Kimball gets small farm to sizzle with hot peppers

By Tamara Scully
AFP Correspondent

White Township — Kent Kimball has found his recipe for success.
Although he didn’t have to look any closer than his own taste buds, it really all started with his desire to preserve the tranquility and open space surrounding his three-acre homestead.
A transplant from Virginia, Kimball wanted to maintain a rural lifestyle; one that allowed room for his goats and his vegetable gardening passion.
When the six-acre property across from his farmhouse became available, he knew that to preserve the land and his lifestyle, he’d have to purchase it himself. And so he did.
But it wasn’t enough to purchase it. Kimball could not afford the land without maintaining the farmland assessment for tax purposes. But unlike others who might have settled for the minimum needed to do so, Kimball was ready to take the plunge from avid gardener to small farmer.
In 1996, he began with one acre of intensely planted vegetables. The deer enjoyed most of them, but stayed away from his favorite — a myriad of hot peppers.
Thus began the true development of Kimball’s Farm and U-Pick, as Kimball took advantage of his personal preference for peppers with a punch, as well as the deers’ reluctance to consume such produce.
By 2000, Kimball had purchased another adjoining 46 acres, and his herd of goats, which he breeds for pet sales, along with hay, currently occupy that parcel.
But the vegetable acreage was growing, and what started out as a small roadside you-pick on the honor system was now demanding to be formed into a second full-time career for Kimball: a small chemical-free farm, where hot peppers, herbs and “variety over volume” dictated the diverse array of produce that was to be grown in the now four-acre garden.
“I love hot peppers,” Kimball declared, and since the deer did not, Kimball wisely decided to invest a large part of his time and energy to the crop.
Throw in a variety of herbs, most of which also keep the wildlife away, as well as the heirloom tomatoes and a full array of root crops, and Kimball’s Farm and U-Pick could survive in harmony with the deer.
But once he was able, Kimball was more than eager to expand his product line for his customers. He erected deer fencing for the 2004 season, and customers could now enjoy a more diverse array of vegetables and small fruits.
The deer fencing had one more added benefit: It kept trespassers out of the garden.
“When someone comes to pick they come to pick a week’s supply of vegetables,” Kimball said of his customer base. They are looking for “a lot of variety, not a lot of volume.”
He has since expanded from U-pick only, along with a small pre-picked selection roadside, to a full market booth at the Blaristown Farmers’ Market. He is known for naturally-grown vegetables, unusual varieties, fresh herbs, and — of course — his selection of hot peppers.
Kimball starts 500 hot pepper plants each season.
“I start my own and supplement from there,” he said, purchasing from the nearby Cross Country Nurseries, who have “a very impressive business” based around hot peppers and a few other select items, according to Kimball.
With one or two of many different pepper varieties, as well as several dozen or so of the most popular Jalapeno, Serrano and Habanero types of peppers, Kimball offers peppers ranging from the reported hottest pepper in the world, to mild. He classifies peppers as extremely hot, very hot, hot, medium or mild, and plants them in different beds.
His peppers occupy about 250 square feet, in a 50-by-50-foot plot. Segregating the plants by degree of heat means that no one accidently picks a hot pepper, thinking it is mild.
It also means that he can quickly pick a mix based on the bite, bag it up and sell a colorful mix to customers, with minimal labor requirements.
When time allows, he can pick by specific variety, knowing exactly which plot to find it in.
This arrangement also works to bring the harvest to fruition. Hot peppers need a long growing season, and the hottest — Kimball’s personal favorite- take the longest to ripen.
So low tunnels add protection from frost each fall, allowing the peppers to mature. In a good year, he has peppers through Thanksgiving.
Kimball harvests an average of 100 pounds of hot peppers each season. He has customers who specifically seek out his hot peppers each fall.
He also harvests an abundance of other crops, including unusual herbs such as spicy oregano and anise hyssop, sweet corn from untreated seed, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, melons, cucumbers and a very large selection of salad greens.
In fact, Kimball’s salad greens, which are available all season, spring-fall, are another signature item.
So are the root vegetables, for which he has a loyal, steady following each Thanksgiving. Kimball remains open for U-pick through the holiday, protecting not only his hot peppers, but his salad greens via low tunnels. Potatoes, turnips, carrots, rutabagas, spinach and more keep holiday customers happy.
Kimball is not certified organic, and he said he does not have the time or energy for the paperwork that certification requires. But he grows naturally, and does not use many products or methods which are acceptable under organic standards, such as the use of plastic mulch.
Kimball uses green cover crops as his primary fertilizer, and adds a fish emulsion if needed. He rotates crops religiously and intensively, and practices companion planting. His main method of pest and disease control is beneficial insects, of which he has cultivated large populations, using his herbs as a main source of their food needs.
“Pesticides will destroy the beneficial insect balance,” which he has worked diligently to cultivate, Kimball said.
Of course, Kimball realizes that he is small enough to focus on this labor-intensive method of growing, where intensive hand weeding — as well as hand seeding — is the rule. He minimizes any tilling, and uses only natural mulches of straw or chopped grass, timed so that the grass is under low seed stress when it is cut and used as mulch.
Currently, demand for his products has almost begun to outpace the capacity of the four acres of crops, or his ability to attend to more acreage. Kimball has come a long way since 1996, and has established himself as a small farmer with a large assortment of less typical produce, and a little bit of everything, all done to perfection.