Jennifer, Jeff & Jake
Jennifer, Jim, and their 2 year old daughter, Gabby, live only minutes away from the Dalton farm. Jennifer has been part of Roba Family Farms since day one. She helped plant some of the first Christmas trees on the farm, and one of her favorite farm memories is the harvest and sale of those trees. Jennifer is a busy person; she is a full time server at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, runs Jake’s Chuck Wagon at the farm on fall weekdays, and makes all of the farm’s Christmas wreaths. She enjoys crafts, shopping, and gardening in her free time. Just like her Dad, she loves to plant things and watch them grow. Though she can do almost anything on the farm, her favorite work is “mowing – in my own little world, peaceful.”
Jeff has just graduated from Abington Heights High School, and will be entering his freshman year at Bucknell University in September to study Mechanical Engineering and Management. Jeff enjoys working with his hands, and loves baseball. After he graduates from college and settles down, he hopes to coach baseball. He too can work anywhere on the farm, but his favorite chore is driving tractor. His farm memories are many, but one of his favorites is “when I was eight years old standing over my father’s shoulder watching him design the corn maze at the drafting table, then working with him in the cornfield laying out the maze.”
Jake’s interests are music and the great outdoors. One of his early farm memories is being outside one summer day and getting lost in the corn maze with his cousin. His outdoor and hiking skills have greatly improved; Jake has hiked the Adirondacks, the rain forest of Panama and Costa Rica, and the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico and Utah with the Boy Scouts. Jake is a junior at Abington Heights where he is a member of the band, and the volleyball team. He also plays saxophone at Marywood University with the Wind Ensemble. For Jake, music is both a fun and a serious interest, and he has aspirations of studying music in college. When he is working at the farm, you will almost always find him working in his favorite venue, the kitchen of The Old Barn Cafe and Bakery.
Jennifer, Jeff, and Jake all have future plans for the farm, and they all see it as a farm. Jake wants to continue to grow each year with new and exciting attractions and events, and Jennifer and Jeff both see an expansion to include an apple orchard where customers can add to their fall fun by picking their own apples at Roba Family Farms.
By the way, Mom and Dad are really proud of all three children, and include them in most of the major business decisions of the farm.