Kesler continues family's strong gardening heritage

Marty Kesler of Miltona grew up in a gardening family and he’s certainly carrying on that skill in his own quarter acre garden.

Marty Kesler of Miltona holds one of his butter crunch lettuce heads at the Fergus Falls Farmers Market

And he’s doing it organically It’s how he learned to grow vegetables.

“My family was organic when organic wasn’t cool,” he said with a smile.

Kesler, who sells his garden produce at the Fergus Falls Farmers Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, is not certified organic. His production methods are the same as organic, he said. He doesn’t use chemicals. He mulches his gardens and is moving to no-till production. No-till is as its name describes - he doesn’t till the ground. He seeds into the ground cover which increases the amount of water infiltrating the soil and, with the retention of organic matter, nutrients are cycled.

The result is more productive plants, more vegetables to harvest and less weed pressure.

While it’s still early in the growing season, he has harvested vegetables thanks to the good growing conditions the plants experienced in his low tunnels.

Butter Crunch lettuce, Hakurei turnips, spinach, radishes, red Russian kale and eggs from his organic free range hens are among the items he’s been selling. More will come as the growing season progresses.

Kesler works for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture in its evasive species program. But, when he’s at home, he can be found in the garden caring for his plants and his flock of around a dozen hens.

While he’s always had a background in gardening, he developed a keen interest in it after watching YouTube videos of The Urban Grower with Curtis Stone.

“There’s a serous movement out there,” he said. “A lot of kids that grew up in the city are farming and their farms are less than an acre.”

He’s excited about the information available on agriculture and raising animals and growing plants. It’s inherent in those who love to garden: They are always searching for new varieties and growing methods. Kesler, himself, looks at different techniques comparing a 30-inch bed and walkways alongside shorter beds. He compares planting densities and utilizes low tunnel production to create a longer in-garden growing season.

Much of it he does himself. He built his own low tunnels using electrical conduit and plastic, he said.

The result is in the produce and egg production. The butter crunch lettuce heads are full and leafy. The Hakurei turnips are good sized vegetables.

Check out his stand at the Fergus Falls Farmers Market Wednesdays from 3-5:30 and on Saturdays from 9-1.

Hakurei turnips