“I wanted to grow peaches and cherries,” she says, “but that failed because we have deer. Then I tried irises, but we have iris borer.” Her experiments took place on a seven-acre agriculturally zoned property she and her husband bought upon their return to the United States in the mid-1990s. Gagan was determined to grow something on it so she could earn a living while staying (more or less) at home to raise her young son and daughter.
