Couple returned to their roots to start a Centre Hall farm. Now it’s a family affair

When Darren and Valerie King founded Stem to Stable Farm in Centre Hall, it was a bit of a return to their childhoods. They both grew up on Pennsylvania dairy farms, but entered the medical field as adults, where they met.

“After we started a family, we realized that, while we loved the medical field ... we wanted to ... raise our family with the experiences that we had in agriculture,” said Valerie. “Once you no longer have something, you realize how much you really did have. That’s how it was for us and farming.”

Now, the couple works alongside their four sons and one daughter, all 12 and under, on the farm they purchased in 2017. They started simple, growing hay, and have since slowly expanded their operations, adding chickens, sheep, pigs and maple syrup. They sell their primary products via online orders, as well as via State College Online Market, and they have a farm stand where they also offer some of their excess garden produce. This combination of items is one that helps the farm stand out amid the Happy Valley agricultural scene.

“One of our taglines for the farm is ‘providing food for your farm and your family,’” Valerie said. “I don’t that there’s any other farms that go to the level of providing a really good, solid hay food source for the animals, but then are also thinking of the family and providing good, clean food.”

Stem to Stable Farm only really began focusing on its food products in the last few years, toward the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Valerie said they “definitely” noticed a demand.

“I feel like the pandemic brought more awareness to people, in just how quickly your food and your means of getting that (food) can very quickly change,” she said. “I feel like that has made an impact. People are more aware and more driven to shop from a local farmer, because a lot of people truly don’t want to see them go out of business.”

Among the farm’s food offerings, there have been a few products that have quickly emerged as not only the family’s personal favorites, but also shoppers’ favorites as well, including the farm’s maple syrup, no-nitrate pork bacon and lamb sausage, which comes in two varieties, a maple sausage and then a rosemary and garlic sausage, both of which contain no additives.

So, did the Kings’ decision to return to their childhood agricultural roots pay off? They admit it’s a lot of work, and a description of their average day, in early May, includes prepping for hay cutting, and taking care of the animals multiple times per day. The couple mentioned they were picking up some new chicks, too.

Despite all the busyness, though, it’s apparent the couple loves what they do.

“It has its challenges like anything, but it’s been very rewarding,” Valerie said.

She summed up the value of the experience by recounting a recent memory with the couple’s children: “One night, we knew that there was an ewe coming into labor and the kids wanted to stay up and watch it. I said, ‘All right, let’s go for it.’ …We were in the barn with cups of hot chocolate, watching this new life. Getting to see everything in the complete life cycle and watching them enjoy it, is one of the greatest fulfillments ... and there’s a lot of character-building that happens on a farm with a family, not just with the kids, but for us, too. To be able to enjoy that together as a family — those character-building moments, those good moments, watching new life — it makes us not want to give it up.”

Learn more about Stem to Stable Farm at www.stemtostablefarm.com.

Holly Riddle is a freelance food, travel and lifestyle writer. She can be reached at holly.ridd@gmail.com.