
On October 17th, Kentucky Hempsters had the honor of hosting the second annual Hemp Dinner at Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate in Lexington. The exclusive culinary experience sold out, and raised close to $4,000 for continued hemp education at Ashland through the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation and the Kentucky Hemp Heritage Alliance.
Last year, we partnered with Ashland to grow the first hemp crop on the property in more than 150 years. We hosted the first hemp dinner during Henry Clay's Hemp Symposium as part of Hemp History Week to celebrate the inaugural planting, and sold out of 75 reservations. This year we expanded our capacity to 100 reservations, and sold out once again! It was an honor to celebrate two years of hemp growing at Ashland, and commemorate all of the progress taking place through the Kentucky Hemp Pilot Program.
This year's menu featured a hemp oil caesar dressing made with hemp hearts, hemp seed crusted chicken with golden raisins in a bourbon and sorghum glaze, creamy smoked gouda and hemp heart risotto, sour cream and hemp flour corn bread, and blueberry peach cobbler with a hemp cake crumble for desert. Guests also enjoyed locally brewed hemp beer made with Kentucky hemp seeds from Rock House Brewing.
During the dinner, we had speakers join us to discuss various aspects of the re-emerging Kentucky hemp industry. Brent Burchett, Director of Value-added Plant Production at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, provided an update regarding the Kentucky Hemp Pilot Program. He was followed by Kentucky hemp pilot program participants Bill Polyniak representing Kentucky Cannabis Co., Andrea Schiavi from Schiavi Seeds, and Tom Ramsey with GenCanna. The speakers concluded with Jonathan Miller, Member-in-Charge at Frost Brown Todd Attorneys in Lexington, who shared insight on federal legislation and legal issues.
The evening closed with a raffle and gift bag giveaway. All guests left with a Kentucky Hempsters tote bag full of samples and materials - from hemp oil hand cream to roasted hemp seeds. We appreciate all of our sponsors and affiliates for helping make all of this happen! Most importantly, thank you to everyone who joined us for a chilly fall evening to celebrate the past, present, and future of Kentucky hemp! We look forward to continuing this event as part of the Kentucky Hemp Heritage Alliance and the Heritage Hemp Trail.
Henry Clay's Hemp Dinner was brought to you by
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