Whiskey Rye from Canada? NO! We are growing it on land once owned by Daniel Boone! Trailblazer that he was, Daniel Boone chose 400 acres around present-day Schollsville for his settlement and preemption, growing a corn crop there in 1775 and 1776.* More than 2 centuries later, we are partnering with American Farmland Trust to…
We all know that because of the global pandemic, this year is like no other. Certainly, the farm has been impacted with erratic prices and late delivery of custom-made specialized equipment. But the grass grows, Covid or not. Cows calve; goats kid; corn grows. Alone in the mornings walking down the farm road, climate change…
Yes, it’s spring. Apple trees are blooming; cows are grazing the cover crops on our organic corn and soybean fields. The farm is in lock-down. Mt. Folly Enterprise employees are working remotely, and we are doing our very best to keep them on the payroll. It’s the year of the global pandemic. Though we don’t see…
This marks my 38th year at Mt. Folly. My mother, who farmed here before me, died this January. My ties to the land run through her, and Rachel Ware Bush before that, then Mattie Ware and Richard Ware before that, back to early settlement in “the beautiful level of Kentucky.” This truly is a family…
Our rye cover crop starting off strong, it will protect the ground from erosion and sequester carbon while adding vital nutrients to the soil. Deluge or drought (and we’ve had both this year), there is a rhythm to the farm year. We are nearing the end of harvest, with the non-gmo crops and the organic…
Boy, did things dry out fast! For the past month, we have been irrigating the hemp crop and our vegetables for the farm-to-table restaurant at the distillery, opening this fall. The last of the hay is getting cut and rolled, and we wait impatiently for a part of the silage chopper, which broke after we’d…
Christian, Laura, and Ben admire the hemp transplants. It is June 1, wet, and I don’t recall being this far behind on planting, though I know my memory can trick me. Our Austrian Winter Peas, which we plant before organic corn to fix Nitrogen and then plow under, have made a crop! Yesterday, walking the…
We made it through the winter without any big disasters, and are gearing up for another season. Calving and kidding started March 1, so the farm is happy with young calves and young goats. We haven’t had problems in either herd. Most of the spring seed is ordered, some is delivered, the fields are limed,…
It’s official. 2018 was the wettest year in central Kentucky since area record-keeping began in 1872. Our non-gmo soybeans are still in the field. We’ve been unable to harvest them because we’ve not gotten a good period of dry. Driving into town, I see other farmers in the same situation, fields unharvested. It’s a real…
We finally have some dry weather, and harvest is on. We’ve got our Cobbler variety of CBD in the barn, and finished our organic corn today. Our organic yellow corn goes in the grain bin, for sale in 2019. Our organic Bloody Butcher is cleaned and sacked, ready for the granary, which we’ll fire up…