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Thursday, August 05, 1999 By Suzanne Martinson, Food Editor, Post-Gazette
Carolyn Schramm, days away from her 18th birthday and soon to be a freshman studying agriculture at Penn State, calls to her father, "We need more corn!" In the farm market office, Eugene Hillary Schramm Jr. picks up his two-way radio and beeps the pickers in the field. "We need corn," he says.
So this is what Schramm Farms & Orchards means by "fresh."
He explains: "We pick corn at least three times a day. I used to have to jump in the pickup and go looking for the corn crew. This saves me 10 or 15 minutes."
Here is where agricultural technology dovetails with old-fashioned family farm values. The Schramm farm moved to Penn Township, Westmoreland County, in 1981. Until then, family patriarch Eugene Sr. and his brother, Bob, who died in 1990, had a 120-acre farm on McKnight Road in Ross.
"Are you familiar with Ross Park Mall?" asks Eugene Jr., whom everyone calls "Hil." "Well, that was our farm."
Their farm stand stood right alongside the traffic-clogged northern thoroughfare. "It was six lanes by then, and people were afraid to stop because they couldn't get back into the traffic," Schramm says.
The farm-stand customers had trouble merging, so the farmers made an acquisition. They sold the Ross land and bought their 450 acres, which are near Harrison City. Today, they rent an additional 20 acres.
From 1964 to 1997, the number of Pennsylvania farms dropped 46 percent, according to the U.S. Census of agriculture. Suburban growth pressures can be a double-edged sword for a farm market. While much agricultural land on the fringes of cities turns into fertile plots for houses, if a farmer can hold on, the increased population can mean a growing customer base.
So it is with the Schramms, but with an interesting twist. Their farm was planted within one mile of three golf courses. A fourth is on the way. Although the father and his three sons sometimes have to wait with their farm equipment to cross the road in the traffic, this can also be a good thing.
"We need the traffic to fill the parking lot of our market," says Hil Schramm. The sometimes golfer grins. "And men often play a little golf and stop for some good fresh produce to take home."
He figures a cook interested in Schramm-fresh might be apt to drive 10 miles or so to shop, and he considers Monroeville, Murrysville, Greensburg, Delmont, Swissvale, Plum, Penn Hills and Irwin and North Huntingdon in his market area.
As we lurch up and down the rutted roads through the fields, upscale houses come into view, the digs for some of the 20,000 people who now live in Penn Township. The acres that are now home to corn, apples, peppers, pears, grapes, cauliflower, green beans et al. was once going to be home to homes. "We bought the land from Ryan Homes," says Schramm. "It was ready to develop, but they needed to unload some ground."
The land had access to municipal water for irrigation (a boon, though a not inexpensive one, in this drought-ridden summer, though they use ponds, too). They'd have liked to purchase the land that is the fourth golf course, but a $5,000- to $10,000-an-acre price is too rich for a farm budget.
The Schramm partners include: Hil and wife Martha; John and Carrie; and Ralph and Kathy. Their sister and her husband, Kathy and Bill Young, share a market roof but have a separate business called Grandma's Country Oven Bake Shop, where their daughter, Jennifer, also works.
At 43, Hil is the eldest of the four children at the market, which is not to be confused with the Schramm's Farm Market southeast of Butler. That market is owned by Peter G. and Martha Schramm and run by son Norbert. Eugene Sr. and Peter are brothers. Confusing, but comforting in a way, that two branches of a family can make a living selling homegrown produce.
Hil Schramm says he considers helping health-conscious people make their goal of "5 a Day" a privilege. "I know I'm not going to make a lot of money and retire to Florida when I'm 50. I'll be 90 and still selling corn."
Schramm says his wife worked "as a kid" for Trax Farms in Finleyville and the two met at Penn State, the collegiate destination for all three brothers, who had attended North Catholic High School.
If Hil and Martha's daughters go into the business, they will be the third generation. "We don't have as many generations as the Traxes do," Schramm says.
John and Carrie have two children, Zachery, 6, and Tyler, 3, and a third on the way. As generations expand, the Schramms face what many farm families confront: earning enough income. (There always seems to be enough work to go around, though.)
That's why one of the hot topics among farmers is "value-added" products. For example, Schramm customers can order a vegetable or fruit tray for parties, and such services could increase as more family members enter and expand the business. They don't press their own cider, but "we've started selling milk, just for customers' convenience," he says.
The Schramms make it perfectly clear where produce is grown. Savvy customers might know that Walla Walla Sweets come from Washington State, others might not. Unlike the supermarket, where customers often have to guess on a food's state or even country of origin, their market's signs announce "Our Own," "Local" (bought from a neighboring farmer), or are labeled with a state or origin.
The family divvies up the tasks. Hil is in charge of the market, his brothers run the field operations. Ralph, for example, plans the 350 plots for the 40 or so crops which grow on the contour of the hilly land. Martha and Kathy work with greenhouse production, and all three wives do bookkeeping. "We're not arguing about every little thing -- we talk things over," Hil says.
Having the supply when there's a demand is always the rub. Schramm sighs at the tomatoes he bought out of North Carolina, only to see his own tomatoes ripen in the hot weather a couple of days later.
In all, 17 people work in the market, which is open year-round, with another 12 to 14 in the fields. It is a complicated business, and sometimes conditions conspire to breed disaster. Take this summer's early strawberries. Last August the weather was hot and dry and weakened the plants, then they were hit with heavy rains in March, so they weren't strong enough to produce a full crop this spring.
For the family, it's a seven-day-a-week worry, and although the parents -- Eugene and Kathleen -- are retired, they help, too.
The children also toil, although Hil says his and Martha's two younger ones (Barb, 13, and Katie, 11) aren't "on the schedule." Kids who grow up working on 4-H projects such as 15-year-old Diane's two lambs and Barb's and Katie's two hogs -- all headed for Westmoreland County Fair -- can develop businesslike ideas. Carolyn, who turns18 Sunday, and Diane, 15, wanted a car, but their parents were not enthusiastic. They hit on a plan: grow flowers to sell in the market for a special car fund.
Schramm relishes how his oldest daughter started directing U-pick berry customers to the fields when she was only 6. At 11, when a long line in the market kept customers waiting, she was soon at the cash register.
"Do you know what you're doing?" a customer asked. She did.
All five families live on the farm, though not next door. Having their homes scattered helps them keep an eye on their crops and land. When farm meets suburbia, problems can arise, but the Schramms' worst vandalism occurred before they had opened for business -- a barn they had been planning to use for their farm market was burned. Two silos from the former dairy farm still stand. (Dairy farms are an endangered species in Pennsylvania; 75 percent went out business between 1964 and 1997, according to the ag census.)
The family monitors crops as the prudent parent looks after offspring. Quality is paramount. Corn is planted with an eye to efficient picking. Ostensibly, their 25 varieties ranging from 65 to 86 growing days would provide a steady supply. But sometimes corn planted in the same row on the same day ripens at different rates. "That's when we send out the experienced corn pickers," Schramm says with a smile.
Schramm, a horticulture graduate, is enthusiastic about technological advances, but stresses that family farmers don't bombard their crops with pesticides. As a practical matter, it'd be extremely expensive, and "our families and our workers eat these things and we wouldn't do anything to hurt them."
They take precautions, carefully washing any melon to be cut, for instance, and storing each piece of produce properly for the best shelf life. It breaks his heart when he sees a tomato that he has carefully kept at the optimal temperature stuck in the refrigerator or corn picked minutes ago stuffed into a hot car.
Back in the office, he rustles through his filing cabinet for a chart on treating vegetables right. Next to the 80-by-64-foot sales room, which was built in 1991, is a prep room that contains two coolers, one at 54 degrees for cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and such, another at 36 degrees for apples, cauliflower and broccoli and melons.
Schramm says being the only man in the family among five women -- even the dog is female -- means they eat lots of pasta and vegetables. "I don't get enough meat," he says with a sigh.
The family often find themselves involved in tasting new varieties. Some bomb. He practically shudders at the thought of a tasting the night before. It was called Seneca Arrowhead. "Uck. No one finished an ear."
"I said to my brother, 'Pull out those four rows.' " He meant it. "I'm particular about my corn."
He's also partial to green beans. "I'm not allowed to pick them, because I eat too many."
One of his favorites dishes, though, is something called Eggplant Meatballs, a recipe soon to be featured in the farm's newsletter written by Maureen Bierman, who highlights one or two crops each month.
Come fall, there's news about their annual festivals, including pumpkin picking and Octoberfest. The whole family's there to pitch in, and that's what makes it a family farm. As yet, they haven't even incorporated. Too much paperwork.
As our farm tour winds down, Hil Schramm brakes the pickup and springs out. He's soon in the cornfield picking away. "You've got to try this corn," he says, coming back with a dozen or so ears.
It's called Ambrosia (among the best we've ever tasted).
He thinks he has an enviable job, and if he had one message, it'd be this: "I would like people to know they can get nice fresh produce from the people who grew it."
Schramm Farms and Orchards is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays. Phone: 724-744-7320. The bakery number is 724-744-9873.
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