Martin-Sorrell family breathes new life into old farm

Jimmy and Katie Martin-Sorrell dreamed of living a simpler life down on the farm.

After the couple finished active duty in the U.S. Air Force, they moved to Nicholas County, where they hoped to make their dream come true.

Today, Jimmy, Katie and their children, Reece, Whitley and Broedy spend their days tending to farm chores at Bluegrass Belties Farm and Orchard on 2300 Stoney Creek Road.

“My husband grew up in this area and held on to childhood memories of his grandparents farms he was raised on. After 14 years in the military we needed a peaceful place to call home. We found a fixer upper farm and signed away a new chapter in our life,” Katie said.

The road to becoming farmers started out a little rocky, but with each new step, Jimmy and Katie soon learned how to breathe life into an old farm.

“We thought if we could keep the nation’s first fighter jets up and returning safe, this farming thing would be a piece of cake. Boy we were wrong!

So we just took it one step at a time, fixed fence and purchased a herd of Buelingo cows; Belties or cookie cows. After the cows were settled, we wanted more diversity and started the orchard. Our 250-tree fruit orchard contains a wide variety of apples as well as peaches and pears, plums and nectarines. We have a five-acre garden that feeds local nursing homes and also process Buelingo beef here at the farm as well as fresh fruit. We provide service animals to Wounded Warriors. While other farmers take a break in winter, we never stop; our biggest crop is growing up farmers. The children are also very involved on the farm and are growing to be cowboys and cowgirls in their own right. Broedy, our oldest, is an officer in his local FFA and 4H Chapters and is an avid hunter on the farm. He is in charge of the horses, sheep, and chickens as well. Broedy has already proven to be a wonderful ambassador for the farm. Whitley is a guardian and friend to their cats and dogs. Reece, our youngest son, works in the garden and helps with the dogs. Whitley has become champion dog and cat breeders and travels to show Scotch Collies and Ragdoll cats all over the country. We have teamed up with many organizations such as Kentucky Proud, Home Grown by Hero’s Veteran Farmers collation, Kentucky women in Agriculture, 4H, UK FFA, and have been sea to sea in conferences and have a lot of great information to share,” Katie said.

The Martin-Sorrell family believes in holistic farming methods and works purposefully toward a more sustainable agricultural future and has a desire to help others become future farmers.

“Many people and Organizations have made the roads more smooth for us also. We are firm believers that it takes a community to make farming successful. Our journey has touched many—anyone can farm and should. Our biggest crop to date is Farmers, incidental, young, old, city slickers and all. And we still serve in the Reserves Airforce at Wright Patterson Airforce Base every month. Jimmy is a teacher for Mason County schools and I travel the state as a Department of Defense testing officer for high school students that want to join the military. Our state has the largest number of cows east of the Mississippi. We have great farmland. We need more young farmers! We need to educate our communities that you can have a career in agriculture and be successful. This is the only way we can save farms for generations to come. We also have resources to direct anyone that is thinking about farming we would love to share “Katie explained.

If you would like to visit or more information you can contact the Martin-Sorrells at 859-405-8060 or send them an email at bluegrassbelties@gmail.com.