Our story

Taproot Farm is a 200 acre Certified Organic produce farm in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

The farm grows a diverse variety of vegetables and berries full of flavor and nutrition and provides it to our customers at its peak freshness. Using farming practices that enrich the health of the farm’s ecosystem, the farmers take pride in the nutritious, high quality food they grow using Organic practices.

How We Started

Taproot Farm began as a rented plot of 5 of the 200 acres that make up the farm today. The farm found its footing at the Chestnut Hill Growers’ Market, selling its high quality produce from a small stand, and the 27 CSA members who signed up for the Taproot Farm CSA in 2010.

The original 5 acres had already been transitioned into Organic practices when George and Ola began to rent the land and the shaley hilltop soil began to recover some of its biodiversity, and produced a bountiful crop. With meager means and lots of determination, they farmed the ground almost all by hand with the help of an employee and volunteer help from family. As first generation farmers, there was a lot to learn, and a lot to build.

In 2014 the farmland Taproot had been renting was going to be sold, and George and Ola took a leap of faith.  With the help of the Farm Service Agency they were able to buy a farm, which included 23.5 acres. The purchase allowed them access to 10 more acres of prime soil. Over the years, Taproot became Certified Organic, grew its CSA and began to work with Baldor Specialty Foods, a wholesale distributor.

Taproot Farm has since become a staple source of delicious, trustworthy produce for its CSA and the Chestnut Hill Farmers’ Market. Its relationship with Baldor has blossomed and now they provide the specialty distributor with a wonderful array of heirloom varieties, and cutting edge culinary favorites. The farm now employs up to 20 people at the peak of the growing season, and over the years members of this group of hard working farmers have become their own community of long time friends.

George & Ola

co-owners

George Brittenburg and Ola Creston started Taproot Farm in 2009 with a young family, 5 acres of rented ground, and a small tractor. As first generation farmers, they built Taproot Farm from the ground up and are pleased to have expanded the farm over the years so that it can serve as a lasting source of local, healthy Organic food. George and Ola see Organic farming as vital to protecting the environment, and they’re passionate about the work they do. 

George loves working outside and Ola loves working in the nursery and being creative on the farm. Besides their passion for food and farming, they enjoy traveling, hiking, watching wildlife, cooking, spending time with their family, and going on endless farm walks with their pups.

Meet Your Farmers

The dedicated farmers who work alongside George and Ola in the field, become part of their extended family and return year after year.

Pearl Wetherall

Farm Manager

Pearl is originally from Northeast Pennsylvania. She began working on farms while obtaining an Environmental Studies degree in Vermont, and has spent the last couple of decades primarily on organic vegetable farms throughout the Northeast. Pearl landed back in Pennsylvania and joined the Taproot Farm team in 2021.

Other pursuits include growing giant kohlrabi for her dog Buckwheat (it’s Buckwheat’s favorite), foraging for firewood, and hanging out in the woods or on a kayak.

  • Samuel Hernandez Guerrero

    Crew Leader

    Samuel lives in Durango, Mexico in a “Ranchito” named Pilar de Zaragoza. He enjoys working on the family farm with his father in Pilar, plowing with horses and sowing corn and beans. Samuel has worked at Taproot Farm since 2018 and spends his days driving tractors, managing summer harvest crews, and maintaining farm tractors and equipment. He is a father of 3 boys and runs an animal feed store in Pilar with his family. When he returns to Durango, he works in construction. 

  • Jose Hernandez Guerrero

    Crew Leader

    Jose lives in Pilar de Zaragoza, Durango, Mexico, and travels to Taproot Farm each spring. He loves to live in the countryside, taking care of his horses and cattle, and enjoys working in the fields in the USA. Jose has worked at Taproot Farm since 2019 & runs the harvest crews in charge of picking berries and tomatoes and is also the irrigation manager on the farm. 

    He has 3 children. When he returns to Pilar he works construction and with his horses.

  • Marcelo Hernandez Aguilar

    Crew Leader

    Marcelo lives in a little pueblo outside of Durango called Pilar de Zaragoza with his wife and 3 children. His goal is to help his children finish their studies in Mexico. He has always worked in agriculture in Mexico,  growing & harvesting vegetables similar to the ones grown in PA. Marcelo has worked at Taproot Farm since 2019.  Besides vegetable farming in Durango, he helps run a tienda with his family where they make and sell pork products Marcelo has custom raised and butchered.

  • Jose Guadalupe “Lupe” Romero Hernandez

    Pack & Harvest Crew Leader

    Lupe works in agriculture on his family vegetable farm. He is from Pilar de Zaragoza and plans to have his own vegetable farm in the future. He is the father of 3 boys. Lupe has been working at Taproot since 2020.   He’s a versatile farmer who harvests greens, lettuces and tomatoes, packs for CSA & wholesale.

  • Julio Cesar Vazquez Lopez

    Field & Harvest Crew

    Julio lives in Pilar de Zaragoza and works on his family vegetable farm growing many of the same vegetables grown at Taproot Farm. He has 4 children and enjoys  working in the United States to provide sufficient resources for his children in Durango. At Taproot,  Julio spends many hours harvesting tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, while playing his favorite Norteñas (music from Northern Mexico).

  • Laurabeth Buck

    CSA Administrator

    Prior to joining Taproot Farm, Laurabeth worked in the equine industry as a farm manager and horseback riding instructor. Outside of work, she is a busy mom of three. When she's not cheering on her kids at their sporting events, she can be found outdoors with her horses, chickens, and dogs.

Why Organic & Sustainable?

Taproot Farm strives to be a lasting source of local, healthy produce built on the principles of Organic and regenerative agriculture. At Taproot Farm we’ve always employed agricultural practices meant to regenerate the soil, for the benefit of the soil ecosystem, the fertility of the lands we are working with, and the health of our customers. 

One of the main sources of fertility on our farm are its cover crops. We use cover crops to keep the land protected with living cover for as much of the year as possible, shielding the soil from erosion. Their roots provide habitat for soil microbial life and insects, and the terrestrial growth provides seasonal habitat for wildlife. These cover crops build soil organic matter, sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and build the soil’s capacity to hold its sequestered carbon even when the ground is tilled for planting. Sowing cover crops under our vegetable crops helps us to reduce tillage at various times of the season as well.

The farm grows over 150 varieties of crops, literally sowing biodiversity in the field. It’s a pollinator’s salad bowl. All of our seeds have not been treated with pesticides and fungicides that can carry through the environment for an unknown amount of time, affecting the ecosystem on many levels. At Taproot, we use pest control methods that are “probiotic” whenever possible. This includes using beneficial insects to control aphids and damaging caterpillars, inoculating plants with beneficial bacteria and using products that encourage a plants immune system rather than targeting the pests.

 We use Organic products made from natural materials that do not persist in the environment when we need to target pests to stop a crop from being damaged or ruined. These pest control products are pest specific and are not not broad spectrum, meaning they don’t kill various types of insects, but rather focus on the pests doing the damage. Lastly, we avoid using this type of pest control method when pollinators are likely to be harmed.

Eating locally gives us appreciation for the seasonality of food. Strawberries, tomatoes, and well, frankly, just about everything, tastes best when eaten fresh. When food is shipped, it is proven to lose flavonoids that not only give us more flavor, but are an essential component of a food’s health benefits, such as preventing cancer and preserving brain function. Notably, every season has its delicious produce specific to that season, even in the fall and winter, the sweetness of fresh spinach, the sweet orange of carrots and winter squash, are a sign of their nutritiousness. 

Food is meant to be consumed close to where it was grown. In return, we better understand the natural abundances and scarcities of the seasons that can create a deep appreciation for the natural rhythms around us, the flavors of seasons and the richness therein. Eating locally gives us a sense of place. Everything benefits from that.