Kentucky Hidden Wonders

Juicy Secrets of Shelby County

• Kentucky Hidden Wonders • Episode 11

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Mulberry Orchard celebrates its 15th season as a Shelby County treasure with 8,000 fruit trees and a commitment to authentic farm experiences. Fifth-generation farmer Amanda Gajdzik shares how her family transformed traditional farming operations into a thriving agritourism destination that educates visitors about where their food comes from.

  • Mulberry Orchard started in 2010 with 2,500 trees and has grown to 8,000 trees, primarily peaches and apples
  • The farm features produce from over 20 Kentucky Proud farms selling meats, honey, jellies, and local products
  • Their commercial kitchen offers a full lunch menu featuring farm-fresh ingredients 
  • Educational elements include playground equipment made from repurposed farm machinery with informative signage
  • Annual events include a Peach Festival (July), Sunflower Festival with butterfly releases, and fall activities
  • The farm employs about 30 people, including seasonal workers and teenagers gaining valuable work experience
  • Real farm-fresh peaches arrive by early July and are tree-ripened—completely different from store-bought peaches
  • Corn maze and other fall activities begin in September, including a special soybean maze for younger children
  • Mulberry Orchard previously hosted two Luke Bryan Farm Tour concerts, bringing 14-15,000 visitors to the farm

Come visit Mulberry Orchard in the Cropper area of Shelby County and experience fresh, local produce directly from our family farm!

Learn more about Mulberry Orchard at https://www.mulberryorchardky.com/. 

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🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is presented by ShelbyKY Tourism.

🥃 Plan a visit to Your Bourbon Destination® at www.visitshelbyky.com. Located in the heart of central Kentucky and less than an hour from Louisville and Lexington, ShelbyKY is the perfect Kentucky getaway. Complete with two great distilleries, action-packed outdoor adventures, and the best vacation rentals near Louisville, put ShelbyKY at the top of your list when planning a Kentucky Bourbon Trail® trip, romantic couples retreat, or a whole-family vacation.

🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is hosted by Janette Marson and Mason Warren and edited by Ethan Fisher.

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© ShelbyKY Tourism, All Rights Reserved.

Janette Marson:

Welcome to Kentucky Hidden Wonders. I'm Janette Marson.

Mason Warren:

and I'm Mason Warren.

Janette Marson:

Together, we're uncovering the secrets, stories and hidden gems of Shelby County.

Mason Warren:

Kentucky From unforgettable places to off-the-beaten-path adventures. Join us as we explore Kentucky treasures and Shelby County's best-kept secrets. Our guest today is Amanda Gajdzik from Mulberry Orchard. Thank you for being here.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yeah, super excited to join you guys today. Thanks for having me.

Mason Warren:

Yeah, of course. So let's get started by just you know, getting to know. You Tell us a little bit about yourself and tell us a little bit about Mulberry Orchard, and you know what the farm is like.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yes, so Mulberry Orchard is kind of on the northeastern part of Shelby County towards the Cropper Baghdad area, and this will actually be our 15th season, wow.

Amanda Gajdzik:

So we planted our first trees in 2010. We're up to about 8,000 fruit trees now, so mostly peaches and apples, and then continue to expand other things that we offer as far as vegetables and berries, melons, and then raise and sell our beef as well. We've got over 20 Kentucky Proud farms that sell within the orchard, so lots of other local products that you can get, whether it's other, you know we have our beef, but pork, chicken, lamb, eggs, honey, lots of jellies and salsas and Kentucky Proud coffee and lotions and teas and all sorts of things. So hopefully people can come out and get to have a great time, experience the farm. We've got a kitchen there, so we've got a full lunch and treat menu and, of course, the big playground area as well. So hopefully people come out to the farm, enjoy the day and get a lot of great Kentucky Proud products and other fun stuff while they're there too.

Janette Marson:

Oh, it's a wonderful farm. We love it so much, Absolutely. But let's go back in time, Like how did Mulberry Orchard, what the roots the very first? How did it get started? Like in your family.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yeah. So my husband and I when we graduated college we're both working public jobs and then farming on the side, just because we didn't have enough acres to support us at that time. So we were doing row crops corn and soybeans and beef cattle and some burly tobacco and then try to continue to grow those acres. But as we saw, the tobacco market kind of wavering a little bit, contracts were harder, labor was a challenge. We wanted to find something that we could do on a small amount of acres there on our home farm that would hopefully be able to help take over what tobacco income was and help support us as a family, for both of us to be able to come back to the farm full-time at some point.

Amanda Gajdzik:

So did lots of homework, visited a ton of other farms, agritourism type venues, and landed on planting some fruit trees. So our first planting was about 2,500 trees apples and peaches both and then just continued to expand from there. So we're up to, like I said, about 8,000 trees now and have grown the market area on farm. Agritourism kind of adds to that experience really getting people out to the farm so that they can see their food growing, have conversations about where food comes from and things of that nature. So kind of it started with just planting some trees. We turned a shop building into the market and have continued to add stuff along the way. So adding more trees, adding more to the playground, added the commercial kitchen a few years in. So trying to just continue to develop that to really make it a great experience for our customers to want to come out to the farm and enjoy.

Janette Marson:

Oh, that's fantastic. Well, of course, mason is the marketing director for the county and agritourism is extremely important to us in our marketing and so many people they want to know where their food comes from. They may not come at all for anything else other than agritourism to Kentucky, so it's very, very, very, very important and you have an important job here bringing visitors in and we're so thankful for you.

Mason Warren:

So deviating a little bit from the pre-written questions already, but so it sounds like agritourism was, you know, kind of a goal from the beginning. And then so you know, why was that important from the beginning? Is that something that you had experience in at a different location, or that type of thing?

Amanda Gajdzik:

Not necessarily Agritourism. The retail side of selling our product we knew was going to be important, kind of from the get-go Trying to differentiate yourself at Kroger or Walmart or wherever you're selling your product if it's this Fuji apple and that Fuji apple. Yes, this one says Kentucky proud and yes, there is a flavor difference, but it's kind of hard to differentiate yourself. So we really wanted to emphasize that retail part of our operation. Obviously you can make more off it as well if you're selling it straight at the farm rather than having to transport that and have a third party involved. So for us that retail part of it was big. But then you go from. You know we're not right there on the downtown stretch of Shelbyville so we need to draw people out to our place. So really making that experience draw them out there as a huge part of what we knew needed to come.

Amanda Gajdzik:

So we started with just the on-farm retail market and then had a little bit of stuff on the playground but knew we needed to continue to develop that and part of that has been. For us that goal has always been to keep that agriculture related Things that they're not going to see when they go to the playground at the park. We want that to be something. That's really cool, that they want to be driven to so things. On our playground, you know, we've got a small grain bin that's filled with corn and kids really enjoy being able to you know it's got diggers and stuff like that so they can dig and enjoy.

Amanda Gajdzik:

We've got an old combine that we gutted the center of it completely out and turned into slides and then we've got a sign there that says you know what this combine's used for to harvest corn. So a lot of educational pieces around the farm as well, so people can see animals and interact with them. When they go in the corn maze they're not just going through the maze, they're also reading little facts throughout the corn maze that are telling them about how many percentages there's. 98% of small farms or farms in the U S are still family owned, so they're trying to get that educational pieces they go through as well. So really trying to um, make that experience better, make them want to come out to the farm, but also to make sure to keep that agriculture as a big component of it has always been a goal and a passion of ours. To make sure that they're really learning where their food comes from and at least getting a piece of that that they're taking back with them.

Mason Warren:

Gotcha.

Janette Marson:

So it is June here in Kentucky and for those people, sad people, who have never been to your farm, what can they expect when they arrive at Mulberry? I know you mentioned the corn maze when does that happen? But right now, if they wanted to come, they're racing right out. What can they expect?

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yes, fresh juicy peaches. We are super, super close to that. Typically we always say every year by 4th of July we will have nice ripe juicy sweet peaches. So we are on the brink of that getting super, super close. So in the next few days we should be starting to pick our nice sweet juicy peaches.

Amanda Gajdzik:

If you had never experienced one, if you have only eaten a store peach, I will say that that is not a real peach. People are like, oh, I don't like peaches. I'm like, have you ever eaten a real peach? Because the ones at the store that you get that are still green and hard as a rock and you've got to let it sit on your counter for three days. I don't consider that a real peach, so don't let that be your judge.

Amanda Gajdzik:

So the people that haven't been there and those that are anxiously awaiting, we would love to have you out to the farm for nice, sweet, juicy peaches. The great thing about the orchard is that we pick them in the field, right half a mile from the market, and we bring them to the market and we sell them. So you don't have to pick it super green so that it can be transported from five states away up here and then sit on the counter while you wait for it to be purchased, so being able to have a nice, sweet, juicy peach that's soft and ready to eat when you walk out and you're sitting in your car and you've got the juice running down your arm.

Mason Warren:

That's exactly what we want. That's wonderful. I was going to say I am a peach convert.

Janette Marson:

Oh, I've always been a peach person. I love them, absolutely love them.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yes, they're amazing. And then so fresh produce is obviously starting up as well. So we've got some of the early produce, some squash and zucchini and tomatoes, things like that, getting started, and then we'll continue to expand. A lot of peppers and things like that that will start coming on before long as well. So lots of summer produce coming in. We also have blackberries and raspberries that'll be coming along before long as well, and then apples or peaches are pretty much July and August, a little bit into June, right here at us July and August, and then apples and fall stuff starts into that September, october. So we'll move into that before we know it. Oh, awesome.

Janette Marson:

And you had mentioned the corn maze I have never done. Mason, have you ever done a corn maze? I have, I have not. It is on my list, honestly, of things to do this year. When can I do your corn maze?

Amanda Gajdzik:

So the corn maze will typically not open until early September. We cut it or it is physically there when we plant the corn. It is physically there when we plant the corn. So we plant the maize into the corn and then we'll continue to mow it and upkeep it. But we don't officially open it because a corn maize isn't much fun if the corn's only knee-high.

Mason Warren:

Right, maybe for like toddlers or something.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yeah, for little people.

Janette Marson:

yes, but officially the corn maize we won't open up kind of until that early September, and then mid-September we really jump into all of our fall festival activities. And fall is your big, big, big time, isn't it?

Amanda Gajdzik:

It is, yes, yeah we'll start kind of you pick apples usually start early September, which is a great experience. People like to come out with their friends or family and enjoy you pick apples and just that experience, because it's really fun to be able to pick it and eat it. And then mid-September we'll jump into the wagon, rides to the pumpkin patch as well and open up that side of it, and then the corn maze as well, and we actually also for the smaller kids, we actually have a soybean maze also, because soybeans get up to about waist high on adults, so it's perfect for the little kids that want the adventure but you don't want to lose them in a corn maze.

Janette Marson:

So we have a, so it's perfect for the little kids that want the adventure, but you don't want to lose them in a corn maze Right A soybean maze too that works great for the little ones.

Mason Warren:

Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, absolutely so. You've hosted a number of events on the farm and things like that, but maybe the biggest ones that come to mind are the Luke Bryan Farm Tour, which Mulberry Orchard hosted twice. Can you talk a little bit about what one that experience was like for you? I mean having 14, 15,000 people on the farm at one time and then kind of how that, how that came to be.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yes, an amazing experience, stressful, but amazing. Yeah, the most stressful part is just the weather. You know the things we can't control when you're hosting any outdoor event, especially one of that magnitude. Yeah, luke Bryan's team was amazing to work with.

Amanda Gajdzik:

They handled the majority of the organizational and planning efforts for it, so as far as booking vendors or the parking crew and all of those things in the state. I mean all of that. They handled the cleanup crew, they manage all of those teams and then, of course, our local sheriff's department and EMS and emergency services. All of those people are absolutely amazing to work with, did a great job, I think. The first year they did an amazing job, such an amazing job and prove themselves so well that the second year we were an easy pick to come back and do it again just because it flowed so well. So it was a really great experience, a neat thing, great opportunity for us to be able to do. We've had a ton of questions this year again hey, are you doing it again Third year? And we aren't this year. He's already announced all his stops for this year. The majority are, uh, central us as well.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Um, but we are not one of his stops for this year. But not to say that we wouldn't uh, wouldn't host it again. We absolutely love doing it.

Janette Marson:

Well, well, that was a big that. That was huge Both, both years. So, um minus that, what kind of events can we expect this year at Mulberry?

Amanda Gajdzik:

Um, we are hosting a couple of new events, some things that we've done over the um, done over the years, and picking up some things that we really enjoy doing. We started a Peach Festival last year so we will open up in a month or so. We'll have our Peach Festival kind of late July to just celebrate all things peach and have craft and vendor fair as well as part of that. So looking forward to the Peach Festival.

Janette Marson:

Oh, yeah, I'm looking forward to the Peach festival. Yeah, I'm looking forward to the festival, all the things.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yeah, and then, as we've done in the past, we have the sunflower fields as well that we really enjoy doing and focus on that. We've added a butterfly release. This will be our third year for that and that's a really cool experience that you can come out kiddos especially, but everybody gets a butterfly that we take out into the fields and you release your butterfly. So it's just a really neat experience to be able to see and have. So we will continue to do the butterfly release, along with our sunflower festival that we have, and then again that fall we'll do an apple festival and then all the fall festivals with the pumpkins as well.

Janette Marson:

Oh, that's exciting. All of that sounds wonderful.

Mason Warren:

Yeah, so going back a little bit, I have no green thumb. I cannot grow anything. It's amazing. The plants in my office are still alive, so I admire anyone who can grow anything. But you have a family history of farming in Shelby County, is that correct? Yes, can you talk about that a little bit?

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yeah, so I am the fifth generation that's farming on my side. Okay, so I grew up watching both of my parents being active on the farm and my grandparents as well, so kind of have that in my blood. Farming is something definitely that is a passion of the heart. It's not just a job that you go to from eight to five. You can't leave it.

Amanda Gajdzik:

It starts early and it ends late, a lot of days, and it's definitely something that you take home with you and you know if you've got a sick animal it's something you're worried about all the time, but have loved being able to grow up on the farm and now we've got a 13 and 15 year old, so being able to continue that on with our kiddos, raising them on the farm, getting able, you know, building that work ethic, that passion for the land, for the soil and for our livestock and animals as well. Our farm itself that Matt and I started is a first generation farm, so we started the farm ourselves as far as the orchard, but definitely have tons of agriculture in our background and lots to build on Gotcha.

Janette Marson:

That's amazing. So agritourism, as we've talked about previously, is very, very important to visitors coming in and to our own marketing plans that we have as well. I'm just curious how many people do you employ on the farm? Because there's a definite trickle down. You know agritourism and bringing people in, and then the people that you employ have paychecks thanks to agritourism. But how many people work on the farm for you currently?

Amanda Gajdzik:

So we have 25 employees ish, give or take a few that are at the on the market side of it, and then we have six employees on the farm. So one of those is full-time year round and then five of those are just seasonal that help with specifically the orchard and the vegetable side of things. So they start in March pruning the trees and we prune all 8,000 plus trees by hand.

Janette Marson:

That is incredible right there.

Amanda Gajdzik:

It takes a lot of time. So we start kind of early in the season pruning and then of course all the planting of the crops and the vegetables and then go from there as far as harvesting and that maintenance throughout the season. So a little over 30 is what we end up for the year that we employ.

Janette Marson:

Wow, that's amazing. Definitely a trickle down, as we say.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yeah, so saying we're, we're small, small, small fry on the grand scheme, but still, and that's not to editorialize on that, but that's what I, that's what I like about it.

Mason Warren:

I mean it's not a huge commercial operation. You go and it feels like a family farm because it is, and so I think that kind of translates to the visitor when they're there as well, they get that impression and you've worked to kind of cultivate that impression work to kind of cultivate that.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yes, very much so that impression, and we are of our, of our 30 employees you know 15 or so of them are teenagers that we employ especially through the summer and that is a lot of fun. It definitely comes with challenges, but we start hiring at 14.

Janette Marson:

Right.

Amanda Gajdzik:

So you've got kids that are, you know, still learning about themselves and personalities and things like that and trying to teach them some work ethic and customer service experience. But we definitely try to expand on that customer service part of it, because without our customers you know in that word of mouth those people wouldn't come back and continue to tell their friends. So we definitely try to keep it that hometown, rural feel. We are a family farm. We love to do whatever we can to welcome people into that and hope that they enjoy their visit and bring their families out. You know we're very, very family oriented. In the fall, doing the educational school tours and that kind of thing, we love having kiddos out, love showing them where their food comes from and hopefully they run home and tell mom and dad about it too. Them where their food comes from and hopefully they run home and tell mom and dad about it too. So, yeah, keeping that family oriented, ag related, rural atmosphere is definitely a huge part of what we strive for.

Mason Warren:

Absolutely, and I don't know exactly when it started, but you know, the farm to table aspect is huge, especially, I mean still in kind of the culinary world, and so have you seen people that are, you know, wanting that aspect as well when they're coming out to the farm. Just kind of seeing. Again it goes back to what you're talking about seeing where the food comes from, but that kind of farm to table spin.

Amanda Gajdzik:

Yeah, I think for sure. That's what pre COVID, we hosted several partnered with Bristol and Louisville and hosted several farm to table dinners in the orchard, which was a great experience. A lot of work that went into that. And something that we've actually been putting out there is, you know, maybe starting to host those again, Cause it was a really fun experience.

Amanda Gajdzik:

but I think, even on a day-to-day basis, people just appreciating where their produce come from, especially I mean in the summertime there's ample amounts of it, so it's great to be able to have fresh squash and zucchini for dinner at night, you know, and knowing where your beef or your pork or your chicken comes from. All of those are raised here in Shelby County, so I think people are just more aware of it. That heightened sense of that, especially, you know, as there are issues in the economy or things are, prices are going up at the grocery store. People continue to look locally. A lot of times it's less expensive to get a product that was locally raised, that it's going to taste better and be better for you, has less of a carbon footprint and it's going to cost you less a lot of times too.

Amanda Gajdzik:

So people just making that realization it takes a little bit extra time. You can't get a hundred percent of what you need at our place but you can get a lot of it. You know we've got local meat and yogurt and milk and cheeses and all sorts of things so great to be able to to support locally and do what they can At places like ours that are around our County, shelby County, is blessed to have several agritourism places and opportunities to hop on over to one and get a few things and then go to the next one and get what they specialize in and keep on going, so there are a lot of great places in Shelby County that offer local products.

Janette Marson:

And we are very thankful for them. And you've kind of answered this question already, but in closing, why would you say that places like Mulberry, orchard and other agritourism businesses are so important to Kentucky and all that we do here?

Amanda Gajdzik:

I think that Kentucky is an amazingly diversified agriculture state. The soils that we have, the water supply that we have we're able to do a lot of different things, so it's not just corn and soybeans. It's not just beef cattle, there is even in Shelby County, I mean, there's alpacas, there's lots of goats and sheep, highland cows.

Janette Marson:

Highland cows, icelandic horses, yeah, all sorts of things.

Amanda Gajdzik:

So it's not just you know bourbon and horses Right, there is so much more. So you've got so many small farms that are able to specialize in certain things, like we've got the orchard. There's other places that have greenhouses or other vegetables or things that they specialize in, or animals, livestock that they specialize in, that we can all kind of work together and help to promote the greater good. You know, if we are all rising, then we're all going up.

Janette Marson:

Exactly.

Amanda Gajdzik:

So all helping each other. It's a great community of people as well to share ideas and help each other out if one calls on the other. But it's super important to the diversification of Kentucky and what we have to offer. You know there's tilapia and greenhouses and all these great things, so great opportunities for customers to be able to a lot of these places to come out and visit the farm and really see it growing and see it happening and experience that and have a lot of fun while you're doing it.

Janette Marson:

Well, I am. I already have in mind the peach festival, all the things. The corn maze is already on my calendar in my mind. And well, we love your farm and we are so thankful for you. We're thankful for all you do because you add so much to tourism and bringing people in and giving them something different and wonderful to do while they're here. Thank you, thank you so much for being on the show. We appreciate you so so much.

Amanda Gajdzik:

No problem. Thank you all so much for having me and look forward to having you out at the farm seeing and eating some of those nice, juicy, delicious peaches.

Janette Marson:

I will be there. We won't even wait until we get to the car I know. Thanks so much. Thank you, thanks.

Mason Warren:

This has been Kentucky Hidden Wonders. We'll return with a brand new Kentucky Hidden Wonders episode in two weeks. Bye everyone. Kentucky Hidden Wonders is a Shelby KY Tourism production. Your hosts are Janet Marson and Mason Warren. To learn more about Shelby KY Tourism and to start planning a visit, head to visitshelbykycom.

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Janette Marson

Host
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Mason Warren

Host
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Amanda Gajdzik

Guest