By Admin, BuyLocalBG.com, BuyLocalBg@gmail.com/
Friday, January 16th, 2015 8:00 AM CST
This month Community Farmers Market Bowling Green will have visiting vendors. This is a great time to share with local farmers from other regions and how they have bettered their community. This Saturday is Sweetgrass Granola! Here is a little about them from our friends at EAT Local Food for Everyone:
The Grassroots Beginning of Sweetgrass
Sweetgrass Granola and Farmstead is the brainchild, passion, and home of the Gahn family: Jacob, Carolyn, Finn and our newest addition arriving in April. Nestled in the rural Hamilton Valley near Berea and Crab Orchard, Kentucky, our little farmstead and business is the most recent adventure in our personal storybook. Here we raise free- range broiler chickens, pigs, and cows, grow sweet sorghum cane, raise our garden and winter veggies in the high tunnel, milk our small herd of Nubian dairy goats, and bake wonderful Kentucky Proud granola.
Every day it amazes us that just a few years ago we were residents of one of the largest cities in the world. While living and working in New York City, we achieved one of those food system epiphanies that often cause an important turning point in a person’s life. We realized the link between food, nutrition, health, and happiness. We decided we needed to become more involved in our food’s production but had no real experience growing anything beyond a rooftop garden. So we pulled up roots and decided to figure it out. We worked on farms in California for room and board, we apprenticed for a season on an organic farm in Gravel Switch, Kentucky, and we leased land from friends in Lincoln County. We learned from folks living off the grid, growing organic food, and running innovative food businesses.
It was around this time we also learned about sorghum syrup and how to make great granola.
In an isolated cabin in the middle of a Kentucky forest (complete with its own “Walden Pond”) we began to experiment with value-added products with the goal of creating something that could include locally grown ingredients. We developed a new recipe for granola that was sweetened with sorghum syrup- that unique Kentucky grown sweetener that will soon be as iconic to our state as bourbon and bluegrass. When we found ourselves on leased land in Stanford we began to offer our little Sweetgrass Granola at the tiny Stanford farmers market but steadily grew over the next three years. Now you can find our granola from Cincinnati to Paducah, at Whole Foods and The Fresh Market to your local mom and pop shop.
Now we are two years into land ownership and a year of parenthood. On our farm we continue to strive towards growing our own food, nutrition, health, and happiness but also for other people as well. Our chickens range grassy fields in the sunshine and 2014 will be our third year growing sweet sorghum cane to make into the syrup that distinguishes our granola. We plan to increase our berry crops so we may dehydrate fruit to be included as well. Our high tunnel is full of spinach and beets to provide healthy local food during those snowy months. But we are also involved with the bigger picture of Kentucky agriculture. I (Carolyn) also work with Community Farm Alliances’ beginning farmer program and Jacob does web development with the homestead social media site Earthineer.com develops computer software for Kentucky meat processing plants like Eastern Kentucky’s The Chop Shop.
As those who have seen many sides of the urban/rural gradient we recognize so much potential for Kentucky small towns, Bowling Green being a case in point, that is hinged on a local food system. We hope you’ll share in the growing support for responsible, local food and be a part of an exciting story taking place here in Bowling Green and all over Kentucky.
Visit us at www.sweetgrassgranola.com or on Facebook!
Like we said this is part of the series for this month:
Community Farmers Market is a year-round market featuring over 50 vendors with a variety of local foods and handcrafted items. The Market also regularly offers cooking demonstrations, folk school classes and live music. Hours are Saturdays from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. and Tuesdays from 2-6 p.m. It is located at 2319 Nashville Road next to the WKU Store. For information about Community Farmers Market BG, visit www.communityfarmersmarketbg.com.
