We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melinda Wilder and Maggie Wilder N/A a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Melinda Wilder and Maggie Wilder, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
As a small, independent organic market garden, we employ many production methods that differ significantly from large organic farming operations. These production methods focus on working with nature to create a regenerative, sustainable agricultural ecosystem. We have a no-till, raised bed system with little use of mechanized equipment so that soil health is preserved and improved. Our farming practices also include crop rotation, cover cropping, water management, establishment of perennials, increasing pollinator habitat and maintenance of wild spaces. This allows us to improve our climate resiliency in a time of rapid change. Another difference is our engagement with the community. We sell all our food within a 40-mile radius through our local farmers market and our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). By growing a wide variety of unique and traditional vegetables we are able to educate our customers about different foods and nutrition.
We also host an event twice a year where CSA members come to the farm and harvest their own vegetables and see our regenerative agriculture practices at work. It is amazing to see the kids dig potatoes, pull up carrots and eat a cherry tomato right off the vine—actively learning about where their food comes from and how it grows.
This experience allows all our CSA members to get their hands dirty (literally) leading to a greater appreciation for local foods and farming.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Wolf Gap Gardens, LLC is small, certified organic market garden owned and operated by a mother-daughter team. In addition to being UDSA certified organic, our farm is also certified by the Real Organic Project. We came into this business through different paths. After a 43-year career as an environmental/science educator and a home gardener, Melinda thought this would be a good retirement project. Maggie became interested in small scale farming after her time in the Peace Corps (Ethiopia) where she saw the impacts of sustainable gardening and nutritious food on the community. When Melinda was getting ready to retire and care for her elderly mother and Maggie completed her season as a garden manager at nonprofit teaching farm, they decided to combine forces to create this business on their family land up holler in south-central Kentucky. Their vision that guides the business is their belief in the power of local, resilient food systems to generate positive environmental and economic change.
As we mentioned earlier, we grow certified organic vegetables, herbs and flowers. We chose to grow unique, colorful vegetables such ground cherries, Romanesco, purple and white kohlrabi, green and purple tomatillos, four colors of beets, Starburst blend carrots which are yellow, white, orange and purple as heirloom varieties such as Hen-peck collards, Moon and Stars watermelon and Black Brandywine tomatoes. This diverse offering provides a springboard for educating folks about food sources and nutrition. In addition to fresh vegetables, we make a variety of home processed canned goods such as pickles, relishes and salsas. By raising only organic vegetables we contribute to the health of our customers as well as the environment.
We are proud to be an intergenerational farm which uses regenerative, sustainable farming techniques; practices land stewardship and conservation principles; provides education to increase social and ecological awareness of food production—doing our best to make our corner of the world a healthier, greener place for all community members.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
One of our most successful funding strategies has been to take advantage of the multiple grant sources for small farm businesses here in Kentucky. Kentucky uses a portion of their monies from Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement to help small farmers. These funds are often distributed via different grants and loans. We have applied for and received 11 grants and 2 low interest (1%) loans through both state and federal agencies for a total of $60,000. The federal grants included the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service EQUIP program allowed us to build a high tunnel with a water catchment system and the USDA Rural Energy for America Energy Program which helped provide solar electricity. The Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund also provided some funding for the solar panels as well as funding through Kentucky State University for our cool room, washing and packing station, and our irrigation system. The Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation offers SOAR Small Farm Production loans which funded the installation of municipal water, fencing and a farm vehicle. Since we already owned the land, these sources of capital made our business possible.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Through various educational opportunities including Grow Appalachia’s Beginning Farmers & Ranchers program, Organic Association of Kentucky’s (OAK) conference and field days and the East Kentucky Farmers conference we have learned about a variety of publications that have been very informative as well as supportive as we embarked on this journey. A few of our favorites include The Market Gardener by Jean Martin Fortier, The Living Soil Handbook by Jesse Frost, and The Lean Farm by Ben Hartman. From these books, we were able to learn about season planning, planting techniques, integrated pest management, cover cropping, and how to use our time, energy, and resources more efficiently. Reading and discussing these books gave us the knowledge and confidence to start our business without having to learn everything from scratch. In addition to these books, we have really enjoyed the monthly magazine Growing for Market that gives small farmers innovative idea to improved efficiency, share successes and failures, and provides information about new and emerging technologies. Finally, we subscribe to a few blogs and podcasts written by other Kentucky farmers that help us improve in areas of the business we are less confident in such as marketing.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @wolfgapgardens
- Facebook: Wolfgapgardens
- Other: email: wolfgapgardens@gmail.com