Kelly’s House and Farm
Donate

KELLY’S HOUSE
AND FARM

“The time has come for seeds sown long ago by my ancestors to bring forth harvest.”

Our StoryThe Garden Now

May 2026

Ground broken in Canton

Canton, Mississippi

Family land where Henry and Rosie Lee Kelly kept their garden. The first season is in the ground.

01 06

    MISSION

    • Restore the land01
    • Preserve the story02
    • Grow food03
    • Feed community04

    OUR STORY

    A HANDFUL OF SEEDS

    Keisha in the garden, holding an armful of just-pulled roots

    It began with a handful of seeds, a grandfather’s gift to Keisha as a child. The Kelly grandparents, Henry and Rosie Lee, kept a garden on family land in Canton, Mississippi. They grew corn, okra, peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, sweet potatoes, greens, squash and cucumbers.

    After they passed, the garden went dormant. This spring the ground was tilled again and okra went in. Kelly’s House and Farm is bringing the garden back so the land can feed the surrounding community with fresh produce again.

    FOR THE ANCESTORS

    SHELLS THAT REMEMBER

    Strands of cowrie shells, threaded by hand, hanging from the crossbar in the Canton yard
    Cowrie shells, threaded by hand · Canton, Mississippi · May 17, 2026

    Each cowrie began in warm ocean water, a world away from Mississippi. For centuries these small shells were money, adornment and something sacred, strung, worn and carried across the sea. Now, threaded by hand, they sway over family land in Canton, catching the light and keeping the ancestors close.

    In loving memory of Henry and Rosie Lee Kelly

    The land they kept · Canton, Mississippi

    THE FIRST SEASON IS IN THE GROUND

    THE GARDEN NOW

    01 | A lawn in clover

    May 11, 2026. The yard as it was: the big tree, the smoker, the fire pit and the crossbar. White clover had run through the whole lawn, quietly putting nitrogen back into ground that had been left to itself. Nothing planted yet, but the ground was ready.

    02 | Breaking ground

    A tractor opens the first bed in a single pass, and the clods are broken up by hand with a hoe. The tractor does in an hour what once took days, but the hoe work is unchanged: the same stoop, the same swing this ground has known before. Under the lawn, the soil came up dark.

    03 | Yellow canna lilies along the house

    May 16. Yellow canna lilies go in along the house wall, which is just where they show best: massed against a wall, where they stand out. They take the full Mississippi sun, rise on broad, paddle-shaped leaves, and send up spikes of yellow flowers from midsummer until the first frost. Hummingbirds and butterflies come to them, and winters here stay mild enough that the roots hold in the ground instead of being lifted and stored.

    04 | Cowrie shells for the ancestors

    May 17. A piece made by hand from strands of cowrie shells now hangs from the crossbar. Across West Africa and the African diaspora, cowries are a link to the ancestors. Here they honor Henry and Rosie Lee Kelly and all who came before.

    05 | Okra, knee high

    Okra stands knee high in ground that was lawn in May. It was one of the old crops here and it is the first one back, because okra wants heat and a Mississippi summer gives it plenty. Cut the pods young and the plant keeps setting more, right through to frost.

    YEARS OF GROWING

    From the Harvest
    2020

    WOOD CHIPS

    Pitchfork in hand on a pile of wood chips, January 2020.

    2021

    CARROTS

    Carrots pulled and bunched, October 2021.

    2022

    SEEDLINGS

    Trays of seedlings ready to go into the ground, September 2022.

    June 2025

    ONIONS

    Onions laid out after harvest, June 2025.

    August 2025

    SUMMER HARVEST

    A box of squash, zucchini and tomatoes, August 2025.

    IN THE FIELD

    GROWING

    • GROWING

      KALE & LETTUCE

    Rows of kale next to red and green lettuce.

    • GROWING

      LETTUCE ROWS

    Rows of lettuce coming up.

    • GROWING

      SUNFLOWERS & CORN

    Sunflowers standing over a row of corn.

    • GROWING

      AMONG THE SQUASH

    Deep red flower spikes standing over broad squash leaves.

    • GROWING

      POPPIES

    Orange poppies through a bed.
    NEXT

    IN KEISHA’S WORDS

    Keisha in a strawberry patch, tasting a strawberry
    “The time has come for seeds sown long ago by my ancestors to bring forth harvest.”

    LEKEISHA SIMPSON

    On bringing the garden back

    “They grew all types of vegetables: corn, okra, peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, sweet potatoes, a variety of greens, squash, cucumbers.”

    LEKEISHA SIMPSON

    On the grandparents’ garden

    “After they passed it’s been dormant. I recently planted okra in the spring.”

    LEKEISHA SIMPSON

    On the garden today

    FROM THE HARVEST

    HARVEST

    • HARVEST

      OKRA

    Okra, one of the crops Keisha’s grandparents grew.

    • HARVEST

      TOMATOES

    Tomatoes of every size and color.

    • HARVEST

      BEANS

    Yellow, green and purple beans.

    • HARVEST

      SWEET POTATOES

    Sweet potatoes coming out of the ground.

    • HARVEST

      CABBAGE

    Cabbage by the crate.

    • HARVEST

      BEETS & CHARD

    Beets and chard, bunched.

    • HARVEST

      GREENS

    A table of greens.

    • HARVEST

      TOMATOES & SQUASH

    Trays of tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and peppers.

    • HARVEST

      PUMPKINS & PEPPERS

    Pumpkins, squash, tomatoes and peppers on the table.

    • HARVEST

      BEAN PODS

    A crate full of bean pods.

    • HARVEST

      GINGER & BITTER MELON

    Ginger, bitter melon and long beans.

    • HARVEST

      LETTUCE

    Soft green heads of lettuce, just cut.

    • HARVEST

      SORGHUM

    Red and gold sorghum heads.

    • HARVEST

      STRAWBERRIES

    A strawberry, straight from the patch.
    NEXT

    GIVING BACK

    AN OFFERING

    An offering in the field: squash in a shell bowl, cucumbers, beans and sunflowers laid in a ring of straw beneath a Water Is Life banner
    From the harvest · Given back to the soil

    Before the harvest is carried away, some of it goes back. Yellow squash in a shell bowl, cucumbers, beans and sunflowers, laid in a ring of straw beneath a banner. A thank-you to the soil, the rain and the hands that came before.

    Water is life.

    HELP THE GARDEN
    GROW AGAIN

    Gifts through Venmo go directly to Keisha and aren’t tax-deductible.

    Give via Venmo