40 years of farming, fun
Triple B Farms celebrates four decades in business
Everything’s coming up roses for Carolyn and Ron Beinlich, owners of Triple B Farms. Or should that be “strawberries?”
For the past 40 years, the couple have operated the popular farm that has been a destination for area families, Scout troops and other organizations for its pick-your-own fruits and vegetables, children’s activities, farm animals and fall pumpkin festival. With a mailing address of at 823 Berry Lane, Monongahela, the farm actually rests in Allegheny County.
“It went fast; it really did,” Carolyn Beinlich said of being in business for four decades. “We have said the only reason we made it is that we were too hard-headed to quit. Quite honestly, when I look back I don’t know how we did it.”
Triple B Farms also sells wholesale produce to many grocery stores in the region.
“It’s a labor of love, for both of us,” said Ron Beinlich.
Carolyn admitted there were struggles early on as they worked to get their footing.
“It was a long, hard road,” said her husband. “Because we’re so isolated, we had a hard time attracting customers here. It happened slowly, but in the end it turned out to be very good. People like to come to the farm now.”
Ron Beinlich studied metallurgical engineering at what is now Carnegie Mellon University and worked for U.S. Steel as a manager. In 1967, while at U.S. Steel, he purchased the property that included a house.
“It was an abandoned farm, and it was a disaster,” he said. “Therefore, it was a price I could afford at the time. The bankers laughed at me when I said I was going to restore that house.”
They started out in three livable rooms, said Ron. “Now the home has four bedrooms. A full downstairs living room, dining room, family room and kitchen. It’s a nice house.”
In the early days, the farm was called West Bend Stock Farm, a place where Ron raised beef cattle.
As the steel industry was collapsing in Pittsburgh, Ron and Carolyn used his severance pay to plant the farm’s first strawberry crop.
“From the time I was a kid, I wanted to be a farmer,” Ron said. “My dad encouraged me to study engineering and go to college because farming wasn’t a secure occupation. I went ahead and got a part-time farm. When U.S. Steel started falling apart in the ’80s, I decided I had to get out of there. I left U.S. Steel and came home to farm. I told Carolyn we’re going to make it on the farm; if I can’t make it on the farm, I’ll get a job.”
Today, the family is growing somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 crops.
“It’s a very involved thing to grow so many different things,” he said. “The smart money, when I first started out, said to grow two or three crops and buy in the rest of them. But it just didn’t work out. Around here there aren’t many fruit and vegetable farms and to buy in farm products from other farms is not realistic. So I just kept adding crops.”
The farm opened for business in 1985 with the name Beinlich’s Beef and Berry Farm, later shortened to Triple B Farms. Their only crop was strawberries.
A small crew of high school students picked strawberries sold to churches for strawberry festival fundraisers. Otherwise, the crop was strictly pick-your-own. Ron converted an old box truck bed into a tiny sales stand.
Pumpkins were added the next year, which were sold from the upper level of the beef barn.
The market was added in 1988 and remains in its original location, but there were expansions in 1999 and 2004 and an exterior makeover this year.
The year 1988 brought one of the Beinlichs’ biggest challenges when a drought destroyed that year’s corn crops. A second irrigation pond was added to prevent it from reoccurring.
Ron and Carolyn’s son, Bill, joined the business after graduating from Penn State University in 1997. He and his wife, Sue, have active roles on the farm, where Bill is now manager.
Over the years, the farm has added raspberries, blueberries, tomatoes, apples, peaches, broccoli, cabbage, cucumbers, peppers and other fruits and vegetables, as well as cut-your-own flowers.
To complement the produce, Bill Beinlich came up with the idea to offer entertainment for children, with the addition of jumping pillows and inflatable trampolines.
“Pop’s Farm Yard” opened earlier this month and also offers giant tube slides, corn mazes, a Tire Mountain and rope mountain, to name a few. Hay rides have been a staple since the farm’s beginning.
Triple B Farms remains a popular location for school field trips. Carolyn said in May alone, more than 3,500 students came to the farm for a day of education, learning about honeybees and crops.
“I like the fact that we’ve been able to work as a family,” Carolyn said. “That’s been the best part. It’s been nice to have our son here and his wife. They’ve been married 27 years and have been here the whole time.”
Carolyn also acknowledged the reliable nucleus of workers who have been with them.
Ron, 84, and Carolyn, 78, said they have no thoughts of retiring.
“I like staying active,” said Carolyn. “I don’t want to sit around the house and I like being with the customers.”
“I love my job,” Ron said. “We have no plans to stop at any point.”
Triple B Farm Market is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and also offers items such as fresh eggs and meat and homemade baked goods and fudge.