Home Grown
CLINTON TWP — Frankferd Farms on Saxonburg Boulevard is not a typical farm.
In fact, stopping at the business just past the township building, customers will find a small store and larger warehouse with organic and natural foods and products.
Some items can be bought on site, but the majority of the products are sold and delivered to stores and restaurants that want items such as organic tofu or natural cleaning products.
Owners T. Lyle and Betty Ferderber say some would-be customers arrive on their doorstep disappointed to find the farm isn't a big farmers market or health food store.
"But we're more of a delivery business than anything else," Betty said, adding they are considering building an actual store on site.
Frankferd Farms is T. Lyle's family farm, established by his father, a Pittsburgh doctor who took hobby farming into the working farm stage.
"We had cows, horses, pigs, chickens, crops — a working farm," T. Lyle said.
T. Lyle attended Mars schools since he lived just across the district line from the South Butler School District. Betty grew up in Mars.
T. Lyle said he attended college, but while he was away, his father sold about 30 acres of the original farm. So he quit school and came back to help run the farm.
"The farm is more important to me, so my brother and I worked it," he said.
The family has a mill on Love Road that makes flour, which helps to supplement the farm income, but in 1985 they lost their second largest customer.
When that happened, they looked for new income. T. Lyle and Betty opened Frankferd Farms as the seller and distributor of organic and natural products.Now with 33 employees, the couple works to find and sell local products to local stores and restaurants."And by local, I mean the tri-state region," T. Lyle said. "In turn, we don't go to Home Depot. We go to Trader Horn."We work to support the local economy by buying from our neighbors and hiring employees from the community," he said.So while the national chain natural food and product stores, such as WholeFoods or Trader Joe's, expand into the Pittsburgh and soon to the Cranberry Township area, the Ferderbers hope to continue serving the niche they have carved out in Butler County and in the Pittsburgh region."We haven't done a lot in the past in Pittsburgh, but we have two food tastings coming up, so we are looking for new opportunities to expand," T. Lyle said.Although the store on Saxonburg Boulevard is small, it does serve the purpose of introducing customers to products they might not find in their regular grocery store, he said."It can be a double-edged sword. Once customers decide that they like eating naturally, then they can either order from us, or go to one of those other stores because it's convenient for them," T. Lyle said.The couple still is discussing the idea of an actual store for customers to visit. What that would entail is part of the issue."We would not have a big farmer's market because too many of our farming neighbors already have their stores and we wouldn't want to disrupt their livelihoods," Betty said."But we are always looking for opportunities, so we'll see what happens," T. Lyle said.
<B>WHAT: </B>Frankferd Farms<B>WHERE: </B>717 Saxonburg Blvd., Clinton Township<B>OWNERS:</B> T. Lyle and Betty Ferderberproduct: Sellers and distributors of organic and natural foods and products and a flour mill<B>EMPLOYEES: </B>33<B>WHEN: </B>Founded in 1985
