Saturday’s sold out Farm To Fork Dinner will be from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Wallace State School of Nursing and Center for Science building. Here is a little bit about the farmers who provided food for Saturday’s meal.

Brian and Pam Kress

Kress Farms is a multi-generation family farm started in 1862. Brian and his wife, Pam, were married October 11,1986. Brian and his brother, Kerry, run the the farm. Brian and Pam have two children Travis, 26, and Erin, 21. Erin recently graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a registered nurse. Travis works with the Soil and Water Conservation District and helps Brian on the farm whenever he can.

Kress Farms manages around 400 acres. They grow 90 acres in sweet potatoes, 10 acres in Irish potatoes, 10 acres in peas, 1 acre in strawberries, 3 acres in peaches, 210 acres in soybeans, 75 acres in wheat and other summer vegetable crops. Brian provided the peas for tonight’s meal.

Darrell and Lydia Haynes

Haynes Farms is a fifth- and sixth-generation diversified family farm. Darrel and Lydia are in partnership with their two sons, Ben and Bart. After graduating Fairview High School and Auburn University, both sons returned to the family farm. Ben and his wife Whitney, who is the FCCLA teacher at Fairview, have three children: Jack, Lola Kate and Charlie. Darrel’s parents, Bud and Juanita Haynes, still play important roles in the day-to-day life of the farm.

They are a diversified family farm. “We maintain a herd of approximately 600 brood cows in our commercial cow-calf operation,” said Lydia. “We background feeder cattle and sale on Superior Livestock Auction, which is a live television auction out of Brush, Colorado. Our feeder cattle are certified as “All Natural” and are usually bought by feed yard operations in the northeast United States. Indeed, most of our beef is bought by the “Whole Foods Grocery Store” chain.” The Haynes are also involved with commercial feed grains. “We are presently row cropping approximately 1,200 acres of corn and soybeans. Some of the soybeans were doubled cropped behind winter wheat which was harvested in mid-June.

They also have a sizable hay operation. “We keep most of our hay for our own cattle, but we have also developed sizable markets for our quality horse hay. We sale Tifton Bermuda and Alfalfa. For the last couple of hay seasons, Chef Frank Stitt bought Alfalfa hay from us for his Polo ponies.”

“We have three Registered Quarter horses, which strictly are pets and used for pleasure. “Chief”, an older gelding was raised and trained by the Kontegeorges’ here in Cullman County. “Woody”, also a gelding, and his full sister “Lynne” were foaled and raised in Monroe County by my twin sister, Lynne, and her husband, Dr. Philip Hardee. Both horses descend from a long line bred especially for use as cutting horses from the King Ranch in Texas.”

Lydia learned to ride on her daddy’s mules. “My daddy, John Lovelady, would lift my twin sister and I onto the back of the mule team, Sam and Joe, at the end of the day and we would ride them back to the barn. Our first ‘real horse’ was a Welsh pony and her colt which were given to us by then Former Governor ‘Big Jim’ Folsom,” recalls Lydia fondly.

“I feel like there is nothing in the world quite like being on the back of a 1,000-pound animal and being able to enjoy a ride by simply gently leaning the reins on the horses’ neck, pressing the knee or with quite voice commands. It is amazing to see the confidence that engulfs a child or an adult the first time they are up on horseback. As a registered physical therapist, I have on occasion brought young patients to the farm and let them ride. Horses and the world of equine have long been an important part of the story of mankind. I feel that the fascination with the power and beauty of horses will never fade.”

Raymond Kimbrel

Raymond Kimbrel represents the pork commodity. Kimbrel is plant manager of the Fatback Pig Cooperative in Eva, Alabama. The Fatback Pig Project is the brainchild of Nick Pihakis, owner and co-founder of Jim ‘n Nick’s Barbecue, which has grown from its flagship location in Birmingham to include 33 restaurants in seven states, including the one recently opened in Cullman.

At one point, Pihakis and a friend spent a week driving around rural areas in Alabama and Mississippi, looking for farmers who grew hogs. They found none… and it set them to wondering why there was no one here raising these animals which play such an important part of our signature Southern food — barbecue.

Kimbrel says that the project has been a success. “We employ 20 people,” said Kimbrel. “We ship our product to Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. We are providers of bacon, sausage, ham and other pork products.”

The Fatback Pig Project provided one hundred pounds of natural pork shoulder and 60 pounds of boneless pork loin for tonight’s meal. “We are actively seeking growers at this time,” he added.

Jimmy Parker

Jimmy Parker farms in Battleground, on the western edge of Cullman County. He got his start farming chickens at the age of sixteen in 1988.

He chose to raise goats and sheep on his dad’s farm because he was looking for something that would not compete with his father’s cattle. “Goats and sheep don’t eat the same food as cattle,” he explained. He used his earnings to help pay for his college expenses. Parker says that raising sheep and goats is more profitable than cattle, although more trouble than raising cows. He turns his product around in about four to six months. “We are a small market in demand in the white tablecloth restaurants all up and down the Eastern Seaboard,” Parker explained.

Parker has 140 acres, but only ten of them are dedicated to his goats and sheep. In the past he has sold some wool from the sheep, but has discontinued the practice.

It’s a picturesque way of life – looking out over his herd of sheep grazing in the pasture. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Lee and Sara Haynes

Lee and Sara Haynes of Fairview are up-and-coming young farmers who are helping to promote agriculture for the next generation. Lee currently serves as chairman of the Cullman County Young Farmers Committee. He was also recently honored in Washington, D.C. as a Champion for Change.

Sara was born in Birmingham, but grew up in Sarasota, Florida, where her grandparents were commercial tomato growers.

Lee’s family has been farming since 2002. After graduating from college in 2007, Lee came home to the help run the family farm.

The Haynes have four high-rise commercial layer houses, holding 240,000 birds. They have 16 full-time employees and load trunks with eggs six days per week, selling between one hundred to one hundred and twenty thousand dozen eggs weekly.

“Ninety-nine percent of our product never gets touched by human hands,” Lee explained. “I love producing a product from start to finish. I feel a sense of pride in seeing a product that I grow on the grocery shelves,” he said.