On this episode of The Farmer & The Foodie, we are wandering the fields to discover the flavors of Kentucky's most abundant crop.

And we're lighting it up in the kitchen with a savory and sweet fall-inspired menu.

I'm Maggie Keith and I'm the farmer.

And I'm Lindsey McClave, and I'm the foodie.

And this is -- The Farmer & The Foodie.

Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

█ █ █ █ One of the things I've enjoyed the most when filming The Farmer & the Foodie is traveling across the state.

And we see so many different landscapes.

And oftentimes, Maggie will point out this is a three crop rotation farm and I didn't even know what that meant in the beginning.

And I understand corn is one of those key three crops.

I feel like I've had a rough relationship with corn.

Cornmeal is definitely something that I eat and enjoy.

And so how can I look at corn from that perspective, rather than as this commodity that is going into our feedlots.

And the Halcombs have really proven that they know how to grow grains well, and they're interested in putting those grains into the local food supply chain.

█ █ █ █ Well, we are a family grain farm.

That history goes back many generations.

So, we primarily produce grain, which consists of corn, wheat, barley, rye, and soybeans.

Over the last 10 or 15 years as we've transitioned back into the family farm is we've looked for ways to partner with end users.

We like the idea of knowing where our grain is going, and being able to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

So, we work with some flour mills that wheat and corn goes to that goes into human consumption.

We work with distilleries use our corn.

We work with malt houses that use our barley.

We still sell some commodity grain into commodity channels, but our intent is to sell as much of it as possible into premium channels going to direct end users.

And how has the farm evolved over time?

When did your family first start farming on this land?

So, we've been in Logan County since the early 1800s.

We're very proud of the heritage that we have here, and the history with our -- in the community with our family and the other families that we work with.

It is hard work, but such is life.

I mean, anything, if you're going to be successful at anything, it's going to be hard work.

And we just enjoy the work.

We think it's a good place to raise children.

My brother and I appreciate growing up on the farm the way that we did, and I think we both wanted that for our children.

So, when you came in, what were your challenges and opportunities that you saw?

So, not having a farming background, [laughs] I had a lot to learn, and my background in manufacturing engineering allowed me to come in and help with the planning, figure out where we're going to grow certain varieties, and where they're going to be stored so that customers can know where their food is coming from.

We utilize a farm management software, and that's what I manage on the farm.

The grain that's being loaded right now onto the truck, it has a place within the software.

It has each load is tracked into what bin that it goes into.

So, in the past, it has been a commodity corn that's gone to animal feed.

We have specialized into working with end users, such as distilleries, and they can specify what kind of corn they want.

Now what we have growing behind us is a specialty heirloom variety.

What was just harvested yesterday was a white corn, and then there's also the yellow corn that other customers want.

The difference between heirloom corn and modern day corn is like the difference between a Model T car and your modern day car.

If you look at a Model T and your regular car side by side, you know they're both cars.

But if you ride from here to town in them, the experience is going to be totally different.

And that's kind of like growing this heirloom corn.

So, it actually worked out pretty well.

We've done it for seven or eight years in a row, and we've had pretty good results.

How are you managing soil health with growing all these crops in order to make sure you have soil for future generations?

Sure.

No-till has been a very key practice in this part part of country.

And we have some topography, we have some rolling hills, we have relatively low organic matter in our soils.

And in my grandfather's and great grandfather's time, we had a lot of erosion.

And that's one way that we protect soil health.

But in modern times, in more recent times, we're looking for new ways to go beyond that.

Nothing's perfect.

There are pros and cons to everything.

So, after having some fields of ours in continuous no-till for, say, 30 years now, we're starting to see, obviously, there are a lot of benefits to that, but there are also some things that are giving us some issues.

So, we're looking for new ways to continually tweak the system and make continual improvements.

We talked earlier about how there's been a lot of change from the 1950s and what a farm looked like then to today.

And what do you hope for the future to look like?

Well, I hope that we can understand, specifically talking about sustainable agriculture and soil health.

I hope that we can better understand soil health as an industry and define soil health so that we're all working toward the same goals.

And then, ultimately, I hope that we can continue to improve soil health and find crop rotations that work environmentally and economically at the same time.

And how can the consumer support [laughs] this effort?

Well, we think it's really fun because the consumer has a lot of interest these days in where their food and their drink comes from.

And so buying from their local farmers markets or their local stores, supporting their local industries, which just works back up the value chain all the way back to the soil where it all was grown.

█ █ █ █ This is one of the larger farms we've ever been to and oh my goodness, the scope of the farm was really mind boggling.

And that was amazing to see and also the organization and the innovations that they're using to organize and meet efficiency and keep their crops at peak production.

The Halcomb Farms innovation and their way of pivoting and diversifying to be able to reach many different markets is admirable.

They're taking the time to reach out to these different people and be sure that they have a good market for what they're producing.

John, thank you so much for having us out.

Where exactly are we?

We're in the middle of quite the setup.

Tell us where we are.

So, this is one of our primary grain facilities here at Walnut Grove Farms.

So, we bring it in out of the field to process it from a -- to get it ready for storage.

And then, we pull it back out of these storage bins to reprocess it, clean it before we deliver it to our customers.

Our very first distillery customer was Dueling Grounds Distillery in Franklin, Kentucky.

Longtime family friend.

And when he was starting up his distillery, he came by and he said, "Hey, can I get 50 pounds of grain?"

And so that's kind of where our whole distillery story started.

And I think something we've been learning about along the way is how innovative you and your family have been over generations with the farm.

What has been the biggest changes that you've implemented and sort of where you're going with all that?

Sam and I had some really big shoes to fill as we were coming in.

I mean, our dad was really innovative.

He was a foodie before that was really a term -- -- that was being used.

And so he was always really interested in where his products were going and just what was going on in the food industry in general, whether that was grocery stores or restaurants.

We wanted to do something where we could identify customers that cared about what we were producing and figure out how we could partner with them to supply what they needed.

And so that's really what we focused on for basically over the last 10 years.

So, the corn has to get here somewhere.

It's in the field.

And then, what is a combine?

Like, if -- I've heard reference of that.

Tell me more about that.

So, a combine combines three processes.

It gathers and threshes and cleans the grain.

And it's a pre-cleaning.

And so all of that used to be done by hand or it was like multiple steps.

And now there's the one large machine that goes through the field that does all three processes.

Takes the standing stalk of corn, takes the ear off, runs it through the machine, knocks the kernels off of the ear.

So, all we're taking out of the field with the machine is the kernels themselves off of the ear.

That's what we put into a truck.

What comes here, we'll test it for different toxins and we'll test it for moisture because moisture essentially becomes the shelf life of the grain.

The service that we provide our customers is we bring it in and we basically manage that shelf life so that we can deliver them grain straight out of the field in September.

But then we'll also be able to deliver it to them in August of the next year.

And so maintaining quality is really what we do here.

Each one of our customers has a different spec that they want, a different specification for moisture.

Our customers are basically all non-GMO.

They want clean grain.

They don't want a lot of foreign material, whether it's little pieces of cob or little pieces of the leaf or whatever didn't all get cleaned out by the combine itself.

So, we run all of our grain back through a cleaner again to take out all of that foreign material so that all the customers are getting is nice, clean, dry corn ready for them.

Most of them run it through a grinder and then into their process.

So, do you have hope for the future of family farms?

Do you know how hard it is to keep this going?

Do you think it's possible?

If you just drive down the road, you would drive past our farm and all of our neighbors and you would think, well they're all doing the same thing.

But if you stopped at each one and talked to them about the businesses that they run, basically every one of our neighbors around here has some unique angle, something that they're specializing in, something that they're doing that's a little bit different that gives them a competitive edge.

And I mean this is a thriving agricultural community.

So, just being here and bearing witness to all of this amazing equipment and all the activity, there's obviously a lot of technology that's come into play to make things more efficient.

And I'm assuming that's still evolving.

How do you see technology impacting the future of this farm?

Our dad was born in 1952 and he remembered mules still being used to perform certain tasks on the farm.

And when I was a kid, this was pre-GPS, pre, you know, I mean it was everything was a self-driving.

We had air conditioning and that was like the fanciest thing.

It was a cab tractor and of course, you know, our dad's generation thought we were spoiled because we had air conditioning, you know.

[laughs] But today they drive themselves.

They have so many sensors and monitors and so many capabilities.

So, how do we stay true to flavor when all this technology is involved?

I think it's just got to be part of the conversation.

I mean, there have to be people pushing for it.

There have to be customers that, you know, see it as an opportunity.

The suppliers, the farmers that are willing to do it if the demand is there and if we can continue to push it through the system.

Yeah.

█ █ █ █ This thing is wild.

[laughs] Look at this.

So, if you all want to take turns riding, this is Uncle Brian in the cab here.

Getting into that combine, I had no idea to expect.

It felt like I was like on a different planet.

It was so huge.

You could see the corn coming in like behind you.

It was filling up.

There was a screen where you could see it being taken up and then just also the view of the combine going into the row so perfectly.

It was like on self-drive mode too.

It was a really wild experience.

It was interesting for me to ride in the combine because I feel like I'll see combines on the side of the road or as we're driving throughout the state, I see a lot of corn and I just think, oh no, is this going to like feed lots of animals?

But to be in that combine and see the person and meet him and see that he's worked for this family for many generations, it really gave this human aspect and it made me realize maybe I need to double think about the judgment I might place on certain crops and try to see them as part of our local food supply chain and part of the story we're trying to change and bringing this culture and community into our farm landscapes.

█ █ █ █ Cornmeal is so versatile.

I have had such a good time thinking about the menu and after we were inspired by our trip.

We're going to start by making a pound cake today with cornmeal in it.

Yeah.

Wonderful.

And it's going to be the base for our dessert, which is going to involve a little bit of bourbon flambéed apples and ice cream.

So, I'm excited about that.

And then, also wanted to make one of your favorite things, some fried pickles.

Yes.

So, we're going to have some cornmeal fried pickles with some ranch dip on the side as a snack while we wait for our acorn squash to roast.

And that's going to be filled with some beans that we got from the farm, as well as a cornmeal mush topping that gets all bubbly and delicious.

That said, we need to get our cornmeal pound cake in the oven.

So, to get started, we're going to just kind of do what you always do with a cake.

You're going to start with your wet ingredients and your dry ingredients, mix them together and they'll be ready to go.

So, this is some of the yellow stoneground cornmeal.

And then, this is just some baking soda, baking powder, and salt that'll go in there.

And then, we're going to add our spices.

So, I wanted, yes, a teaspoon of cinnamon in there.

We're going to do a quarter teaspoon of cloves.

Yeah, I can smell the fall already.

That just reminded me of so many wonderful fall memories.

[laughs] And then also a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg.

█ █ █ █ We're going to start with one stick of butter.

Just how we like it.

Yeah, exactly.

Room temp.

And then, one cup of sugar.

And I'm going to let that cream here in the mixer.

Certainly a hand mixer would do for a good three to five minutes.

I really want those to come together and get light and fluffy.

I think it adds to the texture of the cake in a really nice way.

To our butter and sugar, we add two eggs, one at a time, beating well in between before adding one tablespoon of sorghum, a half a cup of buttermilk.

Blend very well and scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything's fully incorporated.

Now it's time for our dry ingredients, which we're going to add in two batches until just combined and no lumps are made.

All right, so we have our batter here.

It's delicious.

Yes.

All right.

And I will.

It's nice and fluffy and like airy.

I think that comes in part from letting the butter cream for a while.

And then, we're just going to put this in to a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Then I let it sit in the loaf pan for maybe five minutes before I transfer it to a cooling rack out of the loaf pan.

All right, let's pop it in the oven and then we'll work on our acorn squash.

Great.

█ █ █ █ So, when we were leaving Walnut Grove, they gifted us with a bag of these dried pinto beans that one of their neighbor's daughters had grown on their farm.

And I thought it was first off an ingredient I'm excited to work with.

And also cornmeal and beans are like best buds, especially in Southern cuisine.

And I thought it was a wonderful example of just the community they've built out there.

Yeah, they have such a diversified operation.

And to have these young entrepreneurial farmers want to come grow on their farm, it's just a nice offering to the community.

Yes, and the way to support each other.

So, definitely want to take advantage of these beans and of what we have right now in the fall.

So, these acorn squash are some of my favorite squash to work with.

For a farmer to grow these winter squashes, it's a great crop.

It takes up quite a bit of room.

So, you do need space, but it's a great crop that I always say you like plant it, leave it and then harvest it all together later as a community.

I mean, I love to grow winter squashes.

That's like my jam.

Absolutely.

And I think what's great about these is you don't have to peel them.

That can be one of like the jobs about like a butternut squash I dislike the most.

So, yeah, all I've done with these here is I cut them in half, scooped out the seeds, added a little salt, pepper, olive oil, turn them upside down and put them in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes until a fork just went through the top.

And now this flesh is like delicious.

You can scoop it out and use it as a mash and a sauce.

But this is also the perfect vessel for like a really great dish.

So, what we're going to do is take these pinto beans, which I have cooked, so they're ready to go.

And I had a little leftover rice.

So, we're going to throw that in there.

But my gosh, quinoa could work.

Wheat berries, you know, take your pick of grain if you want one.

Want a little bacon in there, just that nice smoky, rich flavor to kind of bring it together.

And we have some of these end of season tomatoes, which I like.

And I thought that's like kind of a nice acidic addition to the dish.

So, we add olive oil to our pan and once warm, add in the bacon, let that render, the fat come out, start to get crispy.

And then, I added our onion and our garlic, as well as a pinch of Maggie's red pepper flakes and some cumin.

Let that stir together before adding in the pinto beans, rice and tomatoes.

I add a little bit of lemon juice, toss that together with the parsley, salt and pepper.

Let it start to come together and be happy.

And then, it'll be ready to put into our squash.

All right, we have our filling here with the beans and the rice and all the yumminess.

And then, we have our cornmeal mush here, which is going to go on top and get nice and brown and bubbly.

So, if you want to just go ahead and spoon the filling in, I will follow behind with our topping.

Oh, this is such an easy, like weeknight meal.

I feel like you could make this ahead of time.

And then, I mean, how deep are we going here actually?

That's great.

That's perfect you know, that's great.

I'm getting a little excited.

I know.

It's like my burritos, they get too full.

[laughs] Also it's, I think of it as like a clean out the fridge, you know, throw some things together and you know, make sure we don't let anything go to waste.

Awesome.

All right.

So, now we have our mush and this is literally just the cornmeal.

You stir a little bit of milk into it before you add it to a pot of warm milk, just shy of boiling milk, stir it.

So, it's cooked down and it's just like really, it's like a little cereal or a bowl of like porridge.

And you could add cinnamon and other flavors to this, but here we just add a little bit of salt.

Certainly, you know, cheese would not be a bad idea, but we're just gonna layer it on top.

I feel like it's going to add this delicious crunch that Yes.

we crave when we have stuffed squash.

That is the idea here.

And then, we're just going to pop these in the oven.

We're going to do it at about 425.

We want a hotter end of oven because again, everything's cooked here.

We're just looking for that nice browning activity.

So, we're going to pop it in there for 10, 15 minutes.

Just keep your eye and ready to eat.

So, while those are cooking though, I'm already hungry and I would like a fried pickle appetizer.

So, what do you say?

Please.

All right.

I love that.

Let's get these in the oven and we'll get to our pickles.

Okay.

Our acorn squash is in the oven and let's make some fried pickles.

I love a fried pickle.

I know you do too.

Yes.

Pickle anything for me and I will eat it.

Me too.

And this is about as straightforward as it gets.

As much as I love pickles, I really love things fried in cornmeal because it gets this lovely crunch.

And so we're just really preserving that right now with the cornmeal from Walnut Grove.

We're not -- we're just going to season it.

You can do wet batter with this.

You can mix flour in it.

We're just throwing it in the cornmeal.

What's great about frying a pickle too, is it's already got the brine on there.

So, there's some wetness there that you might use an egg wash for something.

We're just going to skip that part.

So, we're just going to season this with a few different spices.

I like some paprika in there.

I think it adds a little bit of just like depth of flavor, some smokiness.

We are also going to add your world famous red pepper flakes because they are the best.

We're going to do a half a teaspoon to add a little more heat.

I love the color mixture too like that's -- [crosstalk] I know, I know.

Right.

And this is really, you could get really creative here.

Yes.

But we're keeping it pretty straightforward.

Then we're going to do about a tablespoon of granulated garlic.

That will make sure that a lot of flavor is infused in there.

We're also going to do about a tablespoon of kosher salt.

We have two cups of cornmeal here.

Great.

And several cranks of black pepper.

And then, if you want to give that a nice whisk to bring it together.

I like how we're really focusing on this corn ingredient.

Yep.

They knew that they grew grains well, so why not use them well in a recipe?

Exactly.

And I really loved learning how the farm had been a part of their family for many, many generations and how it evolved over time.

And the transition from, you know, using a mule to plow a field to the combine we rode in, which that was like wild.

[laughs] Yeah.

It was interesting looking at some of these more conventional agriculture techniques used on a local food economy scale.

And that's what I really appreciated about this is some people can sort of vilify corn and, you know, big ag, but this was taking something they did well, which was growing grains and using it in a local food economy.

Absolutely.

And I think it was meeting the moment that their farm has seen over generations.

You know, their grandparents transitioned to, you know, stay competitive with the family business and it's no different than what they're doing now.

And I find that really inspiring.

And also just nice to have a real honest conversation about the state of farming today, especially when it comes to a product such as corn, which is such a part of so many of our food systems.

Yes.

Yeah.

So, okay.

If you want to take these slices of pickle and just toss them into that.

Perfect.

Cornmeal bowl.

And we're going to do a deep fry with it.

That way they don't stick too much or anything with just a neutral oil or a peanut oil is a good option for that.

If you were blessed to have a lot of beef tallow, you could certainly fry a pork lard.

So, we're just going to make sure.

Yeah, that's awesome.

They're nice and coated.

And then, we'll go ahead over to the stove, warm up our oil and get frying.

Great.

Add your oil to a heavy bottom pot and place on the stove over medium high heat.

Add the pickles in a strainer very carefully and fry for about two minutes, tossing gently and then cooking for one to two minutes more.

You'll know the pickles are ready when they've started to rise to the top and the cornmeal coating is crispy and brown.

█ █ █ █ I don't know about you, but I'm starving.

I'm so excited.

We've got our fried pickles with a little homemade ranch, which I think those just have to go together.

And we've got our squash.

Yeah.

So, this looks amazing.

I feel like it went from like the corn mush to like corn crisp.

[laughs] Yeah, yeah.

It's just sort of like another way to do a topping.

Like I said, like a, you know, a shepherd's pie has potato and this is celebrating the cornmeal in all its different forms.

Cheers.

Those pinto beans have so much flavor.

They really do.

Wow!

And I appreciate just the little sweet touch we get from the squash.

I feel like the bacon's smoky.

We've got the cornmeal on top that kind of holds it all in and encapsulates it.

I just think it's a nice little dish.

And I mean, certainly it's a standalone meal, but it's a great side with some chicken or anything.

I really like this one.

Yeah.

The cornmeal on top really brings it together nicely.

Now gotta have pickles, too.

Another crowd pleaser.

If I do say so myself.

I love the simplicity of the cornmeal on it.

It's crunchy.

You get that cornmeal flavor, but the pickle shines through.

It's just very snackable.

Oh, that is.

That's a perfect little snack.

I don't know about you, but I've got a bit of a sweet tooth and we have our gorgeous cornmeal pound cake over here.

So, my thought was to take this bourbon that we got to bring home from Walnut Grove that was made using corn from their farm and flambe some apples and a little bit of a sorghum caramel situation.

Just all to me nods to Kentucky fall.

That sounds delightful.

I am so ready.

[laughs] Let's have dessert.

First, we add two tablespoons of butter to our pan.

And once that's melted, we've put in our apple slices.

We let those saute begin to soften and release their juices a little bit before we're going to add one quarter cup sorghum and one quarter cup brown sugar.

This is going to sort of start to become a caramel, which is really delicious.

So, we're going to watch that as we toss it together, come down, reduce, get happy, saucy, almost sicken a little bit.

And that is when we know it's time to add our bourbon.

So, very carefully, we're going to pour our quarter cup of bourbon on top of the apples and then light the flame.

I like to use a lighter and ideally you turn the heat off just for safety's sake.

We're going to let that burn down.

It's going to add just that additional bourbon flavor to the apples.

We'll let that continue to reduce until it's nice, saucy, syrupy, and then it's ready to spoon over our cornmeal pound cake.

Okay, we have our flambéed apples.

It's so much fun.

Beautiful.

I know, I know.

They turned out, I think, really well.

We've got this absolutely delicious syrup with some bourbon and the sorghum and some brown sugar and just all sorts of goodness.

Okay.

It's screaming Kentucky right now.

It is, it is.

And I just love that.

And vanilla ice cream really is the way to go here, I feel like.

So, if I may offer you a scoop.

Yes, please.

Well, let's dig in.

Yeah, dessert.

█ █ █ █ I really love the apple and the syrup in there.

And the cornmeal really adds this texture to the cake that I appreciate.

I was just going to say it, and I mean vanilla ice cream.

[laughs] How can you go wrong?

Especially your homemade vanilla ice cream.

Well, thank you.

But no, I really like the level of sweetness in this dessert, too.

And I think you get the texture from the cornmeal.

The bourbon adds some really lovely notes in there.

And yeah, happy fall.

Mm-hmm.

█ █ █ █ Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

█ █ █ █