Farms Do No Harm: Volume IX – Farmer’s Daughter Farm Market

A landmark everyone knows well, Farmer’s Daughter Farm Market along Route 724 in Spring City joined the main roadside in bringing a bountiful supply of fresh foods to residents and passersby in March of 2003.

“I was born a farmer’s daughter,” said Christina Fry who runs the market today with her husband Rob.

At 12-years-old, Rob came to work on the land of her father, Chester Soltys, Jr. Her great-grandfather Peter Soltys bought their original farmland near the Phoenixville border in Spring City decades ago, just below Zion Lutheran Church.

“My life was so different than those of my school friends,” Christina said. “My siblings and I didn’t participate in after-school activities because there were always chores to be done. Back then, it bothered me some, but my friends loved hanging out on the farm.”

Hay, straw, sweet corn, field corn, soybeans, wheat and barley were a part of the crop supply keeping Christina, her siblings and the rest of her family out in the fields, working the land.

They froze summer vegetables for winter, too.

With her family’s farm background drawing in Rob all those years ago, the two continued the farm food tradition but instead brought it to residents through a trusty set of four tires, early into their relationship.

“We started selling produce from the back of our pickup truck when we married 27 years ago,” Christina said.

They transitioned next to selling seasonal produce out of a 10-foot-by-12-foot building along Hill Church Road, before constructing the 2,400-square-foot structure that’s so well-known and seen at 3190 Schuylkill Rd. today.

About 12 of the property’s 16 acres are farmed.

specializes in homegrown sweet corn, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, cantaloupe, string beans, red beets, potatoes and onions.

With sweet corn as the market’s top-selling summer selection, the vegetable totals 20 acres on the property. Pumpkins account for five acres on the land, while around 1,000 tomato plants root in this Spring City soil each warm season.

Locally-raised tree fruit is plentifully packed along the market’s long tables. Any produce not grown on the farm in-season is usually sourced from farms in Lancaster, while more tropical fruits like different types of citrus or bananas are brought in from suppliers in Philadelphia.

In-season, Christina estimated that about 85-percent of the produce is from local growers, including many picks right from the market’s land.

“I believe our customers appreciate what we do,” Christina said. “Some of them don’t understand that we need the weather to cooperate, and that decides how the crops do.”

Seeing readily available produce, often from out of state in grocery stores, is part of what Christina said leads people to sometimes not see how a lack of rain paired with excessive heat or too many storms affects what foods will be up for grabs at the market.

But the market’s Frequent Shopper Rewards Club exemplifies just how much people value the opportunity to buy their food from Christina and her dozen employees. More than 6,000 customers are a part of the savings club.

“Customers who sign up earn one point for every $5 they spend,” Christina said. “When they reach 50 points, they get $10 to spend in the store.”

Besides produce, Farmer’s Daughter Farm Market stocks a cozy variety of seasonal décor for both indoors and outdoors; specialty diet foods for those with gluten-free needs and organic preferences span the shelves to meet customer demand.

The market is open year-round aside from two weeks at the end of January when Christina closes down to give the place a thorough cleaning and a fresh start for springtime.

Each fall, regular shoppers look forward to Farmer’s Daughter Farm Market’s Fall Fest, which this year is welcoming locals in Oct. 8-9, as event Christina said is not to be missed.

Fall Fest began as a customer appreciation effort years ago, with 200 hot dogs given away to visitors.

“Last year, we gave away 2,700 hot dogs and sodas,” Christina said. “It’s anticipated by so many every year, and the planning of it is a yearlong process.”

Given an avid love for working with the land in running a stop so cherished by those in the area, Christina concluded that surviving Mother Nature is her most challenging feat.