Weatherbury Farm Overview
Raising Grass-fed meats, Certified Organic Grains
and Offering Farm Stay Vacations

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About Weatherbury Farm: Weatherbury Farm from the Air

Folk Music Workshops   

Weatherbury Farm All Natural Grass Fed Beef & Lamb

"Discover how the owners of this 100-acre, idyllic spot near Pittsburgh focus on using integrated techniques to manage their sustainable farming operation"
Dallas Morning News October 27, 2011

 "At Pennsylvania's kid-friendly Weatherbury Farm, a 100-acre grass-fed beef and sheep farm about 45 minutes southwest of Pittsburgh, guests can help Farmer Dale (his real name) with morning chores."
USA Today, April 18, 2008

"Their enthusiasm and endless ideas enable them to continually offer their guests something different."
Greater Pittsburgh Region Metroguide, 2003 edition

Have you ever wanted to eat beef or lamb from animals raised their entire life on one farm eating grass as they were intended to? Would you like to buy flour and pasta from a farm that raised the grain organically and did all of the processing on farm? Would you like to stay at that farm and learn more about where your food comes from and how it is produced?

Weatherbury Farm is a family owned and operated sustainable farm located in the rolling hills of southwestern Pennsylvania. It is a quiet place, far from the madding crowd, removed from the cares of the world where meadows and gardens, fields and valleys combine to create a perfect setting of tranquil relaxation. Here the gentle amenities of life are still observed.  

Grass-fed beef and lamb are raised for sale directly to the consumer. Six years ago Weatherbury Farm transitioned from a cow calf farm where the calves were sold at auction, to a grass-fed and grass-finished operation where the calves spend their entire life on the farm and are sold as grass-fed beef directly to the consumer. At this time we also started selling our lambs as grass-fed lamb directly to the consumer.

For the past four years, certified organic grains (soft & hard wheat, oats, spelt, open-pollinated corn, emmer and einkorn) are also grown on the farm.  We have sold our grains to a regional flour mill, a micro-distillery, a micro-brewery and to other farmers. This summer we will begin selling our grains as flour directly to consumers. Additionally pasta will be made out of our flour to give consumers a ready-to-use product which emphasizes the flavorful nuances of the different grains we grow. We have purchased a flour mill with millstones from Austria, an oat roller mill from Australia and a small Italian commercial pasta machine. We are currently finishing out our food processing area so we can commence operations.

With our flour milling operation we are looking to do something that is truly unique. In the news today you hear about food miles and how the average meal travels 1500 miles to the plate passing many processing plants on the way. This uncertainty of where your food has been and what has been done to it along the way creates the demand that our product will fill. From putting the seed into the soil to putting the flour into the bag all of the operations of planting, harvesting, grain cleaning and milling will happen on our farm. Weatherbury Farm will be the only small farm producing estate flours, akin to an estate wine. The consumer can rest assured because our products are organically grown and processed. The organic certification means we have a rigorous annual inspection which verifies that our inputs, farming methods and processing are compliant with the USDA National Organic Program.

Selling direct to consumers allows us to cultivate relationships with the people whom our food nourishes. Currently all of our products are for pickup on the farm so people have the opportunity to learn where their food comes from. The flour and pasta will be available to the greater Pittsburgh region through a cooperative CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)  and will also be available for sale on the farm.

Weatherbury Farm was one of two farms selected (from 500+ farms) for the 2012 Pennsylvania Certified Organic Sustainability Award.

We are striving to be a totally integrated farm composting our animal manure to fertilize our fields. We also feed our free-range chickens organically using grains grown on the farm. (These same eggs are collected during morning chores for the next day's breakfast.) Our goal is to heal the lands we farm which have been stripped of nutrients (with the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and herbicides applied before our ownership.

Weatherbury Farm Vacation offers an overnight experience where families can learn about farming and life on the farm.  Saturdays and Sundays after breakfast, children of all ages are invited to help Farmer Dale with chores.  They will delight in getting acquainted with the goats, ducks, chickens, geese, sheep and cattle.

After chores families can enjoy life on the farm. Weatherbury is a working farm. Each day features new experiences. Many families have fun watching (from a distance, of course) Farmer Dale & Farmer Nigel at work in the fields. Or sometimes (more often than we like), they may be working on keeping our farm equipment in good running order.  Some families like to get their hands dirty and help Marcy weed the garden! Some families  choose to also visit nearby attractions during their stay. Most families, however, enjoy the opportunity to kick back and relax on the farm and enjoy life in the slow lane.

Families  receive a packet (filled with coloring & activity books) about farming and every child is invited to earn the “Official Weatherbury Farm Kid” designation. Younger  children do chores and complete a picture worksheet; older children have fun doing chores and learning with our "Farm Workbook." Children who complete the program are awarded an "Official  Weatherbury Farm Kid" certificate.

Accommodations are in a cluster of historic buildings. The suites have ensuite baths,  are air-conditioned and have a dorm sized refrigerator.

Country gardens surround the farmhouse providing the perfect setting for relaxing or playing croquet on  the lawn. The gorgeous sunsets and breathtakingly beautiful sunrises make a stay here truly a peaceful and relaxing experience. At day's end, one can take in the dance of the fireflies from the porch swing.

There are many activities for the guest who wants to be busy, and those who so desire can be busy doing nothing at all. Guests may relax on the porches, picnic on the  grounds, or enjoy the swimming pool on a summer day. 

Weatherbury Farm is set in an area of natural beauty to offer a stopping-off place for exploring the many attractions of the area. Opportunities for bicycling, boating, fishing, hiking,  and golf abound. Our on-the-farm blacksmith shop, auctions, antiquing and flea markets are among the many choices of entertaining year round activities. Starlake Amphitheater and Brooke Hills Playhouse offer a variety of summer entertainment. Also close by are Meadowcroft, a 19th century village outdoor museum which includes one of the oldest archaeological sites in North America and the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. Pittsburgh, Washington PA and panhandle West Virginia are within easy driving distance.

As an agritourism farm, Weatherbury works to reconnect people with the farm and the source of their food. Our mission as a farm vacation is to educate our guests about farming and agriculture, with an emphasis on organic. At Weatherbury Farm Vacation, a family-run venture, we are constantly working towards providing “green” tourism both in our farm vacation bed and breakfast and farm operations. Weatherbury Farm seeks to continue the concerns of the 19th century and early 20th century people with minimizing external inputs by natural recycling and conservation. Our green philosophy can be read on-line.

To get an overview of the Weatherbury Farm complex, look at the aerial shots of Weatherbury Farm.

Weatherbury Farm also hosts farm field days both singularly and with other organizations to educate the community about farming.  We also host folk music jams, concerts and workshops to bring the community together and offer entertainment.
 

At Weatherbury Farm our mission is both to educate the public and nourish our community.

Weatherbury Farm is constantly growing; from 2007 to 2012 by taking on other farms in the area our land base has doubled. We are always looking for ways we can leverage our resources to create new marketable products. For example in 2013 we will grow small fields of black turtle dry beans that will be harvested, cleaned and sold direct to customers. While we don’t have the textbook machinery for a large dry bean operation, we have found creative ways to adapt the machines we already have to get the job done. In 2012 we grew rows of dry beans in our garden to determine which varieties will work the best with our planned system.

Other products we plan to experiment with in the future are potatoes and sunflowers. Potatoes haven’t been grown around our farm on a field scale for several decades. Since potatoes do so well in our garden without irrigation we will soon be experimenting growing them on a field scale. We plan to grow the sunflowers for their seeds. We will press the seeds, refine the oil and rent the oil to restaurants to use in their deep fryers. We will then get the used oil back which we will use to make biodiesel to fuel our tractors. Nigel is currently working with researchers at the Penn State University on a grant to perfect the process of small scale food grade oil processing. We also plan to put a sign by the field of sunflowers when they are in bloom advertising “This is the world’s most beautiful oil field.”

Nigel is also working with the Organic Growers Research and Information Sharing Network (OGRIN) to determine optimum varieties and cultural practices for heritage and alternative grain production in the northeast. He is also working with the Heritage Wheat Conservancy to bring einkorn, the world’s oldest cultivated grain, back as a commercial crop.

A local friend who runs a CNC machine recently brought his employee over to show him our forge and machine shop. While they were here, we showed them some of our other projects that will be coming to fruition.  As they were leaving our friend told us that his employee said to him "this is the way real Americans are supposed to be".

The creative spirit is alive and well at Weatherbury Farm.
 

Yours hosts, another American classic! Above is our 1996 Christmas card photo, which was such a big hit with our guests, that our 2006 Christmas card showed an updated photo (below)

Marcy -- Farm Wife
Farm duties: Oversees bed and breakfast operation; gardener in chief.
Occupation: Self-employed accountant. Previously worked in accounting and personnel in corporate, state and military positions. Marcy served as a captain in the US Air Force in the Vietnam theater.
Hobbies: Gardening, needlework, beginning hammered dulcimer player.
Other: Marcy was the President of the Pennsylvania Farm Vacation Association from 1994 - 2008 and since November 2011 serves as the Association manager. Because of her involvement with PFVA, she traveled to Poland in 2001 to study agri-tourism in that country. Marcy was the market manager for the Avella Farmers Market  (2007 & 2008). She has served as treasurer of the Pittsburgh Bed and Breakfast Association since 2006.

Nigel -- Farmer
Farm Duties: Field work, organic grains, planning, keeper of organic records for farm, breakfast preparation and gardens.
Nigel was the impetus behind Weatherbury Farm adding certified organic grains which in turn has led to flour milling and pasta making. Nigel has used his metal working skills to repair the farm’s machinery and design and build a compost turner. He is currently designing and building a spelt dehuller for our grain operation. Nigel’s meticulous note keeping and farm management helped us win the Pennsylvania Certified Organic 2012 Sustainability Award.  We were one of two farms selected from 500+ farms for this award.
Occupation: Architectural blacksmith 1999 honor graduate of Madonna High School, Weirton WV;  studied  blacksmithing (selected by ABANA -- the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America) in Aachen Germany from January - May 2001. Resident Manager, Touchstone Center for Crafts, 2001 season. Taught "The Joy of Blacksmithing" (an introduction to blacksmithing) at Touchstone in 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011; taught a week-long "Traditional Joinery" class at Touchstone in June 2006, 2007 and 2008. Nigel will teach " The Joy of Blacksmithing" at Touchstone again in September 2013.
Hobbies: Restoring old cars.
Other:  Nigel worked with Marcy to manage the Avella Farmers Market in 2007 & 2008. He serves on the PASA western region advisory committee and spoke on Heritage Grains at the 2012 PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) Conference and at the 2012 Pittsburgh Farm to Table Conference and on Grass-Fed Meats .
 

phone: (724) 587-3763

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(Our email address is info@weatherburyfarm.com and we do answer all emails -- if you don't hear back from us, either your email or our answer has been lost in cyber space.)

www.weatherburyfarm.com

a kid friendly family farm stay vacation destination; far from the madding crowd, in the country, just 45 minutes southwest of Pittsburgh, PA -- fun & educational