In January of 2017, Denita sent a friend request on Facebook, that would change her and her daughters life forever. We had our first meeting in March, she put in her 2 weeks notice in June and pretty much spent every weekend together from May - August when school started back up so that her daughter didn't miss any days.
While the relationship was still in the mostly phone call stage, Denita did explain to farmer Dylan that she was NOT a farmer. Being outside with bugs and spiders was not going to happen. And for the most part, she has stuck to that. With of course a few tweaks here and there!
How did she get the nickname Start Queen you are wondering? A fluke! lol Before Dylan was a full time farmer, his off farm job was 10 hours a day, 4 days a week. And while making sure the beds were covered or uncovered and that they were getting their water at the right time of day was something she begrudgingly, she was very surprised when asked to do a few trays of starts. The decision that some was better than none was made and she did a few start trays. 95% germination... In shock she decided that this was something she could do. Each tray kept popping up, 95-98% germination and the job became hers. The farm was growing and so was the amount of starts that we needed so a more efficient area was created and she started getting 98-100%. It started out as a little joke but one day, Denita was busy and Dylan decided take back over the starts and for about a month all the starts were germinating at around 80-85%. Laughing it off Denita took it back over and her first round was actually at about 102%. So, the job is hers!
At first she was only doing the lettuce starts. The rest of them were purchased from local sources. After the first couple of years, she branched out to collards and kale! Now, 7 years later, she does all of them. We do not purchase many starts (though, if from a reputable source that is known to use organic practices, they will not turn down free starts! As for the word free, they have a whole story on how that word got them 2 tom turkeys and a Silkie rooster)