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LAURA FREEMAN'S WINCHESTER HEMP FARM OPEN SATURDAY FOR TOURS

If you'd like to know more about what modern hemp farming looks like, the Mount Holly Farm owned by Laura Freeman will have an open-house party on Saturday.

From 1 to 4 p.m., you can see the newly planted hemp crop, which is grown for grain, and see the CBD hemp crop as well.  The CBD crop provides cannabidiol oil used in a variety of products.

The farm store, Laura's Mercantile, will be open, with Laura's Hemp Chocolates available for purchase.  The party also will have samples of the chocolates as well as hemp beer -- New Belgium's new Hemperor IPA - -- and Kentucky Hemp Dawgs.

The event is at 3581 Schollsville Road in Winchester.  The farm, which is one of the largest organic farms in the state, also raises livestock and soy, and specialty corn.

Freeman founded Laura's Lean Beef, a brand of antibiotic and hormone-free beef sold in supermarkets everywhere.  She began focusing on agricultural sustainability after she sold her business in 2007-08, eventually turning to hemp as a way to turn the Mount Folly Farm into a carbon "sink" or absorber.

She began selling hemp chocolate wagers, truffles and bark a couple of years ago and is starting a distillery in downtown Winchester.

At the first Kentucky Hemp Days fest in Cynthiana, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles hailed the crop's progress and supported full legalization a day after U.S.  Sen.  Mitch McConnell inserted hemp language in the Farm Bill.