BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Many do their best to avoid the outdoors during recent blasts of frigid temperatures, but some hardworking Kentuckians don’t have a choice.

What You Need To Know

  • Winter is tough on Kentucky's farmers

  • Richard Grant, co-owner of Grant’s Farm Produce, cannot harvest any produce, and has to reset everything from the ground up

  • Grant’s Farm Produce operates from June to November. During the wintertime, Grant and his employees still do a lot of work outdoors 

  • They will open their business doors next farming season in June

One of those hardworking Kentuckians is Richard Grant, the co-owner of Grant’s Farm Produce in Bowling Green. Grant has been working on his farm for years, and every year, he temporarily closes up shop after farming season. This year was no exception.

“This year has been one extreme or the other. It’s either too hot or too cold,” Grant explained.

In an interview with Spectrum News 1, Grant showed exactly how the winter affects his farming lifestyle.

“It puts you out of business. You wait till the last frost to plant, and when you get your first one, it’ll kill everything outside. So it starts your season and ends your season,” Grant shared.

During this time, Grant cannot harvest any produce, and has to reset everything from the ground up.

“At the end of the season, we have to cut the strings and get them out of the way, pull the post, pull the plants, and then pull the plastic,” he said.

Grant’s Farm Produce operates from June to November. During the wintertime, Grant and his employees do a lot of work outdoors on his farm, but when there’s a blanket of snow on the ground, there’s hardly anything he can do outside. 

During those times, he instead takes down plants that are indoors, which were once alive, but are now dead because the outdoor temperatures dipped below freezing.

“We had these all the way through Christmas, but it won’t be but another 30 more days. I’ll be planting them back in here,” he said.

According to Grant, winter is bittersweet. On one hand, it hurts him to get rid of the plants he’s grown for months.

“You kinda feel like you’re losing a piece of what you did all year long,” he said.

But it gives him time to reflect on the challenges he overcame this past farming season — including a windstorm in March, and a tornado that severely damaged his property in June, on his birthday. Now he’s hoping mother nature can show him some mercy.

“Every year farmers always hope for a better year, weather wise next year. All you can do is hope,” he said.

And, of course, prepare to open his business doors back up in June.

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