By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News
In the 1860s, Henry McGlasson moved west from Virginia and built a small log cabin on the south bank of the Ohio River a couple of miles downstream from Cincinnati.
The original cabin still remains inside a farmhouse, which has been expanded, remodeled, and up until last year, occupied by Henry’s great grandson. The sixth generation of the McGlasson family is still farming 120 acres of rich bottomland soil in Boone County between the river and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
“We’ve lived and farmed this land for 150-plus years,” said Jack McGlasson, a landscape architect by day who co-owns and operates McGlasson Farms with his brother, who tends the farm full-time.
“For the longest time, like when I was a kid, my great grandparents and my grandparents took almost all the produce to Cincinnati and sold it at some of the farmers’ markets,” Jack said. “There was a really big one downtown for decades…. We loaded up a big flatbed truck with racks and … my great uncle would sell the stuff up there.
“My parents took over about 2000, and they quit going to the markets because of our roadside stand, which they built in the late (19)60s,” he added. “With all the people moving into the area, lots of suburban development, the roadside market got so busy that we just didn’t need to go to the farmers’ markets anymore.”
When Jack and his brother took charge of McGlasson Farms, they began inviting people to visit the farm and pick their own fresh produce. The farm once offered a u-pick option for strawberries, apples, and tomatoes.
“We really started (u-pick) back with the strawberries,” Jack said. “The second year, we did the apples, and people loved it.”
Blueberry pickers are currently flocking to the farm’s 2-acre patch under netting, which keeps the birds away. Blackberries, which are native to Kentucky and the state’s official fruit, are beginning to mature into a dark purple for picking in an adjacent 1-acre plot.
“We’ve had a great growth in business here, especially the last five-plus years of getting into more u-pick opportunities,” Jack said. “It’s really exploded.
“In July, we start u-pick peaches,” he added. “Then starting in September, we do u-pick apples. We’ve got a whole (4-acre) apple orchard on the hillside, plus pumpkins and apple cider.”
Apples were and still are McGlasson Farms’ signature crop with two orchards totaling 10 acres.
“A lot of people will come just in the fall,” Jack said. “That’s like their one big trip out, and kids love it. It’s an experience.
“We don’t do a whole lot of specific agritourism, like wagon rides or stuff like that, but that’s a potential idea. People are always asking if they can have a wedding or a birthday party down here, so I think there’s a lot (of potential business) on the table.”
McGlasson Farms is expanding its popular 2-3 acre strawberry patch and resuming its CSA (community-supported agriculture), which allows people to buy a share of the farm’s bountiful vegetable harvest.
“My brother grows sweet corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans, cucumbers, and squash,” Jack said. “I’ve got red and white potatoes, and he does sweet potatoes. Kind of the whole gamut.
“Occasionally, if we have surplus, we’ll go to another farmers’ market (in northern Kentucky or suburban Cincinnati),” he added. “There were a couple that we liked going to, but really, we have enough business here (at the farmstand).”
Jack said his great-great-great-grandfather Henry continues to bless the farm by choosing its current location.
“We’re five minutes off the Interstate (75),” Jack added. “You can be in Cincinnati in 20 minutes, so we’re really not out in the middle of nowhere.”