Mount Pleasant family buys farm, grows berries and makes pies
MOUNT PLEASANT – Rob Schilling was born to sell. Schilling, now of Mount Pleasant, cut his teeth watching his father sell Buicks and Pontiacs at Capital Motor Sales, the family-owned business in Connellsville.
“We (brother Jim and sister Anna) did everything. We all cleaned the place. I sold my first car … I must have been 15,” Schilling said.
“He spent 25 years in business,” said Schilling of his father, Max. “He taught us a lot.”
Schilling, a graduate of Geibel Catholic High School in Connellsville, pursued a degree in marketing at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
In 1974, Max Schilling died. But the dye, so to speak, was cast.
It was just a few years later that Rob Schilling met Amy Miller, a daughter of Paul and Helen Miller of Indian Head. When they married in 1979, they began looking for farmland to buy.
“We both had horses and just wanted to build a house and raise kids,” Schilling said.
Amy Schilling’s sister, Susan, and her husband, Rick Lynn, had similar aspirations.
Down on the Farm
During the French and Indian War, when General Edward Braddock, an Englishman, was marching his troops to Fort Duquesne, he decided to bivouac at Jacob’s Cabin Camp.
Historians believe that the couples now occupy that same land near Mount Pleasant.
The cornerstone of the barn is dated 1779. The cornerstone of the business is berries.
“It all started with a chance conversation with Dick Oglevee,” Schilling said. “We had a farm, and he had 7,500 raspberry plants to get rid of.”
Sand Hill Berries was born in 1981. The land had been a dairy farm, with much of it lying dormant. Gradually it was redeveloped.
The crop, through the years, was expanded to include a wide variety of berries and fruits.
“We try to have fresh fruit from the first week of June until the first frost,” Schilling said. In the summer, they employ 40 people.
Those crops include red and black raspberries and gooseberries, kiwi and blueberries, red and black currants, heirloom apples, a few stone fruits and grapes.
This is where Susan and Amy take the stage. They research every recipe and do all the baking.
“We try to process everything into usable items,” Schilling said.
Their success is evident. Jams, jellies and vinaigrettes are stocked and available at the farm itself, at The Glitter Box and at Pepperberries, both in Uniontown. They also market to many area farmers’ markets and other local distribution points as well as Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and New York. Products are also available on line, for shipping throughout the world.
During the summer season, there is raspberry iced tea, pie and ice cream (all homemade) available on site at the Outdoor Cabin Cafe.
Visitors can schedule garden party luncheons (from 18 to 36 people) or pick wildflowers, tour the facilities or just spend the afternoon with the animals – Timmy the llama, Billy the goat and the Wheaton game hens. There are more plans in the works.
“We used to close down for the winter, but that’s not possible anymore,” Schilling said. “But January through March is slower than the rest of the year.”
They are adding a building with more refrigeration.
“We really need that,” he said. “And we’ll redo the building we’re in – make it a little bigger.
“We’re also adding a fruit winery,” he said, noting there is even more room for expansion of the pastureland.
“I am a pie salesman,” Schilling said. “I just went from one good family operation to another.
“It’s all a matter of product,” he added. “When you have a good product, you’ve got it all. We’ve been very lucky.”