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We want
everyone to have an enjoyable
shopping experience when they
visit us. With our large selection
of plants and products there
is something for all. There
are large shopping carts, which
adults will appreciate and the
farm cat, "Swiffer",
(who thinks she is the owner),
is here for the children. Come
witness how Swiffer got her
name. She will allow everyone
to pet her all day for FREE!
When you stop in mention that
you saw our history on our website.
The Farmer's Daughter, Megan,
and all her staff would love
to welcome you personally. Good
old fashioned friendly service
where you, the customer, has
made everything successful -
that is what you will find here
at the Farmer's Daughter Gift
and Garden Center.
Welcome to Farmer's Daughter Gift and Garden
Center. The family farm, which consists of 350 acres surrounding
the garden center, has been in the family for over 100 years. The
family is quite proud to be 4th generation farmers on the land and
received the Pennsylvania State Century Farm Award.
The Garden Center was started by Megan Shaub,
the daughter of Robert and Margaret Shaub, so it was appropriately
named "Farmer's Daughter". Megan started the "market"
in 1967, then 7 years old. By the side of the road she sold only
string beans that were grown on the farm for local canneries, which
are now out of business. The beans were sold for 25 cents per pound
for many years and always picked fresh daily. Those beans not sold
by 3:00 or 4:00 pm were put in a red express wagon and Megan pulled
it to town to sell door to door for families' evening meals.
The "market" kept growing rapidly
after Megan was of age to join 4-H. The 4-H Gardening Project required
her to grow new and more varieties of
vegetables each year. The customers liked this so much that her
little garden couldn't produce enough to satisfy the demand. As
the "market" kept
expanding every year to meet the needs of loyal customers, the area
devoted to growing produce grew to 50 acres.
After attending Penn State and with a course
in Agriculture Business, a new building was erected in 1981 for
Megan to sell the produce and also plants.
As the years passed, it became more difficult to find employees
to pick the produce on a daily basis. In 1989, after deliberating
long and hard, the decision was made to cease growing vegetables.
The attention turned to expanding the farm market and garden center
and in 1995, four large greenhouses were added. Megan's knowledge
of growing plants was very well received by those customers now
buying plants instead of produce. The customers knew that the knowledge
was present to provide them with healthy plants and products to
make their gardening efforts successful. This continues to the present
day with an even larger selection of plants, plus the addition of
organic products such as seeds, insecticides, weed killers, soils,
etc.
The evolving "market" quickly
became Southern York County's Premier Gift & Garden Showplace.
The Farmer's Daughter is well known for having the largest selection
of regular and organic fertilizers, seed - regular, organic, packet
and bulk, onion sets - yellow, red and white, seed potatoes, hard
to find plants such as asparagus, horseradish, gooseberries, blueberries,
raspberries - red, black, purple and gold, grapes, strawberries
and more. Top quality perennials, annuals and vegetable plants start
arriving every year in March. You will find thousands of hanging
baskets starting the end of April and through May as well as a kaleidoscope
of color from all the new varieties of plants.
There is always a large selection of many
items to make gardening a delight such as pots, garden statuary,
gloves, markers, wind chimes, bird houses, bird feeders and much
more. A varied selection of mulches, both bagged and bulk are available
as well as a full line of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.
The large selection of plants and products
continues all summer and into the fall with thousands of hardy mums,
Halloween decorations and fall decor such as pumpkins, gourds, Indian
corn and corn shocks. November and December bring poinsettias and
Christmas decor plus many nice gift items.
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