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ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A local couple has turned a 50-acre farm into a rescue home for animals and a respite for human visitors.
Chef Taylor and Fran Montgomery have a lot on their plates between owning and managing operations at their home, Montgomery Sky Farm in Leicester, and delivering farm fresh ingredients to the plates of diners at Urban Wren restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina.
"There are times when Fran wakes up at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning, and she's like, 'What the hell are you doing?' And I'm packing boxes of tomatoes. I'm filling orders," Taylor Montgomery said.
Their lives are vastly different from when they met in 2016 when they worked together at a country club in Burnsville where Taylor Montgomery was the executive chef.
At the time, Fran Montgomery owned a half-Highland and half-Dexter breed of a cow named Millie.
"I found this old house and met Fran and Fran had a cow. So, farmhouse, you've got a cow. It kind of worked out," said Taylor Montgomery, a Waxhaw native.
Millie may be credited for helping bring the couple together.
"Our first date was in the pasture to meet my cow," said Fran Montgomery, a Los Angeles native. "I'm thinking, 'There's no way this chef is going to miss a dinner service to come meet my cow,' but he did and here we are five years later."
In 2018, they officially founded Montgomery Sky Farm, which began as the couple's home and evolved into a multifaceted agricultural and communal hub.
Visiting Montgomery Sky Farm
Montgomery Sky Farm, at 336 Turkey Creek Road, is about a 20-minute drive northwest of downtown Asheville. From West Asheville, it's accessible from New Leicester Highway going into Leicester, a community that continues to see development.
Montgomery Sky Farm still is nestled within open fields and hilly landscapes, surrounded by other local and family-run farms and ranches.
The Montgomerys have welcome guests to their farm for tours and holiday-themed family-friendly activities, by invitation.
However, that wasn't part of their original plan.
"I don't think we ever had an outlook of sharing it with the public. It wasn't until COVID hit that I was like, 'There's so many families, so many neighbors asking for things to do with their kids, what if we start letting people come to the farm to visit, hang out for the day and spend time on the grass?'" Fran Montgomery said.
Since then, area residents and people traveling from across the country, including Florida, Pennsylvania and California, come just to see the cows and other livestock, they said.
Chef-tasting experiences will launch soon with details to be announced. They're considering weekly "Charcuterie with Cows" cocktail evening and picnic series, too.
Chef Taylor and Fran Montgomery have a lot on their plates between owning and managing operations at their home, Montgomery Sky Farm in Leicester, and delivering farm fresh ingredients to the plates of diners at Urban Wren restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina.
"I've been in the kitchen since I was 14 years old, and I've worked hard to get where I am now, but eventually I want to come home," Taylor Montgomery said. "I want to come home to this, and I want to come home and still cook for the public but just on a smaller scale, whether it's in the pasture or in the field with the crops we're bringing in to make
it all come together."
Tours must be booked in advance and may be guided or private. The farm is not open to the public daily, as it's their home and a working farm. To book a tour, send a message via the website, montgomeryskyfarm.com/Events-and-Tours.
Also, the barn – which the couple built for their wedding in 2019 – may be rented for private, intimate events for special occasions.
"Once they realize that the money that they spend with us goes back to the rescue animals and the organic food, as much as we can, you're actually giving back when you're purchasing dinner or a tour, so it's one big circle," Taylor Montgomery said.
Meet Millie, Sundae and the rest of the farm friends
In the farm's founding, the Montgomerys first strived for a self-sustained style of living by planting gardens, Taylor Montgomery said.
Then, they began breeding heritage animals, beginning with Highland cows.
"I've had gardens all my life and with the land, we started to grow, not only vegetables but animals, too," he said. "We went from one cow to a dozen now, four Kune Kune pigs and another 12 or 15 sheep."
At Montgomery Sky Farm, an average day may mean waking up with the roosters and keeping the hours of a night owl. Daily tasks begin with caring for local rescues and farm-bred livestock.
"In the beginning, we took in all the rescues we could get so anybody who was in the area who was like, 'Oh, I have a chicken with a broken leg, would you guys want it?' We were like, 'Sure.' Same with the goats," Fran Montgomery said.
The Montgomerys also manage a breeding program in which the livestock are not processed for food, but they reproduce.