Local 4-H members recognized for country hams at Kentucky State Fair

Award-winning country ham is something Muhlenberg County 4-H excels at, and this year is no exception. Three young men brought home awards for their hams, judged on Aug. 24 at the Kentucky State Fair. Trace Harper, Caleb Duff and Jude Gardner all created their country hams, with help from Charlie Gatton of Gatton Farms in Bremen. The competition is stiff, with more than 600 in all age groups participating.

Trace Harper is 12 years old and attends Muhlenberg South Middle School. He has been active in 4-H since he was a 7-year-old Clover Bud. This is his fourth year in the country ham program. Trace lives on a farm in Belton. “We do a lot of garden crops,” Trace said. “Corn, tomatoes, strawberries, just about anything you can think of.” The family sells their produce at the Muhlenberg County Farmers Market.

Trace has been competing at the state fair for a few years, and tied for first place in his age division for his essay last year. This year, he won second place for his speech on smoked hams, and won third place overall for his speech and his ham.

The process begins when the kids pick out two hams for their ham project, Trace said. He looks for a ham that is a nice teardrop shape, then it gets rubbed with a secret Gatton family recipe. They visit the Gatton farm to rub the hams down three times, before rinsing them and hanging them in the smokehouse. “It smokes for 96 hours and ages for three to four months,” Trace said. The last step is to pick which one to send on to the fair.

Caleb Duff is also 12 years old, and he is a student at Muhlenberg North Middle School. He has been preparing country hams for three years. Caleb won second place for his speech on smoked ham at the fair this year. The prompt for speeches this year was “My country ham experience”. Caleb said he spent quite a while writing the speech, and focused on his family and their experience producing country hams.

The kids recite their speeches in front of two judges, and Caleb said he didn’t spend too much time practicing. “I only read the speech for an hour or two,” he said. He said he read it until he got it right, then went before the judges.

Caleb said he really loves to garden, and is part of the 4-H gardening club. “Last weekend I planted a food plot for deer,” he said. “It was a mix of clover, oat and winter peas.” They plant the food for the deer in a spot where they can watch them, his mother said.

Jude Gardner is 11 years old and also attends North Middle. He has been active in 4-H for two years, and has participated in the ham program both years. He comes from a family of farmers, and lives in South Carrollton.

When it’s time to pick a ham, Jude said bigger is better. “The curing process dries it out and shrinks it.” Jude won first place for his speech in his age division, third place for his ham and second place overall for his speech and smoked country ham.

Jude said his speech covered the trip to the farm and picking out a ham, the process of curing the ham, and the life lessons he learned from the project. “You need patience and determination,” he said.

The trip to the fair is a bit nerve-wracking, but after speeches are done the kids said they all enjoyed visiting the fair. Jude said he enjoyed Cloverville, where all the 4-H displays are. “There were tons of hams!”