachariah have probably encountered more than their share for their ages. It all started at their previous home in West Virginia, where they became Katie’s Krops Growers after their mom, Meg, read about the organization on Facebook. Their garden there did well until the bugs got to the green beans and peas. Still, they had a good harvest of other crops that they could donate to a senior home in the town of Rupert.

Before the 2023 growing season, they moved to Michigan and settled near Lansing to be near family. Unfortunately, their new home didn’t have a yard for growing. Hence, the family got creative and started a porch garden with tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno, and other hot peppers and cilantro. Growing in containers was a new learning experience. Still, they were doing well, picking and sharing their crop in the community while expecting to harvest even more until August 24, when the tornado came. Yes, a TORNADO! In Michigan…

Mom Meg says that losing some roof shingles and a bit of siding from their rental home didn’t disturb her nearly as much as losing some of their plants and the fruit from others. They knew they wouldn’t have as much bounty to share, but the boys wanted to continue their efforts because Zachariah finds gardening fun. Ezekiel enjoys tasting vegetables straight from the garden. Meg became creative with what they did have and started stretching it by using the ripe produce in meals that they then shared in their neighborhood with those in need. She also pickled some of the jalapenos and distributed those for the community members to use this winter. That’s good because their 2023 gardening season is over, and they’ve even had their first snowfall.

Mom is one of many in the family that are creative, though. Ezekiel and Zachariah showed that same spirit in West Virginia when they wanted to eat a watermelon, and Mom was busy with something else. They knew they shouldn’t use the knife to cut it, so they threw it on a wall. Not surprisingly, it broke open, and they enjoyed a delicious treat. While we at Katie’s Krops don’t encourage throwing food around, especially watermelons, we applaud their spirit and ability to adapt to changing growing methods, climate, and circumstances beyond anyone’s control.

We look forward to sponsoring them in the coming years.

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Some of the luckiest people are the ones who find something they are passionate about and are able to use that passion to support themselves and others. Jarred Shaw, a literacy coach at the River City Science Academy’s Middle-High School in Jacksonville, Florida, is one of those people. An educator for 23 years and previously a school principal in New Jersey, Jarred has always worked with students and local farmers on the gardens at every school where he was a staff member. Now he serves as the head of the school garden club at this Title 1 charter school.

The garden started when Jarred brought in produce to share from his home garden and a science teacher suggested turning a small, blighted space on the school property into a garden. In addition to soliciting support and donations, a student, Donte Camacho, and Jarred wrote a grant request to Katie’s Krops and we have supported them for the last two years.

The six raised and six in-ground beds provide produce year-round. Sweet potatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, broccoli, eggplant, snow peas, pole beans, collards, spinach, and other leafy greens are some of the vegetables that complement the fruit from 15 varieties of fruit trees including lemon, lime, fig grapefruit, and herbs such as basil, oregano and parsley. They also have a butterfly garden and grow milkweed, roses, and other flowers as pollinators.

The 150 pounds of food produced so far has all been distributed to the students in need as well as some school staff. One 75-year-old teacher said the produce he receives helps keep him alive. New raised beds are being built from wooden pallets so that even more can be grown and shared.

The garden club is still small, with 5 to 10 students participating at any given time. As a STEM school, there are many activities vying for the attention of the students. They still appreciate the garden, and science teachers like being able to use it for some of their lessons.

The garden is also supported by members of the community, including Jones and Hall Garden Center, the Florida Farm Bureau, Target, Southeastern Grocers, and Wild Ones, a group that promotes the use of native plants. In the summer, support for maintaining the garden comes from Jarred himself as well as school maintenance staff and volunteers. For his part, Jarred does not mind because, again, he has a passion for gardening and for providing healthy eating options to his students. Katie’s Krops shares those passions, and we are happy to support Jarred, the students, and the school garden.

Nine-year-old Jackson from Illinois enjoyed his first year as a Katie’s Krops Grower so much that he plans to grow again in 2024. He first heard about the organization from his mom while researching grants for her adult garden club.

It has yet to be a total success story; Jackson’s tomatoes, eggplants, and lettuce did great, but the peppers and beans were another story. Despite that, he donated 21 pounds of peaches from the family’s existing trees and 25 pounds of vegetables from his two raised beds to his neighbors and a local food pantry. He also learned about plant diseases and how the drought conditions in the Midwest affected his garden, requiring him to often water with a hose or from a bucket to keep his plants alive.

Jackson did not limit his efforts to just food. He also grew swamp milkweed to raise butterflies and was successful when three orange and black monarchs matured. He nicknamed them Milanos after the cookie container in which they
were raised.

With assistance from his mom and sometimes his sister, Jackson was able to help others, which he says is why he puts in the work to grow. We here at Katie’s Krops are happy to hear that and to help Jackson as he continues with his garden in the coming years.

Someone stole the cabbage! Seriously, someone stole the giant cabbage, some smaller cabbages, and bok choy. That was what happened to Mei Yu Leung the first year that she started growing food in a community garden plot in Salem, Oregon, after becoming a Katie’s Krops Grower.

Fortunately, Mei Yu persevered. After all, she was the child who decided four years ago, when she was eight years old, to support her community by organizing two food drives at school. She followed that up by joining a community garden with her family, where they donated some of the produce they raised even before they read about Katie’s Krops online.

Those efforts, for now, 12-year-old Mei-Yu and her helping family, include growing more cabbage and bok choy as well as tomatoes, peas, strawberries, and even some carrots, although the latter has not been as successful as hoped. The majority of her crops are donated to Table of Plenty, a food pantry associated with the Marion Polk Food Share program. Additionally, she also makes direct donations to people in need. Mei Yu enjoys gardening for its own sake, saying it makes her happy; helping others is a bonus to her.

One of the community garden benefits is that the produce from some trees and garden plots is available for all gardeners to take as needed. By doing this, Mei Yu could have additional produce to share, including cucumbers, zucchini, cherries, grapes, blueberries, and apples.

Every gardener runs into problems, such as the slug infestation among the cabbages and bok choy one year. Unfortunately, Mei Yu ran into another crisis in 2020 that most never experience – wildfires. The fires that raged in much of Oregon made it virtually impossible to grow or pick anything starting in September because there was too much smoke to stay, let alone work, outside for more than a few minutes. This shortened harvest time by six to eight weeks.

As plans are made for 2021, it would appear that the days of cabbage theft are over. Mei Yu and her family, including her 4-year-old sister Lucida currently in training as a garden helper, now live in a house with a yard, complete with a fig tree. Again, this year’s gardens, supported by Katie’s Krops, will be an experiment on whether more is grown in the raised beds they are building or in a planned in-ground garden plot. In addition to growing the same items as they did at the community garden, mom Jackie is planning to add some hot peppers to the front garden beds. The family wants to try growing taro once they find enough information on how to do so. New beds might require more than the 10-15 hours that Mei-Yu spends setting up the garden each spring, but she won’t be traveling to the community garden to do so. She’ll also be able to keep a closer eye on the garden and get those slugs before too much damage is done.

We are thrilled to share that Kaine Gonzales has earned the title of “Katie’s Krops Volunteer of the Year” for 2020 for his dedication to the Katie’s Krops mission. Kaine has worked in more of the organization’s gardens in Summerville, South Carolina, than any other volunteer. Additionally, he has helped to prepare hundreds of Katie’s Krops garden-to-table meals. Kaine’s enthusiasm and desire to learn are truly contagious.

During his two and a half years of volunteering, Kaine found he enjoys gardening, seeing things grow, and being out in nature. He also finds that helping others is rewarding and he appreciates being able to do so through a well-organized group with friendly people. There was both a lot of work involved and fun times, including the vast, sweet potato harvest with one as big as a kid’s head.

Kaine is not the only one in his family who volunteers with Katie’s Krops, Sister Anaya, seven, and brother Manny, five, also helped with tasks such as picking ripe produce and planting seeds. At the same time, his parents provided that all necessary support and transportation. When his parents were not available to give rides to the garden workdays, Kaine was not detoured. He reached out to neighbors to find the lift he needed to help Katie’s Krops grow,

Kaine and his family moved to San Antonio, Texas, in the summer of 2020 due to a new duty posting for his Air Force father. To say that we, as an organization, were heartbroken to see Kaine move is an understatement. We are thrilled to share that Katie is now starting a Katie’s Krops garden in his new home state!

It’s an ambitious effort for a 14-year-old. Still, Kaine will have help, first from his father and neighbor, who will help him build raised garden beds. The entire family will help with planting, weeding, and nurturing the garden until the produce is ready to be harvested.  Kaine will share his harvest with a church pantry. Long-distance support and garden advice will come from his maternal grandparents, who farm ten acres in Louisiana. The family sometimes travels to help with planting items such as potatoes, which is a good task for kids who like to dig and play in the dirt.

“Kaine’s enthusiasm for gardening and helping others is second to none. He arrived at every volunteer opportunity with a smile on his face and eager to take on any task. I love how executing the job at hand was never enough for Kaine. He wanted to learn what to do and why. Educating himself was always at the forefront of his efforts. I am so excited that he is taking what he learned in our South Carolina gardens and starting a Katie’s Krops garden in his new home of Texas,” Katie’s Krops President Stacy Stagliano shared.

Kaine has earned this well-deserved honor, including the trophy and $500 scholarship that accompanies it.