Hayride gives city folks a taste of the country life — and the best damn hamburger in the world!

Strong Stock Farm photographed by Alan, who was standing in a horse-drawn hay wagon. (It was stopped!)

On the city vs. country continuum, I’m definitely way far on the city side. Although I like dogs and cats, I am suspicious of cows, scared of horses and generally loathe almost all reptiles, amphibians and insects. And I don’t like to get hot or dirty.

So imagine my friends’ surprise last week when I suggested, “Let’s go on a hayride!”

This is the charming farmhouse on Strong Stock Farm.

To tell you the truth, the hayride was an impulse purchase at a charity auction last fall benefiting Ijams Nature Center. But Sunday was a beautiful day for it and all 10 of us who went agreed that we will remember the amazing experience  for the rest of our lives.

Strong Stock Farm is Knox County’s oldest working farm. Established in 1792 by land grant from the State of Franklin, which predated the state of Tennessee, it is  owned by Martha Strong Kern and her brother, George Kern, the eighth generation of the original owners.

Located out Rutledge Pike just 15 minutes from downtown Knoxville, it consists of more than 900 acres right up against the Holston River.  A beef farm, it is home to 400 head of Angus cattle and dozens of horses.

Martha and her husband, John Niceley,  took our group on a tour of the property on a wagon drawn by big horses named Bingo and Bertha. (Fortunately, there was no actual hay which, I am told, can be prickly and bug infested.) The views were post-card perfect on a sunny,  windy day. We could see Mount LeConte and House Mountain. We stopped by the Holston River and watched bald eagles soaring high in the blue and white sky.

When you call someone a "horse's patoot" -- well, this is it!

Bill Landry, of WBIR’s Heartland Series, accompanied us and told us stories about the farm and about Indians and the Civil War. Strong Stock Farm was featured in many episodes of The Heartland Series – when the story called for a cemetery or a battleground, it made a perfect setting. “I feel like we’re not famous anymore,” Niceley noted. “Now that there aren’t any new episodes being made, I don’t see our farm on TV as  much as I used to!”

When the tour was over, we headed back to the farmhouse and feasted on the best hamburgers I’ve ever had – made from beef raised on the farm. Martha also made kale, cole slaw, baked beans and strawberry shortcake.  As we left, we took the opportunity to purchase all the ground beef Martha had in her freezer! She swears by not only the flavor, but the health benefits, of grass-fed beef like hers.

I did have one embarrassing faux pas. When we first met John Niceley, I asked him if he were related to state Rep. Frank Niceley and he said that he was. “You must be his son,” I said. Actually, Frank is John’s brother – and only a year-and-a-half older than him! Oops! Sorry, Frank. “That just shows what politics will do to you,” John quipped.

Here’s a tip for you: Strong Stock Farm is one of the locations for an upcoming “Summer Supper,” benefiting Knox Heritage. The non-profit preservation group is selling 60 seats for a barbecue there on Sept. 5. Cost is $75 per person. Sign up by going to the Knox Heritage website.  But hurry. It’s a sure sell-out.

This is our group. From left: Dawn Ford, Jim and Phyllis Nichols, Alan Carmichael in blue shirt, Bill Landry, Martha Kern, John Niceley in cowboy hat, Richard Ford in red, Doug Leahy in cowboy hat, Teresa Scott in white, Susan Brown in orange, Carolyn Leahy in lime and George Niceley with Rufus, the dog.

From left, Jim and Phyllis Nichols and Teresa Scott in our wagon.

From left, Alan Carmichael, Richard and Dawn Ford

From left: Susan Brown, Bill Landry and Martha Kern

Carolyn and Doug Leahy

This is 16-year-old George Niceley. He came along to help out with opening gates and things like that. His hat says, "Actually, I WAS raised in a barn!"

Cows visit their watering hole.

Rufus walks along the Holston River.

You can see the Holston River behind Teresa Scott.

Train tracks traverse the farm. In this photo is a dog named Wind, who is at least half wolf, according to Martha Kern. He is nice to people, but will kill strange dogs who visit.

John Niceley, our driver, and Carolyn Leahy during a stop.

From a distance, I thought this pretty horse looked like a unicorn. Hey, I'm a city girl, OK?

This is what it looked like as we returned to the farmhouse.

When we got off the wagon, Bill Landry got up close and personal with Bingo and Bertha.

Susan got friendly with Rufus. They say he has killed 500 coyotes!

Huge stumps surround a bonfire area. Here, Richard is counting the tree rings.

Our hosts, John and Martha, work the grill. Boy did it smell good!

John serves up the best burgers I've ever had. They had feta cheese in them.

Susan tries out the swing.

We got so comfortable, I'm sure our hosts wondered if we were going to spend the night!

Doug Leahy and Alan went to Fulton High School together back in the day. Today he is Alan's doctor and, apparently, a cowboy!

Yikes! Glad I didn't see this before I got on the wagon!

Here is an interesting YouTube video by some other recent visitors to Strong Stock Farm.

Photo credit: My sweet husband, Alan Carmichael, took the first photo on this blog post. Thanks, Alan.