Could it be that spring is my favorite season? This thought came to me recently, while strolling The Douglass Loop farmers’ market, each booth decked out in full, green veggie regalia.
We are very excited to share in the flavors of season later this month, when we host another The Farmer & The Foodie cooking experience at Foxhollow Farm on Thursday, July 18th! There are still a handful of spots left to join us on the farm, where we will harvest a variety of fresh produce together, Maggie sharing her knowledge of biodynamic and regenerative farming all along the way.
If you’ve spent much time with me and Maggie or have attended one of our cooking demos or events, you are likely familiar with the origin story of The Farmer & The Foodie. With our roots in a friendship forged over homemade chicken wings and a hike to harvest wild ramps, our passions for food and farming have melded naturally over the past ten years.
The start of a new year is a natural time for goal setting and Maggie and I have been busy sowing the seeds of season five of The Farmer & The Foodie, which is slated to begin filming in March! We have also been setting goals in our respective happy places - the garden and the kitchen - and wanted to share what we hope to accomplish, discover, and simply enjoy this year.
We have now filmed 26 episodes of The Farmer & The Foodie. The evolution of our friendship-to-partnership-to-podcast-to television show most certainly didn’t happen overnight but rather the span of a decade. Yet here we are, celebrating the latest season of stories exploring Kentucky’s farmers and foodways.
The Farmer & The Foodie, the KET series that explores Kentucky farms to discover local ingredients for scrumptious dishes and desserts, returns in January with all new episodes. Premiering at 3:30PM EST on Saturday, Jan. 6th.
Join the hosts of KET’s The Farmer & The Foodie for a hands-on farm experience and live cooking class at Foxhollow Farm! Maggie Keith, farmer and 4th generation land steward of Foxhollow, and Lindsey McClave, food writer and recipe developer, will share a wealth of kitchen and gardening tips and tricks as they guide you through some of their favorite spring dishes. The class will start at Foxhollow Market. We will gather and make introductions at 5:30 then head to the garden promptly at 5:45 to harvest what we will be cooking.
Season 3 of The Farmer and The Foodie premieres Saturday, January 7 on KET. The Farmer & The Foodie KET Saturday, Jan. 7 • 3:30/2:30 pm Stream at KET.org and the PBS Video app. Each episode goes behind-the-scenes with Kentucky farmers to see first-hand how the food is made, and then we take what we’ve learned into the kitchen to create a delicious meal to share with guests!
In this season of gratitude and thanks, we couldn’t be more grateful for the farmers, chefs and artisans who have shared their time, talent, and treasure with us in the making of The Farmer & The Foodie. It is our honor to learn from each and every person featured on our show and to be able to share their stories, not just with Kentucky audiences but with PBS viewers across the nation, is a privilege.
These peaches have also been macerated and steeped with my vanilla ice cream base, blended until smooth save flecks of their pink skin for bellinis, and thrown on the grill for an easy and irresistible dessert, just like the one we cooked up with our friends at The Food Literacy Project in season two.
If you are feeling any sort of dismay from having missed these episodes and the wealth of recipes and knowledge shared within them, do not fret! The entirety of The Farmer & The Foodie seasons one and two can be found on KET’s website along with links to detailed recipe cards.
The Farmer & The Foodie’s new season premieres Saturday, April 30. The program is produced by Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and distributed nationally by National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA).
It is a happy coincidence that locally raised chicken is front and center in the premiere episode of both season one and season two of The Farmer & The Foodie.
Pasta making is one of several tried and true cooking techniques I can find solace and stability in when the world around me is less than such, second only perhaps to homemade ice cream!
A freshly sabered bottle of champagne being poured; stewed blueberries heaped attop labneh cheesecake; five sets of little hands grasping cones of homemade strawberry ice cream; such are just a few of the moments that topped off our final day of shooting season two of The Farmer & The Foodie.
2021 has been filled with fun and adventure. We have loved getting to know farmers throughout Kentucky. The recipes this season are fantastic.
Crafting balance in your garden is just as important as balancing flavors in a well crafted dish. Farm Girl gives her top 5 Spring Gardening tips.
It’s officially ramp season. Ramps will always hold a special place in our hearts. This wild member of the allium (onion) family is perhaps one of nature’s most fleeting gifts.
The season’s final episode brings Maggie and Lindsey to the Western Kentucky town of Paducah, where they learn firsthand how the community is turning the problem of the invasive carp fish into an opportunity.
Chef Sara Bradley of Freight House cooks carp for Maggie and Lindsey, sharing with them the many benefits of this misunderstood fish. Maggie joins local fisherman Marcus on his boat and helps to catch his daily carp haul, which Lindsey then fries and serves with squash soup.
Click on the picture to download Episode 6 Recipes
Maggie and Lindsey learn what a unifying role food and farming can play in this episode, as they work with the Common Earth and Common Table programs. They take part in the kitchen skills classes taught at Common Table, a six-week program preparing refugees and employment insecure members of the community for careers in hospitality.
They visit the vibrant vegetable beds of Common Earth Gardens, where refugees from around the world are able to make a living from the earth. New friend Ohanmi joins Maggie and Lindsey in the kitchen to share his recipe for a traditional Nigerian fish stew.
Click on the picture to download all the recipes from Episode 5