Patti & Kevin enjoying a day on the farm

Just as the April showers bring May flowers, so Patti is our own life-giving rain drop for the fun that blooms here at Roba Family Farms.  Lovingly referred to by her co-workers as “Perky Patti”, her main duties are Director of Fun and Staff Development.

Patti came to Roba Family Farms in January 2010 as Director of Fun.  The Roba family and staff wanted to venture into hosting special events and entertainment on the farm.  Patti was the perfect fit for the job.  She developed the Special Events Program, and she coordinates all the events and festivals hosted at the farm.

Patti is a native to Northeastern PA.  She and her husband Kevin live in the Lehighton/Jim Thorpe area, along with their dog, Eva, and cat, Daniel.  Patti enjoys vegetable gardening, cooking, entertaining, and traveling.  Her favorite travel destination is Switzerland, where she and Kevin spend their vacation days sailing the lakes and dining in the Alpine villages and cities.  Her 25 years of Swiss travel have taught her to enjoy dining and cooking with cheese.  There are times when you might find more than a dozen types of cheese in her refrigerator.  In addition to European travel, and an annual trip to the Tennessee mountains, Patti takes to the road whenever  she can, referring to herself as a country road gypsy.  She is looking forward to a cross country road trip sometime in the near future.

Patti has extensive experience in tree farming, customer relations, staff development, decorating, and much more.  With the exception of farming, which she says is in her blood, she attributes her other skills to her many years as a decorator-displayer with Home Interiors and Gifts.  Her planning expertise helps her as she designs and schedules the exciting happenings at Roba Family Farms.  Some of the coming year’s events are the Kid’s Safety Festival, Farm Olympics, and some that are still a secret.  Her goal is to work with each of the staff on an individual basis to develop an outstanding customer service plan for our visitors, and to continue planning new and exciting farm events.

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The Roba Road Trip started at the farm on a 2 degree morning in the dark.  With Farmer John at the wheel, seven of us piled into the van for our 10 hour drive to THE CORN PARTY.  We arrived at our hotel, the Embassy Suites of Raleigh/Durham, in sunny North Carolina to a lovely late afternoon of mild temperatures.  Within minutes we started meeting friends and business associates from Georgia, Texas, California, Utah, Michigan … and, well you get it, from everywhere.

You are now thinking “WHAT is a corn party?”.  Well, it’s a conference of laughter and learning for hundreds of folks from across the USA who just happen to all have a CORN MAZE.  We are happy to be some of those folks; John and Sue Roba, Jennifer Roba and her fiance Jim, and Gene, Liz and Patti, the management team of Roba Family Farms.  After an evening of great food and social greetings, it was early to bed as we had a very busy next day planned.

A hearty breakfast, and we board the luxury buses for our tour.  Our first stop … Duke University.  It is hard to imagine that you could keep our crowd quiet, but a reverent hush fell over the group as we entered the storied, elegant beauty of the historic Duke chapel.  Our visit was brief, and our guide, Wayne, of Tobacco Road Tours, continued his lesson on how Duke, Raleigh, and the Corn party attendees all shared a common interest, agriculture.  Our tour was full of informative stops … Maple View Agricultural Center, an educational dairy where we had hay rides and homemade ice cream, and fun stops, too … the Marbles Kids Museum, and downtown Raleigh to Big Ed’s for lunch.  Then, back to the hotel with lots of work to do.  The Roba team had a late night meeting scheduled to plan a major new project, online ticketing.

Yes, ONLINE TICKETING comes to Roba Family Farms.  You will enjoy the convenience of purchasing your campfire sites and your individual and group tickets online starting this season.  We are very excited (and we know you will be, too) about this additional service that we can now offer our customers.

Corn Party Day #3: A full day of classroom learning of both functional (The Power of Partnerships) and frivolous (Parties that Pop) topics, all designed to bring our customers the most fun they can find at a farm.  At the end of the day, a group of us met for some fun as we discussed … yes, business.  It is great fun to be in a fun business.

Day #4: Back on the buses for farm tours throughout the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill areas of North Carolina.  To maximize our time together, the Corn party attendees conducted sessions of sharing in between stops.  The night ended at a well known Haunted House attraction, and a Christmas Light Show hayride that journeyed through the Carolina countryside.

Farmer John back at the wheel and we’re heading north, our heads full of new ideas and plans for the coming year.  We brainstorm these ideas inside out and upside down until thoughts become the plans that become the magic that creates the memories that keeps you, our treasured farm visitors, coming back time after time, year after year to Roba Family Farms.

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March is spring time, spring time is green, green is Irish, and while everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, here at the farm we have Farmer Gene, a real Irish guy.

And Irish he is … with family names of Kane and Killcullen, and roots in County Cork, Ireland, he wears his Irish as if it were a blazing banner on his back.

Gene is the General Manager here at Roba Family Farms, he is the go to guy for the entire staff of employees, managers, and everyone else who comes to the farm.  He’s also a favorite of our customers, boys and girls, young and old.  He opens the doors early in the morning, and turns the lights off at the close of the day.

Gene’s been here at the farm for over 6 years, but has been involved in the landscape industry for over 20 years, going back to his high school days in the State College area.  After high school it was 4 years in the US Navy then on to Penn State.  It’s only natural that our favorite Irish guy would like green, and would gravitate to a farming industry, but he also enjoys gardening at home.

Gene and his wife, Lisa (who honeymooned in Ireland), live in Susquehanna County along with their dogs Copper and Tipper (as in Tipperary, Ireland).  In his free time, in addition to gardening, he likes woodworking and golfing and he is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

We seem to think he likes cooking also, and we are sure he likes eating.  In fact, we asked him for a favorite Irish recipe.  Though he could not find a written copy of his Grandmother’s Curried Parsnip Soup, he found a similar one to share with our readers.

Yes, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, so from Farmer Gene to all of you:

An Irish Blessing:
May your day be touched by a bit of Irish luck,
Brightened by a song in your heart,
And warmed by the smiles of the people you love.

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Ingredients :

Directions:

Melt the butter in a heavy sauce pan, add the onion, garlic and parsnip.  Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, toss until well coated.  Cover and cook on low until soft and tender, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the flour and curry powder and gradually incorporate the hot chicken stock.  Simmer until the parsnip is fully cooked.  Puree in a food processor or blender, return to the pot, taste and correct the seasoning, add the half and half to taste.  Serve with crispy croutons and sprinkle with finely chopped chives or parsley.

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