top of page

Heirloom Garden Program

About the Garden

 

Master Gardeners of Greater Kansas City volunteers partner with the Atkins-Johnson Farm and Museum and the City of Gladstone to plan, plant and maintain a 60’ x 60’ heritage garden of vegetables, herbs and flowers. All plants are varieties grown before 1900.  In addition, the heritage garden includes raised beds for herbs, strawberries, asparagus, and other perennials.  Beehives on the property improve pollination in the gardens and Big Shoal Farm.  Produce from the gardens is donated to Saint Charles Food Pantry and Synergy Services.  Master Gardeners also teach gardening classes at the annual Children’s Garden Day and the Big Shoal Country Fair, a daylong event that attracts over 1200 visitors.

​

VOLUNTEER AT THE GARDEN

Wednesdays
and
Saturdays

8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Weather Permitting

Donations

 

Each season the museum donates hundreds of pounds of naturally grown fresh produce to local food banks and pantries in Gladstone and the Northland. The museum and our volunteers feel strongly about connecting people with fresh locally grown produce. Museum visitors are also welcome to take home a fresh-picked item from the sample basket inside the museum store with paid admission and a museum tour.

Volunteers

 

Do you have a love for gardening? The garden is made possible entirely through volunteers!

​

Working in the garden is a great opportunity for anyone with a green thumb or who is eager to learn about organic gardening. The need is especially great in the spring and summer. Garden volunteers would work directly with the appointed master gardener in charge of the project. If you would like to get involved, contact us.

Why Heirloom?

Heirloom seeds are different from today's genetically modified organisms (GMO). They are traditionally open-pollinated and grown on a small scale using traditional techniques, including in this heirloom garden. Each of these plants has unique textures, tastes, and cultural heritage. Preserving and using heirloom plants also protects plants against blights that can destroy entire crops when using monoculture farming practices, giving farmers another variety of fruits or vegetables to use to combat these plant illnesses. Plus, they are extra tasty!
 
Produce from this garden is grown from seeds that are at least 100 years old. We like to grow food the way the Atkins and Johnson families did!
Honey

 

In March 2014, two bee hives were moved to the property. The bees seem to like the farm, and their honey production reflects that! Nestled near the Big Shoal Farm, our bees have fields of sunflowers, pumpkins, and corn, as well as fields of clover and wildflowers to enjoy. Further north on the property, the museum’s heirloom garden is filled with melon patches, tomato plants, rows of flowers, and other treats honey bees love. Honey is harvested twice a year in - first in June and then again in August. The honey produced from August into the fall is enough for the bees to live on during the winter. Bees go back inside their hive and remain dormant throughout the cold winter months, eating their stored honey until spring. City staff and volunteers bottle and label the harvested honey for sale in our museum store. All proceeds from the sale of honey go to support the Atkins-Johnson Farm and Museum.

© 2021 by City of Gladstone

Atkins-Johnson Farm & Museum

 

4109 NE Pleasant Valley Rd

Gladstone, MO 64119

Museum Ph: (816) 453-3276

Office Ph: (816) 423-4107 

​

 

 

Gladstone Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts

 

6901 N Holmes Street

Gladstone, MO 64118

Ph: (816) 423-4200

 

 

City of Gladstone

 

​

7010 N Holmes Street

Gladstone, MO 64118

Ph: (816) 436-2200

Fax: (816) 436-2228

 

 

bottom of page