Tennessee leaders announced earlier this week that Little Leaf Farms will build its first Tennessee greenhouse in Manchester.

The greenhouse will employ more than 300 Tennesseans and provide more than $75 million in investment to Coffee County's economy.

Little Leaf Farms "is recognized as the country’s No. 1 brand of packaged lettuce sustainably grown through controlled environment agriculture," Tennessee leaders said.

With greenhouses in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania - apparently the largest indoor leafy greens facility in North America - Little Leaf Farms is an ag-giant that's now moving to Tennessee.

Why does this matter for us?

Imagine if this had happened in Hamilton County.

NoogaToday reported on the Little Leafy Greens news, thanks to the steadfast early morning work from Haley Bartlett, who's written more than 500 articles as senior editor for NoogaToday. (Along with Kristen Templeton, former senior editor, who was equally outstanding, kind and steady, NoogaToday produced some excellent work.)

Tuesday marked Haley's last newsletter. So many of us, Haley and Kristen, want to say a big bravo + thanks.

NoogaToday and Chattanooga are better off because of your work.

Godspeed and keep writing.

• More news out of Nashville, as Gov. Bill Lee declared July as Beef Month in Tennessee.

Hmmm, this got me thinking.

Over the last two years, Sarah and I have met a lot of cows. I mean: a lot of cows.

In honor of these all-important animals and the cattle and dairy farmers - (yes, including dairy here) - caring for them, here are our Top Food as a Verb Cow Photos.

• South Poll, Teddy Gentry's Bent Tree Farm, Ft. Payne, Alabama, The Southern Mama Cow

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* Wagyu, Dr. Jim and Amy Jo Osborne's Chili Pepper Ranch, Apison, Tenn. The Most Tender Steak Ever?

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* Holstein, Norton Dairy Farm, Meigs County, Tenn. The Last Days of One of the Last Small Dairy Farmers.

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* Jersey, Bear Creek Farm, Williamson County, Tenn. Know Your Burger.

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* And finally ... a South Poll (mostly) herd formerly owned by Randall Tomlinson pictured here at Sequatchie Cove Farms in Marion County, Tenn.

These cows were part of our story - Calling for Help: How Do You Farm Without Land? - on Randall and regenerative agriculture and the difficulty of owning farmland.

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That day, Sarah shot what have come to be among my top two photos ever.

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* Finally, we didn't have beef last Saturday night, but we did have bison.

At our special sold-out LUNCH dinner with members of The Table, we had lots of stunning plates. (Thanks, Virginia, for the photos!)

Beefsteak tomato salad with fat tomatoes from Hernandez Farms.

Zucchini fritters, mint, romesco.

Tartare with walnut, beets and Thai basil that featured bison from Lost Cove Farm.

It's the first herd that Emmitt Logdson and Elizabeth Motlow have processed. Took nine of years of patience, care and farming.

Our main course? Cove Creek Farm's pork chop with bloody butcher polenta, blueberry compote, Parisian market carrots and soghum from Chelsea Askew followed by dessert: a brown butter and blackberry tart with sweet corn and mascarpone ice cream.

(Thanks Nadine! You were the absolute best!)

A dozen farms were featured in the menu.

If you want to experience a very special meal in a most graceful, easy environment, go visit Chef Mallory Grimm, Trapp Tubbs and their team at LUNCH in Sewanee. (They have an upcoming dinner later this month!)

Each week, they're writing menus that are created with ingredients from regional farmers.

This is not easy work.

But it was a gift to all of us. Thanks, Mallory and Trapp and the LUNCH team, from the bottom of our hearts.

We have more dinners - and farm tours + speakers - coming. We'd love to have you join us at The Table.

Hope you all have a wonderful opening to July.

See you Sunday.

Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.

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