community spotlight

Melody Acres is a Hobby in Name Only

by Martin Miron

Melody Acres Hobby Farm began 11 years ago as a hobby. Owner Christine Yankel says, “My passion for gardening started at a very young age, where I would oft en help my mother in the garden. I have so many wonderful memories of us growing our food and cooking together. My mother had an amazing green thumb—she could get anything to grow, and I hope some of that magic rubbed off on me! I wanted to grow many of the wonderful, rare heirloom vegetable plant varieties that are not for sale, so I started collecting seeds myself and growing plants. Soon, friends and family wanted plants. Th ey loved them so much word started to spread, and that’s how Melody Acres began.” She is working now to turn the farm into a full-time business.

“My husband and I were both Marines and met while stationed in North Carolina,” she shares. “When our children were young, we decided to move North to be closer to family. We moved to Southwestern Pennsylvania in 2006 and settled in the beautiful countryside of Eighty Four in 2011.” Melody Acres grows heirloom vegetable plants and eggs using organic, natural and chemical-free growing practices. All are 100 percent non-GMO. Permaculture and regenerative agriculture methods restore the Earth. They plan to add premium, hand-grown teas that are completely grown, dried and packaged on the farm, plus matching bath teas and other products later this year. Everything is sold directly to patrons at the farm or online. “Our chickens are our pets,” says Yankel. “We have a small fl ock that are all named. We don’t eat our chickens, and they live out their whole lives peacefully here on our farm. We don’t force our chickens to lay year-round, and they spend all of their daytime outside. Egg sales are not our fi rst concern, our fl ock’s health and happiness come fi rst, and eggs are a nice bonus!” She stresses that this is the most ethical practice.

Christine Yankel

Th eir mission is simple. “We want more people to organically care for and naturally restore the soil on their little plot of earth. If we each focus on organic soil regeneration and diversify our garden plantings on our little pieces of land, we can make a huge diff erence in the world. I truly believe that if my customers fall in love with their plants, they will be much more interested in organically caring for their gardens and yards. By loving these rare plants, understanding their history and making them a part of family recipes, we sow the seeds and traditions needed to save rare plants from extinction.” She notes, “I’ve already seen this happening with my customers. Th ey love the plants so much that gardening connects them closer to the Earth, and they just want to learn more and more about how to naturally restore their yards and save seeds. It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of. We invite our community to tour our gardens and check out what we’ve got going on here, as well as offering many online and in-person workshops throughout the year. We also post educational information and videos on YouTube and social media for free.” Th e in-person workshops teach many skills, including seed starting, fermenting, making elderberry syrup, growing mushrooms and organic pest control. Yankel teams with local herbalist Jen Dalke, owner of Blue Heron Nature Skills, to put on a yearly event, Grow Your Own Medicine, where students learn to identify and use medicinal plants already growing in their yards and learn about many new herbs to grow for teas and wellness. A new class series for 2022 is From Soil to Sustenance, a collaboration between the farm and Meredith Hartlage, a board-certifi ed holistic nutritionist and owner of Growing the Seed, LLC. “In this series, we connect to our land, our food and our personal well-being,” advises Yankel. “Beginning with learning to grow and care for our foods as they take root in our gardens, we then explore how these foods nourish us from the inside-out, and fi nally how we can be inspired in our kitchens to use them in fun and delicious ways! We have an information-packed online webinar the last Th ursday of every month, and are off ering in-person workshops to dive in deeper.”

Melody Acres Hobby Farm is located at 731 Brownlee Rd., in Eighty Four. For more information, call 724-249-6411, email MelodyAcresHobbyFarm@gmail.com or visit MelodyAcresHobbyFarm.com.