Pearly Gates Organic Soapery & Homestead is an organic, urban, family-owned business in south Kansas City, MO. We have over 34 years of experience in organic growing, and 29 years of experience in organic soap, and bath and body care.
I teach a number of old-world, homesteading skills/arts/crafts that I have been doing for many years; eg. candle-making, butter-making, sewing, macramé, maple sugaring, starting plants from seed, plant propagation, seed collecting, composting, canning, freezing, companion planting, cover cropping, building simple wooden garden structures, dehydrating, baking, stoneware and porcelain wheel throwing for your garden, beading, dyeing fabric and more. Our gardens focus on the 'Raw Food Diet & Lifestyle'; although many of our crops can be eaten cooked as well.
We market our produce and soaps through K.C. Organics and Natural Market (Saturdays from May-October), and will be selling (new for 2015) at the Raytown Farmers Market in Raytown, MO., in addition to a few other small markets. We have a CSA, and this year we will be partnering with our son's organic farm, 'Broken Arrow Bison', to bring in organic eggs by mid-summer.
In 1984, we received an honorable mention in the 'Robert Rodale's Organic Gardening Magazine' for our gardens. In 2008, we won a sustainable agriculture grant through SARE, project titled "Incredible Crop Yields From Small Urban Spaces". This grant allowed us to build a cedar and recycled glass greenhouse, which we use to start our crops. We continue with our research, using Charles Wilber's organic extensive growing methods on our crops. We are currently looking for volunteers to teach organic growing and lifestyle. In exchange for your work, we'll give fresh, organic produce and/or organic soaps/bath care products as a token of our gratitude. Our ever- expanding vegetable beds cover over a 1/2 acre. Fruit, nut, and sugar trees, along with other edibles, are scattered throughout our 1 1/2 acre lot. We grow specialty & rare heirloom varieties; hybrid fruit, vegetable, and herb plants; tropical fruits; edible flowers; micro greens; nutritional grasses for juicing; and more.