By Cathy Miller

Who doesn’t like to play in the dirt? How about when that play becomes productive? Or even meditative?

Kent Kimball and his wife Mary are long-time residents of White Township. Kimball was born in Utah, grew up in the Midwest, and moved to Queens in the late 70s/early 80s. He spent ten years in Virginia before landing in New Jersey in 1993 for work in Port Newark.

Kimball has raised vegetables organically since the 1980s. He laughed, “Wherever there was dirt, I was growing vegetables!”

He’s been planting vegetables in Warren County’s dirt since 1996 when he established Kimball’s Farm and began selling his produce. This year is his 15th year at the Blairstown Farmers’ Market. In 2018, his farm received USDA organic designation.

For a farm to become USDA organic, the farmer must successfully complete an extensive, well-documented, five-step plan, after which a certifying agent will issue an organic certificate naming products that can be sold as organic by that farm. The inspection process is conducted yearly.

A consumer purchasing a product bearing the USDA Organic seal can rest assured the item is free of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, and GMOs.

A member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), Kimball cultivates his produce on three acres of land. In another field, he grows Warthog Winter Wheat, Einkorn Wheat, Red Fife Wheat, and Danko Rye, along with hay. The Einkorn is an ancient wheat, Warthog Winter and Red Fife are considered heritage wheats. He only sells the kernel form at farmers’ markets, as a certified kitchen is required to mill and sell it as flour.

River Valley Community Grains, in northwest New Jersey, supports farmers (including Kimball’s Farm) growing heritage grains  by purchasing their kernels and stone-milling them to sell at farmers’ markets. They encourage farmers to use regenerative and organic agricultural methods to meet the growing demand for nutrient dense grains, local flour, bread, and healthy cereals.

Over the growing months, Kimball raises dozens of assorted vegetables, with about 25 different varieties of tomatoes, from the tiniest cherries to big beefsteaks. He cultivates a cornucopia of peppers, encompassing over 50 varieties of hot peppers (he enjoys making his own personal hot sauces). Throughout the season, he also reaps herbs, garlic, onions, berries and tomatillos, to name just a few.

He farms several unique crops too, one being peanuts  – mostly because he likes them! He explained, “Although they’re thought of as a southern crop, and the growing season is longer down South, up North, there’s a tight window to plant peanuts in time to harvest them before frost. But it works!”

Other unusual crops are okra and ground cherries (Kent pictured above with a basket of ground cherries). Ground cherries, from the tomato family, grow similar to cherry tomatoes but aren’t trellised – they fall off the plant when ready. They ripen within a paper-like shell, which slips off easily, and presents a subtly-sweet, juicy, little, golden orb, perfect for snacking. Kimball’s assistant, Petra Leibik, from East Stroudsburg, smiled and admitted, “They’re also very good for jam.”

Additional veggies include unusual varieties of the standards like tropical spinach (malabar and New Zealand), purple potatoes and purple sweet potatoes. He raises turmeric and ginger, as well as several herbs – the mix he brings to market is always varied.

Kimball begins the farmers’ market season selling greens, salad greens, radishes, and turnips. By season’s end, around mid-September, he’s into squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and fall crops. Summer’s bounty overflows with tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, and many more healthy delights. Traditional favorites, not surprisingly, are tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.

On summer Saturdays through the end of October, he’s vending just-picked veggies at the Blairstown Farmers’ Market. He can be found at The Shoppes at Lafayette Farm Market Sundays into November. He also runs a stand from his farm in Belvidere.

Come market day, Kimball said, “We harvest what we can. We bring nine trays of freshly harvested tomatoes and only a certain amount of potatoes and sweet potatoes. If anything is left, it’s sold at our farm stand and donated to a local food bank and a couple of churches’ soups kitchens.”

In the off-season, Kimball continues to work his fields, growing whatever he can – mostly greens and root vegetables.

Of her five years’ on the job at Kimball’s Farm, Pietra explained, “I help with everything around the farm, from starting seeds indoors, direct seeding, transplanting starts, weeding, harvesting and working the Blairstown Farmers Market on Saturdays.”

She continued, “I’ve always enjoyed working outside, growing and eating great food. To know that I’m helping provide fresh organic produce locally is the most rewarding and fulfilling experience I could ask for.”

Experiencing an overwhelming absence of rain this season, Kimball recalled, “This is the worse drought I’ve seen in a while,” adding “There were a couple summers in the early 2000s that were pretty bad.”

The U.S. Drought Monitor recorded the longest duration of drought in New Jersey lasted 55 weeks, beginning on October 30, 2001 and ending on November 12, 2002. Warren County just experienced the ninth driest July on record, down 2.88 inches from normal rainfall.

To offset the lack of rain, Kimball utilizes both drip irrigation and overhead irrigation to help things along. He remarked, “The drought stresses everything, making some crops less productive. It’s really difficult to grow greens and lettuce without the water.”

Nonetheless, Kimball wholeheartedly enjoys all aspects of farming. “I like a little bit of everything. I like the challenge of making things grow – the process of planting, growing and harvesting. I enjoy the solitude of working in the dirt.”

Kimball Farms is located at 110 Sarepta Road, Belvidere.; www.kimballsupick.com, 908-475-4447

References:
www.rodaleinstitute.org
www.nofanj.org
www.ams.usda.gov
www.drought.gov/states/new-jersey