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A fine layer of dust covers thousands of figurines spread throughout Hardin “Sonny” Hatfield’s Glendale home. The figurines, most of them wood or tin, cover countertops and fill cabinets. Each one has a story, and Sonny knows them all. Hardin “Sonny” Hatfield smiles as he picks up each trinket, some of which he made himself. The toys bring joy to Sonny, who has battled depression for years. Sonny’s wife died about three years ago. Dust has since become a constant presence. “That’s one thing I’ve got a lot of,” he said.

The oil was all over the place, but Steve Rogers smiled. His fire-apple red tractor was on the fritz. The problem was in a hard-to-reach spot. But after some finagling, he had it working again. Steve runs his family’s 1,800-acre farm now that his father, Bud, and mother, Martha, are retired. Steve has a daughter, Sarah, and two sons, Adam and Phillip, that are studying agronomy at Western Kentucky University. His boys grew up riding with him in combines and tractors. They recently bought their own farm not far away. Farming is like gambling, Bud said. The summer of 2010 was especially dry, and Bud harvested his soybean crop about a month early.

Tony York suffered singed eyebrows and burns on his skin after a fire destroyed his Depot restaurant in Hardin County in 2008. He rebuilt. Now, Tony York's on Main offers culinary class in a quaint heartland town.