Nola Kevra leads a simple, quiet life in the woods near Ripton, Vt. The owner of Nola’s Secret Garden, a greenhouse that produces organically certified greens, is originally from New Jersey — “back when it merited the name ‘The Garden State’” — she has been living in the same house with her husband, Mark Rusciolelli, for 21 years, growing the same greens, admiring the same trees. Indeed, the only things that seem to change are the dogs in her life. She has had many loyal companions through the years whom she regards as her children. The house she lives in even came with a dog or, as Nola puts it, “Maggie was a $90,000 dog with a free house.”
Kevra’s house clearly represents her company’s name — it is nestled in the trees, yet, in the back, there is a fairly large plot of land dedicated to the growing of garlic, along with a greenhouse, which is where she grows greens, herbs and edible flowers. The Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op sells Kevra’s greens.
“We try to be as sustainable as possible,” she said. “So, we’re stingy with propane” for heating the greenhouse.
Kevra was first exposed to gardening by her grandfather, an immigrant from Beirut, who had a large greenhouse one mile from her childhood home in New Jersey.
“I was quite taken by how he seemed content,” said Kevra. “He led a simple and beautiful life.”
Her grandfather “did gardening the right way” and would frequently donate produce to the troops.
From watching her grandfather, Kevra learned just how gratifying gardening can be. Stemming from this notion is her interest in education; Kevra started the Ripton Elementary School garden in 1996 and the garden at Mary Hogan Elementary School just a few years ago.
“Kids are just bored and sit on their butts the whole time,” said Kevra. “We need to find a way to make gardening a part of the school’s curriculum.”
Kevra’s passion is strong and not affected by any potential monetary gains.
“It isn’t a paid thing,” she said, “but I’ll just keep doing it.”
Kevra uses children’s books such as Dr. Suess’s The Lorax and Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree to educate the children she works with about the power of gardening.
“Any way that we can connect we should,” she said.
When Kevra reads these books out loud it is clear that they are more than just fun stories in “children’s books” — there is a message in them that she is trying to instill in children.
“There is more to gardening than just pulling weeds … and I want to give them a taste of what [gardening] is like,” she said.
Kevra aims to use gardening to teach a younger generation about commitment and hope.
“Commitment is an endangered concept and with gardening you learn you can’t just leave it,” she said. Once one plants a garden, it needs care and time.
A garden also fosters hope because “you put this dead, shriveled up [seed] in the ground and look what happens,” she said. “It’s a miracle.”
Kevra, who has memorized countless Robert Frost poems, sums up the feeling of hope through gardening with a quote from Frost’s “Putting in the Seed”: “How love burns through the putting in the seed/On through the watching for that early birth/When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,/The sturdy seedling with arched body comes/Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.”
Meet the farmer: Nola's Secret Garden
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