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Are you recently engaged? Are you looking for the perfect farm venue? Do you want farm fresh catering? Freedom Farms Wedding Venue in Western Pennsylvania has you covered! From our rustic barn, rolling fields and farm to fork catering, let us guide you along the way. Just 30 minutes north of Pittsburgh, tucked away from all the hustle and bustle, Freedom Farms is the one-stop venue that can accommodate all of your wedding services: Ceremony Reception Scenery for gorgeous photos in between Ceremony Whether you dream of a simplistic wedding or an extravagant wedding, our venue can meet your expectations. We have not 1, but 2 ceremony locations for you to choose from: The Dock Say your vows in a hand-built gazebo with a pond and trees serving as the backdrop. The Dock option seats up to 350 people. Open Air Barn Say your “I dos” in a covered space built out of an 1830 reclaimed barn that is surrounded by wildflower fields.The Open Air Barn option seats up to 200 people. Reception From catering to entertainment, we’ve thought of all the details to make your reception memorable: Catering If you love farm-to-fork eating, then you’re going to love our catering! Each menu option is a true farm-to-fork selection. We raise, butcher, and create your choice of meat and grow and create your choice of vegetable. Entertainment Along with easily fitting 350 people into our wedding reception center, you can also enjoy a spacious dance floor. Scenery for Photography While your guests enjoy each other’s company on our cocktail lawn with hand-hewn tables, you and your wedding party can take advantage of the various breathtaking photo backdrops that our farm offers, all while staying in one location and never moving your vehicles. Some of our photo opportunities include: Rustic barn Rolling hills Wildflower fields Newly crafted veranda framed with local wild bittersweet vines Sunsets Once you decide to have your wedding at Freedom Farms in Western Pennsylvania, these are the benefits you’ll reap: 48 hour private access to our grounds Vendor selection Package selection 48 Hour Private Access When Freedom Farms gets the opportunity to host your wedding, you get 48 hour private access to our grounds, starting at 10 am on Friday morning through 10 am Sunday morning. You’ll be able to take your time preparing for your once-in-a-lifetime event. You’ll have access to: The ceremony location of your choice The reception area The newly constructed bridal suite Spacious parking area Partnered Vendors We have partnerships with the following vendors who are familiar with our grounds and will make the process as easy and stress-free as possible: Flowers: Maggie’s Bundles and Berries DJ/MC: Loyalty Entertainment Nicole Cookies: Pastries A La Carte (When you schedule a wedding at Freedom Farms, the only vendor you are required to use is Freedom Farms catering. You are not required to select the above mentioned vendors.) Packages You spend months, if not years, preparing for your wedding day. You don’t just want your guests to come to a wedding; you want them to have an experience that they’ll talk about for years to come. We would love the opportunity to be a part of making your wedding dreams come true. We offer different wedding packages to work with your budget. Would you like to see Freedom Farms in Western Pennsylvania in person? Email us today to schedule your tour at events@freedomfarmspa.com. Testimonials Don’t believe us? Check out these rave reviews from brides who got married at Freedom Farms in Western PA. “For me, weddings are all about celebrating your new beginnings in life with the people you love most. I am so grateful for the staff at Freedom Farms for providing that experience for us. I was able to customize what I wanted & provide a fun experience for all of my guests without breaking the bank, but also not compromising for a cookie cutter wedding. The food was phenomenal & the atmosphere both lively & comforting - it truly felt like home! I am so happy I can always go back to Freedom Farms for other wonderful events, to remind myself that a little piece of my wedding day is always alive & well. I cannot recommend Freedom Farms enough!” -Maggie Kelly Brown, Bride “Freedom Farms was the perfect venue for our rustic September wedding. Our cocktail hour included tractor rides through the sunflower fields, cornhole and games outside. The best part of Freedom Farms is the amazing staff that covered every area of our wedding from flowers, catering, desserts, coordination and great recommendations for DJs and housing accommodations for our guests. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience for our special day" - Mattie Gold, Bride “Freedom Farms is beautiful from top to bottom. The fields of crops, the barns, the lake, and mostly - the people. Amy was open to any and all ideas (within reason of course) to make our fairytale wedding and walked alongside us to be sure those dreams came true. The day of the wedding was no exception. Amy and the staff were accessible to us all day, at any moment we needed them. Catering was right from the farm! Literally a farm to table meal. And WOW, it was amazing. Planning a wedding is stressful enough, but we never anticipated throwing in a pandemic as a curveball. Freedom Farms was our safe haven in a scary and uncertain world. We have no regrets about this decision and cannot wait to return to their regular events on the farm and admire the versatile space we chose to say “I do!” - Julia Moore, Bride “Our Freedom Farms wedding was perfect. Everyone was so kind and helpful. I can’t say enough how wonderful the space and everyone was. We wouldn’t change a thing we did and we’d do it again in a heartbeat!” - Katy Schoff, Bride “We had our wedding reception at Freedom Farms and it was the best day of our lives. The venue is so beautiful and the staff is wonderful. Amy, the event coordinator, was up to help in any way she could and is just a really sweet girl. They are willing to work with you and try to make your visions happen. I got so many compliments that it was the funnest and most beautiful wedding people have gone to. The bartenders that came with the package I chose had great personalities and did a wonderful job. The only vendor they require you to use is their catering, to me that was one last thing I had to worry about figuring out. The food was to die for and I wouldn’t have chosen a different caterer after having our dinner. I could go on and on. If you're looking for a venue for your wedding, check out Freedom Farms. You’ll be sure to fall in love. I wish I could do it all over again!” - Brooke Hunkele, Bride Add on Service or Stand-alone Service Our grounds may be used for engagement photo sessions.

Have you ever heard the letters C-S-A together and wondered what it meant? This article will help you to define a CSA and learn all the ins and outs of how it works at Freedom Farms in Valencia, PA. Community Supported Agriculture To begin, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Customers pay for their CSA up-front in one lump sum. They then get a share each week at 10% off the retail value. CSAs are typically produce, but at Freedom Farms in Valencia, PA, there are meat and dairy options as well. Benefits to Farmers CSA programs enable local farmers to stock up on seeds for the season, fix equipment from last year, and prepare the fields for a new harvest, among other tasks and initiatives. Benefits to Members When participating in a CSA, members are committing to a healthy and true farm to fork diet. Members save time and the hassle of going to the big box stores, but enjoy stopping at one location to get local and seasonal ingredients, all while supporting local farmers. The optimal time to sign up for a CSA is in the fall and winter months, during the farm’s downtime. This allows Freedom Farms to plan accordingly by buying the accurate amount of seeds and allotting space for crops on the farm. CSA at Freedom Farms The CSA program at Freedom Farms runs for 24 weeks from May 25th through November 2nd. As mentioned above, there are 3 full season options to choose from: Meat Share Produce Share Dairy Share Meat Share The Meat Share is worth ~$50. Each share provides ~6 pounds of local meat. A weekly example could be: 1 package of bacon 1 package of Italian sausage 1 package of chicken thighs 1 package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 package of ground beef Based on availability, there may be weeks where members will receive higher priced cuts of meat and less quantity. Produce Share There are 2 options to select from in the Produce Share: Small Large The small produce share provides roughly 3-5 pounds of in-season produce and is worth ~$25. The large produce share provides roughly 5-8 pounds of produce and is worth ~$35. A large weekly example could be: 1 pint of blueberries 1 kale or Swiss chard 4 squash 1 bunch of beets 1 bunch of radishes 1 pint of strawberries 1 quart of pickles At Freedom Farms, you’re guaranteed a variety of local, seasonal, and nutrient-dense produce. Dairy Share The Dairy Share is worth ~$21 and provides 2-3 dairy items as well as eggs. A weekly example could be: 1/2 gallon of milk 1 dozen eggs 1 block of cheese At Freedom Farms, we curate our CSAs based on what is fresh and bountiful that week. Due to the nature of the Freedom Farms CSA, all purchases are final and non-refundable. Pick-up Locations Are you concerned that Freedom Farms is too far of a drive for you each week? There are 7 convenient locations to accommodate weekly pick up in different areas: Freedom Farms—Valencia, PA Freedom Farms Traveling Market—Bloomfield, PA Freedom Farms Traveling Market—Aspinwall, PA Three Little Birds— Allison Park, PA Butler Hospital—Butler, PA Harvest Moon—Tarentum, PA Pick-up Details Pick up day for Bloomfield is on Saturdays and Aspinwall is on Sundays. For all other locations, pick-up day is on Thursday. If members choose Freedom Farms as their pick-up location, they get the opportunity to explore the farm and see where their food is coming from on the days they pick up their share. They also have the opportunity to pick up additional items right on the farm. If someone has 10 or more CSA shares sold, they can become a pick-up location. Learn more about specific locations. Member Perks of Freedom Farms CSA As a member of Freedom Farms CSA program, you not only get local, seasonal, nutrient-dense food each week, you get a couple added perks: weekly recipes and the option to add on to your weekly CSA share. Weekly Recipes Do you like the idea of being a part of the Freedom Farms CSA program, but you’re hesitant to try because you’re unsure if you’ll know how to prepare and serve the meat, produce, or dairy items each week? An added perk to the Freedom Farms CSA is that you get weekly recipes delivered directly to your email inbox each week from the farm and kitchen experts at Freedom Farms. These recipes include the ingredients that will be in your weekly CSA share. CSA Add Ons Each Monday members get the option to add on items to their CSA share. Add-on items could be: homemade baked goods, a bouquet of flowers, 2+ dozen of eggs, bulk produce, and more. An added perk is that these items are offered to members at a special discounted price. Members have until the end of the day on Wednesday to add these items to their CSA share for pick-up on Thursday, Saturday (Bloomfield), or Sunday (Aspinwall). Undecided? If you’re on the fence about purchasing a CSA, please remember that your investment is more than a commitment to the best nutrition for your family. When you purchase a CSA share, you are helping to support your farmer for the season to come. Please reach out with any questions you may have to help you make the best decision for your family. Decided? If you’re ready to move forward as a Freedom Farms CSA member, you can purchase your share at the Freedom Farms website: Meat Share Produce Share Dairy Share Whether you participate in a CSA or not, we hope this article has educated you on the importance of Community Supported Agriculture and shown you just one reason why farming is king.

We use heirloom varieties for tomatoes, probably over a dozen varieties. We use a couple heirloom varieties of lettuce, beans, some peppers and kale. We use a wide variety of heirloom seeds, but obviously since we have so many different varieties of tomatoes, they are my favorite. This is true even though the typical heirloom tomato can be ugly. Others, though, can be really beautiful in their shapes and color. Some of mine are two to three colors with green stripes or a yellow blush or a pink blush. The flavor is why I like them so much. There is just no comparison between a hybrid and an heirloom tomato. The heirlooms are always delicious even if by the typical standards of tomatoes, they are not always beautiful. Brandywine is my favorite, because it has the best flavor and it’s just huge. You can cover a whole sandwich in just one slice. That’s pretty awesome. Now my mom is using the heirlooms in her homemade tomato sauce. And that is something that every one of my siblings makes sure that they get some of. We’re all stocked up on that. My mom’s been making sauce since we were kids, but the heirlooms make it that much better. For lettuce, I really like the heirloom black-seeded simpson. It is the easiest one to grow and the color is phenomenal. It’s a really bright green lettuce that gets humongous. This is great for kids especially because it’s so easy to grow. Also, it grows so fast into such a big plant. So that makes it fun for kids. Another great heirloom variety is the new fire red; it’s a red leaf lettuce. It’s good for flavor. You get that color contrast which looks nice in a salad, but you also have higher amounts of nutrients in red leaf lettuce. When it comes to beans, I like the Valentino for a reason that gardeners would probably appreciate. This green bush bean produces smaller amounts of beans over a longer period of time. Since I am not using machinery to pick and I’m selling these retail, it is much better to have something that is easier to harvest and endures throughout the season. Many gardeners would rather go out and get some beans for their dinner over the course of the summer than have a plant that produces them all at once. We also use hybrids for some crops, because they have the advantage of being less prone to bacterial and fungal diseases. And heirlooms may not yield as much, but as with the beans, they will yield more over time. That is a great advantage of heirloom plants which are indeterminate. That means that they will continue to grow as long as you can keep them healthy. Determinate varieties only grow so tall and produce so much in contrast. The best part of heirlooms is that they are all tried and true. Any heirloom has been used over a long period of time. So my recommendations work for me and my purposes and tastes. But I would really encourage our readers to try any heirloom variety. There are so many reputable companies out there now. And trying new varieties is all part of the fun of gardening. Then you get to save the seeds and use them again next year. A Story in a Seed Everyone loves a good story, and in the history of heirloom seeds, there are many. There are stories of trials, tribulations, journeys, family heritage and overwhelming success harbored within them. Heirloom seeds are known as “living antiques” as they are passed down from one generation to the next. Seeds are typically saved due to their resistance to pests, their flavor complexity, unique color or shape characteristics and general hardiness. The most common definition of “heirloom” includes fruit, flower or vegetable varieties that were being grown before World War II. The use of chemical fertilizers was not common practice. Furthermore, this predates the upsurge of hybrids, especially in the vegetable market. So these early gardeners were at the mercy of weather and disease. Breeding resistant varieties was their main defense. The use of manure and mulch [read: “organic gardening”], was standard practice for home gardeners, who accepted risk and variation from weather and disease just as farmers had to. And the heirlooms were generally more flavorful than the hybrids, so sustaining them became its own movement. And they are sustainable by nature, because heirloom varieties are open-pollinated. This means that they carry most the characteristics of the original plant. This is not true with hybrids. In fact, the main downfall of hybrid seeds is that they do not “reproduce true” in the second generation. Otherwise, there is nothing “unnatural” about hybrids. GMOs, on the other hand, are created in laboratories and they are sometimes cross-bred outside of their kingdom. For some GMOs pesticide is inserted into every plant. With heirloom seeds, however, gardeners simply saved seed from their family gardens from year to year. Then they shared their seeds, or they traveled and their seeds traveled with them. Some of these varieties, or at least their stories, date back centuries. Take the Crapaudine Beet. This heirloom is commonly recognized as the oldest beet variety known, dating back 1,000 years. Although its look is prehistoric. The crapaudine is colored like the average beet, but long like a carrot and covered in bark-like skin. It can be difficult to grow, but it is said to be well worth the trouble as the taste is phenomenal. Then there’s the Cherokee Trail of Tears Pole Bean. During their winter death march through the Smoky Mountains to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma, the Cherokee carried this hardy pole bean variety which produces shiny, jet black beans in their pockets. The struggle for survival is often part and parcel of the seeds that were saved. One of the most popular, probably because it’s a lot more uplifting, is the tale of the Mortgage Lifter Tomato heirloom variety. An ingenious radiator repairman in West Virginia had cross-pollinated several of the largest breeds of tomato available to him and created this tasty and exceeding large variety. Some tomatoes weighed up to 4 lbs. They became so popular that people would drive far distances to purchase them. He charged them a hefty fee for the tomatoes and a pretty penny (by the standards of the 1930s) for the seedlings. And within six years, MC “Radiator Charlie” Byles paid off his mortgage with the proceeds. The best story of all of the heirloom varieties however is probably not one that you will ever hear. The very best story may be in the one that heirlooms tell your palette.

FREEDOM FARM-TO-FORK KITCHEN Freedom Farm-to-Fork Kitchen is a local kitchen using fresh ingredients in each order. The Farm-to-Fork Kitchen is located inside of Freedom Farms Farmers Market on 795 Pittsburgh Road, Butler, PA 16002. Guests can also find North Country Corn Crib at this location with indoor and outdoor seating. To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key. HOURS Wednesday-Sunday 11am-8pm PHONE 724-481-1444 ADDRESS 795 Pittsburgh Road Butler, PA 16002 Menu & catering Menu ORDER ONLINE Looking for a job? We're hiring! We have open positions in our kitchen for Line Cook and Sales Associate. Line cook responsibilities include, but aren't limited to food prep, cleaning stations, fulfilling orders, and dish. Sales associate responsibilities include but aren't limited to food prep, cleaning stations, taking orders on a POS system, and re-stocking. If this sounds like a job for you, we encourage you to fill out our application! Come work with us!

FREEDOM FARMS TODAY ON THE FARM There is always something happening on the farm or at our farmers market, be sure to check it out and come visit us! Farmers Market MON-SUN 9: 30-5:30 Farm-to-Fork Kitchen WED - SUN 11 :00-8:00 North Country Corn Crib WED - THURS 11:00-10:00 FRI - SAT 11:00-11:00 SUN 11:00-9:00 Events on the Farm We have events from May - December and there is something for everyone! We offer Goat Yoga, Dinner in the Field, Berry Festival & Craft Show, Wildflower Festival, Maized and Confused, Fall Festival, Spirits, Cheers & Beers, and Christmas on the Farm! More information on our events is available on the Events page. Events Weddings Have your wedding with us! We are currently booking for the 2024 and 2025 Season. For more information, check out our wedding page. Weddings Subscribe to our Farm-to-Fork newsletter • Don’t miss out! Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

2023 CSA PROGRAM Our 24-week CSA program will run May 25th to November 2nd. For the cost of a few trips to the grocery store, you could receive a package EACH WEEK filled with either produce, meat, or dairy - depending on which one you choose! By paying for the entire 24 weeks up front, you are enabling your local farmer to stock up on seeds for the season, fix equipment from last year, and prepare the fields for a new harvest. In return, you receive 24 weeks worth of food for yourself and your family. Save the time and hassle going to the big box stores and stop at Freedom Farms once a week to get fresh meat, dairy, or produce FALL SEASON AUGUST 17TH - NOVEMBER 2ND INVEST IN A FALL SEASON MEAT SHARE INVEST IN A FALL SEASON PRODUCE SHARE INVEST IN A FALL SEASON DAIRY SHARE PICK-UP LOCATIONS HOME (FARM): 434 Overbrook Road, Valencia, PA 16059 BLOOMFIELD (SATURDAYS): 5050 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224 ASPINWALL (SUNDAYS): 241 Freeport Road, Aspinwall, PA THREE LITTLE BIRDS: 3940 Middle Road, Suite B, Allison Park, PA 15101 BUTLER HOSPITAL: 1 Hospital Way, Butler, PA 16001 HARVEST MOON: 206 Corbet Street, Tarentum, PA 15084 ​ CSA Member Perks ​ ​ ADD-ONS: Every Monday, members get an email with potential add-ons for the week. These could be items such as homemade baked goods, bouquet of flowers, 2+ dozen of eggs, bulk produce, and more. These items are offered to members at a special discounted price! You will have until end of day Wednesday to decide which items you'd like to add. Payments for add-ons can be made at pick-up. ​ WEEKLY RECIPES: Did you receive something in your share this week that you haven't had before? Maybe it's kohlrabi, leeks, beef bones, or ground pork. Don't worry, we'll provide you with recipes in the weekly email that could teach you something new! Please Note: You can share a CSA with a neighbor or co-worker! Alternate pick-up weeks or divide each week's share. ​ We curate our CSAs based on what is fresh and bountiful that week. Due to this, we cannot guarantee what you will receive in your weekly pick-up. That also means you are not able to choose what goes in your share. In place, we do offer weekly add-ons. Please provide a current email address as this is our best way to contact CSA members. If you do not provide a proper email address, you may miss out on some important information throughout the 24 weeks.