We drove through a green rolling countryside as we made our way to Freedom Farms for the final meal of the day to end our tour of Butler County – an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was looking forward to our last meal of the tour in the rural part of the state with its wholesome and hearty home-cooked farm food.
The Freedom Farms family is led by their outstanding mother, Lisa, a divorced mother of ten. She is the driving force behind the running and development of Freedom Farms, as well as keeping the family together. She also supervises the preparation of all meals, runs the family Bakery, supervises the Sandwich Shop and the Donut Shop and grows and sells fresh cut flowers for the family business. Her family lovingly calls her “Mama Bear Lisa.”
Well, she deserves this pet name. According to her children, she has struggled hard to keep the family together and has so far succeeded. After her divorce, Lisa worked to keep the family as one unit. She instilled in them the value of the work ethic, of cultivating the land and maintaining the closeness of family life. As her eldest son and CEO of Freedom Farms Joe explained, “My mother taught us the work ethic and we will teach our children the same”.
Besides the mother and the eldest son who are at the apex, all the other children have their designated jobs. Elizabeth (“Bitty”): helps her mom out at the family Bakery; Tim: in charge of planting and tending to all of the crops; Pete: known as the “Human Harvester”, does everything from tending the animals to working as a field hand; Dan: referred to as the “Utility Man”, he is in charge of the family Farmer’s Market; Luke: the “Brains of the Family”, is the only one of the family members to go to college; Sam: who likes to think that he is the “Big Man on Campus”, is determined to succeed, and is partially responsible for harvesting the crops; John: known as the “Joker” of the family – keeps the family entertained; Paul: very helpful and up for any challenge, is 100% committed to farming; and Ben: the youngest- works alongside his brothers. But it is really Lisa who has more energy than her ten children combined!
All the members of the family have a passion for locally grown produce and locally produced meats. On their Freedom Farms of some 200 acres located just outside the town of Butler, the King family raises chickens, cows and pigs – all pasture-raised and free of antibiotics and hormones. As well, they grow over 25 varieties of fruits and vegetables.
The family serves meals once a week to customers during the summer under a covered pavilion on one of their fields. Lisa prepares most of these meals. When asked how she has enough time to prepare such dinners, she replied: “I do this all the time. I am used to it. I have a large family and I come from a large family. It’s no different to cook for a dozen or dozens.” I look at her. With ten children and all the work she does, she still looks like she is a sister to her children. She truly exemplifies the saying “Hard work never killed anyone’.
We sit down to one of Lisa’s meals along with 150 paying-customers enjoying a delightful good-tasting dinner consisting of a cool rhubarb drink, liver pate, roasted chicken with lemon, balsamic-grilled asparagus, garlic potatoes, and two cobblers – one made with peaches and another with blueberries. Relishing the fresh farm food, I think of Lisa and her boys trying to bring what is best in America to visitors who travel this way. It was a fulfilling finale to our trip to this farm of hard work and fine home-cooked food, literally ‘from farm to fork’.
For More Information, Contact:
Freedom Farms: 795 Pittsburgh Road, Route 8, Butler, PA 16002; Tel: 724-586-5551; Website: www.freedomfarmspa.com
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- Lisa working the land
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- Lisa preparing applesauce
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- Entrance to Freedom Farms
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- Various crops at Freedom Farms
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- Sandwich shop at Freedom Farms
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- Freedom Farms
Dear Habeeb,
Thank you for attending our Dinner in the Field event and for writing such a great article about your experience. Your group was entertaining and gracious; we’d love to have all of you back anytime. We’d like to invite you to our Fall Festival on the farm. It takes place every weekend in October and features the best of Western PA in the autumn season. All the best to you in your future travels.
Happy Trails,
Amanda
Freedom Farms
Amanda – I’ll pass your note on to Habeeb. You guys are doing some really neat things, keep up the good work 🙂
~ Dave
The dinner in the field is wonderful! Hope you picked up one of Lisa’s cookbooks so you can try it at your home. I can’t eat anything from a big store that I can get fresh at Freedom Farms Market or Bakery. I’m happy to see that Freedom Farms is getting some big press. We love to support our local farmers, especially the King Family. I am a CSA member with Freedom Farms!
Hi I’m gugu from South Africa I really love the show guys keep on doing good here’s my e-mail I’d also like to chat with you gugupngobeni@outlook.com and my number’s are 0847845158 much love.
It’s sad Joe ruined your business. He really needs to be fired. He has no place making decisions. Not CEO material. It’s very clear in watching show he does not know what he’s doing. The way to grow a business is do 1 thing at a time make sure 100% perfect. Train other people. Make sure it can run up to your standards. then expand to something else. The other 2 brothers are much smarter. He just didn’t listen. His ideas made no sense. One bad decision after another. With the show it could have been very profitable. I can’t believe he was a business major. Must have been last in class. The first thing you learn is if you don’t know what your doing ask someone who does. With shows exposure he could have gotten professional help for free. I own a business and what I didn’t know I asked. Always listened to my workers and customers. I know nothing about farming and could have done a better job with my eyes close. Please remove him from CEO before your is ruined & bankrupt.