Kentucky Countryside

In the last couple of weeks, I have made multiple trips to Kentucky, taking our Turkeys to the Amish processor that we have been working with for years. The reason I'm willing to travel so far is because of the quality of their work. We put so much work into our turkeys that I am only willing to put the processing into the hands of people I trust. I'm confident that Ely and his all-Amish crew will take good care of our birds in this final step of their journey. While I'm in Kentucky, I can't help but marvel at the farming enterprises. Obviously, I'm sort of a farming nerd, and when I visit a different geography, there are bound to be different farming systems that catch the eye. First and foremost is the Amish that we work with and encounter along the way. These people are impressive. They are hard workers with a commitment to tradition that inspires me. Every single time I visit, I come back with ideas and plans for my operation. It's easy to get bogged down during the day-to-day running of the farm. This trip is my antidote to that bogged-down feeling. The other thing I like to see on this trip in the fall is the tobacco barns smoking. To be clear, I don't believe most of the tobacco (if any) is grown by Amish. These are mostly non-Amish small family farms that I assume have been growing tobacco for many decades. They still harvest by hand and haul the plant, which is inverted on a pole, to the tobacco barns to be hung up to dry. At some point, when the barn is full, a fire is lit inside to aid the drying process. Barns will be smoking for several weeks as the tobacco dries. As of right now, I do not plan to forego my worldly possessions and join the Amish. Heck, I don't even use any type of tobacco. As I said, I'm just a farming nerd, and these are the things I study as I drive around unfamiliar ground. I usually come home inspired and rejuvenated to embrace the toil that's required to make any type of farm operate at its best.