Owner, David Earling, grew up along the river, in Titusville, New Jersey, with farmers as neighbors and friends. He went off to NYC to find fame and fortune and then returned home with his own family to start Gravity Hill Farm. The name is for the famous section of Pleasant Valley Road where nature defies gravity and pulls your stalled car UP the road! Read about Gravity Hill here.

Like other teens in the area, David thought it was "way cool" and always took his dates to experience the phenomenon, including future wife and farm co-owner, Maria Nicolo. Now they both think it's "way cool" to have their farm defying gravity and can't wait til their kids grow up to appreciate the wonder of it all.

Jennifer Schmehl was pulled to Gravity Hill Farm in 2010 after experiencing four fruitful growing seasons as the Crew Leader/Farm Manager at New Morning Farm in Hustontown, Pennsylvania. Previous to her time at New Morning Farm, she served in Nicaragua as an Agricultural and Food Security Extensionist for the Peace Corps. She was raised in rural Berks County, Pennsylvania, where she learned how to weed at a very young age, along side of her three siblings and parents. Jennifer enjoys all things crafty and any jingle that she can kick her heels up to. Her greatest joy though, is getting folks excited about their food and their local farmers. Sean McDermott joined Gravity Hill Farm in early 2010, returning to his native New Jersey after a 13-year stint as a Pennsylvanian. He spent most of his youth in nearby Hunterdon County, growing vegetables recreationally from the age of 14. Diverse interests and experience in music, cooking, pottery, and of course organic farming led him via a roundabout route to remote southern central PA, where he spent 10 years working and learning in all aspects of a sustainable farming community. This experience culminated with a position managing a large organic farm with his partner, Jennifer, who he met "out there" in central PA. Together they share a passion for being outside, producing the highest quality food, and connecting people to the flavors, nutrition, and experience of eating produce grown close to home. He has come to view farming as a hugely important profession, too vital to be trusted to unfeeling corporate entities; and farmers themselves a population endangered and in need of rejuvenation.

Before the industrialization of farming started in the 1940s, all farming was essentially "organic" and farms were local and family-run. Consumers knew where their food came from and who grew it. Our farm is built on those traditions and we designed the buildings to honor those customs: barns of red clapboard and white trim and split wood fences dividing growing fields from grazing pastures. Only when you look at the roof do you see the solar panels generating electricity.

FOR MORE INFO ON OUR ORGANIC FARMING PRACTICES, CLICK HERE.

For us, the animals on our farm are a way to establish a pace of life that values time differently, that teaches care and responsibility and simple joys.

This year our 5-year-old daughter, Rose, is in charge of the egg incubator. She insisted the eggs be put in her bedroom, convinced that talking to them for the 21 days it takes to hatch will make them happy. Not sure about that, but pretty sure this is the first egg incubator decorated as a princess.

In addition to our chickens, we have Llamas, Alpacas, and a very loving miniature Donkey named Mia Bella who hee-haws at visitors until they pet her. This year we are adding 2 miniature Goats but holding off on the horse and cow our children are pleading for.