Paul Campbell

Today I begin my efforts to help the citizens of Fayette County Kentucky understand I am a Realtor Consultant that is on a mission to help anyone who works with me as a buyer or seller to become a gardener. I have experienced the value that a small garden can bring when selling a home. I have experienced the joy of seeing first time home buyers reap the harvest from their first garden.

I was raised on a small organic farm in North Idaho. I owned my own very small organic farm in Woodinville, Washington for 25 years.
When my two oldest children Andrew and Marnie ended up in Lexington and when our first grandchild Samuel was born Kathy and I began the process of moving to be near our family. I had begun helping people buy farm land while in Seattle and knew that I would want to continue in real estate in Kentucky.

Last month while harvesting tomatoes in my garden I was overcome with deep joy and gratitude.. Immediately I was reminded that a great passion of mine is to grow healthy food. The previous four months I had worked with several sellers and buyers. I had shared my joy of gardening through giving my clients a plant I had grown or sharing some produce from my garden. It just hadn't quite become clear until that morning experience last month that to be the realtor I really want to be I needed to somehow connect my two passions.

So with the help of Hugh Sims of Integrity Premier Advertising I am beginning the process of informing Lexington on my passion to help home owners and home buyers become home gardeners.

The first part of my plan is to visit local businesses that have a connection with healthy food. That includes local garden centers, local restaurants and local markets that buy and/or sell healthy grown local produce or products used to grow healthy produce. My goal is to share with these businesses my passion and desire to support their efforts to connect people with healthy food production practices. I will give each business a tote bag with my logo and 30 pens to use with their patrons.

The second step is to publish a high quality pamplet that focuses on building value into our lives and our homes through healthy gardening practices. I am considering doing a high quality quarterly pamplet that is magnetized. I want something easy to read that will inform people on gardening and remind them I am ready to help them market their home..

Two Brothers, A GPS and a 4 Wheeler were all we needed to start a day of adventure.

My brother Jeff drove out from Colorado this week with his wife Teresa, daughter Chris, and grandson Jared.

Kathy and I met them at their camp site near Natural Bridge State Park Thursday and we set out in their 4 Wheel Drive truck for a day of exploring.

Jeff was not in a hurry and he likes to explore the country, so we purposefully took the back roads to our ultimate destination of Cumberland Gap.

The windy roads and elevation changed as we toured eastern Kentucky; it proved to be slow, but of great reward in scenery and historical education..

The lush growth from the abundant July rains made the occasional roadside viewpoint especially treasured. Jeff stopped repeatedly, and we viewed the Smoky Mountains even though we never entered the park.

The natural beauty was in stark contrast to the historical town of Lynch, Kentucky. The memorial to the hundreds of miners who lost their lives in the coal mines was especially sobering. Those honorable men were providing for their families in the best way they knew. There is reason to question the current practice of carving a hole out of the side of a mountain using heavy equipment while mining for coal. The priceless value of lives lost in the conventional mining practices makes scraping a mountain much more palatable.

It took us six hours to finally motor into Cumberland Gap National Park. After a quick tour of the visitors center we trucked up to the top of "The Pinnacle."

The Pinnacle is a two mile very steep drive to the crest of a hill where one can view Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. We appreciated the clear weather and we posed for numerous photos.

With our daylight dwindling rapidly we set the GPS to take us back to Jeff's campsite and proceeded onward hoping that we could make the return trip before dark.

I kept an eye on the Kentucky map that Kathy had dredged up for two reasons. The GPS is only as good as the programmer who entered the info and because old habits die slowly. I have greatly enjoyed looking at maps as long as I can remember. After traveling about an hour I glanced at the map and noticed a small paved road that appeared to shave about 10 miles off our route.

I asked Jeff if he wanted to try a short cut. From the back seat came some sarcastic remarks from my loved one, guess who?

There are a few shared life experiences with Kathy that justify her doubt about the wisdom of taking a "short cut."

Jeff was up for an adventure, and we turned on the enticing narrow road that began our "short cut" adventure. The GPS adjusted to our new route. The little paved road we navigated soon became very narrow and the GPS directed us to turn on C. Wilson Road.

C. Wilson did not own a paving company. The road was clear of grass but cluttered with baseball sized rocks. The women in the back seat, most notably my dear wife, had some additional choice comments sprinkled with nervous laughter. Less than a mile, we suddenly were confronted with a tree that had fallen across the road. Fortunately it broke into several pieces.

Jeff, Chris and I were able to swing the dead wood to the side of the road. The GPS continued to lay the favored magenta line ahead of us. Shortly we came to a small farmhouse with a very noisy dog. The dog ran beside us and barked incessantly. That agressive dog began to cause a little worry in my mind.

Jeff put dust between us and the dog and then the road curved, and dropped down into a creek. Literally, there was no bridge. Jeff put the truck in 4 wheel drive and we slowly made our way across the creek. The relief of crossing the creek was suddenly replaced with the sight of a large grass field without any road whatsoever.

The witty comments from the back seat riders were a bit terse. I noticed that the little simulated car on the GPS no longer was following a line. The backseat riders directed us to turn around. I insisted on continuing mostly out of pure stubborness. Momentarily though, I spotted what appeared to be a paved road a couple of hundred yards in front of the truck. We continued moving forward with great expectations.

Fortunately there was no fence guarding that large grass field. Jeff easily pulled the truck up onto the paved road and the GPS was once again satified to lay the magenta line for us to travel. I glanced at the arrival time on the GPS and was greatly satisfied that despite the perils of our journey, we had shaved two minutes off of our arrival time.

Reflecting upon our adventure Jeff and I were especially amazed that someone had taken the time to enter C. Wilson Road into the progamming of my GPS. Do you have a GPS story you would like to share? Please do. Paul

Growing a garden gives one so many opportunities to begin building relationships. One of my neighbor and I for a myriad of reasons were just not connecting. He is diligent about keeping his yard very neat. So while he was outside the other night I went over and immediately asked him if he liked tomatoes. I had just given all my tomatoes away to another neighbor so I hesitated just asking him but the time was opportune.

The next day I saw him in the yard greeting his wife as she came home from work. I scooped up a bag of extra tomatoes. They were delighted to get the tomatoes and we had a few minutes of really getting to know each other.

The day before that a neighbor two doors up stopped by and asked if he could see my garden. He could get a glimpse of my garden on his walks and had questions about "how I grew such a beautiful garden." I took him on a tour and then invited hime to sit and visit a while.

Growing a garden opens doors to friendship much like sharing a meal with a neighbor. Sharing a meal with a neighbor that is cooked from the fresh produce in your garden is especially rewarding. Kathy cooked a lovely meal this week that we share with another neighbor. What a great way to enjoy life and build relationships.

My Favorite Green Bean Recipe almost as good as Basil Tomato Tart

We just had neighbors over for a garden meal. Kathy made this yummy bread tomato salad and fresh okra with tomatoes but I think my favorite is still the "Carter Green Beans." I picked the beans as they hung tantalizingly from the poles early this morning. I prefer pole beans. I really don't like bending over to pick beans and the pole beans stay off the ground which prevents rotting so common in wet and humid summers.

Just the memory of eating Carter Green Beans is motivation enough each spring to build the trellis and plant the beans. Oh, so delicious!

Here is the recipe for Carter Green Beans

1/3 cup or 6 slices of crumbled bacon


2 pounds of fresh snapped beans

Bring the Beans to a boil and boil 7 minutes or less. Do not let them get limp.

Put the beans and the bacon aside and dump the remaining ingredients listed below into a blender. Blend for 10 seconds.


1/3 cup olive oil

3 Tablespoons wine vinegar

1/2 Teaspoon salt

Pepper to your taste

3 chopped leaves of fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt or 1 clove minced

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Add the blended ingredients to the beans and bacon and mix well.

You will not be disappointed!