Pat and Rachels Gardens LLC is a USDA certified organic family farm located between Lawrence, Kansas and Olathe, Kansas just south of DeSoto. Jim and Sandra Leek and their children worked together to create Pat and Rachel's Gardens LLC. Pat and Rachel are two children of our clan who have passed away, and we created this farm to honor them. As a family we continue to grow local, sustainable, and organic food to honor our Maker. We value community and believe we can help create a healthier future for us all by nurturing this community from the ground up. We are Solar Organic and Local. SOL food. In addition to producing food, we are a Certified Organic Processor which means we are licensed to wash, prepare, process, and freeze, and freeze dry organic products (which will be available at the Brookside Farmers Market and Overland Park Farmers Market as well as The Community Mercantile in Lawrence). As part of our dedication to the local food network, we are farmer members of the Kansas City Food Hub where James served as a board member for four years. We are primarily solar powered and use a pond-fed, drip irrigation system to use resources as sustainably as we can here in Kansas. We invite you to support Pat and Rachels Gardens in creating a healthier future by buying Solar Organic Local food: SOL food. James Leek, co-owner of Pat & Rachels Gardens has supported research and dissemination of best practices through SARE and USDA grants. He has shared his knowledge with the community through keynote presentations at the Kansas State Olathe campus and at the University of Missouri Extension in St. Peters, Missouri. Green Gate Family Farm was started in 2010 by Ken and Kate. They have invested significantly in the infrastructure of their farm- a new added a new well and an in-ground irrigation system; established several new growing fields; installed lots of new fences and done fence repairs; built two high tunnels (both 30'x96') and a heated greenhouse (30'x46'). The latest project was to complete a significant upgrade and remodeling of the metal barn that now has new floors and walls (about 1200 square feet) and where they added electric power, running water, extensive fruit and produce handling and processing areas and equipment, and a walk-in refrigerator. Green Gate Family Farm believes strongly in a 'soil first' understanding and philosophy of farming and food production, and our annual soil tests have shown good improvement in our soils. We entered the transition period required for Organic Certification immediately in 2010 (this requires functioning under all the regulations of being organic, without calling your farm organic), and after the three year transition period was completed, Green Gate Family Farm was officially Certified Organic by the State of Oklahoma's Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry in 2013. We have remained Certified Organic and continued to strongly support the USDA National Organic Program since then. Our personal goals include safe, healthy food for our table, as well as for our customers, and a farm property that fits in with the ecology of the land we live on. We are striving to be a sustainable, ecologically friendly farm, and a successful farm business. We believe in building a strong food system and are proud members of the Kansas City Food Hub, a cooperative of farmers working together to sell into the regional food system. We really like to integrate our agricultural systems utilizing the resources that are available to us. |