8 minute read
DISH
What we’re eating now
Since this is our annual issue on our community’s agriculture, we thought it fitting to feature fresh, local produce. And everyone knows our farmers produce some of the best veggies (and meats) around.
Stuffed Tomato
COLBY’S DELI For a fresh take from a local favorite, try a farm-fresh stuffed tomato from Colby’s Deli. They start with a giant tomato from Riney Farms, and stuff it with chicken salad (or tuna salad, if you prefer). Then Colby’s Deli serves it on a bed of greens with egg and cheese and your choice of salad dressing.
Hillview Hash
SASSAFRAS Like we said, in addition to the county’s fresh vegetables, our local farmers also produce outstanding quality meat. For their hash, Sassafras uses slow smoked, fresh beef short rib from Hillview Farms. They finish it with locally-sourced sauteed cabbage, carrots, onion and cherry tomatoes.
Peach & Halloumi Toast
NIKO’S BAKERY AND CAFÉ For something to satisfy your sweet and savory craving, try Niko’s Bakery & Café’s Peach & Halloumi Toast. Made on Niko’s fresh sourdough bread with halloumi cheese, and featuring Reid’s Orchard Peaches and Cecil Farms honey and rosemary.
SASSAFRAS Keeping It Local
Written by JACQUELINE RUSSELL Photos by JAMIE ALEXANDER
Sassafras, a hyper-local restaurant featuring scratch-made Kentucky and regional food with a global influence, is now open in downtown Owensboro. The owners, brothers Matt and Dennis Weafer, say this is just the beginning.
“Something like this has always been in the back of my mind,” Matt, who also owns Niko’s Bakery & Cafe, said. “And my brother and I have always wanted to do something together.”
“We’ve talked about working together for a long time,” echoed Dennis, who owns Fetta Specialty Pizza.
The two have combined their talents to create a new restaurant that highlights the best local ingredients and spirits, where patrons can dine surrounded by local art.
“It’s comfort food,” Matt said. “It’s the stuff that my brother and I grew up eating, stuff from backyard cookouts. That’s the origin of it.”
The dishes are familiar, but often with a twist — like chicken and dumplings, but with smoked chicken and French gnocchi.
“We wanted to remind you of stuff you’d have at your grandmother’s house, but not that close, because Grandma always makes it better,” Matt said. “We want to make sure it’s different enough. It’s not grandma’s chicken, but it’s special.”
Dennis said he’s proud to stand behind any dish they serve, but his favorite is anything featuring their smoked pimento cheese.
Sourcing hyper-local ingredients instead of using more prominent restaurant vendors not only makes the
restaurant special, but could also be what keeps it going during uncertain economic times.
“We buy the food from local farmers, and with almost everything, we’re on a first-name basis,” Matt said. “Most of our farmers, we just send them a text, and they come straight from the farm. Suzanne Cecil (of Cecil Farms) brought a bunch of produce down here earlier, and she’s like, ‘I just picked it this morning. It’s still dirty.’ But that’s what I want.”
“It’s a unique situation,” Dennis said. “Large food vendors have anything you’d want, but that changed with COVID. Local vendors have worked out great, and it’s a more sustainable way for smaller restaurants. We can change our menu as the seasons change, depending on what’s available.”
Even the drink selection has local roots, sourcing locally made liquors.
“Kentucky has so many cool boutique distilleries we want to feature and highlight,” Matt said. “We have a handful of gins and handful of vodkas that are made here in Kentucky. Same thing with the beers, with the exception of a few major domestics that people have to have.”
The brothers say this is just the beginning.
“We are all a bunch of food geeks and the thing we’re most excited about is the possibilities of what we get to make,” Matt said. “We want to play around with making our own charcuterie and our own cheeses. We’re going to start bottling sauces and put them up on the shelf to sell.”
After launching with a slow, soft opening to get everything just right, Dennis wants everyone to know the restaurant is ready for customers. “We’re open,” he said, “And I’d highly recommend making a reservation.”
Fertile Land and Hardworking Farmers
Written by LORA WIMSATT
Daviess County farmers crowded into the circuit courtroom 100 years ago to consider an endorsement presented by the Burley Tobacco Growers Co-operative Marketing Association – and overwhelmingly voted to organize a similar organization in the Green River, One Sucker and Stemming district.
Yes, that’s what it was called, according to an article published in the Jan. 15, 1922, edition of the Owensboro Messenger.
The eloquent appeal detailing benefits of cooperative marketing included an example previously experienced by fruit growers in California. Prior to their organization, they had received anywhere from 8 to 12 cents for every $1 spent by consumers for their products. Now, their share had risen to 48 cents.
In describing how the system would work for local farmers, Virgil Chapman of Lexington, the assistant general counsel of the cooperative marketing association, explained that “under the present system, the tobacco manufacturer and buyers borrow money with which he buys tobacco, pays insurance, wages, handling costs, etc., adding these to the price he asks for his tobacco – but not taking into consideration the cost to the farmer growing the crop.” He added: “Under the co-operative system, the farmer would figure land values, depreciation, labor, interest on his investment, and base the price for his tobacco on the actual cost of raising it plus a reasonable profit.”
The co-op also offered the benefit of consistent grading, and the speaker promised that buyers and warehouses were not opposed to the development of the organization.
This was a big deal to local farmers. As of Feb. 19 that same year, the tobacco crop in the five-county Green River district had been measured at 28,000,000 pounds – and its growers had been paid $4,085,881.83.
A lot of money then (and now!) – especially when a quick zip through an inflation calculator places that figure at $72,056,471.73 in 2022 dollars.
By June 1922, more than 25 percent of Daviess County’s tobacco acreage – conservatively estimated at 14,000 acres – had been pledged to the “tobacco pool.”
The figure would have been higher, the newspaper reported, but of course “the growers are all very busy,” and so far only eight out 86 districts had been surveyed, but of those eight districts, anywhere from 75 to 85 percent of farmers signed up. Recruitment was important because of a requirement that two-thirds of the total acreage of tobacco grown in the county had to be pooled before the contract became binding.
Chairman Will Hayden reported “the organization committee was highly elated over the spirit displayed on all occasions when workers have submitted the contracts to growers.” As an example, about 115 acres out of a total of 214 in the Masonville district were committed. J.W. Ellis of that district said it was an easy decision: “There is nothing else to do if the tobacco growers ever expect to get anywhere than mere laborers by the day.”
By Aug. 27, about 15,000 acres had been pledged, including 8,000 acres in Daviess County – and it was clear that the overall district quota would be met. Farmers were informed that receiving stations would be held in Owensboro, Fordsville, Hartford, Calhoun, Cloverport, Hawesville and Livermore, and the growers would receive advances on their crops after they had been delivered and graded.
It was just one example of progress being developed among the agricultural foundation upon which Daviess County stood so strongly. Overall, 1922 was a very good year for local farmers, with an Owensboro Messenger article on Oct. 15 saying crop reports in Daviess County exceeded those of neighboring counties. Corn, wheat, Irish potatoes, tobacco, sorghum for syrup and, of course, tobacco, were all having a successful year of production.
And it may have been for that reason that land values in Daviess County exceeded those of other counties in the district. Land without improvements was valued at an average of $77 an acre; with improvements, the valuation soared to $94.
By comparison, unimproved land in Hancock County was valued at a measly $23.33 per acre; Ohio County, not much better at $23.75; McLean, $45; and Henderson, $50. With improvements, values “rose” to $32.25 in Ohio County; $46 in Hancock; $58.33, McLean; and $60 in Henderson County.
What does it all mean? Maybe nothing.
Or maybe everything.
Because here’s what we know for sure: Farmers are important, their work is essential, and their contributions to our community, state, country and the world are priceless. OL
