Carroll Family Garden – by Kay Faught

My Neighbor’s Garden – August 2014

Lisa and Josh Carroll have achieved an amazing goal – providing nearly all of their vegetable needs for the year out of their own garden!   Simply calling their hoop house and huge vegetable space a “garden” is an understatement, though.

Two years ago, Lisa and Josh made the decision to try and have early and year-round food production off their land. Education is their mantra; Lisa is a teacher and Josh home-schools their two children, Lilly and Mason. The couple took advantage of the OSU Extension Service classes, “Growing Agripueners” and the “Small Farm” course, and then felt ready to tackle the entire project.

The problem was their home and greenhouse on Perrydale Avenue was maxed-out! Enter Lisa’s parents’ property off Bellinger Lane with its 2 acres and irrigation from a well…it was the first step in their dream coming true. Last Christmas, their “present” to each other was a 48 X 30 hoop greenhouse kit. Every weekend last winter, with step two in-place they then built while seedlings grew in their greenhouse at home. They tilled the soil, prepared it with cover crops, then tilled it again until ready to plant this past March!

Starting everything from seed is Lisa’s passion, so their crop production is never-ending. Seeds are already in the greenhouse at home for the next season’s planting, while other plants are yielding their bounty in and around the hoop house. The Carroll’s are accustomed to overwintering vegetables that they use year-round, like carrots, beets, garlic, fava beans, cauliflower, onions, and more, but the big focus was trying to be successful in “early crops” and in supplying 90% of their household needs.   Lisa was canning tomatoes the first week of summer break this year and commented, “It is just magical to see the transformation from seed to food!” It truly is a magical transformation. The hoop house contains rows and rows of beautiful chilies, (all kinds that Josh has already made into great hot sauces) peppers, ground cherries, tomatillos, tomatoes, eggplants, melons, beans and more.

Outside the abundant hoop house, the beds tend sunflowers, potatoes (just going in for late season), chard, beets, and much more. A fun plant I spotted was the amaranth – bold, deep red, and beautiful, it is loaded with calcium and other nutrients and is a most interesting plant. Small, it makes a red, “bitey” salad green, but in full height, now reaching Lisa’s head, it goes to seed heads. Lisa mentioned one of the seed heads had seeded their entire supply of this year’s crop, which she’ll harvest for cereal grains! It is also a great “trap” plant protecting others around it from bugs. While they are totally organic, they deal with bugs and pests as we all do. Lisa and Josh both stressed how important it is to get on top of a pest at first sight. “With the greenhouse environment, everything is on fast-forward and moves faster!” said Josh. “You have to get on it right away.”

They love what they do…Josh loves the rewards of spending a hot, sweaty day and then sitting back and seeing the results from his hard work. He loves the joy in the accomplishment. Lisa said, “I love producing for ourselves!”   Like all gardeners, vegetable farmers have their special times in the garden – Lisa loves the morning when it’s still and cool and she can see the birds, pick cucumbers and feel the cool breeze. Josh loves dusk and dawn, enjoying the unique birds that utilize each time.   He has a hummingbird that bids him goodbye each evening as he closes up the hoop house and heads home!

Little Lilly, age 7 ½, already has a garden job – finding ladybugs and taking them into the hoop house. She is the “ladybug wrangler,” according to Lisa.   At one point in our conversation, Lilly brightened,

“I like to take care of the squash and like to plant it, but it will take me a while to learn to like it.”   It overjoyed me seeing Lilly working alongside her parents and knowing the family produces 90% of their vegetables and that they know where their food comes from…which in my opinion, is how it should be!