Where the Ozarks meet the Plains

Green Gate Family Farm was started in 2010 after Ken bought a small Amish farm in Wheatland, MO. There was an old abandoned house and a new house with no electricity or hot water.  Shortly after moving in, running electricity and adding a hot water heater, Ken was invited to attend a local farm tour sponsored by Lincoln University (LU) Extension. On the tour, he met Kate, the LU Small Farm Specialist who was co-hosting the event. One thing led to another and they started farming together.  Shortly after, in 2011 and more farming in 2012, Kate, Ken, and some family and friends took a trip out to Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington state. There on the banks of the Nooksack River, during a bright snowy morning on Dec. 7th, 2012, Kate and Ken took their vows “to love, cherish and weed”.  They ‘tied the knot’ and have not looked back since!

Ken and Kate 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.  This was partially sponsored by a Missouri Department of Agriculture Farm to Table Grant.

As for the rest of the farm property, it has undergone a lot of changes too. With its fairly long previous extraction history of cattle grazing and hay production, followed by the addition of some sweet corn and melon production, the older conventional farming style of the prior owners had left the property with thin, eroded, and depleted soils. The small fruit orchard was also in need of help- it was poorly planted initially, with trees far too close to each other, pruned badly, and was showing signs of fire blight and apple scab. Heavily sprayed and synthetically fertilized, the entire property needed to rest and detoxify. All such activities ended when we bought the farm of course, and the work of replenishing our soils has became and remains our priority.

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 (ODAFF) in 2013. We have remained Certified Organic and continued to strongly support the USDA National Organic Program since then. While we believe in the importance of a national standard for Organic production, we also understand that “big ag.” has attempted to weaken Organic standards. We are still certified by the USDA, but to go one step further, in 2020, we became one of less than 500 farms to achieve Real Organic Project certification.

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 are involved in our regional farm community through the following organizations: