Darkibor kale (above) and black magic/Russian kale (below) at the CSU Aquaponics greenhouse.

Photos by: Cyril Ibe

By his own account, Brian Kampman does "a lot" for several aspects of CSU 1890 Land-Grant Programs as a vegetable and small fruit crops technician. When Cyril Ibe visited him recently in the CSU Aquaponics greenhouse, Kampman said that he was not only harvesting kale, but planting tomatoes, lettuce, basil, parsley, and herbs.

Responses to the Q&A have been lightly edited for clarity.

Q: Can you describe the picture that we saw you back in November 2023? What was that picture about? 

A: That picture was of the seedlings of the kale, and I was planting those in the rafts that float on the water, and the pictures we took today are of the kale that I planted back in November,. I will be harvesting some of this and taking it to a food bank. It’s called Second Harvest Food Bank of Clark, Champaign & Logan Counties. They're glad to get it and give it to their clients. Most of what I have right now is the black magic kale and it's a Russian kale. There's another variety called the darkibor kale. It has a different structure leaf. As you see, with the black magic kale, it is a real long straight kind of a curly ruffle leaf. The darkibor is more of a of lettuce-type leaf, so it looks a little different; it doesn't look like kale normally. There are probably 250 of the black magic kale, and there are probably about 52 of the darkibor kale in the two beds. 



Q: You said you'll be supplying this to the food bank in Springfield.

 A: Yes, we will distribute it to the food bank in Springfield. The food bank in Dayton has its own growing facility and hydroponics, so we are trying not to take much stuff to them because they're always harvesting there. The food bank in Springfield does not have access to that, so they're glad to get what I take to them. We donate it to them. It averages anywhere from 50 to 100 pounds of produce that I take to them.

I can cut them off right now and the way that I cut them, they usually branch out and send out a new growth. By April, we will be harvesting again and then I will take the plants out and I'll have lettuce seedlings started, and will take the kale out and plant lettuce. The crop will last all through the winter because we try to keep the greenhouse a little cool through the winter.

Q: Brian, we see you around, doing this work with a lot of passion and you seem to enjoy what you do. Do you love what you do, and if so why?

A: I love what I do. I've been doing this almost my whole life since I was a teenager. Here I've got a few more years before I can retire, but I don't think I'll ever stop messing around with plants. I love being outdoors. I love having a greenhouse to play with in the wintertime, and I'm always thinking ahead about what I am going to do, and what am I going to plant for spring or next summer. There's always something I'm thinking about.

Q: Do you have students working with you in the Aquaponics greenhouse, and what are they learning? 

A: I have quite a few students that work for me and I believe they're learning a lot. There's always something to do either here in the greenhouse or over in the Seed to Bloom Botanical and Community Garden. There are four students right now that work for me. I have one other student that I'm sharing with Dr. Dhillon with his raspberry research project. He's either here in the greenhouse or over in the garden. There's always plenty to do. They're learning a little bit of everything. My one student who's here mostly full-time, he's always asking questions -- how do I do this, how do I do that? He helped me a lot with planting seeds and everything.

Q: Do you get the sense that the students are into it and looking forward to doing this in the future as their careers? 

 A: I think so, because most of my students are music and computer majors. I have one sustainable agriculture student -- Joel [Barhorst] and he's learning a lot, because he works for a couple different areas, so he's always learning something. I'm trying to make them well-rounded individuals.

Q: Is the Aquaponics greenhouse open to the public? What can someone do here if they wonder in and say, “I’d like to see what you have in here.” Can they do that?  

A: I would prefer that they let me know they're coming so I can come over with them and answer questions. It's kind of overwhelming when you walk in here and you see all the different plants and it's just like, “Wow, what is going on?” They can make an appointment with me. It's best to email me, because I can get my emails on my phone as well. My email address is: bkampman@centralstate.edu.