On October 24th, our garden interns, Michael, Devan and Sam represented the school at the Kentucky Proud sponsored: Incredible Food Show located in Lexington, KY. Weeks of preparation went into attending this large, indoor market. The entire student body worked together to create several batches of hot sauce a week. Supplies had to be ordered, a sign made, labels printed and set-up was necessary.

The morning of the show, I (Jann) picked the boys up at 6:45 a.m. to make our 2 hour trek to the University of Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, where the show was held. Our interns took turns talking to market attendees. They discussed all things hot sauce and explained our special, little school in the hills of Eastern Kentucky. We met wholesalers, who are interested in working with us once we are 100% commercialized, as well as people who grew up or knew community members in the David area. I watched with glittering eyes how these 3 young men went above and beyond to make the best of the long and tiring day.

Michael, Devan and Sam truly stepped up and finished their garden internship strong. Although we didn’t sell as many jars of hot sauce as anticipated; we learned so much from an array of people and truly enjoyed our time being a part of such a wonderful event. The Incredible Food Show opened up doors that would not have been available to our small, garden business had we not taken the risk and stepped outside our Floyd County bubble.

While the four of us represented the school in Lexington, Anna (Lead Teacher) and Morgan (English Teacher) took two volunteer students (Christian and Chris G.) to our local, Floyd County Cooperative Extension Office to sell hot sauce. These four almost completely sold out of hot sauce and enjoyed giving samples to market attendees.

At both events we received feedback about our hot sauces. Some agreed that Falcon’s Inferno was named correctly and others believed it to simply be a “hot mild” hot sauce. Our local Extension Agent, Keith, explained to us how he chose to use the hot sauce he purchased. Keith said he added it to his homemade chili and he and his wife truly enjoyed the meal! It is always nice to hear feedback on our products- both positive and constructive. I feel our first year of business has been a learning experience every step of the way. We appreciate all the support from people near and fair that are helping turn our vision into a reality. We cannot wait for next spring, when we can take what we know and expand our business even further.

Updates on winter preparations and kitchen commercialization to come! Stay tuned!