In this episode of The Farmer & The Foodie.

We traveled to Whitesburg,Kentucky.

To experience their community.

And create a sweet treat with some new friends.

I'm Maggie Keith and I'm the farmer.

And I'm Lindsey McClave I'm the foodie.

And this is...

The Farmer.

& The Foodie.

Funding for this program is made possible in part.

by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

The City of Whitesburg is nestled.

In the Appalachian Mountains and has been nurturing.

A growing local food movement.

In July of 2022, the region suffered catastrophic damage.

Due to historic flooding.

We visited Whitesburg 10 months.

After the flood to see how the farming community has persevered At the center of this community are the three sisters.

CANE Kitchen, Cowan Community Center.

And the Whitesburg Farmers Market.

These organizations work together to provide a foundation To connect farmers to resources.

And make fresh food accessible to everyone.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Good food starts at the farm.

We begin our visit at Quillen Farm outside of the city limits.

In Letcher County.

Bennet Quillen and his wife Colette.

Grow a variety of vegetables and delicious strawberries.

We spoke to Bennet about his experience farming in the region Well, Bennet, thank you for having us out here.

Tell us about where we are.

Well, we're at Deane, Kentucky.

Better known as the fertile banks of Rockhouse Creek.

I've been here since '85 and I've grown up up the creek.

About a mile.

Really?

So my family's been here over 200 years on this creek.

Did you always think that you wanted to have your own farm.

And farming on this scale?

I always wanted a farm, but I started working in a coal mines.

Real young and I ended up running coal mines.

For 20 some years.

So, and now I can't hear very well but.

And I got a little bit of black lung, but.

I guess every day I went underground.

I wanted to be outside in a farm.

But I could make a better living at a coal mine.

And what inspired you to farm at a scale like this?

This property right here, I can take a turkey, I can take a deer I could go back and take a elk or a bear up on the mountain.

I can make maple syrup all over it.

I can grow anything I wanna grow here and I'd like to challenge.

In the state or any other state.

The food that grows right here in these hills.

The best food on earth.

What do you think makes it the best food on earth?

It's these leaves.

These leaves come in.

These trees full of minerals from deep down under.

And they're distributed in those leaves and it rots.

And it runs down here and it's in this black soil.

So what variety of strawberries are you growing?

We grow Chandler every year and they've been real good to us.

And lately we've been growing a Ruby June.

but the Chandler is just a backbone of our strawberry crop.

The Ruby June is supposed to have a little bit of shelf life.

And normally they come in after the Chandlers.

Are kind of fading out.

And that way I extend my strawberry.

Picking a little bit longer.

But this year, I think the late frost took a lot of my bloom out Of my Chandler.

So they actually come in first.

But I believe the Chandlers got a little better taste.

And what does it take to grow strawberries?

Around here you gotta get your strawberry.

your plants in the ground.

And my cut off day is September the 11th.

And I have my beds made up and then we plant them.

I don't fertilize them when I first plant them.

I got to cover them up when the temperature.

Gets down to 25 degrees.

And I put a frost blanket over a while.

And then in the winter.

If the temperature gets up to 60 degrees.

I gotta take it off where they all come out dormancy.

And start blooming.

And then early spring, as soon as I can start watering.

Without my pump freezing up.

I start fertilizing every other day.

But you have a new piece of equipment that we got to see.

The solar-powered picker,is that right?

My wife's got a bad back.

Now she can pick all day long.

And not complain with her back.

And before she picked one bed, she would be down on her back.

So we couldn't get any help, we had to do something.

Hopefully we can get one more of them.

And she seemed very happy on that, Ben.

Oh, she loves it.

Yeah, it was nice to see her be able to connect with the land.

And be there not in pain.

Yeah, we can also plant with it now.

You put a tray of plugs up her.

And you can ride through the field.

And plant them.

Yeah.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Go and pick a strawberry.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ There's a few more in there.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The children from the Cowan Community Center.

Joined us to pick strawberries.

Cowan provides engaging learning opportunities for children.

In the area as well as hosts several programs for all ages.

We spoke with Kelsey Cloonan to learn more about.

The significance of agriculture education.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Kelsey, thank you so much for letting us into your group.

With the kids this morning out at Quillen Farm.

The strawberry experience was so much fun.

And I can already tell you do 500,000 things here.

Oh my gosh, yes.

Tell us though what your title and what it is that you do.

Here in Whitesburg.

So I am the community ag director.

At Cowan Community Center.

And my job is all about supporting people.

And growing their own food and growing their gardens.

And that is adults.

And now thanks to a new program.

With Grow Appalachia, it's now kids.

With our Young Food Leaders program.

So my job is all about supporting folks.

Who need access to resources.

Workshops, educational resources, technical assistance ,.

And really just being kind of like that middle person.

That helping hand along way to give farmers.

You know, that little boost and that support.

So they can grow their food.

Whether it's a home-based garden Or they're actually market grower.

And being a part of our market.

Or one of the many Kentucky farmers markets.

I have a lot of interest in the next generation of farmers.

Because I see the average age of farmers and most farmers.

You know, don't look like us, are young, vibrant individuals.

So where do you see.

The importance of introducing farming.

And teaching farming to the next generation?

I think it is hugely important, hugely important.

I mean, simply for the fact that a young person knows.

That they can grow their own food.

And, even if they don't have a yard.

They can grow their own food in containers.

And any space that, that is available to them.

I think it's incredibly important for a young person.

To know, "Hey, I can grow the food that I want to eat."

"I can even be a part of the local economy."

The farm is one of the best classrooms for a young person.

I mean, you can learn so much in a potato patch.

Other than growing potatoes.

So for a young person who wants to stay here or wants to be here Agriculture is a way to do that.

So what do you find important moving forward for farmers?

There's definitely a need for, you know.

Because after the flood.

All of that farmer to farmer mutual aid.

And folks helping each other out it was really beautiful.

And you know.

We were meeting farmers.

And growers that we hadn't even met before.

And that our community of local growers got stronger.

Because of that.

And so there is a need for this continual community building.

Amongst farmers and growers.

We have a monthly, we call Tuesday Table Talk.

at CANE Kitchen that we have lunch.

We just chat about what is going on in our gardens.

And you know, when there's issues that arise.

We talk through them, try and troubleshoot.

We've connected folks who needed land to grow on.

With folks who are looking for renters.

And it's gonna be even more important moving forward as we - We have to stay strong and stay together to face.

What could potentially come.

The sense of resilience and just community and strength.

For one another is so present.

And we've just been experiencing that.

And I know the farmers market is kicking off.

With the band and concert.

So I'd love to head over that way.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ While enjoying the farmers market, we met market manager.

Louise Murtaugh, and learned more about.

The evolution of the market.

and how they had to adapt after the flood.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Louise, thank you for having us.

Out to this incredible farmers market.

Tell us what it's like running a farmer's market.

It's organized chaos because it's actually not one business.

It is several businesses.

For every tent that's behind us.

That's a business.

And so what I do is try to set the guidelines.

To the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

Using their manual, their guidelines, their procedures.

We keep food safety primary.

We welcome artisans.

We welcome a junior market.

We welcome just about everybody to our market to come sell.

and to share with people.

So to manage it, you gotta have your hands.

And all the incentives, how to deal with all kinds of folks.

But also I really try that when someone comes is.

How can I help you and what can we do to make this better?

How long has the market been in existence?

And what does it mean to the community?

How has it changed over time?

It started about 10 years ago.

It started as a natural outgrowth of Grow Appalachia.

which was a lot of people farming and farming very well.

And pretty soon they had an abundance of stuff.

What do I do with all this stuff?

I gave it to all my family and neighbors.

And so the idea of a farmers market came into being.

And how did the flood affect the farmer's market?

I came here about a year ago.

And it seemed like there are a lot more farmers.

All right.

It was hitting the high peak.

It was July 28th.

The tables were just groaning with the weight of the produce.

And people were canning and stuff.

And then the flood hit.

I was in Florida.

I woke up the next morning to see my home underwater and no.

We couldn't get calls in to anybody.

It was hard.

When I came back away.

Everything was still sort of in shock.

Do we do this?

What do we do?

How do we help people?

How do we feed people?

And then it was, well, what about the market?

We have a lot of farms that not only went under the water.

But a lot of the good soil.

And the compost went right down the river.

Replaced with a lot of creek sludge in place of that.

And that was so hard for a lot of our folks.

It was heartbreaking... We had to make a decision.

We had talked with health professionals.

We made the decision not to accept any local produce.

In Letcher County.

We had to keep the health concerns of our people.

Foremost in our mind.

We had a doctor on the radio saying.

You don't pick your produce.

So we went to completely resell.

So it was tough.

But then we also got a wonderful grant through.

World Central Kitchen was one of them and I think.

Lee Initiative was the other one to provide food for our market.

so that we could get food out to people.

But at the first market.

That we had this in a couple of weeks ago.

In the beginning of May, the customers were like, "Huh, we get to see you again."

And the vendors are like.

"Ah, there's my people."

And so it was a real joyous reunion.

We have people saving money to rebuild their farms.

Some people have lost heart.

They said, "I can't look at it this year.

It's too hard."

What are your hopes for the farmers market here.

For the next couple of years and ongoing?

I want to see more farming happen.

Whether it comes to the market or not, that's fine.

But I would love to see people growing their own vegetables.

A lot of our farmers and my friends and other folks say.

"I feel better when my hands are in the dirt."

"I feel better when I'm growing something.

"So I want a lot more of that happening.

I want people to come to the market.

Not necessarily for the food.

But that's an important part.

But to see each other, talk to each other.

Share a meal together, hang out together.

It's a community and that's what I really.

Would like to see happening.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The next morning we had a cooking lesson.

With some special guests.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Maggie, we are going to cook with kids today.

I'm so... Yeah!

We are really excited.

And who's gonna help us make some strawberry cake today?

Yeah.

So these are strawberries from yesterday that you see here At your tables and we are going to make.

A really simple cake batter.

And we're all gonna help do that and then you each.

You're gonna get to make your own cake.

And the strawberries get all juicy and yummy.

And they bake down into the batter that I think.

Still lets you just really appreciate how fresh.

Those strawberries were.

So who's ready to bake?

Me!

All right.

All right, all right.

So the first thing we're gonna do is so we need to put.

Into the big bowl 6 tablespoons of butter.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Every bowl needs 1 cup of sugar.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Each of the small bowls needs 1.5 cups of flour.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I know it is a lot for our small little... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Okay, so now we're gonna add a little bit of baking powder.

Baking powder?

Baking powder will help the cake rise.

This is going in your dry bowl.

So usually when you bake, you have your wet ingredients.

Like your butter and your eggs.

And then you have your dry ingredients.

So we need 1.5 teaspoons.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ This is salt and we just need half a teaspoon salt.

We're getting close to making a lot of noise, which is fun.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Everyone's doing so well.

Now it's time to mix up our sugar and our butter.

So we've got our sugar and butter in here.

And you're gonna put the beaters in the bowl first.

And then turn it on.

And then you want to hold the bowl.

You don't wanna take this out.

while it's on or things are gonna get messy.

And we don't want that.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Yeah, there you go.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Okay,time for the eggs.

Now each big bowl gets one egg.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Yeah!

[claps] It's okay.

Yeah, pull it apart.

You got it.

You did it.

Perfect.

Let's take our whisk and kind of mix it together.

Every bowl will get half a cup of milk into the butter.

Sugar and egg.

Okay?

And then mix it in with your whisk.

Good job.

Next, everyone is going to get one teaspoon.

Of vanilla.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ All right, guys, we are doing so well.

We are gonna put our dry ingredients.

In with our wet ingredients.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ There you go.

[chattering] All right.

Time for strawberries.

So we all have our cakes.

So we take one strawberry and you're gonna cut the top off.

The green part, okay?

And then you're gonna slice it in half like that.

Okay?

Then we're gonna put the strawberries on top of your cake So you can get fun and creative here.

I think it's best if you cover the whole top up.

So you don't really see much of the batter.

I love how creative y'all are getting with the time.

Oh, this is great.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Okay, now everyone's cakes look so beautiful.

Now we're gonna collect them.

And bake them and they should be ready.

In just a little while.

We're gonna put them in the oven at 350 degrees.

Let's put them on this tray.

Thank you.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Okay, everyone, these look so good.

You did such a good job.

They smell absolutely delicious.

I hope you all like them.

Without further ado, dig in.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Make sure you blow on it.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ It's good.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ So guys, what do you all think?

Good.

Is it sweet?

Yeah.

A little tangy from the strawberries.

Farm fresh... yay strawberry cake.

Yay strawberry cake.

[all cheering] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ In the afternoon we visited CANE Kitchen.

CANE stands for.

Community Agricultural Nutritional Enterprises.

CANE kitchen is a commercial kitchen.

Accessible to the community.

Brandon Fleming is the director.

And we spoke with him to learn about CANE's impact.

On the region.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Brandon, thank you so much for welcoming us.

Into the CANE Kitchen.

And what an operation you have here.

The first thing I noticed.

when I walked in with the canned items.

You have over here so beautifully organized.

And labeled and I think it really just speaks to Whitesburg And the farms that we've been able to visit.

And the people that we've met.

So tell us who you are.

I'm the director here at CANE.

I oversee the day-to-day operation of the kitchen.

And not just the kitchen.

But the ins and the outs of ordering trucks.

Purchasing produce, working with the farmers.

And the farmers market, and working with Cowan.

And all of our local partners here to.

To make things work together as a whole.

That's my job here.

And I was born and raised right here in Letcher County.

A couple of miles up the road in a little place called Neon.

My mother was a caterer by trade And I was a mama's boy.

And loved to cook and stayed in the kitchen.

And who do you all serve within the community?

We serve pretty much the entire community.

And some of the surrounding communities.

We do everything from daily meal Where people could come in.

And purchase a reduced price meal.

But we also do things like community meals.

Where we feed the entire community for free.

It's good to see people come together.

And I think food helps make that bridge.

And bring people together.

So you mentioned that you have a great community of farmers.

Tell me about some of your relationships with farmers.

My phone list keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Because with not just locally here in the county.

But now we're getting farmers from outside.

The county that is saying, you know.

We wanna be a part of this movement.

We wanna be a part of that.

And that's the reason CANE was formed to start with.

You know, is because they bring produce to the market.

And they harvest all that they've got to harvest.

And some of that produce would then spoil at the end.

Of the market because you've already pulled it.

And it wouldn't carry over.

So CANE was formed then to help ensure that you bring.

Something to the market.

We're gonna make good use of it.

You know, they may bring those items to the market.

And could sell a bushel of apples for $25 a bushel.

But then they may could bring those same apple.

Up here to the kitchen.

And turn them into apple butter.

And then they could probably double that money.

Or triple that money.

So that's what we're moving more toward.

Now is how we get the most bang for the buck.

And you already just seem so community minded and passionate.

How does it feel to be part of this community?

This is a dream come true for me Because I've always been Even in my previous job, I've always served the public.

And it's just something that pulls to my heart and it says.

You know, this is my way of giving back to give it all.

I can give as part of me.

And that's my personal way of helping people.

And the goal here at CANE is the same purpose.

And I understand you have a recovery program as well.

We do, we have an addiction recovery program.

Where we take people that are inlater portion of recovery.

Enrolled into behavioral health.

And we are trying to help them transition into the workforce.

What warms my heart even more is is there's so much more going on In this kitchen than just cooking.

And the addiction recovery program.

I have one guy and he came in.

He was referred here by the judge.

And when the judge sent him up here.

And he brought his charges.

He had charges.

That was literally two inches thick in a book.

And I thought there's no way.

I can work with this guy.

And I called the judge up and the judge said.

"Give him a chance, just give him a chance."

So I did.

And he's one of the better workers I have.

He went from jail to addiction recovery.

And he now has a home.

He has a means of transportation He has a job.

He has credentials to help hold that job now.

And you know.

Now we're to the point that we're working on.

How do we get rid of the charges That some of these are coming in here with, you know.

We're getting these expunged and things like that.

Because they're just doing so great.

And I keep saying there's so much more.

That goes on in this kitchen than what people realize.

At the end of our trip, we sat down with Valerie Horn.

Valerie works within all three organizations.

And her leadership has earned national recognition.

Even through adversity.

She continues to advocate for the people of Whitesburg.

And surrounding counties.

Valerie, it's so nice to be back here and visit with you.

You're leading and just empowering this community.

So tell me about your history.

Your background here.

Are you from here?

I am from here.

I've always lived here.

This work has been a part of my life and always.

I witnessed it with my mother and father with their work.

At Cowan Community Center.

And for me, there is a sense of security that is here.

Even with the limited resources that we sometimes have.

There's family that you can rely on.

There are neighbors that you can rely on.

There's a pace of life that is that we're comfortable with.

That happens here.

There's a pride with being here.

I think there's a pride in our resiliency.

Sometimes I would like us to not have to be so resilient.

Especially I'd like our little children.

To not have to be so resilient.

You know, that is a thing you want to teach children that.

Yeah, you get back up when you get knocked down.

But it also like to be easier for the children.

And the next generation.

And they don't have to keep starting over.

You know, that's where our hope.

Rests is in those that are coming after us.

It's a scary time for a community.

I've heard language about our area.

That I have not heard in my lifetime.

That this area may be uninhabitable.

You know?

That's not something I like to think about or want to believe.

I know obviously, in the moment.

You must have had to pivot your operations.

When the flood came and, you know.

All hands on deck to say the least.

But what do you see now.

That there's some stability moving forward?

I almost say we're facing more opportunities.

Than we're facing challenges.

I see our area as being more recognized.

More people who are willing invest in our area.

We're trying to build a community that people.

who live here first benefit from.

Tourists could come and enjoy.

And eventually might choose to live here.

For all of the wonderful reasons That are unique to just this area.

We've had two warnings, two strong warnings.

With the pandemic and with the flood.

That we have to be able to take care of ourselves.

For at least certain windows and to a certain level.

I think more and more people are realizing that our food can come From our own gardens.

From our neighbors' gardens and that we can begin to rely.

And count on that for, you know,for the flavor.

For the nutrition, and for the security.

That comes with that.

You know.

We've been the energy provider for the country.

For many generations back and have provided energy.

That's kept lights on and homes built and cars going.

And I love the idea that we too can provide energy.

That fuels our body and takes care of us at the same way.

And I also want to prioritize.

That we take care of ourselves first.

You recently just were able to travel to receive.

A James Beard award.

Which is an incredible honor.

And tell us a little bit about that experience.

That experience was very surreal It was an individual award.

But it was very much on behalf of a team of work.

And also I want to honor the James Beard Foundation.

That deemed this work worthy of of that.

It was very affirming and validating to be there.

And to be a part of it.

More than just the honor was.

was an assurance that it's the right path.

We're being recognized.

And I hope that it opens doors.

For other opportunities to come this way.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Funding for this program is made possible in part.

By the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪