Gardens
Rural Ambitions
An Odessa couple gives up the city life — but not their creature comforts — for a chance to be self-sufficient in the country.
BY
Andrea Darr
PHOTOGRAPHY
Matt Kocourek

Colgene Gilbert managed to hide a chicken under her kitchen sink for three months without her husband, Leroy, knowing it. Eventually, her secret pecked its way out. Not only did Colgene want to keep that chicken, she wanted more… and cows… and a pasture to keep them fed, so much that one day Leroy came home and there was a ‘for sale’ sign in the yard of their Blue Springs home.

“I’m moving,” she told him. “You can come too.”

The Jamaican-born firecracker has a way of getting what she wants. Without too much resistance, she got both a farm and her husband.

Their 43-acre spread in Odessa, Mo., was a piece of work — an unmanageable swampland — when they bought it in 1997. No stranger to hard work and the country life, Leroy, who grew up down the road, set to work immediately and never stopped.

The centerpiece of the property is a 15-acre lake. Leroy carved out mountains of “gumbo” with a backhoe and let the spring-fed creek fill up the hole, about 22 feet at its deepest.

That’s more than enough for the family’s pontoon boat and jet ski to skim across the top and for the kids to safely dive and slide into.

The Gilberts’ 10-year-old daughter, Qa’ani (pronounced Kwani), swims like a fish. “She loves the water,” Colgene says. “I can’t keep her out of it.”

Colgene doesn’t like the water — she won’t let it come higher than her knees — but she loves the lake lifestyle. “It’s not a fancy life, but it’s a good life,” she says.

It certainly wasn’t fancy in the beginning. The Gilberts gave their outbuildings priority, with the chicken first to get a home and nearly 100 roommates. Colgene names them all “food” and harvests cartons full of colorful eggs daily. Leroy also built a grape arbor, now heavily weighted down with fruit for making wine and jelly, and a rose arbor that has been less successful, taking its time growing up over the boat dock. The outdoor kitchen is a favorite spot, with its grills and refrigerator, while the island gazebo, being separated by hundreds of feet of water, is frequented less. It was also the toughest to build because Leroy had to transport materials via paddle boat and jet ski, but it’s complete with running water, electricity and a lawn mower.

During the construction of the outbuildings and their home, the family lived in a barn on the property. “I knew if I built the house first, we might not get around to the others,” Leroy says. Finally, after eight years, they moved into a spacious home with expansive decks and a laid-back feel. The lake is an integral part of the inside of the home, from beautiful views to inexpensive energy bills: A geothermal system, which heats and cools using pipes under the lake, keeps their utilities on the 7,600-square-foot house to about $77 per month.

They’ve also kept costs down by being do-it-yourselfers. Leroy often wakes at 4 a.m. and puts a few hours in before going to his self-owned construction company.

“The maintenance isn’t really a problem,” he says. “The problem is I’m always building.” The experience has taught the Gilberts about simple living and self-sufficiency, things Colgene values over expensive vacations and jewelry. What this woman wants more than anything is a goat so she can make cheese. While she waits for that day to arrive, she spends her time digging in the dirt. Cold weather can’t stop her from gardening — Leroy built her an indoor garden to fuss over year-round. The room takes prominence in the home near the front door, and the sound of the water falling can be heard throughout the house.

Eye-catching colors and leaves raise the family’s spirits in the grayest winter months.

By spring, they’ll be back outside with several new to-dos. “We’re never going to be done,” Colgene affirms. “I’ve got a long list of things for him to do.”

In fact, she already has Leroy’s next project planned. She wants a place set aside specifically for scaling and gutting fish. “I don’t want to do that job on my new expensive counters,” she says.