Owensboro Man Named Kentucky Farmer of the Year

The other night I tried my hand at preparing my paternal grandmother's fried corn. You want to know how good that corn was? She passed away two days before my FIFTH birthday, and I remember her fried corn.

If I do say so myself, my corn was very good, although not as good as hers. I'm missing that grandmotherly touch, and that's ok. Mine shouldn't be better than hers. But I'm getting a little off track. The reason I could prepare that corn was because of a bounty of the stuff courtesy of Cecil Farms. They bring us fresh produce every Monday here at the station.

So we're all very proud to learn that Gary Cecil of Cecil Farms has been named the Kentucky Farmer of the Year. I realize there's a ton of criteria that goes into this selection, but for my money, anyone who can grow or oversee the growing of watermelons and tomatoes as good as these are DESERVES that award.

Nominated for the honor by Scott Elliott, President of Daviess County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, Gary's impressive list of credentials is as long as both my arms, end to end. And maybe my legs, too.

And without the work he and his team have put in, none of us would be able to enjoy the amazing fresh fruits and vegetables they yield, year in and year out.

Why, without Cecil Farms, our very own digital managing editor, Ashley Sollars, would never have a baking champion at the Warrick County Fair with her zucchini bread. You guessed it; she used zucchini from Cecil Farms. (That's Ashley's daughter Ava with the certificate.)

We congratulate Gary Cecil and Cecil Farms for this wonderful and richly-deserved honor. For now, I'm going to deal with all these visions of homemade vegetable soup dancing in my head.