ORWIGSBURG - Chris Marcolla drove to a roadside produce stand just outside the borough Wednesday to buy apples and peppers.
"I come out here maybe twice a month. I like to grill hamburgers a lot and they have the best sweet peppers in the area," Marcolla, 28, of Schuylkill Haven, said of Stein's Farm Market, 1117 Chestnut Road.
Stein's will be one of the stops on the second annual Schuylkill County Farm Tour hosted by the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee, on Oct. 12, according to Elizabeth A. Hinkel, manager of the Schuylkill Conservation District.
"Total, there are 29 seats on the bus and we have 23 seats available. Tickets are $15 each," Hinkel said Wednesday.
The tour will begin at the Schuylill County Ag Center off Gordon Nagle Trail, Route 901, Pottsville, at 9 a.m. Oct. 12. Organizers have chartered a bus from Newhurst Bus Co., Pine Grove, Hinkel said.
Hinkel said some of the stops on the tour are:
- Galen Glen Winery, 255 Winter Mountain Drive, Andreas.
- Van Hoekelen Greenhouse, which operates a 7 1/2-acre facility on Plant Road, and a 7 1/2-acre state-of-the-art greenhouse facility on Lofty Road in Kline Township. The tour will focus on the greenhouse at 51 Lofty Road. For more information on the company, visit its website at vanhoekelen.com.
- Charles S. Snyder Inc. Farm Equipment, 767 Penn Drive, which is Route 443, Tamaqua. Snyder's has been in business for more than 70 years, according to its website at cssnyder.com.
- Stein's Farm Market, Orwigsburg. The Stein family has run the farm for more than 100 years and today it is owned by Joshua Stein and his brother, Jacob.
Organizers will provide a boxed lunch on the tour.
"We'll have lunch at West Penn Park off Route 309 in Snyders," said Patrick M. "Porcupine Pat" McKinney, educational coordinator for the Schuylkill County Conservation District.
The bus will return to the Schuylkill County Ag Center by 3:30 p.m. that day, Hinkel said. Anyone interested in buying tickets can contact the conservation district at 570-622-3742, ext. 5, Hinkel said.
The Schuylkill County Agribusiness Committee held its first bus tour of county farms in August 2012. It included stops at Pioneer Evergreen Farms, Orwigsburg, Hepler Homestead Farms, Pitman, and Jersey Acres Farm, Pine Grove.
"We had a full bus. All 29 seats were filled. Our goal was to get the non-ag public more involved in agriculture. We wanted to bring them out to the farms so they can see different types of working farms and ag businesses," Hinkel said.
Hinkel said she's been working for two months to set up this year's tour.
"This really isn't a last-minute thing. It just takes so long to set up," Hinkel said.
"Some farmers change their mind. In some cases, it's tough to get a hold of people," McKinney said.
There are two reasons why the farm tour is difficult to set up, Hinkel said.
"One is liability issues. Most farms are just not set up to have the public come in," Hinkel said. "And there's always the fear of someone getting hurt or a problem. A lot of places aren't capable of handling a large group of people," she said.
The second reason why mid-October isn't a good time for farmers to give tours is the harvest.
"A lot of times, they don't have the available staff to get the work done and host the tour," Hinkel said.
On Oct. 12, farmers in the region will be harvesting fall crops, from apples to pumpkins, Hinkel said.