I love the role our five senses play in evoking memories of people, places and experiences both recent and long forgotten. I’ve lost count of the number of pints of fresh strawberries I have greedily devoured over the past few weeks, each plump berry somehow juicier and more satisfying than the last. And with each berry I’ve been treated to a host of memories from filming season two. Strawberry season was only just beginning when we arrived at Rootbound Farm to film the first episode in May of 2021, feasting on a flat of just picked berries after meeting the farm’s chatty hens and learning all about farmer Ben Abell’s approach to raising egg layers.
With each berry
I’ve been treated to a host of memories from filming season two.
These farm-fresh strawberries also played a starring role in the ice cream we crafted in the season’s finale episode, reduced with Kentucky sorghum, the flavors concentrating before steeping in the beautiful milk and cream we brought home from our visit to the JD Country Milk dairy farm in Logan County. We are in the midst of the best of times when it comes to farmers’ markets and the abundance will only be more so as the summer stretches on. I whipped up a batch of roasted carrot hummus recently, smiling as I removed the ‘bugs bunny’ ends from the carrot bunch, as our friend Barbra from New Roots coined them in episode two.
Carrots and just about any fresh veggie you’ll come across these days would find a happy home folded into the risotto recipe we shared in episode three with the inspiring students from YCAP with the Food Literacy Project. And with fresh peaches on the horizon I will be firing up my grill to replicate the ones we roasted in the YCAP cobb oven.
And still, there is so much to look forward to as we simultaneously look back. Our time learning from Ashley Smith from Black Soil in episode four, and meeting the farmers her program supports, treated us to the first tastes of autumn and I know when the sun’s rays begin to soften I’ll be drawn to farmer Susan Miller’s family recipe for sweet potato casserole as well as the bourbon rich beef stew with bloody butcher cornbread we crafted after our time spent in episode five with the empowering women behind the Jeptha Creed Distillery in Shelby County.
Farmer Susan Miller’s
Family recipe for sweet potato casserole.
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. We are so grateful for your support and hope season two will evoke happy memories from your own past, while also providing inspiration to create and to grow, be it in the kitchen, the garden or our greater community. Salud to summer!