Meet Our Growers

For Ariane “Ari” Denson, an 8-year-old third grader at Belvedere Elementary School in North Augusta, South Carolina, it all began with a squash seed. As part of a Sunday school lesson on the mustard seed in 2021, she and her classmates were given squash seeds to take home and grow. Katie’s Krops was mentioned during the lesson, and voila, a new gardener was born.

Ari applied to become a Katie’s Krops Grower, and she grew her first garden this year in her maternal grandparents’ backyard 15 minutes away in Aiken. Her first tutor in growing was grandma, but grandpa just couldn’t sit by and stepped in to help Ari grow over 50 pounds of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, pineapple, and herbs such as thyme, parsley, and sage this year. That total will likely go up since they have now started a fall garden with cabbage and collard greens. This productive haul was grown in just 20 square feet of raised bed gardens and some pots.

She has learned much from her grandparents, who have taught her how to grow plants from seeds and start composting for next year. Her great-grandmother is now 94 and bedridden but has also provided garden tips based on her experience, such as you should cut produce when picking it, not pulling it. In return, great grandma was rewarded with the first item harvested, a cucumber.

Ari has learned a lot this year, including that tomatoes don’t always thrive in the heat of a South Carolina summer, as well as which bugs are good and which are harmful. Another lesson learned, at this point, her 5-year-old brother, Jeffrey, will not be a good assistant in growing because he’s afraid of bugs. They make him cry before he runs away.

Ari really enjoys spending time with grandpa and getting closer to him as they help each other in the garden and with plans for next years, such as growing more in the sun rather than in partial shade. With 10 acres of land available, they should be able to find a suitable spot so they can grow even more. Together they distribute the food grown to the retired friends of the family so they can have healthier diets. She’s also found out that home-grown food tastes fresher and better than that bought at the store. We hope she continues to grow with Katie’s Krops for many years to come and that maybe Jeffrey can get over his bug phobia so he can help.  

They may be young, but the brother and sister duo of Austin and Toni Carr, ages 8 and 10
respectively, are learning how to grow vegetables. Students at Amanda Clearcreek Elementary school
in rural Ohio, they began their garden two years ago after their parents heard about Katie’s Krops on
the P. Allen Smith gardening show on PBS. The siblings have grown 185 pounds of tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, green beans, and cucumbers in their 16 by 16 foot in-ground garden. The carrots they attempted did not produce, but the flowers they grow thrive,
aiding in pollination while providing beauty.

After their Dad tills the garden in the spring, Toni and Austin are responsible for planting, weeding, and
harvesting. They have had some adversity, especially this year when a wet spring was followed by a sweltering and dry summer, both of which hurt the garden. They also have to
contend with pests, such as birds and rabbits, who are more than willing to eat the produce, which is
one reason the carrots don’t do well.

The two chickens left from the original flock of 10 (blame the coyotes and stray cats) provide
droppings for composting the garden, eggs for the family, and lessons on how to care for chickens to
Toni and Austin.

Both enjoy working in the garden. Austin likes chasing mom with the worms, although he moves
the toads from the garden rather than running with them. Toni enjoys bonding with her family and says
gardening is a fun hobby where she gets to be active. Mom Ashley is happy to have a summer activity
that gets the kids outside and off their tablets. The entire family is glad they can provide fresh
produce to their neighbors and the food pantries in Amanda and nearby Stoutsville. Their goal is
to eventually raise enough so that they can put a farm stand outside their home where everyone in their small community can stop by and take what they need for free.

While no one outside the family helps with the garden, Toni has talked to her friends about what they
do and shares vegetables with them. She is hoping they will get their own Katie’s Krops gardens so they can also help the community while they learn about gardening.

Helen Rhymer, 17, of Brooks, Georgia, is learning that as far as gardening goes, “it’s different here.” Her older brother, Jared, was the first Katie’s Krops grower in the family when he started his garden at the family’s home in Colorado eight years ago. He donated his produce to a local food pantry in Monument. Helen helped him and then took over when he aged out. This was also just in time for the family’s move to the land of red clay and a different climate.

The 2021 garden was not “that big,” but it still produced 100 pounds of vegetables, primarily tomatoes, and green beans. She has a much bigger garden in 2022, and it shows. Seeds were started in February, and as of Labor Day weekend, she’s produced about 220 pounds of a large variety of vegetables, including zucchini, squash, tomatoes, green beans, honeydew, and silver wave melons and cucumbers. It’s important to note that this is “so far” in the year because, as a southern gardener in zone 8a, she is able to have spring, summer, and fall gardens. This year’s fall garden crops are peas, radishes, beets, onions, and lettuce, and planting them has now started.

Helen has a couple of big helpers in growing her garden. One is her brother Colin who loves gardening as much as she does. Another is the compost produced by the family’s ducks and goats, which they raise on their 10-acre hobby farm and provide eggs and milk to the family. They need that compost to augment the soil in the eight one-foot tall raised garden beds and the additional beds comprising dirt dumped over weed block.

Moving to a new area can be difficult, and Helen misses the mountains and snow. She’s found she no longer has to battle the squirrels that plagued the Colorado garden but have had to confront squash bugs for the first time. However, she started working at a garden center over a year ago and can ask for advice. She now picks her squash when they are smaller.

Helen loves being outside when she is not home-schooled by her mother or attending her in-person class at the local community college on her path to earning an associate’s degree in biology. Gardening provides her that outdoor time and the bonus of helping her local community when she donates her produce to the Southwest Georgia Food Bank.

Bree Estes, 16, has been a Katie’s Krops Grower since her father heard about the organization, and Bree applied, at nine years old, to become a Katie’s Krops Grower. Then a fourth-grader at Alabama Christian Academy (ACA) in Montgomery, Alabama, she, her parents, and her younger sister, Madelyn, now 15, started a Katie’s Krops garden at the school with advice from their local extension office. That garden is growing today with support from students from all grades tending it and using the outdoor classrooms that have been added.

Soon after starting the garden, the family moved to Birmingham. To satisfy their desire to help their community while being outside and active, they created a new garden at Bree’s new school, Brock’s Gap (then for 5^th and sixth graders and now for grades 3 through 5).  Both girls still tend the garden with assistance from the students led by teacher Terri Davis through the informal Katie’s Krops club she has established. The club members help with weeding, watering, and other tasks. This garden also includes outdoor classrooms as well as a pavilion.

The family, including parents Robert and Melinda, also have other gardens. In addition to two beds at the University of Alabama Birmingham’s downtown community garden, where they grow a small portion of their vegetables, they have a large garden at home. As southern gardeners with a growing season that extends from March to November and an initial harvest in April, they grow peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, melons, peas, kale, and pumpkins. One pumpkin vine even decided to use a tree as a climbing pole; nothing like picking pumpkins 5 to 6 feet off the ground! The gardens are flourishing despite sweltering summers, problems with bugs, and initially bad soil that was improved by adding compost to break it down into good growing dirt. As a result, the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama receives its bounty. In contrast, the Montgomery Area Food Bank receives food from the ACA garden. 

Korbin Leddy, 18, from Stockholm, South Dakota, is a senior at Milbank High School and in his 5th year as a Katie’s Krops Grower. Korbin lives on a farm in South Dakota, and besides tending his 1/3 acre garden, he shows cattle through 4-H. Korbin will be attending South Dakota State University at Brookings, starting in the autumn of 2022, to major in Agricultural Business with a minor in Ranch Management. He has also participated in 4-H Achievement Days for the last ten years in the horticulture project area with activities such as having his produce judged for quality and uniformity.

His planting season starts in late April or early May, but before that can occur, he uses a skid steer to prepare the soil by incorporating the cattle manure and compost he has applied in late fall through late winter. This gets the soil ready for planting. He grows and harvests sweet corn, broccoli, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, beets, squash, and zucchini to donate to the Grant County food pantry and his church. Both groups distribute the fresh produce to those in need over the vast geographical area they cover.

Besides gardening and tending to his cattle, Korbin also does worm farming in bins in his basement. He has red wiggler worms that he provides vegetable scraps to and augments his soil with the organic matter produced by worms. This past year, June and July of 2021 were primarily dry, but the growing season was extended to late October after a large amount of rain fell during the fall and the weather turned colder a lot later than usual. Since Korbin lives in the central northern plains, his garden season is usually short, with spring frost ending mid-May and fall frost that can occur as early as mid-September. However, he was fortunate to have the later fall harvest this year, which produced a bumper crop.

Many things have changed since we first profiled Katie’s Krops grower, CeCe Harford of Urbana, Maryland, in April 2020 (CeCe – Maryland – Welcome to Katie’s Krops ! (katieskrops.com). Her family has moved to a new home on 2 acres of land, so she was able to give up her five community garden plots and the grow bags she used at her old home to concentrate on creating a half-acre garden in her new backyard. She also has turned fifteen and earned a $500 college scholarship by being named the Katie’s Krops 2021 Grower of the Year!

Some things haven’t changed, though. CeCe is still is passionate about helping people in her community by donating produce to the local senior center and rescue mission. During the height of the pandemic, she shared her harvest directly to people in the community who were in need and/or having difficulty finding fresh vegetables in the grocery stores due to supply chain issues. She does this because she likes helping others, meeting people, and inspiring others, such as a young family friend who is now getting into gardening as well. Hopefully, that’s a future Katie’s Krops gardener!

With the space she has at home, and with the assistance of her parents and brothers, Jaxson, 12, and Kingston, 9, CeCe grows a bountiful harvest including but not limited to tomatoes, broccoli, beans, lettuce, cucumbers, potatoes, onions, radishes, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins, beans, squash, zucchini, and various berries. Her parents have planted fruit and citrus trees to help with her vision. She faces the same issues that other gardeners do, including those various leaf eater bugs.

Before Covid, CeCe helped teachers and the Garden Club students with the garden at her old elementary school, Centerville Elementary. Over the past few years, she was able to help with funding to revitalize the garden at the school. As a 6th grader in 2018 and using a $5,000 grant from Lowe’s, she sponsored a youth service day at the elementary school for Martin Luther King Day to encourage the students to help in the garden and thus help others.

Covid restrictions have also affected CeCe’s ability to reach out to the community to encourage other youth gardeners. Now Zoom’s speaking engagements are being done, including an upcoming presentation to 6 to 9-year-old children for which Katie’s Krops supplied t-shirts. In addition, CeCe will provide gift bags with gardening items and fun activities.

A sophomore at Urbana High School, she has many interests besides gardening, including dance (both ballet and contemporary), painting, video games, working on the stage crew and with props for high school theatrical presentations, and simply hanging out with her friends. Katie’s Krops is privileged to have such a well-rounded dedicated gardener on our team, and we wish CeCe an excellent growing season this year and always.

Claire Brown, a 30-year-old missionary in eManzana (also known as Badplaas), South Africa, is just a little bit older than the age range for Katie’s Krops gardeners. When our Ohio Growers introduced Katie’s Krops to Claire’s efforts after visiting her garden in Africa we were compelled to help. She was in such dire need of funds when her garden was first started that an exception was made. That has made a difference in how she and her employees at https://lydiasmission.org have grown to feed 1,600 children daily at their Hope Centers.

The organization began in 2017. The garden itself was started in 2019 and has grown in size to cover 43,000 square feet. It has gone from producing 3,000 pounds of vegetables in 2019 to 11,502 pounds of fruit and vegetables through the first ten months of 2021. The climate allows the garden to produce year-round with shade cloth used to prevent crops from burning. In addition, generous donors funded an irrigation system using water from the river at the property’s bottom. Although electricity to run the pumps is not always consistent, the irrigation system is much needed. It is not uncommon to have no rain at all for three-quarters of the year once the rainy season of a few months has ended. Claire and a team of 19 local women grow food based on the local diet and crops that grow successfully in the area, including tomatoes, pumpkins, cabbage, onions, beets, butternut squash, peppers, lettuce, spinach, and green beans. Other items that have been less successful and less well-received include avocados, baby marrow (a type of zucchini), carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, watermelon, peas, and kale. Orange, lemon, and grapefruit trees started bearing fruit in 2020.

The workers are also involved in raising 1,500 chickens whose eggs are sold to raise funds for the organization and breed worms. In addition, they create their compost using the chicken and worm droppings along with cow manure to which they have access.

Gardening in eManzana is not without challenges. Monkeys steal food from the garden (definitely an African problem!). The rain is sometimes accompanied by damaging hail. Six of the workers cannot read or write, and Claire has had to learn the most prominent language, Siswati since that is the only language 16 of the 19 garden workers know. She does use an interpreter when the conversation exceeds her basic knowledge. The level of need can be discouraging. Even before Covid hit, the area was a food insecure community. With COVID it is dramatically worse. Claire regularly meets children, families, and senior citizens who have not eaten in days because they do not have the money to buy food. Many times, they are so discouraged that they have given up even caring for themselves. When workers from Lydia’s Mission show up with a box of fresh vegetables from the garden, their hope is restored, and their faces light up like a small child on Christmas morning.

Working in their backyard garden has provided many fun moments this year for the Morris sisters of Goose Creek, South Carolina. Their mom, Jackie, found out about Katie’s Krops through Facebook. The family volunteered in the group’s flagship garden in Summerville, South Carolina, in 2020, where they enjoyed helping nurture and harvest vegetable crops.

Nine-year-old 4^th grader Bristol and eight-year-old 2^nd grader Kinsley have many things in common, including attending Devon Forest Elementary School and being on the autism spectrum. So their parents thought that growing a garden at their home would be a good thing to do since it allows them to work on their own and to do those tasks they love the most, such as getting dirty and playing in the mud. Mixing dirt, fertilizer, and peat moss was not a chore for this team; they loved doing it!

Their mom has been their primary gardening instructor. She taught them to plant seeds, one of Bristol’s favorite tasks, water with a hose, weed, and harvest when the crops are ripe. The primary beneficiary of their efforts has been retired elderly neighbors who no longer drive and are dependent on others, including their family members, to take them to the store. They were very grateful to receive cabbage, kale, tomatoes, bell peppers, and, soon to come, watermelon once they ripen.

There would have been more to share if not for a couple of problems. It turns out that the squirrels liked the seeds and ate them. Once the garden was replanted and started growing, rain flooded their raised beds not once but twice, and they had to be replanted again. It was at this point that Kinsley cried and who could blame her. The rain also affected the cucumbers, which didn’t produce because of the flooding.

Kinsley didn’t mind the vegetables not growing for her own sake because she doesn’t like eating them and prefers apples; she was just disappointed that there would be less to share since she likes giving them away. On the other hand, Bristol loves vegetables and has been known to eat fresh-picked beans straight from the vines. However, she lists flowers, including sunflowers, as her favorite thing to grow.