Meet the new crop of creative NKY farmers

BY HALEY PARNELL | LINK nky REPORTER

Not all farms are raising cattle and planting vegetables; many are making money in nontraditional ways, such as selling bundles of lavender and bars of goat’s milk soap.

While Northern Kentucky still boasts plenty of farms – Campbell County, for example, has 577 of them across 46,000 acres – the vast majority are modestly sized by farming standards. Farms out West can span thousands of acres, for example, while 90% of Campbell’s span fewer than 180.

Boone and Kenton counties are home to 721 and 506 farms across 78,754 and 36,731 acres, respectively, according to the Census of Agriculture

But the area’s farm owners don’t need thousands, or even hundreds, of acres to operate profitably. And, while most still practice traditional farming – just under half of farm sales in Campbell come from crops and just under half from livestock – places such as The Lavender Field and Strole Ridge Farm are finding creative ways to make money off the land.

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On The Cover

As the weather warms, owners of The Lavender Field in California, Kentucky, sell tickets for a “U-pick” lavender season. The fields on their farm were a product of a mother’s love for lavender.

In the house where Kelly Schauff grew up, her mom, Cindy Cappel, always had lavender plants on both sides of the front porch. Today, the mother-daughter duo harvest flowers from 500 lavender plants at their farm in southern Campbell County.

They don’t have a farming background and just opened their U-pick lavender season to the public in 2020. Caring for the fields each season is a fun activity for them to do together, Schauff said.

She started the fields as a Mother’s Day gift in 2018.

“I’ve always liked lavender,” Cappel said. “I said a row of it would be nice just to pick from, and you never know when you’re going to need it. But she ordered 50 plants for

Mother’s Day for me.”

Needless to say, that was more than she was expecting. When the women first planted the lavender, it was for the beauty of it, not to start a business.

“It’s like a happy accident that it can be enjoyed by so many other people, too,” Schauff said.

The plan was to have people come to cut their own bundles of lavender for $10, but Schauff said once people got out to the farm, they were asking what else was offered. Now the woman also sell lavender products such as soap, honey and bath bombs.

Campbell County Conservation District Manager Patti Dischar said agritourism, like the U-pick lavender season, preserves farms and helps local businesses and entrepreneurs grow by bringing knowledge and education to those around the area.

“It (agritourism) encourages conversation amongst our citizens about what we are doing here in the county that is promoting the sustainability of the farms (and) also bringing awareness about the vitality of that economic progress,” Dischar said. “It helps everyone to know there are landown- ers that are working hard to provide these services and these products and keeping it local.”

The Campbell County Conservation District works with residents, landowners and schools to educate people on protecting the county’s natural resources, such as water and soil.

Dischar said the district provides education through events such as the Backroads Farm Tour; a farm exposition; the Farm to Fork dining experience; and Christmas farm shop hop, which all promote agritourism in the region.

The Lavender Field is a participant in this year’s Backroads Farm Tour, which exposes landowners to the best management practices and gives others a chance to see the importance of preserving the county’s farmland. Through self-guided driving tours, they can explore regional agricultural operations, including vineyards, equestrian centers, beef cattle operations and horticultural sites. Eleven other local farms are participating in this year’s farm tour, including other nontraditional farm operations like Mason Greenhouse.

“He’s not an agricultural business, but he is a local landowner that decided to build his own greenhouse to protect it from the animals eating all of his produce,” Dischar said. “He does not call (it) a farm, but … a side-yard greenhouse. And he takes this greenhouse and protects it from any predators throughout the summer while growing his produce, and then in the wintertime, he winterizes it.”

Another conservation district event, Farm to Fork, brings attention to local farms and promotes sustainability. Dischar said that, in addition to opening the event to the community, the district also invites stakeholders to the dining experience, which serves locally grown food and is designed to provide guests with a better understanding of and appreciation for the assets the Campbell County farming community brings to the table.

“We talk to them about local agriculture businesses, how to get local quality food, how to promote the sustainability of our agriculture businesses through the produce, through the foods, especially coming off of COVID-19,” Dischar said. “It (is) a great opportunity to talk about sustainability here in Campbell County.”

Sunderland Berry in Alexandria, a farm that grows and sells berries, participated in the most recent Farm to Fork event. Dischar said the farm harvests a 1-acre plot with an interesting technique.

“They had to come up with a unique way of not going horizontal but vertical, so they grow their berries vertically. It’s a really neat agriculture business,” she said.

Another nontraditional operation, Strole Ridge Farm in Grant’s Lick, also was launched with no plan to sell a product, similar to The Lavender Field. Owner-operators Christi and Kevin Strole never expected to own goats, let alone make goat’s milk soap by hand.

Strole Ridge Farm sits on about 6.5 acres. The Stroles said they knew they would have horses on their property, but they also ended up with goats and many other farm ani- mals, including chickens and a donkey.

Christi said the story of how they ended up making goat’s milk soap has a sad beginning.

“We had a mom who had some babies, and we ended up actually losing a couple of the babies sort of traumatically,” she said. “So, the mom had a lot of extra milk, and she was kind of engorged, so we had to milk her to make her more comfortable. And then, one day, Kevin just decided that he was going to try to make some goat milk soap.”

Kevin, who does all the soap-making on the farm, started by whipping up a few batches in February 2021 that netted 72 bars of soap. The couple sold out of them within 24 hours.

They started by milking one doe from February through October 2021. They now have 16 goats and just finished their third round of breeding.

“We had to buy another deep freezer for all

Kevin said he did a lot of research online, watched YouTube videos and read books to teach himself how to make the soap. He then used a trial-and-error approach and made different batches until finding his preferred recipe. The soap consists of olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, rice bran oil, sweet almond oil and additives of kaolin clay and colloidal oatmeal.

Strole Ridge Farm offers soaps in 20 scents, all with design variations, as well as holiday and seasonal variations. Kevin also recently started making a goat’s milk shave bar set.

“Goat’s milk definitely helps with moisturizing,” Christi said. “We’ve actually had people tell us that it helps with their eczema.”

Kevin estimates they’ve sold nearly 2,000 bars of soap.

The Stroles also sell some of their surplus baby goats (does must have babies to make milk).

“Obviously, to have milk, you have to have babies,” Christi said. “So, we end up with a couple of extra babies, and we do usually sell those.”

Both The Lavender Field and Strole Ridge Farm sell their products in the BrownDog Marketplace in Cold Spring. While the owners don’t rely on the products from their farms to live, they get to spend time with family and work on a hobby while doing something they love.

For the Stroles, losing the baby goats in the beginning of their venture was hard, and they set out two light-up goats at Christmastime in remembrance of them. But outside of that experience, it has been an overall great time so far.

“It’s been really fun,” Christi said. “I have loved it. I like seeing (Kevin’s) creativity, because this is something that I honestly didn’t expect either one of us would get into. I don’t know what this means, but I didn’t feel like we were ‘goat milk soap people.’ ”

Dischar told LINK nky that preserving the county’s farmlands is essential.

“Without them, we do not have local food sources, we do not have local economic viability, we do not have the local education and the awareness of preserving the soil and the water,” she said. “We do not have any local products. It affects the ecosystem, and if we don’t protect that, then we’re not going to be able to be sustainable.”

Agritourism destinations to hit up around Northern Kentucky:

Campbell: Neltner’s Farm

Location: 6922 4 Mile Road, Melbourne

From April through September, the farm is available for weddings and event rentals.

After the wedding season, the farm kicks off its Fall Fest. The event features horsedrawn wagon rides, a model train display, corn maze, pick-your-own pumpkin patch, petting zoo, pony rides, homemade food and ice cream, farm shop, seasonal apples and barrel train.

More information: Neltnersfarm.com

Seven Wells Winery

Location: 1223 Siry Road, California

The tasting room is open Friday through Sunday year-round. Guests are asked to call ahead first and can bring their own food. Wine tastings and cheese trays are available anytime. Seven Wells also offers beer. The winery hosts dinners and live music as scheduled.

Hours: Friday, 5-9 p.m.; Saturday, noon-8 p.m.; Sunday, noon-6 p.m.

More information: Sevenwellswinery.com.

Kenton: Luxberry Farm

Location: 11024 Decoursey Pike, Covington

The 67-acre Luxberry Farm operates as an event center. Between the grounds, barn and lodge, guests can schedule camping and glamping trips, photo shoots, cooking classes, hiking, family getaways and more.

More information: Luxberryfarm.com.