Al Benner Launches YouTube Channel

 Hi Everyone - Hopefully you still remember me all these years later.... Al Benner here, previous owner of Old School Farm in Honesdale, PA.

I've recently launched a new vlog channel on YouTube called:  "Choosing Freedom".  It'a all about following your passions, modern homesteading and becoming more self reliant.  The setting is coastal Maine where I am carving out a new life by living closely to the land.

Here is our introductory video:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCbiMvlM27s&t=372s

Learn more and follow us at:  https://www.youtube.com/@choosingfreedom

Old School Farm Expands for 2018 - Reserve Your Private Event Now!

Old School Farm recently completed it's second season offering wood-fired artisan pizzas to the public.  This year we were open every Friday night from late May until mid-October.   Live music was featured every night and our pizzas continue to be a huge hit (we have a 5.0 rating on Facebook with close to 30 reviews)

During the course of the summer we were approached several times about the possibility of renting out our entire facility for group events and weddings.  We have given this some thought and have decided this to be a great idea and are as of now putting the word out that the farm is available for private events any day from May through October accept Fridays (public pizza night will continue Friday nights)

We have put together a very reasonably priced package and this combined with our private farm setting and wood-fired artisan pizza from our earthen oven, makes for a truly unique experience for any group.

To learn more visit our website for details.    

Follow us on Facebook.

A New Chapter for Old School Farm

Old School Farm Manger, Dave Campeau and farm interns gather around the wood fired oven at our first event

The first season of friday night pizza nights is now behind us and as we reflect back, we are quite pleased with the outcome.   From just thirty people at the first event back in June to well over one hundred attendees consistently for the last three or four events, the product we are producing has spoken and the associated word of mouth and repeat business propelled us forward.

Farm Owner, Al Benner poses with guest at final event in Oct.

We became such a success that on two or three occasions we ran out of dough.  We also experienced some hour long wait times on a  couple nights.  With success comes new challenges!

We are now taking a long hard look at our model and will be tweaking it a bit for next season.  For starters we will be going to a once a week format as opposed to every other week.   We are also considering taking advance bookings/orders for pizzas over the website to better regulate flow and enable those who would prefer not to wait a bit and socialize to be able to better time the pick up of their pies.

Finally, a large "Woodstock" type event is planned for the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend 2017.  This will include a bike ride along the Dyberry stream, pizza, bonfires, bands, and a campout in the pasture along the banks of our trout stream.  Details will be posted on our Facebook page as they unfold.

The Parking Crew at our first event

We are excited about our pizza events for several reasons:

• They offer some much needed socializing and entertainment (live music) in our rural area.
• Our wood-fired pizza with fresh farm ingredients really puts a smile on people's faces
• We are helping to establish and grow the local economy and plan on dealing with even more local suppliers for ingredients we can't provide ourselves.
• We have landed upon a model that looks to be a viable way for the farm to become financially self-sustaining.

Here are quite a few photos from events this past season.  We will be opening back up in early May for 2017.  If you would like to get on the event email list, please send us an email at info@oldschooolfarm.com     Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours...   Your Friends at Old School Farm

See you all in May!!

Pizza Night at Old School Farm

For anyone who has been following our farm blog, we have some exciting news -  Pizza Nights at Old School Farm!

We started these the end of June and our last event this past Friday saw 75 pizza lovers at the farm enjoying what many claim to be the best pizza they have ever had.

The secret is our wood-fired earthen oven that we constructed close to five years ago.  We top our pies with homemade sauce and farm fresh ingredients and cover them with cheeses made locally at Calkin's Creamery.

Stop by or spread the word for our next event on Friday, August 26th.  

Here's our Events Page on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/oldschoolfarmpizza/

4th Annual Father - Son Weekend at the Farm

The Dads try out the Old School earthen oven for some artisan pies

For the past four Memorial Day weekends the Benner's have hosted the boys' schoolmates/neighborhood friends (Mt Airy - Philly) and their dads for an action packed weekend at the farm.  It's always hectic, but it's always fun!  This year we may have outdone ourselves as you will see from the photos below - this and much more all took place in less than 48 hours!

10 year olds enjoying the farm...

What comes out of our wood fired earthen oven is nothing short of mouth watering

A healthy farm pizza 

The host - shoveling pies

Friday night dinner at Irving Cliff brew pub - Honesdale - good food, great beer!

Friday night after dinner at the Irving Cliff Brew Pub in Honesdale

Asparagus

harvesting asparagus and spinach for the pizza bake

immature garlic for pizza

The old potato digger

Potatoes we kept in our springhouse prior to being planted

The work force...

Frog Egg gel ball

Cooling off at the falls on hot weekend

The crayfish hunt

A rain the night before had the moss very lush

Crayfish lodge

Dam building was a big hit

The dad's cool off in the Dyberry

Dyberry cool down

Bows and arrows

The cast did not stop him...

The old '66 Ford on it's way to Tanner's Falls

Tanner's Falls

Movie in the barn

On the way to Junction Pool on the Dyberry

water was up a bit

Trout fishing at Junction Pool

Fighting the snag...

First trout for the two in the center!

Native Brook Trout

The Drone

???

3 man water balloon launcher

annual whiffle ball game

Harvesting spinach for the pizza