Long-time customers of Weber's Cider Mill Farm sometimes call owner Steve Weber by his father's name, Earl.

But that's what happens when a produce market is a century old, and Steve Weber doesn't seem to mind. He and his wife, Jo-Ann, retain a passion for the business that Weber's grandfather started.

"It's a fun business," Steve Weber said. "That's why we're still doing this."

Weber's, on Proctor Lane in Parkville, is more a storefront now than a farm -- the Webers grow most of their produce at Peachberry Farm in Glen Arm -- but the store retains its rich history.

Steve's grandfather, Jacob Weber, started Weber's Farm in 1908.

In the early years, Jacob and Earl Weber drove a horse and wagon through northeast Baltimore, selling produce door-to-door, according to Steve Weber.

Jacob Weber died in 1932, leaving Earl, 13, as man of the house. Earl's mother and older sister were so concerned about him operating the farm tractor at that age that the family went back to using horses to plow the fields and spread manure.

In 1947, the family purchased a used cider press, which they powered with the engine from a Ford Model T.

The history and character of Weber's have kept customers coming back.

"I like the way they treat people -- they're thoughtful," said Parkville resident Rose Maloney.

Maloney used to stop by Weber's on the way home from work and after church on Sundays. A couple of years after she retired, Maloney decided she liked Weber's so much that she wanted a job there.

"I love working here," the cashier said.

Charles Burns, a retired engineer living in Parkville, stops by Weber's once or twice a week because the fruits and vegetables are more ripe than what he finds at the grocery stores, he said.

"They have a better quality of produce," Burns said.

While Weber's still uses the old cider press, recent decades have brought huge changes to the operation.

Behind the store, gum ball machines dispense handfuls of dry corn for a quarter that customers can feed to the goats, rabbits, peacocks, a sheep and at least one gobbling turkey.

Steve and Jo-Ann Weber added an ice cream parlor, a gift shop and a bakery.

"They make the best pie," said David Sevdalian of Towson.

Sevdalian, who's been shopping at Weber's for 30 years, said that whenever friends visit him from out of town, he treats them to a pie from Weber's.

His guests love the pies so much they end up buying two or three before they leave town.

On any given day, the store has a steady flow of customers, but in the fall things get crazy. Places like Weber's started to become fall destinations 25 or 30 years ago, especially around Halloween, Steve Weber said.

Once, when a truck dropped off a shipment of hay at the store, children just started crawling through it, burrowing and playing.

So, the Webers put a barrier around it and called it the Straw Crawl, which later evolved into a maze of hay bales. There's also a mini-maze for small children.

Fall also brings fresh-pressed apple cider, as well as a burlap bag slide, rubber duck races and a scarecrow workshop.

In the last few years, Weber's has seen changes in the produce customers want.

People are expressing more interest in older, more flavorful varieties of locally grown produce, such as Honeycrisp apples and Belle of Georgia peaches, which Steve Weber calls "ugly as hell," but "super delicate."

Other flavors are brewing for the Parkville store.

The Webers plan to make wine out of every fruit grown at Peachberry Farm, including peaches, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, plums and cherries.

"We'll do some grapes too," Weber said.

user comments (1)

user davidmarks1 says...

I have fond memories of going to Weber's as a child, and my wife and I bring our son there every fall. It is simply one of the most magical places in northeastern Baltimore County around Halloween. In Perry Hall, we have an equally nice farm along Chapel Road that offers fine produce, animals for the kids to pet, and other attractions. Weber's Farm and places like this are so needed in suburbia.

Posted 7:20 AM, 08.12.08

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