Farm Stead Market - Eminence, Kentucky

By Kevin Williams

Farm Stead Market in Eminence, Kentucky is a trip into time.

Eminence, Kentucky is  a small town in Henry County, about 45 minutes to the northeast of Louisville.  There is an Amish settlement there.  It is small and I've always wanted to visit.  Well, the pandemic has quashed much of my Amish travel for the foreseeable future.   But my niece often goes nearish to that area on her way to visit her Mom in Louisville, so I dispatched her (more about the "dispatching" in an upcoming post) to the Farm Stead  (the spelling of the market drives me bonkers, but that is how they have it)

Market, a classic Amish bulk food and bakery.  I had tried to stop here myself, but as you can see from the hours listed on the sigh, they are not open on Monday. SIGH, I found that out the hard way.

But, my 16-year-old niece Lorelei was game for a pandemic adventure and paid a visit to the place.   Again, looks like a classic Amish bakery.

The Farmstead opened in 2015 and the local paper chronicled its arrival, here is part of the article:

The Raber family, which includes Roman Raber’s wife Susan and their seven children ranging from six months to 20 years, have lived in Henry County for about a year and a half, after moving from Amish country in Ohio, Holmes County.

Having heard about Southern hospitality, Raber said they’ve gotten to experience the true meaning of the phrase, with many people stopping at their home and farm on Highway 421, introducing themselves and welcoming the family to the community here.

You can read the whole article here.

Here's a Yelp review from 2017 that seems to capsulize the experience:

For lunch, I had a sandwich on white bread with Virginia ham, Cajun turkey, Oven roasted chicken, Colby cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, onion, mayo, and mustard. Simple fare and delicious. You can either tell them what you want on your sandwich or grab a card and check the boxes indicating what type of bread you want (white or wheat) what type of condiment, whether you want pickles/lettuce/onions etc, then you pick one cheese, and one meat, write your name on the card and simply hand it to the Amish gentleman at the counter. They prepare your sandwiches and each person's name is written on wax paper covering your sandwich.

There is no indoor seating, but plenty outside. It was a nice Sunny unusual warm Day in December when I went so I sat outside with views of the Amish home and farm animals next door.

Sandwiches seem to be a specialty, many Amish bulk food stores have found a great following offering made-to-order amazing sandwiches!

Lorelei reported to me that the Amish employees were all wearing masks so that was interesting.  I mean, I would kind of expect to be.  The fact that this Amish family moved to the area from Holmes County, Ohio means they probably have a bit more of a progressive, outward-facing world view.

Here are some of Lorelei's photos from her Farm Stead visit!