Lady Kate’s Garden is a woman-owned organic herb and vegetable farm located in the heart of Billings, MT. We grow medicinal and culinary herbs, as well as seasonal vegetables. We sell our produces to local local co-ops, restaurants and grocers. We consider it an honor and a privilege to offer you the freshest quality sustainably grown produce that serves both you and the community.
Seasonal value added products are made available throughout the year, like culinary salts and vinegar, lavender bundles and more. We continue to grow and expand our gardens and products as demand increases and staff is made available.
We have always followed organic practices: we use natural fertilizers such as manure, alfalfa pellets, our own compost, kelp and fish meals, as well as cover crops. The soil will keep building its vitality when we let it just do its own thing. It always takes time to return our soil to its natural balance, but with a little attention, we are rewarded with tilth that is rich in natural organisms and self-sustaining. Natural botanicals, beneficial insects and biological controls are used to prevent and address insects, fungus and soil diseases. We also inter-plant crops with herbs and flowers that attract and keep the beneficial insects in the gardens. We want our food to be vital, nourishing and beautiful, too! When our gardens are healthy…we are healthy!
Garden Philosophy
Why I choose to grow Heirloom varieties:
- Exceptional taste is the No. 1 reason I choose to grow heirloom varieties.
- Heirloom vegetables are likely to be more nutritious than newer varieties. You may have heard that you should always try to eat a variety of vegetables but that’s also true for specific varieties. The purple, yellow, green, and multi colored heirloom tomatoes all have different nutrients than the couple of red varieties offered at the grocery store.
- Seeds saved from heirloom vegetables will produce plants that are true to type, unlike hybrid seeds. If you try to save seed from hybrids, you usually won’t get good results.
- Each heirloom variety is a little piece of living history. They tell the story of the people that grew them and the place that they farmed. Keeping these seeds alive maintains a connection to cultural roots, ancestral ways, and the earth. What a great feeling — to be connected through tiny, magical seeds to so many other gardeners from so long ago!
Why I choose to grow organic:
- Growing gardens according to organic methods is better for you, better for our community, and better for the environment. I depend on natural amendments, cultural practices, and biological processes for success in the garden, and avoid synthetic chemicals above all.
- Organic gardens depend on rich, vibrant soil (rather than chemical plant food) to produce healthy vegetables and fruits. The soil becomes mineral rich and nutrient dense, leading to the healthiest possible food.
- The absence of synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides in organic gardens make them safe places for bees to work, birds to forage, and children to play. Did you know that some of most commonly used, non-organic lawn and garden chemicals have been linked to cancer, autism, attention deficit disorders, and other chronic diseases?
- When trying to mimic nature in ways that nurture and protect the garden vegetables, you will gradually begin to learn about the ways that the natural world functions. I am constantly amazed by the wise ways of plants, animals, insects, and other garden friends and am inspired by each little success I experience in learning how to produce vital food.
- Healthy soils, nurtured over time using organic methods, are natural storage sinks for atmospheric carbon. Carbon in the soil, known as soil organic matter is beneficial to soil structure, and helps the soil support abundant plant life.