Community Supported Agriculture

Local Boxes of Produce Made to Order

Farming is no stranger to our local community, and agriculture has been a key staple to what makes Henderson so special.

Local farmers Josh and Brittany Johnston, owners of Windy Hill Farm + Home, have both been in and around agriculture their entire lives. Brittany’s dad was a seed geneticist while also growing crops and tobacco and raising cattle. Her mother also grew up in agriculture where her family owned several commercial greenhouses that grew tomatoes and cucumbers. Josh’s family farmed in Union County. Both went to college at Murray State University for Agriculture and found jobs with Nutrien Ag Solutions where Josh was a crop consultant in Morganfield and  Brittany was a division administrative manager in Owensboro. She happened to be auditing Josh’s office when they met. 

After they were married, the Johnston’s started their own garden. However, it wasn’t until their daughter, Maggie, was born that Brittany stepped away from her full-time job and began going to the Henderson Farmers’ Market to sell their fresh produce.

A New Season 

Windy Hill Farm + Home took a turn in 2023 when they were blessed with gaining larger accounts. At the end of 2023, Josh left Nutrien Ag Solutions and 2024 was their first year farming full-time.

They offered zucchini and cucumber the first year, and Brittany started baking bread. The demand for her bread took off. “I just wanted to diversify our options, so I just started out with zucchini bread and things that I was making from the garden and people started buying it. I went from 2 offerings to 12 every week and then it just grew from there,” Brittany said. 

Josh added, “Anything from the garden she can make. She can make onion jam that’s a marinade and that just shows her range.” Brittany baked for a wedding in October and has also been asked to do corporate events and showers. 

Bringing Back the CSA Program 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a program providing another option of getting local produce to those within the community through pre-crafted or customizable boxes (small or large) to be picked up or delivered each week for 10 weeks. This program is common around the country. Henderson offered a couple CSA programs about ten years ago, so it was something Josh and Brittany felt led to try and bring back to the community. 

Brittany stated, “It was initially my idea because we had heard of it and talked about it, but we really were trying to find a different outlet for summer. We go to the Farmers’ Market but that’s normally our only way to sell retail produce. It’s unbelievable how few people in Henderson know about the Farmers’ Market and actually go even if they do. I don’t know if it’s the time of day, but we were just trying to figure out how to expand it out into the community and get fresh produce to everybody that wanted it. We decided to try the CSA and see how it worked. It’s really our way of getting nutritious produce to local people.”

A program such as the CSA doesn’t come without its challenges. To run a program like this means farmers have to provide different crops to satisfy people every week. Josh noted, “It’s hard. If we are promising a fresh mix of produce every week, we have to raise a lot of different crops.”

The program is offered to residents in Henderson County, or anyone who wants to come to Henderson to pick it up. Additionally, the option to have boxes delivered is only offered to those living in Henderson. Individuals who sign up can pick up their boxes at the Henderson Farmers’ Market during business hours, Days Garden Center on Mondays between 1:00-5:00pm or select the option to have their boxes delivered. If someone has two or more boxes delivered to the same location then the delivery fee is waived. 

The Benefits of Signing Up 

When individuals sign up, they are given options of a small or large box and locals can pick between purchasing a pre-crafted box that Brittany picks out and sends recipes with, or they can choose from a list and select the produce they want. There will be at least two recipes provided per week with each customer receiving the same recipe in their pre-crafted box. “I am going to offer a baked good every week in the CSA box,” Brittany added. There is a $5 charge for the customizable option because it’s a little more time consuming for Josh and Brittany to put together. They give a 5% discount for those who pay ahead, or individuals may pay monthly. Boxes range from $25 to $45. 

The program will be offered for 10 weeks beginning May 19th. Windy Hill Farm + Home does a lot of business with schools, so they are wrapping up the program before fall when business with other accounts increases. 

The offerings will vary as each month begins. In the beginning, customers will find colorful crops from the cool season such as turnips, carrots, lettuces, onions and potatoes. As July approaches, the boxes will offer tomatoes, peppers (six different offerings), sweet corn, watermelon and cantaloupe. 

Brittany raised fresh herbs this year as well, so if a recipe calls for an herb they will provide that within the box. Some of the herbs include cilantro, parsley and oregano.

Buying fresh, local produce provides so many benefits. Josh stated, “There is tons of research proving how local food raised the way we raise it in your community, how much healthier it is, how much more nutrient dense it is than what you are going to get off the shelf at Walmart, and we believe and have done a lot of research in that regard. We want to help introduce people to local food and help introduce people to the idea that a smaller, kind of funny looking carrot has significantly higher nutrient density and higher density of secondary metabolites than what a pretty orange carrot from the Walmart shelf has in it. We want to incorporate that into our local community. Just because it’s a vegetable doesn’t mean it’s healthy.”

The Johnstons have picked up a lot of business in and around our community because businesses found that the produce they would receive on the box truck was not lasting as long. The shelf stability of local produce compared to something at the grocery store is much different. “A healthy full-packed fruit or vegetable always lasts longer in a cooler or fridge,” Josh said. Businesses might pay a little more for what farms like Windy Hill Farm + Home provide, but they are able to use it for a longer period of time.  

We are very passionate about specialty agriculture. “That’s our whole goal is we want to get our produce into our community. So much of what we do goes to different business accounts that might leave the county, and we want it here,” Josh explained. 

You can find Windy Hill Farm + Home at the Henderson Farmers’ Market on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 8:00am – 12:00pm from May through October. They will also be set up at the Summer Sunset Series on Thursday nights this summer in downtown Henderson.