Kay Jean Poulson: Ranch Life Zucchini

What do you like about zucchini and why did you want to grow it in the Living History Gardens?

Kay Jean: The opportunity to grow something in the Living History Gardens came as a welcome invitation to visit the property where I grew up from 4 years old to 17. My father, Ernest Lyman Mickelson, grew zucchini and other crops on this ranch west of Flagstaff on Route 66. I wanted to try growing zucchini myself and enjoy being home again!

My family name is Mickelson.

Tell us a little about your family’s story. How did they end up running McAllister Ranch?

Kay Jean: My father, Ernest (Mick) Mickelson and my mother, Jean Miller Mickelson both came to Flagstaff in 1938 to study and receive degrees from Arizona State Teachers College, now NAU. Both parents taught in the FUSD for 30 years.

Frances McAllister posted an ad in the local paper for a caretaker to live on her property rent free and keep up the fencing for 80 acres and clean her log home when she visited Flagstaff from California. Mick grew up in Parowan, Utah on a small farm and this opportunity for his family was a fit! Mom, dad, 3 boys and me (I was 4) moved from Clark Homes (military housing) to the McAllister Ranch in 1953.

My father, Mick, came from southern Utah and worked a small farm with his father, mother and siblings. He knew how to work and build. He was a perfect match for the McAllister Ranch. Mick always had a project for his boys from digging fence post holes to throwing bales of hay into the barn loft to milking cows before going to school. Dad's ranch included horses, cows, steers, pigs, chickens, dogs and a barn cat.

Mom, Jean, matched his energy and drive in every way. She taught school and had 3 more children making that 7 while cooking every meal with a pressure cooker, sewing our clothes and cleaning mud, poop, etc from men working the ranch.

Dad grew zucchini. He tried alfalfa one season so he didn't have to drive to Phoenix to buy hay. He discovered oats was a better crop for Flagstaff.

Mick grew so much zucchini and my mother made use of it in recipes she made up:

Zucchini Brownies, Apple Crisp (made with zucchini apple sauce, Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Apple Sauce, Zucchini Meat Loaf, Sassy Zucchini, Zucchini Casserole, Sweet Zucchini Relish. My sister, Jill, still makes mom's zucchini bread for her real estate customers.

Route 66 bordered the Ranch property. Hitch hikers and men down on their luck walked along Route 66 and came into the property looking for work or just something to eat. My mother always gave a man a quart jar of milk and a sandwich. We kept huge glass gallons of milk on the chest freezer on the screen porch, watched the cream rise to the top and sold both.

Do you have a fond memory you have of growing up on the Ranch?

Kay Jean: I loved walking out behind the barns into open forest to find my favorite large rock and sit there in the sun pondering life... I loved listening to the birds and, of course, the trains passing up on the hill.  My brother, Joe, and I would climb up the hill of our pasture and wait for the trains so we could wave at the guy in the caboose!

Have you grown zucchini before, and what was it like growing the zucchini at McAllister Ranch so many years after living here?

Kay Jean: I graduated from Flag High, studied at BYU, and lived in Salt Lake City for 25 years, I grew tomatoes, broccoli, peppers and zucchini there. That was easy. I moved back to Flag and took the Master Gardeners course to figure out how to grow anything in Flagstaff! I learned about steps to feed the soil, etc. the growing season is short and frosts come early.

I was blown away with the Superyard Farms ability to grow crops like corn (as high as an elephant's eye) and beans and turnips and zucchini and kale and....

My mom and dad are so proud to see what their soil has produced and I now see what proper soil prep can produce.

Thank you for the chance you have given me to walk around my home again with freedom!!