The Coombs family – (from left) Curtis, his parents Ginger and Guy, and Curtis’ wife Carilynn – began their first step back to the dairy farm by selling ice cream from their Jericho Farmhouse trailer. (Seriously Sabrina Photography photo)
JUNE
Dairy farm making comeback aided by 'Fixer Upper' star
By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News
In Greek mythology, the phoenix was a great bird that burst into flame and died, then rose out of its ashes to live again.
Jericho Farmhouse, a Kentucky Proud on-farm market and ice cream shop, can be likened to the phoenix. The Henry County dairy farm on which it stands is in its second stage of a three-part revival after having to close four years ago.
During its 53rd year of operation, disaster struck the family farm in March 2018. Jericho Acres Dairy had its milk contract canceled after its processing plant closed. Two months later, the 475-acre farm attracted national attention (click here to see an NBC-TV News story) when it was forced to sell its entire 80-cow dairy herd.
After hearing about the farm’s plight, Chip Gaines, co-star of the popular former HGTV series “Fixer Upper,” reached out to Carilynn Coombs of Jericho Acres. “I talked for an hour with Chip,” Carilynn said.
Gaines invited Carilynn and her husband, Curtis, to Waco, Texas, to meet with Gaines’ production staff in the Magnolia business empire he co-created with his wife and “Fixer Upper” partner, Joanna.
Joanna and Chip Gaines (Magnolia.com photo)
“We were able to develop a pretty robust business plan with their help,” Carilynn said. “He (Gaines) said, ‘Here are all the resources we have in our arsenal,’ such as a marketing department and business people that could help us come up with a financial plan. Between them and KCARD (Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development), a lot of hands went into this.”
The Jericho phoenix began to rise again in 2019, when the Coombs purchased a trailer and began selling Kentucky Proud homemade ice cream from Chaney’s Dairy Barn in Bowling Green.
“We’ve only had two weekends off since mid-June!” Carilynn said on Sept. 25, 2019, when she spoke about the loss of her family’s dairy farm and laid out the three-part plan for its future at a LAND (Linking Agriculture for Networking & Development) forum in Shelby County.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had little effect. In fact, the Coombs family thrived by selling raw cuts of beef.
“As a food trailer, we were still allowed to operate (during the pandemic),” Carilynn said. “Then when grocery stores ran out of meat, we got a kick start when everybody started purchasing local. We raise our own beef, so we had plenty of cattle slaughtered that we were able to sell to consumers. We were lucky.”
The next phase of the business plan was the construction of a farm store, which opened last year near Smithfield. Jericho Farmhouse provides a permanent base for its ice cream production, as well as a shop where it can serve its own small batch varieties, which it began making in May 2020.
“I still get advice from Carl (Chaney),” Carilynn said. “We bought the same (ice cream) machine. I learned how to use the machine from his head ice cream maker.”
This spring, Jericho Farmhouse signed an agreement to provide ice cream for the University of Louisville’s on-campus dining locations. Its ice cream will also be served this fall in concession stands at UofL football games.
“It will be a consistent income stream throughout the school year and into the wintertime,” Carilynn said. “We’re expanding our reach while also promoting people to come out to the farm.”
For spring, Jericho introduced lemon blueberry ice cream. Its best-selling flavors are banana pudding and a Chaney’s holdover, Bourbon Crunch.
Jericho has been experimenting with several unique flavors, such as sangria, in which Kentucky Proud Black & Bruised Wine from Purple Toad Winery in Paducah is cooked down to a syrup.
The Coombs had hoped to proceed this year with the third and final step of their business plan – to restart the dairy farm and start processing their own milk to make into ice cream. But she said a pause was in order.
“This has been kind of a whirlwind,” Carilynn said. “We know what we want and how we plan on getting it, but we’re just making sure we don’t bite off more than we can chew. We’ve just gotten through our first full year with the store.”
Jericho Farmhouse is open noon to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. It closes for the year on Halloween, when its fall attractions, a pumpkin patch and corn maze, come to an end. For more information, visit www.JerichoFarmhouse.com.
“We’re the perfect summer job,” Carilynn said. “Low stress and you’re done Oct. 31.”