MIDDLESEX TWP — Tony and Mabel Molinaro plant about 80 acres of white corn every year, and every year many people count the days until it is available for sale.

The Molinaros, who have been farming for more than 60 years on Denny Road, don't have any secrets to their success besides hard work, a good variety of corn and no spraying of pesticides.

"They not only have a stand here, but they provide a community place to meet," said Judy Kurtzrock of Middlesex, one of the Molinaros' three children.

A simple white sign in front of the white, two-story house marks the entrance to the farm, surrounded by smaller signs advertising fresh zucchini, green beans and peppers.

The stand itself is more of an open shed, filled with discarded corn husks and Mabel Molinaro's preferred form of transportation: a golf cart.

As Kurtzrock talks, Ron Large of Middlesex pulls into the driveway to buy four ears of corn — just as he has every day for most of the past 20 years.

"They have the best corn in the world. I've never tasted anything like it," Large said.

The Molinaros use a variety called Silver King, which Tony Molinaro called "just slightly better" than the Silver Queen they used to grow.

"We used to be in the chicken business. We had 18,000 chickens," Mabel Molinaro said.

Tony Molinaro would slaughter his own fowl, pack them into a truck and take them to markets and even to homes, but that is not possible now because of federalregulations.

"We were in the poultry business for 33 years, but we've always raised veggies," he said.

"We've been at it here for 61 years."

In those six decades, the Molinaros have had to defend their crops against numerous enemies: worms, bugs, raccoons, deer, groundhogs, weeds and weather.

But for the Molinaros, all this hard work has always led to perseverance.

"We're a dying breed. The little family farm is gone," Tony Molinaro said. "But we love what we do and it has been good to us."

Though the poultry business is long gone, animals can still be seen all over the farm. Chickens cluck in a coop near the home, two goats — named Bill and Hillary — are recent additions to a backyard pen, and a docile wild turkey who just "showed up one day" wanders the farm.

His name is Thanksgiving, but he has survived four holidays so far because of Mabel Molinaro's fondness for him.

In between work in the fields, the Molinaros have had time to raise two daughters and a son.

They also have nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

"My family was pretty well raised when I took my first vacation," Tony Molinaro said.

At 55, he took a job with the Mars School District and worked there for 20 years, eventually as head custodian.

Mabel Molinaro hand-braids carpets and writes poetry.

As for when Tony, 87, and Mabel, 91, will stop selling vegetables, which also include peppers, tomatoes and zucchini, there no end is in sight.

"A farmer never retires," Tony Molinaro said.

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