The story of Cedar Valley Farms begins with my Papaw, Billy Lee. Papaw has been involved in agriculture since he was a small child, so there was no question of what he wanted to do for the rest of his life after high school. Papaw wanted to farm. He moved to Iowa and worked on a grain and cattle farm, but soon realized that he wanted to farm on his own. So, he moved back to Hodgenville, Kentucky and started to farm on his own. Papaw started row crop farming corn and soybeans and raised cattle to sale. It wasn't until the next generation that we began going direct to customers.
Second Generation: Scotty and Robin Lee
Our story continues with my dad, Scotty Lee, and my mom, Robin Lee. In 1985, they began Lee's Garden Center in Hodgenville, KY as a farm and wholesale greenhouse operation. The Garden Center started as a little green building with four small greenhouses located just outside of town on Highway 31E. Robin ran the Garden Center while running plant routes all over the southern United States. Scotty ran the farm and raised vegetables, tobacco, and cattle. My sisters (Laura and Ashley) and I grew up farming. Whether it was in the tobacco fields or running through the greenhouse, we were involved with agriculture from an early age. Later this small garden center morphed into what it is today with 1000's of hanging baskets, vegetables and bedding plants to choose from each year. They have now also added sweet corn that many students from local schools and JCPS can enjoy any given school day. Now that is where my story begins!
Third Generation: Me, Jud lee
I graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2015, moved back to the family farm, and married Abby in 2017. I immediately began thinking of a way to connect my family farm directly to our consumers. Thus Cedar Valley Farms was born. I believe it is important to know where your food comes from and that it is responsibly grown. We are always striving to produce the freshest vegetables and meat products, so that we can feed your healthy family. It's very exciting to think where are farm is today and how I got here.
If you would like to continue the story we have written a few blog posts that go more in depth about our family!