Angela Meck always dreamed of coming back to her roots.
Her grandfather’s grandfather bought a farm in Schuylkill Haven in 1910, and it’s been in the family ever since.
Meck and her husband, Josiah, jumped at the chance to buy the property, Honey Brook Farm in 2019.
Now, the couple plans to open The Farm Store in Pottsville, which will sell locally grown produce, meat and dairy from Schuylkill and nearby counties.
The Mecks won $100,000 for the store from Ignite Schuylkill, a competition and educational program run by the Schuylkill Chamber Foundation and Wise Owl Consulting.
“We know firsthand all the challenges that farming entails, all the skills that it takes to be a farmer,” Angela Meck said. “And sometimes, it just feels like that push to sell your product is more than what you can handle. It just takes it to another level. There’s only so many things you can do in a day.”
Bringing life back to the farm
Meck is grateful for her land, and everything it gives her family.
“I think it is amazing that we were able to purchase this and we can bring life back into this farm … our kids are the sixth generation to work and play here,” she said.
The Mecks are first-generation farmers. Meck didn’t grow up on Honey Brook, nor did her parents. Her great-grandmother was the last person to live on the property. It was leased and rented out and hadn’t been used as farmland since the 1960s.
Josiah Meck, meanwhile, started working on farms when he was around 12 or 13 years old.
“It’s the only kind of jobs you can get when you’re that age. And I really fell in love with the lifestyle, the work ethic, the different jobs, the not knowing what you’re doing every day,” he said.
He attended Penn State University and received a degree in agriculture.
But he always wanted to start his own farm.
It’s taken a lot of hard work, planning, and a little luck.
“We started working on the house, and then it kind of evolved into trying to figure out how we were going to make the land pay for itself,” Angela Meck said.
“And we started to put livestock on the fields and then COVID happened and then people wanted to buy it before we even knew that we were going to be selling meat. We had more meat sold than we even had.”
They mostly raise cows, chickens and turkeys on their 100 acre-farm. Josiah said they’re on track to sell 50 beef, 100 pigs, 700 chickens and 60 turkeys this year. The farm grows its own livestock feed: barley, corn and soybeans.
Social media helped the farm gain traction in the community. During the pandemic, customers could buy meat from the Mecks without going to a grocery store and risking COVID exposure. Angela said people also connected with the farm’s “philosophy.”
“We try to [run a farm] as naturally and regeneratively as possible,” Josiah Meck said. “We raise everything outside, obviously can’t in the winter months, but for at least nine to 10 months out of the year, things are raised outside on grass. And then we use each animal to kind of create an environment for the next.”
Their chickens fertilize the pastures, which feed the steers. His pigs till the ground he plants his crops on, said Josiah. Regenerative farming aims to give back nutrients to the soil, so its yield will become more abundant, Angela Meck explained.
The Farm Store
Now, the Mecks will sell not only their own products, but goods from other farmers.
The Farm Store in Pottsville will carry products from 40 vendors across Pennsylvania, primarily from Schuylkill County.
Angela Meck said the Ignite Schuylkill program was longer than any college class she could think of.
From February to August, they took classes in business management every Wednesday. She said “the timing fell into place,” as they’d never bought commercial real estate before but hoped to expand their business into Pottsville.
The Mecks beat out 19 businesses for the prize money. Their goal for The Farm Store is to help other farmers expand their businesses.
Angela Meck wants it to become an “outlet for farmers” to advertise and sell their products to the community. She also hopes it will make easier for people to access affordable, healthy food.
The Farm Store will open in mid-October, according to the Mecks. They started painting the building, a former First Federal Savings & Loans bank, last week.
