Green thumb in the garden

Seventh grader Kyler Morehous loves homegrown vegetables.

That’s why he started maintaining his family’s gardens and selling his harvests at Portland Local’s Market.

Some of his produce is also on display at the Jay County Fair.

Kyler, 12, started helping his parents in their garden at a young age.

“We’ve always had a big garden,” explained mother Katrina.

About five or six years ago, her son expressed an interest in taking over the garden. Around the same time, Kyler also decided he wanted to sell their produce.

Kyler, who will begin attending Jay County Junior-Senior High School as a seventh grader in the fall, now regularly maintains his own garden. This year’s variety includes peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, green beans, beets, peas, radishes, lettuce, cabbage and kohlrabi, among other plants. In tomatoes alone, they’ve got more than 30 plants.

The family pitches in each year to help plant the seeds. They currently have two gardens at their home in Bearcreek Township — one is a pumpkin patch — and a garden at their farm about a mile away. This year, Kyler laid down the landscaping fabric. He and his sister, 10-year-old Kazlynn, have been keeping up with weeding and other gardening essentials. 

Kyler has been to Portland Local’s Market once so far this season. As more of his plants ripen, though, he’ll be making more trips to sell his vegetables at the market.

His favorite part about visiting the market — gathering suggestions on what to grow next.

“We’ve done cucamelons, and this year he’s got purple potatoes,” noted Katrina.

His 4-H gardening projects on display at the Bob Schmit Memorial Exhibition Hall this year include purple potatoes, red potatoes and radishes.

“The radishes are done for,” noted Kyler.

His mother laughed, explaining his radish harvest unfortunately shriveled up.

One of Kyler Morehous’s 4-H projects this year involved welding to create a grasshopper sculpture (right) from a pipe wrench. He welded rebar to the wrench to form the legs. (The Commercial Review/Bailey Cline)

 

A member of the Jackson Champs 4-H Club, Kyler is also participating this year in the swine and sheep shows.

His other 4-H projects also reflect his life growing up on Morehous Farms, such as the honey he has harvested that will be making its way to the state fair this summer. He and his sister both created models of their family’s property, complete with tractors, farm animals and at least one garden.

Kyler’s fur collection boasts 47 pelts, with 30 of those currently on display at the fairgrounds. In his at least seventh year of trapping, some of his favorite furs are those from a beaver, otter and white weasel.

Drawing inspiration from a friend, Kyler also welded a grasshopper sculpture out of a pipe wrench. He attached rebar around the body to appear similar to legs and antennas. 

Katrina talked about the learning process for her children as they’ve maintained their gardens over the years.

“(They’re) just learning how to be able to make their own food,” she said.