Celebration of Life

Kaye Cude
By
Pat Johnson

Kaye was born in Oquawka, Illinois on July 4, 1927. The name

Qquawka means “yellow banks” in Blackhawk Indian language. The
town is located on the Mississippi River a few miles south of
Monmouth and Galesburg.

Kaye’s father (a fisherman by trade) was an excellent gardener but

Kaye’s mother preferred her young daughter stay out of the garden
dirt. Kaye was left to only enjoy the vegetables and flowers, not
grow them.

She moved to Boulder Colorado at the age of 17 for health

reasons, living with her sister she attended Colorado A&M, which is
now Colorado State University in Ft. Collins.

At the age of 18 the Doctor eliminated salt from Kaye’s diet so she
began to investigate using herbs and spices for flavoring. She
learned that dried herbs/spices could legally contain mouse
droppings, bugs, chemicals and other extraneous materials. She
decided to plant some herb seeds and to her surprise they grew. A
few years later Kaye’s niece was diagnosed with diabetes which
meant that sugar had to be eliminated from the family menu. She
learned to use fruits like bananas to lessen the need for
sweeteners.

Kaye’s working years, in Colorado, consisted of working as a

Teacher Therapist at Neuville Center, a residential treatment center
for teenage girls with behavior problems located outside of Denver
Colorado.

In 1973 Kaye’s husband, Joe, retired and they moved to 5 acres of

uncleared jungle on the Orange River in Buckingham Florida.
Searching for her own niche, Kaye discovered that there were no
herb/spice farms in the area. It seemed a good use for the land so
she set out to learn all she could about growing herbs in Southern
Florida. The first few years Kaye made many mistakes but learned
valuable lessons. Kitchen Gardens in Naples and several others
were attempting the same project. Kaye often stated in her lectures
that “It isn’t harder to garden in South Florida but it is different.”
Kaye was one of the original founders of Calusa Rare Fruit
Exchange. They were able to attract excellent speakers, probably
because of the sincere desire to learn exhibited by the members.
During this time Kaye also taught Tropical Gardening and
Herb/spice classes in the Adult Education Department of Edison
Community College. For several years she also wrote and
published Spice and Herb Arts, a bi-monthly journal about
tropical/sub-tropical gardening. Kaye was in the first Lee County
Master Gardener class (1983) — She conducted clinics, lectures,
etc. for the Master Gardener program.

In the early 80’s Dr. Martin Price and his wife Bonnie came to
ECHO. Kaye often spent time discussing agriculture in South
Florida with them. In 1995 she committed to being on the ECHO
staff as an Herb-Spice Specialist. The herb/spice plantings
increased as ECHO grew. She supervised the gardens, retail herb
nursery and teaching herb related classes including creating home
produced soaps and creams. Kaye said that her gardening
techniques and methods are simple - any little old lady can do
them. (She would have been 81 years old on July 4th 2008. She
was still walking the gardens every day checking to see what
needed to be done.) At ECHO she supervised volunteers who did
most of the physical work. She was born a teacher who wanted to
pass on any information that she had acquired from her years of
study and experience to anyone interested in growing or using
herbs.

This is a quote from one of the many papers that Kaye left to me. “I
don’t claim to be strictly organic although by interplanting and other
techniques, my gardens have never been sprayed with anything but
water. I don’t see things or hear voices, but I do believe in Inner
Guidance, which enables me to select helpful written or other
information and understand what is happening to plants and trees.
My gardens grow vegetables, flowers, shrubs, and trees beside and
with herbs.”

I met Kaye in the late 90’s when I was attending her classes at
ECHO. For a short time my brother, Don, and I volunteered to work
in the herb gardens. My husband died in 1999 when I sold my
house in Cape Coral and bought 5 acres near Labelle. I tried for
several years to convince Kaye to come and live at my house in
Labelle. In the summer of 2003 we were going to Hope seeds and
Kaye asked if the offer was still open for her to move to Labelle.
My brother, Tom, and I moved Kaye to Labelle and then worked to
clear her land to sell. We followed Kaye’s directions and built
several gardens. We put an arbor arid 60 foot herb gardens right
outside her bedroom window. Kaye helped design the spice and
ginger garden under the oak tree by the pond.

Kaye still had the desire to share what she knew with anyone that
was interested so we screened in a 20 X 40 area and created
space to teach classes. We designed a series of several classes
on gardening, soap making, crafts, and soothing skin creams. Kaye
could now teach without the hassle of transporting supplies and
equipment to various locations. She could teach classes right
outside her living space.

I am very grateful to Kaye for all she taught me while she was
sharing my house. She often said that he was teaching me so I
could continue her work when she was gone. I still have lots to
learn but I will make every effort to continue her work for her.