Blackberry Meadows Farm

04/09/2026

Our latest news

We're only 9 days into April - but this month has felt like a whirlwind! We had some wind damage at the end of March, which took the plastic off of our high tunnels, blew slate shingles off the barn, and lifted the roof up on the purple garage by the road. Excitement abounds! We're had a first ever insurance claim! (knock on wood).

Because of the wind damage - the whole greenhouse system has gotten an overhaul. Fresh plastic on the greenhouse (2 layers) and the old plastic moved down the line. The "pig tunnel" got the new (old) layer of plastic and a new gutter system! That'll help with water harvest and allow us to water the pigs with fresh rain water!

We'll start back at the farmers markets in May - so keep an eye out for the Farmers Grill! CSA starts up in June, and the Garden Share begins next week!! Can't wait to see you all soon!

Action Items! Time to join up!

Shop Online for April 15th pick up!
Ok. We're up to our elbows in eggs! Those chickens are thrilled that the weather is warming, and they can stretch their legs! They've taken their job of egg production seriously and that means you need to seriously eat more eggs! We also have a good selection of meats in the freezer. We're restocked in just about everything - just before the Markets start back up in May.

Sign up for CSA
Ready to lock in your food prices for the whole growing season? Want your family to eat fresh and healthy foods? Like knowing where your food comes from? It's not too late to join our CSA! The best way to get access to fresh and local food is to join a CSA and commit to eating fresh-from-the-farm food for 20 weeks. Typically we start up in the beginning of June and run through the end of October. Right now, we're busy planting seeds in the basement, greenhouse and high tunnels - and the fields have just about dried out enough to get more crops in the ground! The sooner you join the CSA - the better we can adjust our field plans and grow the right amount of food for the right amount of farm members.

Sign up for Farm Club
Sometimes we need a reason to get out and get dirty! Farm club is a great way to commit to growing food with a community of gardeners at our farm. Put down the devices, grab your gloves, and get ready to work on the dirt! With Farm Club, you can grow as little as a 3 feet x 50 feet bed - and just focus on the foods you and your family love to eat or are curious how they grow. Come out as little* or as frequently as you like and learn to grow food with us!
(*"a farmer's footprints are the best fertilizer" - the more you visit your garden plot the better things will grow!)

Sign up for Garden Share
Oftentimes home gardeners don't maximize their growing time-frame and miss out on growing and harvesting crops on the tail ends of the season. With Garden Share - we give you a monthly distribution of seedlings and the guidance on how and when to plant different crops throughout the whole year!

Click here for an update from Blackberry Meadows Farm!

03/09/2026

Farm Update

It's been awhile - here's what we're up to....

CSA season is upon us and we've got the basement full and the greenhouse up and running. We need everyone to sign up for your CSA membership soon - (or email me to reserve your spot) so we can plan accordingly for the whole growing season. You have two options for pick up this year - Wednesdays 3 - 7 and Saturdays 11 - 7. I'm going to plant peas soon (March 17th) and already have spinach and beets planted in the high tunnel. Spring comes outta nowhere fast!

The robins are out digging up worms, the spring peepers are singing away, and tulips and daffodils are pushing their way up out of the earth. How nice!

Farm Club is starting up too!

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." Mahatma Ghandi

Come out to the farm and remember. Remember what it feels like to walk barefoot on the soil, to hear the sounds of birds chirping, and the feel of a storm front blowing in. Remember the satisfaction of pulling up a perfectly round red beet, or the taste and pop of a sun-warmed cherry tomato in your mouth. Remember the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you help your neighbor tie up their tomatoes, or harvest their potatoes. Remember the satisfaction of growing food for your family.

There's a community that's growing here at Blackberry Meadows, along with the veggies. Farm Club is a group of individuals and families that are interested in taking a little more responsibility for their own food production. Starting with a 3'x50' bed, and growing a little more each year - they learn how to plant with the seasons, work with nature, and bounce back from the challenges.

If you're ready to take the next step and learn to grow food with us - join Farm Club! The growing starts now!

Farm to Table Event

Coming out of hibernation isn't easy! We jumped right into the thick of it with the Farm to Table event at the Home and Garden Show. Throngs of people followed their noses to our booth to snarf up samples of sausages and bacon. It'll take all week for my sampling arm to recover!

Luckily we were able to get all of our pork back from the butchers (we're trying out two butchers; Cunninghams and Weimers) just in time for the show. We did get a big kick in the knees though, when our butcher bill came due. We've done our best to keep our prices reasonable - but prices keep going up all around and our pork prices have gone up accordingly.

That said - it seems like the Home and Garden Show people are there to eat samples and shop, and we still did pretty well. We met lots of folks from Fawn, West Deer, New Ken, and other neighboring towns - so it was a great opportunity to network and tell more people about our farm.

It's nice to have a week to recover and get back to farming! We'll be back at it again this upcoming weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

We've got lots of pigs! Piles of them, in fact! Two of our sows had babies on the same night, in the same nest! They are super cute - this warm weather has been a blessing - as they have the opportunity to spread out, wander around, and enjoy the sun. I do have to admit that there were some benefits to the cold weather too - no mud!!

One of the recent storms that came through blew the plastic off of or last high tunnel. This tunnel is one that we use for our hogs - and the one that the mamas chose for their nest! Despite the fact that it was still cold and windy - we were able to pull the plastic back over and secure it to the ribs of the high tunnel. It'll hold until the next big wind storm or we get out there and wrap it in new plastic.

02/19/2026

Here's an example of one week of a CSA Share on our farm (about $35/week for 20 weeks). Want the convenience of buying your food from Corporate America? Well - this same collection of goods is about $39 from Whole Foods.

The thing is... when you join our CSA you pay up front for a whole growing season, at a fixed rate of about $35 each week. When you shop a la carte at the grocery store you're at the whim of the store's prices, availability, and freshness.

Bonus: not only are you supporting local farms and feeding your family hyper-fresh food - you also get access to our on-farm activities, food community, and a chance to spend time with you family and friends, here at your "CSA Farm".

Come join our CSA food community and eat fresh food!

02/18/2026

We start many of our seeds in the greenhouse - but before we crank up the heaters, we'll get a few of the early crops ready in our warm basement. After they've sprouted, we take them to the greenhouse to be potted up into bigger plug trays - ready to grow and branch out!

02/18/2026

From January to December - we have barns full of hay, pigs piled together, peeps in the mail, veggie laden tables, and season extension in the high tunnels. We keep busy all year around, although we try to take it a little slower in the winter. Our hibernation is over! Let the veggie growing BEGIN!

02/17/2026

Sign ups for CSA opens soon! Secure your spot now, while you're still dreaming of farm fresh tomatoes, snappy beans, and crunch cukes!

Our CSA starts up June. Join now for early bird pricing!

02/17/2026

Frozen eggs, cold dog kisses, snowy pigs, sunning hens, new piglets, and our winter hibernation coming to an end.

02/09/2026

Sign up for CSA now!

I think we've done it. We're over the bulk of winter and spring is in the air. Really.... it is. It's time to talk about where your food is coming from this summer! Like in year's past - we grow a large variety of veggies throughout the 20 week season. You can expect to get lots of fresh greens (kale, lettuce, bok choy, etc), roots (carrots, turnips, radishes, onions etc), fruiting veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, beans, etc), herbs, flowers, and occasional odd ball crops, like purslane or lambs quarters; among a whole variety of other veggies!

Our farm store will also be open at pick up, where you can order ahead or shop on-demand for our frozen pork and poultry products, canned goods, and fresh eggs. Throughout the growing season, we host on-farm activities for the whole family too!

What?
Half (10 week) or Full (20 week) CSA Shares
When?
Wednesdays 3 - 7 pm, Saturdays 11 - 7. Starting in June
Where?
At the Farm (7115 Ridge Rd Natrona Heights PA 15065)
How?
Follow the links below!

You have two pick up options this year:

Note the image above:
There's now a drop down menu for which day you'd like to pick up your share: Wednesdays 3 - 7 or Saturdays 11 - 7. Be sure to pick one! Your only pick up location is at the farm FYI.

Sign up for a full share - farm pick up here:

Sign up for a Half Share Farm Pick Up Here:

We're trying to balance out our schedules and also create more space for Work Share members to come out and help on the farm.

Are you interested in getting your hands dirty and learning about growing food? A Work Share is a great way to dabble in the art of farming without the commitment of a buying a farm! We're looking for help on Wednesday, Friday, and/or Saturday mornings 9:00- 1:00, . You'll help is weeding, planting, harvesting, and general field work. We'll send you home with a weekly harvest of veggies and a farm lunch. Please email [email protected] if you'd like more info!

Farm Club

Ready to go beyond being a "helper" on the farm? We also have a Farm Club option, where you can GROW YOUR OWN food on our land - under our guidance. Start with as little as a 3'x50' row or up to 12' x 50' section. Your second year, you can increase up to 30' x 50' section! Join our community of growers who are passionate about growing good food for their friends and family. It's a great way to get outside, play an active roll in your food security, learn something new, and meet friends who love food and farming too! Come be a part of Farm Club!

Click here for an update from Blackberry Meadows Farm!

01/26/2026

Plenty of eggs and meat in stock. If you order for this Wednesday (3 - 7) pick up - we'll set it in a cooler down by the road. No need to traverse up our driveway.

Looking for a few more opinions about changing the CSA pick up time. So far, the majority votes for Saturdays 11 - 7. We'd love to hear from you about this change in the CSA Pick up days!

Farm News:

Well, that was exciting! We got about 14" of snow here at the farm - loose and fluffy and great for sledding!

It's kind of our "down time" here - so Greg's decided to tear out the kitchen sink, cabinets and countertops. We're slowly replacing the dingy white 1980's particle board kitchen ensemble with used cabinets from a friend, butcher block countertops from a commercial kitchen re-fab, and fresh paint. This whole farm operates on the "one piece at a time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uErKI0zWgjg) " philosophy. Nothing happens quickly - but we eventually get 'er done.

The pigs are all tucked in and don't seem to have too many complaints. Other than water freezing - they basically get up to eat breakfast and dinner, and then snuggle down in a big pig pile and sleep the winter away.

Sooner than we know, this will all turn to mud and that's when I start to whine. I'll take 0 degree wind chill over mud any day!

We're making plans for the year and will be at the Home and Garden Show (https://www.pghhome.com) again this year. Follow the smell of bacon to our booth - where you'll find us sampling a variety of sausages and bacon and selling frozen meats and Greg's hand made soaps. There's a section set aside for Farm to Table - and you'll find us and a bunch of other great local farms and entrepreneurs too!

We're still doing to Bloomfield market (1st and 3rd Saturdays in March - then it starts up in May. And Squirrel Hill will start up around Mother's Day too. We're thinking about doing a once a month market in the Northside on Fridays - so keep an eye out for that too. We' miss all our friends who would shop and visit with us at the Northside and hope to see you all there again!

Evelyn is selling her cards at Harvest Moon (https://www.harvestmoonc2.com) in The Heights. Stop by and support two local businesses at once! Evelyn's Spring and Valentine's sets at the coffee shop now. Next week, we will put them up for sale on our website too.

01/23/2026

Braking ice in the water troughs. We did end up braking the hoe too. When we fill the waters, we only fill it half way, so that when it freezes it won’t freeze all the way to the top. Multiple visits to the barnyard throughout the day.

01/22/2026

Charlie, the corgi, loves to ride on our side by side! This morning I took him out to the back field to water the pigs.