By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
It has been years since Pickwick Farms has housed dairy cows or horses and the stately brick barns were slowly falling into disrepair. But when a novel idea was voiced to a local teenager, new life was breathed back into the farm.
The idea for The Pickwick Place came to fruition last spring when during a discussion about the family farm, the subject of diversification came up. Ethan Stuckey’s older brother Zach suggested an orchard, something that isn’t far off from his family’s roots.
Ethan was blunt when he admitted that creating an orchard was never something he thought he wanted to do.
“Realistically, it started last spring when Zach gave me the idea. It appealed to me a lot more than cattle,” Ethan said. “I guess I like plants more than cattle.”
“He’s genetically predisposed to that because that’s very similar to his grandpa – my dad,” explained Kent Stuckey, Ethan’s father. “My dad had 5,000 apple trees.”
Kent said that when he was a child his family had a strawberry you-pick and fruit and vegetable you-pick farm north of Indianapolis. The family tradition of tending fruits and vegetables continued when Kent’s own three sons visited during the summer to help.
Once the idea of an orchard took root, the family looked around for opportunities. Luckily, the Pickwick Farms, which is located just a few miles from the Stuckey home, was available for purchase. Kent said they now have half of the former Pickwick Farm grounds, which include all the barns and land to the south of the buildings.
The entire complex with be called The Pickwick Place but each barn will have its own feature. The Market at Pickwick Place will be located in the southern-most barn. Or, for those who have trouble with directions, it will be the barn stamped with the Pickwick Farms name at the top. That building will contain all of Ethan’s produce that had been raised right on the farm along with various meats.
“There’s a ton of work to do over there. It’s an ambitious schedule but I think it’s doable,” Kent said. “That building is 7,000 square feet. It’s a nice space. We plan on focusing on locally-raised food of all types.”
Kent they also have visions of installing a bakery and a lunch stand, though he admitted that any such projects will be set aside as future plans.
In the meantime, Ethan has been hard at work on his plans for his orchard of apples. “It’s been a lot of research trying to figure out everything I need to do since I lack experience,” Ethan said. “That’s basically what I’ve been doing all this winter.”
Ethan has gained knowledge by attending trade shows in Grand Rapids and Sandusky.
“It will be a balance that I will need to take but it will be manageable,” Ethan said.
“In 2016 is when I plant my first trees. I have more coming in 2017 and it’ll be about three or four more years before they start producing,” Ethan explained. “I’m planting strawberries this spring along with some raspberries and blackberries, too.”
“I’m very proud of him,” Kent said. “Just like all his brothers; they’ve all be go-getters. He can handle it.”
Though the Market won’t be open until the summer of 2016 Ethan will be offering sweet corn, melons, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and cabbage under the name Pickwick Produce. He said that he will be selling his produce at local farmer’s markets in Bucyrus, Galion, Crestline, Clintonville, and Powell. He also hopes to have a stand right at Pickwick Place this year.
After Pickwick Place has been established, the Stuckeys plan on offering you-pick produce, where visitors can walk through the fields themselves and pick the produce they want.
The northern-most barn, and also the oldest structure on the farm, will be Acres of Adventure at Pickwick Place. That venture will be run by Rose Hartschuh and will feature corn mazes and agricultural education.
“We’ve known the Stuckeys for years and they approached us with the opportunity to be a part of what they’re doing there,” Hartschuh said. “We definitely jumped on top of it . . . Just the opportunity to attract a wide variety of people: the people that are there to buy the produce, the people that are there for events, and then people there for agri-tourism also. It just seemed like a natural fit to bring it all together.”
One of the reasons Hartschuh and her husband Greg jumped at the chance was the location of Pickwick Farms. The former horse farm is located on State Route 4 just north of U.S. 30, a prime piece of real estate to get such an endeavor off the ground.
Hartschuh and her husband currently operate Sycamore Run Farms in northern Crawford County. Hartshchuh, who had taught high school agriculture before stepping away to raise the couple’s twin boys, continued her passion for education and agriculture at home where their family farm evolved into a corn maze, petting zoo, interactive exhibits, and environmental education activities. But the location of Sycamore Run Farms, which is in a rural area, limited the number of people it could reach.
“One of the greatest thing about this opportunity is the ability to expand,” Hartschuh said. “We were at Sycamore Run Farms where we were closed in a little bit. So we’re going to have a lot of space which is going to be exciting.”
Sycamore Run Farms will remain Greg and Rose’s home farm but the educational opportunities will be taken to Acres of Adventure at Pickwick Place. It will feature many of the same activities Hartschuh hosted in the past, like nature and outdoor activities, games, petting zoos, and a corn maze. The downstairs will have hands-on stations where visitors can read and learn on their own time while the upstairs haymow will feature additional educational activities. There will also be a pumpkin patch and an outdoor play area.
“We’re going to focus on kind of an education aspect,” Hartshuch added. “So letting people know about food and farming and connecting that back to the land around them.”
Hartshuch said Acres of Adventure at Pickwick Place will be open this fall.
The center barn will become the Loft at Pickwick. Though it will be one of the last projects completed, Kent said it will become an event space where meetings can be held.
“There’s beautiful, beautiful architecture inside, something that you couldn’t recreate,” Hartshuch said. “Gorgeous bricks, steel trusses, just a really nice open space. We hope to be able to host meetings and group events down the road also.”
Chris and Andrea Schimpf will also be a part of Pickwick Place. Chris, who operated Eyestone Flower Farm from 2001-2012, will assist in the Market and the Loft.
“He brings a lot to the table as far as experience at the farmer’s markets and just in the Market in general,” Kent said.
Kent hopes that in the future they will also be able to add a restaurant to the Market.
“We have lots of ideas for the Market and things that we want to do,” Kent said. “I have the vision of just making this one of the premier – if not the premier – agri-tourism spots in the state. We have a lot to offer there. I think we can really put together a nice package to draw people to the county and not only that but provide services for the local people in the county, too. Not only fresh food and produce but event space and entertainment. I think there’s a great need in the county for that.”
Kent noted that there are a number of bus tours that go through the county and make stops at Crossroads Original Candles and Advanced Fiber Technology; but, he said, there needed to be more to tour in the county.
“I think we can be a part of the missing link, particularly if we have some meeting space and some food available to help those bus tours out,” Kent said. “But not only bus tours. I think there is huge potential for agri-tourism in general. There seems to be a lot of interest in that.”
Crawford County is in a prime spot to take advantage of the opportunity. Located just a few hours from Cleveland and halfway between Lake Erie and Columbus, Kent believed they would be able to draw a lot of people in to the county.”
“Now more than ever people want to connect with their food,” Hartshuch added. “They want to know where their food’s coming from, they want to know more about farming. So it’s a perfect time to be able to connect them to those opportunities. Ag is the number one industry in our county and the state so there is an opportunity to reach people and let them know, come out and experience it for themselves and see how it works.”
As a 16-year-old high school student, Ethan is undertaking a major project to be able to connect people with their food.
“It means a lot to me because I have a huge passion for farming and agriculture,” Ethan said. “I see lots of people – even in our own school, a very rural school – that just don’t know a lot about where their food comes from. Part of that will help educate not only them but also the public and provide a greater understanding for farmers and what they do.”
“I think it’s great to have the opportunity to work with your friends and your family,” Kent said. “Really, that’s what we’re all about: we’re about community and family. In the store we want to sell locally-raised, not only vegetables and fruits, but meats. Basically anything that’s produced locally here. We think there’s a huge market for that.
“It’s all about the community and knowing where your food’s coming from and knowing the people. Not only the people that you’re serving but the people coming in.”
They are only a month into cleaning up Pickwick Farms but already changes can be seen. The old houses have been torn down and Kent has had semis full of junk hauled from the farm.
“It’s a ton of work right now because there’s just a lot of things to do but we’re excited,” Kent said. “The community support has just been phenomenal. We kind of suspected it would be. We didn’t go at this just to put a feather in our cap. We’re all about community and we wanted to serve the community and give them a good product. I think the community has really shown a lot of appreciation. That really makes us feel good.”
The barns may look like they’re beyond repair but the Stuckeys and the Hartschuhs see the diamond in the rough. While the bones of the buildings, like the strong, durable brickwork and the supporting steel trusses, are in good shape, Kent said they need to replace the roofs and the windows. Work will also be done on the insides to make each barn appropriate for its intended purpose and additional parking will be added to the farm.
“They’re beautiful buildings and they need to have a good use,” Kent said. “I think we found that use for them. They can have another life now.”
Pickwick Farms has meant a lot of things to a lot of people over the years and the creators of The Pickwick Place want to recognize those memories.
“Just since we started the Facebook page people started contacting us with memories they’ve had of past decades,” Hartschuh said. “We want to collect those and archive them to make them available for other people to see so that as we bring in the next generation of guests to Pickwick, they can experience some of that history, too.”
“The history of Pickwick is very important to us and we want to preserve as much of that history as we can,” Kent said. They have already donated one of the horse stalls to the county agricultural museum.
Anyone wishing to share memories of Pickwick Farms can email them to memories@thepickwickplace.com or mail them to Pickwick Memories 2168 Shafer Rd., Bucyrus, Ohio 44820. The memories will be shared on Pickwick Place’s website, social media, and physical form.
For more information on The Pickwick Place visit www.thepickwickplace.com or https://www.facebook.com/ThePickwickPlace.