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Green Gate Family Farm is owned and operated by Katie Nixon and Ken Barber. We established the farm in 2010 with the purchase of 67 acres in rural Missouri. After purchase, the farm was immediately transitioned into organic production. In 2014, after the 3-year transition period the farm was certified by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. In 2019, we were Real Organic Certified. In addition to the wide variety of certified organic annual and perennial produce we grow, we sell certified organic bedding plants, cut flowers, and eggs (chicken, duck, goose and turkey). We do all of this production on about 5 acres of land that includes 3 unheated high tunnels and one heated greenhouse and grow year-round. Our market outlets are mainly in the Kansas City region, but we also sell locally. Our customers include: Whole Food Market, CSA members (three sessions through-out the year), online customers, and restaurants. We also sell wholesale through the Kansas City Food Hub- a 25-member cooperative co-founded by Green Gate where Katie currently serves as President. In 2021, we added a small, but growing, flock of Katahdin sheep, which we not sell live offspring from. 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. 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. |
