Tsedah Farms an organic family affair

Crystal Lake's Tsedah Farms is an organic farm leased by Kim and Dave May. Their extended family organically farms a quarter acre and sells the herbs and vegetables they grow by individual subscription and at farmers markets in Elgin, McHenry and Crystal Lake. They named the farm for the Hebrew word for "food," even though that is not their religious tradition.

The Mays grow their produce using state-of-the-art organic methods - which they have tirelessly researched - on land which once housed a dairy farm, according to Marilyn McGuire, Kim's mother and a partner in the farming venture.

"We grow greens like kale, spinach, Swiss chard and lettuces, along with roots like onions, beets, radishes, carrots and elephant garlic, and herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers and burgundy beans," McGuire said. "We also plan to add 30 chickens this year so that we can sell eggs, too."

And in the future the family foresees tilling more and more of their land as the operation grows.

"All of us have always liked gardening," McGuire explained. "In 2017 my son grew a bunch of tomatoes and cucumbers from seed and found he enjoyed it. We started thinking that maybe we could do this for a living and began researching sustainable agriculture. We use no pesticides and use a low till method to incorporate compost into the soil."

Soon they will open their "Hazel" Farmstand, named after a former owner of the property. It will be set up along the road in front of their property at 2708 Walkup Road, Crystal Lake from 3 to 7 p.m. on the first Friday of each summer month.

This mini Farmers Market will feature their own produce, along with honey, jams and jellies, microgreens, meats and hemps from other farmers and producers.

For more information and to place a subscription order, visit www.tsedahfarms.com.