Know your Farmers: Leonard Farm offers naturally grown food

{Photos copyright/Geocore Creative, Inc.}

Tracy Leonard is a carpenter by trade but a farmer at heart. You could say it’s in his blood since he can trace back his family of Davidson County farmers to 1729.

His wife, Jessecca Leonard, grew up in rural Pennsylvania Amish country and joined the Army National Guard at 17, served as a tow truck driver in Iraq (towing disabled military vehicles) and began a career as a truck driver after leaving the military.

They met in Colorado but moved back to his family’s farm several years ago to be “homesteaders” who live a lifestyle of self-sufficiency by growing their own healthy food.

They also established Leonard Farm, the first certified naturally grown farm in Davidson County. There are currently four such local farms.

CNG, also referred to as “the grassroots alternative to certified organic,” is a farm assurance program certifying produce, livestock and apiaries (bee houses) for organic producers who sell locally and directly to their customers. To earn the designation, farmers fill out 16 pages of paperwork and are peer reviewed and inspected annually for their weed and pest control.

While the USDA certifies organic food, the Leonards noted that certain chemicals are allowed under that designation. CNG farmers don’t use any synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers or genetically-modified organisms.

“I’m pretty passionate about that designation,” Jessecca said. “We compost for fertilizer and we use natural pesticides, such as cayenne pepper and neem oil, for bugs.”

The cows, pigs and chickens they raise in pastures are only fed the organic hay and corn they raise on their land.

Tracy, who grew up on a tobacco farm, explained that CNG farms also use sustainable practices, such as alternating field crops and plowing grass under to improve soil health.

Jessecca sells a variety of produce at the Lexington Farmers Market — tomatoes, squash, watermelons, cantaloupes, sweet corn, cucumbers, peppers — as well as farm-fresh eggs. Herbs, microgreens and cut flowers are also offered at the market, where they have been selling for more than seven years.

Jessecca, who bought Beth’s Greenhouse in Welcome two years ago and has renamed it Leonard Greenhouse, continues to raise flowers and plants there. Additionally, she maintains the outdoor flower pots at 22 uptown Lexington businesses.

When she’s not planting and harvesting, Jessecca makes her own soap from the lard from pigs and tallow from the cows as well as charcoal, essential oils and herbs. She sells some of the soap, which she concocted to fight her own eczema, at the farmers market.

In the past, Leonard Farm sold beef, pork and chicken at the farmers market that had been processed by another business but they got away from that during the pandemic. They do raise cows, pigs and chickens for their own personal use. Tracy built a processing shed and walk-in freezer behind their home to store the meat.

“On any given year, we kill two cows, two pigs and about 150 chickens,” Tracy said. “So, we eat a lot of steaks, burgers, ribs, pork chops, chicken. Our family and neighbors are well fed.”

Jessecca cans fruits and vegetables for their pantry. They have apple and pear trees in their yard and she forages their property for grapes, pawpaws, mushrooms and blackberries.

Going to the grocery store is not something the Leonard family has to do very often with a kitchen, pantry and freezer full of food but their daughter, eight-year-old Junie, does have an appetite for ice cream sandwiches, Jessecca joked.

“We want to eat healthy and we want her to eat healthy,” she said. “We want to show her where food comes from and how to provide for herself.”

Tracy said the higher cost of producing food the way they do is a marketing challenge. When someone is strapped for cash, it can be hard to justify spending $5 or $6 dollars for a dozen farm-fresh eggs when they can get the same amount at Walmart for half the price or less. Of course, it’s not the same quality, he added. “But there are people with disposable income who want to eat healthy.”

“I do a lot of work educating and talking to people at the farmers market,” Jessecca shared. “I’m pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished but it’s a lot of work.