‘There’s always a second chance’: Local farm finds hope in second chances

PERRY COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - A local farmer and her family that live along highway 476 in Perry County have been feeding people with a purpose for eight years.

Missy Young said there is nothing better than growing food and feeding bellies, but her answer may have been different if you asked 11 years ago.

“Today I’m 11 years in recovery from opioid addiction,” said Young.

A few years into recovery Young said she found her purpose through farming and sharing it with the community.

“I realized pretty early on that that helped me focus, and then when I started working with the market, I realized I could do something productive. I could actually be part of the community and do something good,” she said.

Naming the farm Second Chance Homestead for many reasons but she said one thing stands out the most.

“We only keep what we have by giving it away. If I want to keep the peace that I found, I have got to share that with somebody else. That’s ultimately my mission here is to maybe bring another woman in recovery over here and let her get her hands in the dirt,” she said.

On July 28th, 2022, Troublesome Creek waters rose and in a matter of minutes Young and her daughter watched everything she had worked so hard to grow float away.

“It basically brought us back down to I mean it took us eight years of working this property to end up with the equipment that we had to actually make our jobs do-able. We’re starting from ground zero again,” she said.

They lost their barn, green houses, multiple gardens and much more but Young said many people lost more than they did.

“It’s stuff. We can get it back and we can always start over. There’s always a second chance to do that again,” Young said.

Proving to the world that recovery is possible no matter the addiction or flood standing in the way because sometimes the hardest storms plant seeds in the coolest places.

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