About Hailey

A little on me:

I'm Hailey. I'm originally from Nashville, TN. I grew up totally a city girl. People ask me all the time if I grew up on a farm or if my family gardened. Nope. My mom had a little garden one year in our backyard and I think we grew a few tomatoes, but thats all I can remember.

After High School I did a little traveling and decided to be a farmer. Why you might ask? Because I noticed that there's a lot of hungry people out there and I had big dreams of feeding them. Still do. So I moved on up to Kentucky and enrolled in UK's Sustainable Agriculture Program.

While at UK, I was introduced to some new heros like Aldo Leopold, Joel Salatin and Wendell Berry. I discovered Permaculture, animal husbandry and the pillars of sustainable agriculture: growing methods that are economically viable, uphold environmental stewardship, and are socially just. Wow! This was good stuff. The best find of all though, was my man! I met and married my husband, Wesley Botto who brought me up to Northern KY.

After four years of farming using organic methods, growing food in my own backyard and some experience teaching backyard gardening, my thumbs are still a light beige colored. No green thumbs here. So I have confidence that anyone and everyone can grow food. Whatever color your thumbs are!

We got married in Nashville at my moms house. Wes and his dad drove down from KY the week of the big day with an SUV full of 50 farm chickens and several pounds of salad greens. I worked at the farm that year to pay it off.  Totally worth it, the food was incredible and we had the best day ever.

In the garden:

I believe that growing your own food is one of the most spiritual and life giving activities that you can do. I absolutely love it. It's totally liberating to pick a ripe heirloom tomato from your garden and know that you are capable of working the land. Even more so to pick a tomato from your garden, then walk to a neighbors house and harvest some of their basil for a caprese salad. Yum! Trading dependence on your day job for interdependence with your neighbor is incredibly satisfying. Possibly even more satisfying than a local, organic, heirloom, sustainably grown home-made caprese salad. Thanks for coming along. 

Cheers!

-Hailey

This is what a quality man holding a quality bunch of beets looks like. 

Wesley and I in New Mexico, close to where I grew up.