Moore family carries on despite personal losses

George Moore was fond of telling visitors what Route 9 in Bayville was like back in 1952, when he and his wife Mildred opened their fledgling farm market.

"After 8 p.m. you could lie down in the middle of Route 9 and not worry about getting hit by a car," he would say.

Moore's Farm Market  has endured and prospered for 58 years. It's the go-to place in town for flowers and vegetables in the spring and summer, pumpkins, apples and chrysanthemums in the fall, and Christmas trees in December.

And the family has carried on in the face of personal loss. George Sr. died at the age of 89 in March. He and Mildred were married for 69 years. Daughter Frances died suddenly in 2008 at the age of 64.

"It's different without him and without my sister Frances," says son Scott, 44. "They are big losses. It's hard to fill the void. But we try to keep carrying on for them. You don't get over it. You just get through it."

The farm market has always been the family business and the centerpiece of the Moore family's lives. George Jr., Frances and Scott worked alongside their father and mother from the time they were children.

"It's fun," said Scott. "It's what we know. It's always changing. Every season is different in a lot of ways. This summer was tough. You had to keep the plants watered. Working in the heat was not fun. It was a challenge."

The Moore's biggest challenge came on Oct. 17, 1986, when a fast-moving fire gobbled up the original wood-frame building.  It was a turning point for the family. The building was destroyed.

An entrepreneur paid a visit to George Sr. a few days after the blaze. He offered Moore a million dollars for the three-acre property that fronts on Route 9 South.

"My dad said no," Scott recalls with a smile.

The Moore children all agreed with their father's decision. They had already asked  him not to sell. They wanted to keep the family business intact. A new building went up. This one was made of corrugated steel. This one wouldn't burn.

Scott, George and their mother have kept the business going since George Sr. and Frances died. Mildred, now 89, still goes to work every day. She decorates all the fresh Christmas wreaths the family sells.

"I do all the grave blankets and the wreaths and Amanda does the candy canes," she said, pointing to employee Amanda Lipuma.

"She's here everyday," Scott said of his mother. "She plants all the tomato and pepper plants in the summer. She comes up front to help."

George Jr. handles the ordering and delivery of the Christmas trees and greens.  When a visitor asked him why he's still in the business, he pointed to his mother and smiled.

Scott and George grow nearly all of the flowers they sell in the spring and the summer and all of the poinsettias they sell at Christmas. All of the plants are grown from tiny cuttings and carefully nutured in the seven greenhouses on the property.

"We grow everything," said Scott, who has a degree in ornamental horticulture and special flora horticulture from Delaware Valley Community College. "Almost 90 percent of what we sell, we grow."

Two of the greenhouses last week were a sea of red, pink and white poinsettias. It might have been 35 degrees outside, but inside the greenhouse it was toasty and humid. The plants must be kept warm and watered. Scott even comes back at night to make sure the temperature is where is should be.

It was definitely colder in the farm market building. But the crisp air was laced with the smell of balsalm and Frasier fir Christmas trees and wreaths. George ordered the fresh-cut trees from Canada.

"The trees on the first load were cut the day before," Scott said. "The driver had to wait for the trees to be cut."

And the price for any tree on the lot has stayed around the same for several years at $34.95.

The farm market is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. from now through Christmas Eve. Then the family takes a well-deserved vacation until February, when it's time to start the spring cuttings in the greenhouses.

"Me and Mom and George are still doing it together," Scott said.