What was it like to cook for Dolly? Former DreamMore resort chef turns skills to farming

One of the toughest working environments is the kitchen of a restaurant at a high-end resort.

Powell resident Mike Russo lived that life for several years and didn’t want to become one of the mentors he had gotten to know.

“You’re working 80-100 hours a week, there’s a lot of pressure and it’s fast-paced,” Russo said. “I’d see my mentors go from resort to resort. I didn’t want that to be me.”

Russo started his journey in the kitchen as a dishwasher at the Essex Culinary Resort in Vermont. Over the years, he rose to the level of executive chef.

When the Culinary Resort partnered with Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort, Russo came to East Tennessee as banquet chef.

“The most weddings I had in one day was seven,” he said. “That was a challenge.

“I learned a lot about time management. You want to plan to prepare everything so that all the food will be ready at the same time.”

One of his duties was to prepare meals for East Tennessee icon Dolly Parton and her family and friends whenever she was in town.

“She loved mashed potatoes and fried chicken,” Russo said. “But she never ate very much. That’s how she stayed so thin.

“With Dolly, the rule was not to speak to her unless she spoke to you. She’s the type of person who was always talking to everybody, so it was easy. After a Christmas dinner for her family, I got a nice handwritten note from her manager.”

From the kitchen to the soil

Two years at DreamMore and one at Wilderness at the Smokies convinced Russo it was time to do something else. He spent five years behind a desk at KaTom Restaurant Supply in Knoxville before he got antsy.

Russo dropped down to part-time at KaTom and began devoting part of his week to developing the quarter-acre of garden he had growing behind their Powell home.

He started with one raised bed and it continued to grow. His plan was to sell his produce at the Knoxville Farmers Market on Saturdays.

“My first Farmers Market I made $750,” Russo said. “I had mostly leafy greens and salad vegetables.”

That instant success persuaded Russo to leave his desk job and focus on adding more growing areas. He leased an area in South Knoxville that he filled with crops like garlic, potatoes, onions and winter squash − plants that didn’t need a lot of attention.

Organic farming

Russo has a unique way producing his crops: no-till farming. He either smothers weeds with mulches or tarps, but doesn’t disturb the soil.

“I use the forest as a model,” Russo said. “It’s organic, making for the best food possible.”

Besides what he sells at Farmers Market on Saturdays, Russo has regular customers in several restaurants around Knoxville. His biggest client is Blackberry Mountain Resort.

“I miss the creativity of cooking,” he said. “But I don’t have to do it 100 hours a week. That’s why it’s so hard to find help.

“When I started farming, I spent all my free time for about five years learning.”

Now, Russo is giving back. He has his own YouTube channel, “Chef’s Harvest Farm,” offering tips and advice that he’s gained through his experience.