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From South Africa to a Terre Haute organic vegetable farm
 
By Stan Maddux
Indiana Correspondent 

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Josh Mason left his career in the tech world and traveled halfway across the globe to find his next calling, not knowing it would be growing organic vegetables.
Eventually, his journey to South Africa to become a missionary ended in Indiana, where he and his wife, Mindy, own Kindred Roots Farm in Terre Haute.
The father of five children, ages 11 to 26, said he felt kind of empty from his previous line of work.
Now, he feels joy from providing chemical-free, nutrition-rich food to customers and treating them like family during their visits for produce at the farm.
The 45-year-old Mason said he realized what’s really important in the four years he lived in South Africa and raised organic vegetables on a 50-acre farm.
“I learned that life is really too short to do something just for money,” he said.
Mason also runs other small businesses, including one that produces the organic pesticide, “Crop Armor.”
He developed his first chemical-free pesticide while navigating the long, winding path he credits to faith shared by his wife and their children. “I’m literally living my dream right now,” he said.
Mason did not grow up on a farm as a child in Idaho. His parents, though, were master gardeners raising flowers, corn and potatoes in a small plot.
As an adult, Mason said he always grew vegetables in a garden and tried doing it organically as much as possible. He also raised organic vegetables at a homeless shelter.
He managed the shelter in Boise for three years after quitting his corporate job in sales and marketing and before going to South Africa.
It was in South Africa where he raised fresh produce on a large scale for the very first time. “That’s really where my love for farming came in,” he said.
After returning to Idaho, Mason said he earned a master’s degree and became a teacher at an alternative high school for three years.
Suddenly, Mason acting on faith again, moved his family to Terre Haute about a year after some friends who had never heard of the city relocated there.
“We never heard of it either. We just felt a tug that it was time to do something.  We didn’t know why we were coming but we knew we were supposed to,” he said.
The family later acquired the 18-acre farm and a smaller piece of farm ground where they live outside the city.
Currently, vegetables ranging from lettuce and cabbage to cucumbers, peas, pumpkins and eggplant are raised on four acres.
Mason said he uses plant sap analysis to determine nutrition levels in his vegetables then adds minerals to his soil to increase the nutrients as much as possible.
He strictly uses his own blend of compost to fertilize the crops.
Mason is in the process of putting up high tunnels to grow vegetables year-round and plans to put more of his acreage into production at some point.
The vegetables are offered at a store on the main farm, farmers markets and online.
Mason said his goal is to, eventually, have produce in supermarkets.
“We incrementally grow every year. We have a 10-year vision as a crop farmer and we’re in year five. We feel like we’re doing great,” he said.
Crop Armor, designated by the U.S. EPA as minimum risk, is presently offered at retail stores in about 20 states.
Mason said the organic pesticide, effective on many vegetables and fruit, can be applied with anything from a hand-held spray bottle, pump sprayer, fogger and 30-foot-high boom.
“It can go pretty much through any system that we’ve found,” he said.
Presently, he’s developing other forms of organic pesticides that work better than what he offers now against more tolerant bugs and other species.
Mason said his family’s commitment to spread the love they discovered in South Africa was a major factor behind the name of the farm.
“We want people to come onto our property here to feel like they’re part of something.  If they want to take a look at the animals or if they want to walk around, that’s what family does. Hey, come on and hang out,” he said.
The name also reflects the family’s belief the farm is where God wants them to be long term.
Three of their children are still in school.
“They’ve moved a lot. We want them to stay here, finish school and maybe even build a life for themselves here if they want to. We’ll definitely be here for another eight or 10 years,” he said.
9/6/2022