photography by Talitha Schroeder & text by Donna Hecker

At Holly Hill, we believe in the power of food to bring people together. And as our founder Ouita Michel likes to remind us, no one else is going to tell Kentucky’s story. That job is up to us. That’s why we’ve spent the last couple of years introducing you to some of our favorite people, places and ingredients.

Perhaps you’ve noticed certain themes running through our stories and recipes: sustainability, seasonality, accessibility, creativity, equity, artistry, old-time traditions and the rise of a new generation.

That’s why a story about watermelon featured David Jones on the family farm he and his brother Adam are now tending; and related recipes for using all of the melon – nose to tail, or stem to end perhaps.

We traipsed through rows of apple trees with Ally Vallandingham and her sister-in-law Hanna Barnett at Stepping Stone Farm, where we heard their story of learning to be farmers and the challenges they’ve faced (and overcome) as women in agriculture.

A springtime outing to staff farmer David Wagoner’s Three Springs Farm led to Arwen’s Hippie Salad, created with garden odds and ends by his wife Arwen Donahue.

We traveled to the Bibb House in Frankfort to see where Bibb lettuce originated. It turned into a story about a prominent slave-holding family and what happened when the patriarch tried to free his enslaved workers through his will.

For National Bourbon Heritage Month we went right to the source – corn grown on a local farm by our former events chef. We met up with Nat Henton and learned how a seventh-generation family farm joined forces with a large agricultural business (also family-owned) to plant and harvest corn for Kentucky’s still-burgeoning bourbon industry.

Not all farms are in the country. Former Fayette public school teacher Sharon Jones grows pawpaw and cherries, strawberries and Swiss chard on a tiny lot tucked between a couple of houses on Lexington’s 4th St. She sells her produce at the Woodhill International Market where she’s also the farmer liaison.

Sharon serves on the board of Lexington’s FoodChain, connected to our own Smithtown Seafood. FoodChain operates an indoor farm, serves thousands of meals yearly to Lexington residents, and provides learning opportunities for families and children to grow and prepare their own food.

We met not one, but two! James Beard Leadership winners from right here in Kentucky. Lexington-based Jim Embry and Whitesburg’s Valerie Ison Horn are miles apart geographically but their work intersects in multiple ways.