Who we are

Welcome to Blue Bottle Gardens! We're glad to have you here, even if you're virtual. We hope reading about us and seeing photos and videos of what we're doing will be almost as good as seeing us in person.

We're a market garden located in Johnson County, Missouri, about 13 miles south of Warrensburg. A market garden produces fresh vegetables and fruits for sale, usually within a limited space. Though we have three acres, we are growing on about a third of an acre right now. 

We purchased this property in 2017. It was very much a blank slate, which held major appeal for us. It had a small house and a barn in disrepair. It used to be a small farm for goats, sheep, and chickens, but it hadn't been used for farming in at least ten years when we bought it.

We built a garden and did pretty well! The first year we met our challenge to grow about half of our food. The second year we grew about two thirds of our produce for the season. Last year was insane, actually. We were swimming in so much produce that we canned what we could -- 2020 came with a shortage of canning supplies among other things, froze large quantities of sauces and ready-made meals, donated some to a local pantry, and had to get a food dehydrator to take care of the rest. This indicated that we're ready to share what we grow with our friends and the communities in Johnson County and beyond.

This part of the county is hilly and clay is very close to the surface, sometimes exposed or just an inch or two under the top layer. We don't have any heavy machinery to move a lot of earth, dig, or till, so we're practicing no-till growing.  We can pack more on a smaller surface without having to add harsh fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. The food we produce is better to eat and we live alongside the native plants and animals instead of in conflict with them. We use a mixture of growing methods, some unusual, some pretty normal, but all worth showing you, which we will do in future posts.

Every year we plan to expand within our capabilities, which can be quite limiting, posing challenges about how to manage them. Though we could do a lot more with machinery or other resources, so far we've done quite well for ourselves. We hope you join us and watch us grow!