Our Story: The Beginning

Our Story: The Beginning

Jud’s Childhood:

Jud was born and raised on his family’s farm in Hodgenville, KY. He is technically a third-generation farmer who has raised everything from flowers and vegetables to bottle calves and pigs. He spent much of his childhood helping sell plants and flowers at Lee’s Garden Center with his parents. Papaw Lee was one of his favorite people and he vividly remembers riding the tractor and playing in the tobacco fields with him while growing up.

In high school, Jud grew and sold hydroponic tomatoes at the Garden Center for his Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) FFA project. In college, he raised bottle dairy calves and worked at the local AG coop. He graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2015 with an Agronomy degree and quickly moved back home to begin his ventures on the family farm.

Abby's Childhood:

Abby was born and raised on a small family farm in Rockfield, KY. She is the baby of two older brothers who were always interested in agriculture and spent a lot of time at the barn where her Daddy worked with beefmaster cattle. On the other hand, Abby changed her high school schedule to avoid taking AG classes and joining FFA. Nonetheless, she loved growing up on a farm and her favorite animal is a goat, even though Jud hasn't let her bring any to the farm (yet).

Abby knew she wanted to be a teacher at a young age, just like her Momma who was a kindergarten/first-grade teacher for her entire career. Abby studied abroad four times in college and graduated with a history/social studies teaching degree in 2015. She is now a middle school librarian by day and a wanna-be farmer at night.

Marriage:

Jud and Abby met at WKU (#goTOPS) in 2013. Jud immediately moved home after he graduated in 2015 because he knew that he wanted to continue the family legacy of farming. Abby finished her student teaching in BG and moved to Hodgenville shortly after graduation.

Cedar Valley Farms began as a dream sitting in the living room of their first house together. Jud wanted to bring the farm directly to the consumer and Abby wanted to do whatever possible to support that goal. They began their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program during the summer of 2016 and began delivering weekly vegetable boxes to families out of his parent’s Dodge Nitro.

They were engaged in 2016, married in 2017, and had their first little boy (Cruse) in 2022. Hodgenville is home, and they take pride in providing high-quality farm produce and pasture-raised meats including grass-fed beef and pastured pork to families in their community.