FOLK & Harden Coffee

FOLK & Harden Coffee — Heath Stiltner, Afield Guy Photography

Now selling a custom blend crafted with Justin Harden of Harden Family Roasters inspired by and for The Traveler at http://bit.ly/1PEtduU.

As part of FOLK, I often work with small makers and small businesses to share their stories. To celebrate in their successes and learn from their failures we've started a new series dedicated to the ones. The ones who we built FOLK for, and who helped us build FOLK.

Justin Harden of Campbellsville, KY is the owner of Harden Coffee, a small batch coffee roasters and coffeehouse in the middle of rural central Kentucky. Retiring from a career in construction he started to follow his dreams of working with food and coffee after returning to Campbellsville from Kansas City. When Justin first started roasting coffee, he began roasting the beans in a popcorn popper on his back porch and selling the fresh coffee in his brother-in-law's whole foods market in town. As the popularity of his coffee grew, he and his wife saw an opportunity to make his passion a full time career when they bought and opened Harden Coffee.

Campbellsville, is a small town with a local university, and it's what some would say is the model for the new frontier of America. Justin is doing his part to grow with the community in that frontier town and is doing his part to bring something new and accessible to his hometown by giving people a better look at how their favorite morning brew is produced. Sourcing and roasting his own beans in the back people can come in and experience the process from green coffee beans to cup or bag.

Being able to raise his four children in he and his wife's own hometown while chasing their passion, Justin is truly living authentic and redefining what the American Dream means. Though living in a rural town as small as Campbellsville can sometimes be a challenge, Justin and his wife have worked hard to make their passion a success. This is a look at their business and the life they've created through it.