ABOUT THE HARVEST HELPER GUIDE'S AUTHOR
Author of The Harvest Helper, teaching the full cycle of organic vegetable gardening, seed to storage.
I’m Kathleen deMaCarty, author and creator of a unique Organic Gardening Text in outline format. My mission is to share proven, time-saving tips on organic gardening with beginners and seasoned gardeners alike—offering practical strategies for confident, sustainable growing. If you have any questions or just want to say hello, feel free to reach out to me via my contact page.
MY STORY AND HOW I SOLVED MY GARDENING FRUSTRATIONS
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Inspired by Frustration
I was frustrated wading through pages of gardening books and wasted countless hours just to find out a piece of information that would make the difference in getting the perfect tomato.
I also ruined a few of my gardening “bibles” because I left them in the garden, and it rained. The next winter, I started summarizing information from the "Bibles" of gardening that I had in my library and was very surprised at how little information a 300+ page book really gave me. I hardly had any information on my very comprehensive data collection sheet.
That’s when I realized the lack of easy-to-navigate gardening texts on the market, and the concept of a one-stop source for instant information struck me.
Idea of a Planting Wheel
Within a year, I developed the idea for a planting wheel. Originally, there were 8 wheels, one for each "family" of vegetables and eventually I developed one wheel with all the information need for getting specific dates for planting and transplanting. On the back of the 10.5” wheel are all the spacing information. No longer do you need to bring your “bibles” into the garden. I received a patent in 1993 and by 2000 I produced my wheel and published my book.
MY JOURNEY TO ORGANIC GARDENING
I had many years of vegetable gardening experience as well as being a market gardener. The Harvest Helper Organic Gardening for Vegetables comes in a soft
cover and Kindle Version. This was completed with extensive hands-on experience and 3 years of research.
The gardening information in The Harvest Helper has been tested in her own garden. Kathy’s garden was certified as an Organic Garden by the Northeast Organic Farming Association, CT and she served on that organization’s Certification Committee for 4 years. At that time this was the organic certification body for the State of Connecticut.
Kathy received her Bachelor’s Degree from Pace College in 1970 and her Master’s Degree from Hunter College in 1975; both degrees are in the field of Speech Pathology. After six years of working with the intellectually and developmentally disabled at Dempsey Regional Center in Putnam, CT and autistic individuals at the Benhaven School for Autistic Children in New Haven, CT, she entered the Peace Corps.
Kathy was stationed in Manila at the Southeast Asia Institute for the Deaf (SAID). There she taught deaf children to speak using the Total Communication method, the use of Sign Language and Oral Language.
Many of her students eventually came to the United States and attended Gallaudet University.While working at SAID, Kathy quickly learned sign language.Many of her fellow Peace Corps Volunteers were deaf and she eventually became an interpreter and had the privilege of interpreting for Billy Graham when he came to Manila and Madeleine Albright, Ambassador to the United Nations, when she attended a Peace Corps reunion in the Washington, D.C
She also taught in the Speech Pathology Department at the University of the Philippines at the Bachelor’s level.When she returned to the US two years later, Kathy began working as a Speech Pathologist in the Carmel Central School District (New York) and as an adjunct instructor at Pace University(NYC) in the Speech Department for 2 1/2 years. She retired in2005 from the Carmel School District. Upon retirement from Carmel, Kathy started her own private practice in Speech Pathology in both CT and NY and specializes in Oral Motor Therapy, Apraxia, Autism and Feeding.
In the late 1990s, she volunteered as an EMT at The Newtown Ambulance Corps in Newtown, CT. She discontinued her service in the early 2000s.Kathy’s academic and professional work experience led her to apply her ability to break down tasks into small steps to her passion, organic vegetable gardening. This project was started1987 in order to keep her sanity when she was house bound carrying her second child.