Ken Folks Farm

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Ken Folks Farm Ken Folks Farm is a small family farm operated by Ken and Vernice Black. We use resources on the farm to produce maple syrup, jams, jellies and breads.

Everything is very small batch, hand-produced and labor intensive. But the results are delicious!

We're going to pause our stories about the farm to say goodbye to a great friend that we recently lost. We met Wendell C...
09/27/2026

We're going to pause our stories about the farm to say goodbye to a great friend that we recently lost. We met Wendell Cooper around 2013 when he came to one of our yard sales. He was a tough negotiator and we hit it off right away.

Wendell loved to buy, sell and trade, and he was VERY good at it. Maybe even more, he loved to fish. He spent many summer afternoons at our lake, first in Walton and then here at Ken Folks Farm, fishing for big bluegill, bass and catfish.

No matter whether he was fishing, wheeling and dealing, or going to church, Wendell always wore bib overalls. With his wavy black hair and bibs, he bore an uncanny resemblance to Frisch's Big Boy.

Wendell loved his pickup truck, guns and pocket knives. He was always looking for a deal. Many times he was buying for someone else. If you casually mentioned to Wendell that there was something you needed, chances are he would find it for you within a few hours.

Wendell loved his wife Miriam, his family and his friends, and he made sure that they knew it. We became part of his extended family and his family became part of ours.

Wendell departed this earth for his heavenly home on August 31, 2026. On September 26, in keeping with his final wishes, we were honored to scatter his ashes at his favorite fishing spot here on the farm.

Wendell was one of a kind and we miss him every day. But we will meet again, and chances are he will have already found the best fishing holes.

Ralph was always looking for ways to avoid waste and save money. He and Mildred lived by the wartime slogan "Use it up,...
09/22/2026

Ralph was always looking for ways to avoid waste and save money. He and Mildred lived by the wartime slogan "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without". We found many examples around the farm of broken items that were repaired and of worn out items that were saved in case a spare part could be salvaged.

Ralph also took advantage of every strategy he could think of to legally reduce his tax burden. For example, he invested in municipal bonds because they were relatively safe investments and their earnings were tax free. But our favorite story involved one of his deductions for farm expenses.

Mildred always kept a large flock of chickens and she sold eggs. She kept a couple of lights on in the chicken house at night to discourage predators and increase egg production. Ralph calculated the cost of using these lights based on the wattage of the bulbs, how many hours a day the lights were on, and the cost of the electricity to power them. He reported this to his tax accountant as a deductible farm expense. Years later, when he told us the story, the accountant said "I always secretly hoped that Ralph would be audited. The IRS wouldn't have stood a chance against him."

Mildred and Ralph were always looking for a bargain. Much of their food was grown on the farm, but they did go to the g...
09/20/2026

Mildred and Ralph were always looking for a bargain. Much of their food was grown on the farm, but they did go to the grocery store in Carrollton on senior citizen discount days. On one of those trips, they bought a large box of overripe bananas. It must have been a deal too good to pass up. Now they had a problem. How to use all of those bananas before they spoiled. They began eating all the bananas they could hold and Mildred cooked every recipe she knew that called for bananas.

They had almost used them all when Mildred took the final few bananas and made a banana cream pie. Ralph came in for dinner (the midday meal) and had a piece of pie. He didn't feel well that afternoon but didn't think much about it. The next day be had more pie and got sick again. He later told us "I didn't think I ever would get that pie eat". Yes, he ate the whole pie, with every piece making him sick! When we asked why he didn't throw it away, he just said "Oh, I couldn't do that!"

Next time: Taxes, chickens and light bulbs

Mildred and Ralph were simple people living simple lives. They were frugal and there are many stories about the lengths...
09/18/2026

Mildred and Ralph were simple people living simple lives. They were frugal and there are many stories about the lengths they would go to in order to save money or to avoid waste. We'll tell you some of our favorites. On the other hand, there were things they would gladly spend on. Ralph loved to travel and he visited all 50 states and much of Canada and Mexico. Ralph also loved to eat out (especially at "all you can eat" buffets) and if you went out to eat with him he was going to pick up the tab.

Ralph's love of food and inability to waste gives us a couple of our favorite stories. We went out to eat with Mildred and Ralph at Ryan's Steakhouse in Florence. This was a salad bar and buffet where you also ordered a steak. After the meal, where Ralph always seemed to eat three times as much as anyone else, he went back for dessert. He got a bowl of vanilla ice cream and topped it off with what he thought was strawberry topping. Turns out it was ketchup! We tried to get Ralph to set it aside and get another bowl of ice cream, or at least to scoop the ketchup off. But he said "Oh, no. It was my mistake. I'll eat it.". And he did. Remember, his daddy always said "Take all you want, but eat all you take".

Next time: The banana cream pie.

We'll take a short break from the story of Mildred and Ralph to fill in some other important details. We talked about t...
09/16/2026

We'll take a short break from the story of Mildred and Ralph to fill in some other important details. We talked about the original house on the farm, including the log portion that we restored. (If you are new to our page, be sure to look back through the earlier posts for that part of the story). The original farm was land locked, with only an easement wide enough for a narrow gravel drive to get back to the farm and house. But in 1959 Charlie Hendren traded with a neighbor, Fain Boaz, for an acre of ground on Sayersville Road so he could build a new house. Even though he was in his late 60's, and in addition to all of his other farm work (to***co, hay, dairy cows, work horses, hogs, garden, etc) Charlie built a new 4 room home for himself, his wife Hattie, and Mildred. He also built a garage and several outbuildings including an outhouse, chicken house, brooder room, smoke house, corn crib and work shop.

Sadly, Hattie died after a brief illness in the summer of 1964 at the age of 64. She went into the hospital with a gallbladder attack and it was determined that she needed surgery. But it was the weekend and the doctors delayed her surgery until the following Monday. By then her bladder had burst and spread infection that killed her. Following her death, Mildred assumed the role of caring for the home and for Charlie.

When Ralph retired in the late 1970's, he moved to the farm with Mildred and Charlie, who was now in declining health. Ralph and Mildred added another bedroom, new bathroom and partial basement to the house. The farm had been untended for several years, so Ralph set about to improve and enlarge the farm. Over the next several years he cleared overgrown fields and added acreage to the north, south and west of the original farm, gradually doubling the size from the original 75 acres to a total of 155.

Pic 1 - The cabin after debris, vegetation and weatherboard siding was removed, before restoration
Pic 2 - The same view after restoration
Pic 3 - The house that Charlie Hendren built in 1959
Pic 4 - The house after the addition, as it appears today
Pic 5 - Hattie Hendren. Not sure what year this was taken.

Next time: Waste not, want not.

As we mentioned before, Mildred and Ralph met somewhere around 1950. Before long they were dating and by the mid 1950's...
09/14/2026

As we mentioned before, Mildred and Ralph met somewhere around 1950. Before long they were dating and by the mid 1950's Ralph was like a member of the family. One of Ralph's hobbies was photography and he took all of the family pictures we have from those days.

You'll recall that Ralph tried to enlist in the army air corps at the start of WW2, but the army had other ideas. That disappointment might have saved his life, as the fatality rate among military airmen was extremely high. Incredibly, 15,000 airmen were killed in training accidents and another 50,000 were killed in combat.

Following his discharge from the army and graduation from WKU, Ralph pursued his dream of flying and got his private pilot's license. He bought a used two-seat single-engine Piper Cub airplane. When his job later transferred him from Grant County to Ballard County in extreme western Kentucky, Ralph and Mildred continued their relationship long distance. Ralph flew back to Gallatin County on weekends and holidays.

Finally, Mildred and Ralph were married on December 10, 1971. They had been dating for over 20 years! Remember, Mildred didn't want to rush into marriage. By now, Charlie Hendren was in his early 80's and Mildred was his primary caregiver. She was unwilling to leave the farm. Ralph still had several years to work before he could draw full retirement, so for the first several years of their married life they continued to live several hours apart.

By the way, Mildred and Ralph were married on Charlie's birthday. He said it was the only time he ever got a son-in-law for a birthday present!

Ralph Johnson was born in northeast Ohio in 1922 but as a child his family moved to a farm in Kentucky. Being the oldest...
09/12/2026

Ralph Johnson was born in northeast Ohio in 1922 but as a child his family moved to a farm in Kentucky. Being the oldest son in a large family during the depression, Ralph grew up with few material possessions. There was usually enough to eat, but Ralph told us many times "Daddy always said 'Take whatever you want but eat whatever you take' ". When WW2 began, Ralph enlisted in the Army with a promise that he would be assigned to the army air corps. However, that promise was broken, and five days after being sworn in, with no basic training, he was on a troop ship with no idea where he was going. When the ship finally docked they had arrived in Panama to defend the canal from an anticipated Japanese attack. Ralph's job was to maintain the searchlights that scanned the ocean every night for enemy ships and submarines. Thankfully that attack never came and Ralph never fired a shot in battle. Many of his war stories involved fishing with the natives of the Galapagos Islands, raiding pineapple plantations, and other island adventures!

Ralph was always a good money manager and felt a keen obligation to support his family. Ralph's brother told us that Ralph cashed his first two Army paychecks. After that, he sent all of his pay home to his family. Ralph covered his own expenses by charging interest on loans he made to other GIs going on leave who were broke!

When the war ended, Ralph took advantage of the GI Bill to get an education. He went to Western Kentucky University and graduated with a four year degree in agriculture. He then went to work for the Department of Agriculture as a soil conservation agent, a career that would span the next 40+ years.

Next time: Mildred and Ralph's courtship and marriage

Mildred Hendren graduated from high school in 1943. Pretty and fun-loving, she began dating a young man. We're told th...
09/10/2026

Mildred Hendren graduated from high school in 1943. Pretty and fun-loving, she began dating a young man. We're told that after several years of steady dating he wanted to get married. But she wasn't about to be rushed into anything, so they broke off the relationship.

Sometime in 1946, the postmaster from Warsaw came to visit Mildred to see if she wanted a job. No one was home, so he left a note on her bed saying that if she wanted to work at the post office she should come to town and see him. She went to town the next day, got the job, and worked for the next 35 years as a clerk in the Warsaw post office.

She was always looking for ways to make a few extra dollars. In later years it was from selling eggs, blackberries, yard sales, etc. But around 1949-50 she and a friend were selling cookies on the street corner for ten cents each. They were at the busiest intersection in town, across the street from the court house and present day Jewell's restaurant. A young man who was new to the area pulled up in his car and bought a cookie. His name was Ralph Johnson, a recent graduate of Western Kentucky University who had taken a new job in the soil conservation service in nearby Grant County.

Next time we'll talk a little more about Ralph.

Tomorrow's Old Pioneer Farmer's Market is going to be really warm, with high temps forecast to be in the mid to upper 90...
09/02/2026

Tomorrow's Old Pioneer Farmer's Market is going to be really warm, with high temps forecast to be in the mid to upper 90's. Because of the excessive heat, we'll set up a little later than normal (around 4 pm) and we may leave by 6. Typically most folks shop during the first half of the market hours anyway for the best selection. Vernice is baking four kinds of bread, including blueberry, apple zucchini, persimmon and maple banana. We'll have plenty of strawberry rhubarb jam and just a few jars each of apple cinnamon jelly, apple butter, reduced sugar blackberry jam, almond peach jelly, and red bud blossom jelly. Come on out and support the vendors who are braving the heat to bring you their locally grown, baked and/or crafted offerings. Remember, this is the last market for the year, so it's the last chance to stock up. We'll see you at the market.

Five years ago, not long after moving to the farm, Vernice bought a little pack of plastic maple taps off the clearance ...
09/02/2026

Five years ago, not long after moving to the farm, Vernice bought a little pack of plastic maple taps off the clearance table at Tractor Supply and said we were going to make maple syrup. We made a lot of mistakes, but eventually got the hang of it and we were hooked. We gradually increased our production with the goal of making enough to sell at our local farmers market. Three years ago we joined the Old Pioneer Farmer's Market when it moved from Sparta to Warsaw. As new residents of Gallatin County, we wanted to be part of this community event and get to know more of our new neighbors. After three years we're happy to say the market has been everything we hoped for. We've made lasting friendships. We've reconnected with family that we hadn't seen in decades. And we've found a devoted group of repeat customers who really enjoy our syrup, jams and jellies, and quick breads. We appreciate all of you. This week is the last session of the market for 2026. We hope you'll come out so we can thank you personally. We'll be clearing out the jam and jelly that we have left and Vernice will be baking up a storm in the kitchen. We'll have more info coming out later today.

Address

800 Sayersville Road
Warsaw, KY
41095

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