Photo by Elias Coblentz

Geraniums and other bright summer flowers are in full bloom at the family-owned Hinton’s Orchard and Farm Market in Hodgenville.  For more scenes from Hinton’s and information about other Kentucky Farm Bureau Certified Roadside Farm Markets throughout the state, click here.

  A Love can bloom in the oddest places - school, work, dairy farm …
   For Sarah Huff, 25, and Colby Guffey, 28, it was the latter. “I had stopped out at his family’s dairy one evening. We just got to talking and decided, ‘Hey, why don’t we go to dinner?’ It just kind of moved on from there,” she said.
   Five years later, Sarah and Colby are engaged and still helping each other on the farm and supporting each other in their Kentucky Farm Bureau activities.
   Colby is president of Clinton County Farm Bureau, and Sarah currently heads its women’s advisory committee.
   Sarah and Colby grew up together in the small town of Albany. “We’ve basically known each other forever,” said Sarah.
   Colby said the friendship continued through college at almost opposite ends of the state; him at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green and her at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.
   After he graduated, Colby said, “She’d come over and help me on the farm. It was pretty neat.”
   Colby works at his family’s dairy farm and also is employed as a broiler technician at the nearby Equity Group poultry company.  Sarah is a deputy clerk at the Clinton County Circuit Court Clerk’s office.
   They have shared many special moments since that first day at the dairy, said Sarah.
   There was the summer soon after they started dating when Sarah had to return to EKU for the Governor’s Scholar Program, where she served as a resident assistant.  Her first night away, Colby drove to campus with a bouquet of flowers and waited in the parking lot to surprise her. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him in that parking lot. It still makes me smile to this day.”
   While that time was unforgettable, Sarah said, nothing could hold a candle to their engagement. She and Colby had gone to this year’s Kentucky Farm Bureau President’s Conference in Louisville on Valentine’s Day, where Colby had a special evening planned.  “To my surprise, he took me out on a dinner cruise,” said Sarah.
   Colby’s original plans were to propose to her on The Spirit of Jefferson riverboat.  “He had prepared to propose to me on the observation deck, but he decided not to because it was too dark,” said Sarah.
   He changed course, Colby said, because “I sure didn’t want to drop the ring in the river, that’s for sure.”
   After the dinner cruise, Colby took Sarah on a carriage ride, his next pick for the proposal. However, the carriage driver talked the entire ride, and Sarah said Colby couldn’t get in a word amid the chatter.

Sarah Huff and Colby Guffey

   Finally, the ride ended. Colby wasn’t going to let the moment pass. “He told me you need to just stand right here,” Sarah recalled. He told her to close her eyes.
“When I opened my eyes he was down on one knee.
   “It was a total shock.”
   Colby was pleased with the outcome.  “It turned out pretty good,” he said.
   The couple has plans for a church wedding on July 12 with a reception at the Clinton County Fairgrounds. They will honeymoon on the sunny beaches of Cancun, Mexico.
   Colby said he is ready for married life.  “I’m not nervous,” he said, “just excited.”
   Sarah and Colby plan to keep Farm Bureau in the family. Both sides of the family are members, and Colby’s father is a former member of the state board of directors.  Colby said working with the organization has been a great experience. “I really enjoy getting to meet people around the district.”
   They have dreams for their future, too.
   “I like to think of us 10 years down the road as a happy family, enjoying rural life,” she said. “I’d like to see some children in there,” Sarah said, with Colby adding that he hopes they will be able to own their own farm one day.
   Today, they are just thankful to have each other. “She’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me,” said Colby.
   Sarah looks forward to their wedding day with a smile. “He is the love of my life, and I knew it from the very beginning of our relationship. I am the happiest I have ever been, and it’s all because of him.”

By Lindsey Coblentz
KENTUCKY FARM BUREAU