Jane O'Tiernan poses for a picture with Dr. Jessie Lay, left, Edwin Chavous and Dr. Allison Young following her recognition as the 2022 Women in Agriculture Excellence awardee at Capital Plaza Hotel in Frankfort, Kentucky, on Nov. 17, 2022. | Photo by Kris Chappel
flowers to anybody for anything.” She puts a lot of fragrance— mint, basil, including lemon basil and cinnamon basil— and colors in her bouquets. She likes to do red, white and blue bouquets for Fourth of July, for example, and for the summer in general she likes mixed colors of zinnias and lisianthus.
growing flowers as part of the Women in Agriculture track of sessions.
Grow more flowers: This is O'Tiernan's message to just about everyone. In her opinion, there are never enough people growing flowers.
“I spend a lot of time not only encouraging people to grow flowers but to grow and to be able to market and to improve what they’re selling,” she said. When she helps people try to improve what they’re selling, she points them to the Kentucky State University Land Grant Program. O’Tiernan is good friends with Marion Simon, who founded Third Thursday Thing 25 years ago; O’Tiernan said she’s been attending the workshops since the beginning. Now several of her fellow growers at the Bluegrass Farmers Market have started attending Third Thursday Thing, too.
When she helps people try to improve what they're selling, she points them to the Kentucky State University Land Grant Program. O'Tiernan is good friends with Marion Simon, who founded Third Thursday Thing 25 years ago; O'Tiernan said she's been attending the workshops since the beginning. Now several of her fellow growers at the Bluegrass Farmers Market have started attending Third Thursday Thing, too.
O’Tiernan has also noticed that more of her fellow growers are women, something she finds “incredible.”
“One of the reasons I think that there’s more women in agriculture, as the allowable role for women has expanded—women can now wear pants out in public!” O’Tiernan said.
as the allowable role for women has expanded— women can now wear pants out in public!" O'Tiernan said.
This was not always the case: When O'Tiernan was a student at the University of Kentucky in 1964, she ran for student government on the platform that women should be able to wear pants underneath their dresses—"because I was freezing my tail," she said.
At the 2022 Small, Limited-Resource, Minority Farmers Conference, where she was also recognized as the awardee, O’Tiernan gave a presentation about
Jane O'Tiernan, right, speaks at Louie Rivers' retirement party and Third Thursday Thing on June 20, 2019, at the Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, Kentucky. Photos by Jonathan Palmer
Kentucky State University's Land Grant Program started the Women in Agriculture Excellence Award to recognize women in the industry, in conjunction with a series of workshops geared toward women principal operators.
“Women have always been a big part of the family farm,” said Dr. Jessie Lay, assistant professor and veterinarian. “In the past, it has been assumed that men were the decision makers. But this program acknowledges and highlights women as principal operators.”
Jane O'Tiernan