Well, Gary Spry didn't bother to be there for our appointment, nor did he ever call me back. I was so peeved I got on the Iphone right there in the lobby and found the website for the Kentucky Society of Architects http://aiaky.org/find.php. Lo and behold, there is one not two miles form my house. In thirty minutes we were discussing a plan.
Enter Jud (I think, I never actually got his first name) Hubbard, of Hubbard Architect, PSC, Mt Sterling KY. His wife is assistant principal at the elementary school for our district. Anyway, he's never done anything like a dairy before, so the first iteration wasn't perfect. We hashed some of that out, and we'll see what he's got later this week.
Not a week after I talked to him one of my regulars calls me about her order and mentions both her daughter and son-in-law are architects! Nice to have a back-up, but hopefully the third time's the charm.
Have an interview sometime this week with Chris Jelesky, a student majoring in Sustainable Ag at UK. Check out the program's website, http://www.ca.uky.edu/SustainableAgCurriculum/index.html. I'm excited to find out about it. Kentucky needs this. I need an intern- I have gotten to the point where I cannot manage the production and marketing by myself. We'll see what I think of Chris and he of me... Little does he know, it will be a working interview, I have to go sort a neighbor's lambs for him that afternoon.
Right before he comes I plan on attending a webinar hosted by the American Grassfed Association on meat processing. Jay Wenther, Executive Director of the American Association of Meat Processors, will be talking about how to speak the processor's language. Since communicating effectively with Boone's to get what I want is a major issue for me... I really hope it'll be useful.
Speaking of Boone's, they made me some lamb sausages last time and they are FABULOUS. A little lean, really, the chorizo and zesty italian would have melded a little better with a little more fat to carry the flavor. The breakfast links were probably the best sausage I've ever had. I also had them do a bulk sausage, a sweet italian and a bratwurst. To be honest, I am not a fan of bratwurst so I haven't tried it. The sweet italian version garnered raves from my neighbor Matt Foster; he and his family live on the next farm, he has a soup to nuts media company in Louisville, if you need any media services they'll set you right up. I've seen his place, they really can do anything; and if the rest of his staff area s talented as Tonya Laffkas, the graphic designer who came up with my logo- you can't go wrong with http://www.interactivemedialab.com/.
After the sausage (and several dark Mexican beers, Modelo Negro I think) we were all sitting around listening to our new neighbors shooting targetrs and riding dirt bikes, and we got to talkign about how to make our farms as valuable for farming as they are for housesites.
Of course the sheep dairy and cheeseplant is my idea; his is a wetland hunting reserve with a bed and breakfast. There's an old house, Klondike, in between us and them that would be perfect. Right up the driveway from where I want to put the second, demo dairy- which will be a tiny parlor surrounded by a classroom so kids can come see cows be milked. Then we'll ride them down the old railbed on a horsedrawn wagon to the cheeseplant and they can see what happens to milk once it leaves the animal. So maybe Klondike can be not only a bed and breakfast surrounded by gorgeous gardens of edibles, at the center of a locale for experiencing Kentucky's flora and fauna, but also serve as an educational center where we can show people how animals and plants live and grow and are harvested to become healthful soul and stomach satisfying meals in a sustainable fashion, in balance with the natural world.
Anybody got $500,000 to get it going?
No?
Guess I'll have to generate it then- which is why I am moving toward having a booth at the Lexingotn Farmers Markets. I submitted an application, once (if) we are approved I aim to be there Wednesday and Saturday downtown, and Sunday at Southland. Can't cover the Tues-Thurs markets yet- again with the need for interns. I'll have my lamb, of course, and Joe's chicken; we've started to do pork, since we ended up doing it for Debbie Puckett over at Paris Farmer's Market; Woody's got eggs, and honey, and grassfed beef. If we can find a place to get them processed Woody does rabbits, and my little girl would like to get into them too. Joe's tobacco stick crafts would fit in somewhere I imagine.
I was checking out the Farmer's Market on Southland today, and got to talking to the father of one of my husband's high school classmates, Joe McCord. They do freshwater shrimp and tilapia, and he raises quail for sport hunters. He mentioned he processes his quail, raises 17,000 of them. If he has a place that's certified to do quail it shouldn't take much to get approved to do rabbit. I'll call him and see if he's interested in loaning it out...