North Star Orchard

History

North Star Orchard was started in Chester County, PA in 1992 by Ike and Lisa Kerschner on a 4-acre piece of leased property in Newlin Township. In 1996, seeing a need to expand plantings, they arranged to plant another leased 6-acre property in Avondale. In 2006, they purchased a 10-acre parcel in Cochranville, on which they started growing vegetables in 2007 and planted a new orchard in 2008. In 2011, Ike and Lisa purchased the adjoining 10 acres in Cochranville, on which the newest orchard will be planted in the spring of 2012. The leased properties are in full production, and will continued to be farmed for a few years as the newer orchards grow into full production.

Ike and Lisa strive to grow a very diverse selection of high quality tree fruits and vegetables. They decided long ago that selling the farm's produce directly to the people who eat the items is the most satisfying part of the farming they do. They both encourage learning about sustainable agriculture by giving lectures or participating in presenting workshops, helping to educate young farmers in practical skills, and, most recently, participating (along with their Vegetable Manager, Rachel) in an educational film (seen above) geared towards showing middle-school students that sustainable farming can be a good career choice.

Ike grew up gardening, and at a young age was selling his vegetables at a tailgate market near his home. As a teen, he worked for a small local orchard that grew dwarf trellised trees. That experience inspired his goal to have his own orchard someday. Ike graduated from Penn State and has become well known in this area for his expertise in growing vinifera wine grapes on innovative trellis systems and for his knowledge and experience growing unique fruits and vegetables. He has written many articles about such practices, has taught classes at Longwood Gardens, and is a speaker at various seminars and conferences. He has hosted several large grower meetings at the farm. He enjoys working on the farm, and spends a lot of "leisure" time reading, cooking, and learning more about the fruit and vegetable growing industry.

Lisa had no farming background other than helping in her parent's garden (which she did not enjoy so much), but discovered she enjoyed working on a student farm at college (Penn State), after which she decided to pursue a degree in agriculture. Although she is the farm's Asian pear thinning expert, her time tends to be more occupied with marketing the farm's products at farmers' markets and managing the CSA, keeping on top of the farm's website and email newsletters, and bookkeeping/HR. She's given educational talks to groups of students, adults and farmers on a range a topics, from why/how we farm this way to CSA education for both consumers and beginning CSA farmers. She homeschooled Jay from k through 12, and enjoys reading, writing, and working on various art projects in her spare time.

Jay, homeschooled from K through 12, is now a college student studying computer science. At the moment, he helps out at farmers' markets, and is an invaluable help as the farm's webmaster (see his business website, Veni Vortex, if you like what you see here and need some web work done). In his spare time, he continues to work on computer programming, but enjoys reading, films, games, and music as well.

Farming Philosophy

It takes a lot to make a family farm successful. Right now, in addition to the buzz about locally-grown foods, there is a lot of talk about sustainability. But, just what is sustainability? Definitions vary from place to place and group to group. For our small, diversified farm, sustainability means three things:

1. People: Farm owners, helpers, CSA members, and Farmers' Market customers. Our idea of sustainability is to provide delicious, healthy and safe fruits and vegetables for people to eat, as well as a safe and happy environment in which to work, which also provides a living wage to those who work here.

2. Planet: Including the earth as a whole, right on down to our local ecosystem. Our idea of sustainability is to grow fruits and veggies using the latest and safest ideas and practices in crop protection and management, so that we can produce consistent high-quality produce, while at the same time being gentle to our environment. Growing a diversity of crops and seed-saving is key to a balanced production system. We use a combination of organic, IPM (Integrated Pest Management), and new technologies such as our recently added solar arrays in order to farm in an environmentally friendly manner.

We will not knowingly use genetically engineered items in the production of our crops, and strongly believe GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) should not be created. Curious as to why? Read the article, "How to Win a GMO Debate: 10 Facts Why GMOs are Bad" here.

3: Profit: Income gained by farming must be enough that those farming can expect to not only pay the bills, but have health insurance, save for retirement, and be able to take the occasional vacation.