The Untold Truth Of Nancy Fuller
Nancy Fuller, host of the Food Network television show "Farmhouse Rules," has some rules of her own. Through both her show and her efforts to privately help raise her 13 grandchildren, Fuller makes an effort to instill qualities of "patience, faith, and understanding" (via The Valley Table) in both her viewers and family members.
Professionally, Fuller has not only starred on "Farmhouse Rules," but also served as a judge on Food Network's "Holiday Baking Championship" and "Spring Baking Championship." She is the owner of Ginsberg's Foods, an extremely successful food distribution business (via Food Network). She is also the author of the cookbook "Farmhouse Rules: Simple, Seasonal Meals for the Whole Family."
For Fuller, who, like both her mother and father, grew up as an only child, which she calls "unusual for a farm family," life is a family affair, centered around the large family she holds dear as well as her house and home life.
As a mom, Nancy Fuller was a tough cookie
Nancy Fuller is mother to six children and 13 grandchildren. When her own children were growing up, they were expected to help on the farm and around the home. "[T]hey had to weed the walk — we had this long stone walk, and the deal was weed the walk before you went swimming. Christmas, no one got a present until all the chores were done, all the cows fed, milked. Sunday mornings they were whisked off to Sunday school," Fuller told The Valley Table. Fuller also encouraged conversation around the dinner table, teaching her children how to articulate how their days went and create discussion.
As for her grandchildren, Fuller says she makes an effort to motivate them to become the best people they can be. "I try to teach my grandchildren kind of the basic values, create integrity, character — the epitome of what you are when you grow up on a farm (via The Valley Table).
Nancy Fuller's grandchildren filmed her audition tape
After filming a promotional video for a local festival and finding ease and talent in front of the camera, Fuller's grandchildren encouraged her to audition for a spot on network television, calling her a "natural."
"So they did a demo," Fuller told The Valley Table. "They took it to Food Network. They took it to ABC. They took it to CNN. Food Network picked it up. They were looking for personality. I went down for an interview and the young man said, 'You know, we get a lot of videos through here but we don't get many people who match the video. You match the video.' ... That's how 'Farmhouse Rules' was born."
"The rest is history," Fuller says, falling back on one of her favorite colloquialisms.
Fuller says there's irony in being featured on a hit Food Network television show, as she never watches television herself. "It just doesn't interest me," she says (via The Valley Table).
Her kids can't cook
Fuller was greatly influenced by her grandmother, whom she called "Grammy Carl." According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as a farmer, Fuller says her grandmother was an excellent cook and baker, often serving her pies at church socials. Fuller says Grammy Carl's farm was only about three miles from her own home, so she would ride her horse there to relish in her grandmother's incredible fried eggs for breakfast. "Grammy Carl made the best chicken and the best coleslaw and the best gravy and the best cookies," Fuller told The Valley Table.
While Fuller was influenced by her own grandmother, it doesn't seem as if any of her own six children caught the cooking or baking bug. She describes one Thanksgiving when her daughter Kimberly made a pumpkin pie.
"I had just finished [judging] the 'Holiday Baking Championship' Season One on Food Network. I said to Kimberly, 'I would have to send you home, honey'" (via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Is Nancy Fuller a bit of an antiques hoarder? Well, kind of, but in a good way
Fuller loves her antiques, especially when it comes to kitchen supplies. After a time spent decorating a restaurant with her antiques collection (per The Valley Table), Fuller now focuses on saving the antiques for herself. Westchester Magazine reports that some of the items Fuller cherishes include bread boards, antique canisters, ceramic bottles for flowers, wooden bowls, and even a crock she found buried under her garden shed. Every item has a special meaning to her, especially because there is always a story behind it.
"I hang on to stuff," she told The Valley Table. "Grammy Carl's cupboard. The lamps are old milk carriers, Mexican. The rack I've had forever — that was a shoe rack. My garlic masher is an old Mason tool. Just my stuff, my grandmother's stuff, my great grandmother's stuff — tools that have withstood the test of time. That, too, is what I'm about — having respect for those who came before us and gave us what we have and made us who we are today."
Nancy Fuller's personal dream kitchen served as the set of 'Farmhouse Rules'
Fuller filmed her television show "Farmhouse Rules" out of her own Dutch colonial home. The house is nearly 300 years old, located in Claverack, New York, and sits on a 152-acre farm. Fuller's kitchen is complete with a vaulted ceiling, wooden beams, chandelier lighting, and, naturally, her favorite part of the kitchen is her beehive oven. It can take up to four hours to heat, and so she has to carefully plan which items need to be cooked at what time. She also has hidden refrigeration drawers located around the kitchen to help make the most of available space, and of course, given her love of antiques, a 1900s stand mixer (via Today).
Fuller used many local products and commissioned local contractors for the construction of her dream kitchen, including trees from her own farm and stone from nearby Ravena (via Westchester Magazine).
In 2020, Fuller and her husband, David Ginsberg, put Locust Dale Farm up for sale, asking a whopping $5.9 million for the property. (For context, they bought it in 2002 for $405,000.) In addition to the grounds, which include a barn, a well, and an ice house, and the kitchen where "Farmhouse Rules" was filmed, the home also features five bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, and four fireplaces (via The Hour).
Where are Fuller and her husband headed? Fuller Farmer reports they'll be retiring to Florida.