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.