Pickwick Place taking shape

BUCYRUS – “I can’t imagine a worse year than this year to start out vegetable farming,” said Kent Stuckey, who started out this year doing just that.

Stuckey, his wife Laura, son Ethan, and their business partners Chris and Andrea Schimpf and Greg and Rose Hartschuh are the people behind the slowly unfolding transformation of The Pickwick Place, a onetime horse-breeding establishment on the north side of Bucyrus, and before that a dairy farm, that by next year should be up and running as a farm market/event center/agri-tourism destination.

On Thursday evening they updated members of the Crawford County Farm Bureau on the facility’s progress during the bureau’s Taste of Crawford County event at the county fairgrounds. They shared their passion for the local food movement, and voiced a commitment to bringing people to the community.

Although The Pickwick Place is still in the throes of substantial renovation – “I’m getting good at demo,” Stuckey said – the “farm-ily,” as the business owners call themselves, has gotten a roadside market up and running this summer.

“It’s just been tremendous fun providing quality produce. One woman said it’s been years since she’s been able to find good peaches here. It’s fun to do that,” Stuckey said.

Ethan Stuckey, who attends Wynford High School, has been the driving force behind the vegetable aspect of the business, and it’s been a challenge, thanks to a late frost in the spring, followed by 20 straight days of rain in June and July.

“It really put back a lot of things. I had to replant pumpkins twice, and half of my tomatoes drowned. Another thing I didn’t think much about was weeds,” said Ethan, who has since given weeds a lot more thought.

“Groundhogs ate all his cabbage and broccoli,” Kent said.

But the owners of The Pickwick Place remain excited about what the three buildings of The Pickwick Place will be able to offer once they’re all fixed up.

“The middle building is really great. You really just have to see it,” Laura Stuckey said. After being daunted by the capital and planning required to turn it into a restaurant, the owners decided to turn the structure into an event center.

“The idea of a rustic wedding is hot right now, and we’ve generated a lot of interest among brides,” Laura said.

The Pickwick Place has already secured 23 bookings for the event center, and only nine are from within the county. The Stuckeys said their produce stand has drawn a lot of Lake Erie traffic on Fridays and Sundays, and that that’s helped to get the word out.

With her husband Greg, Rose Hartschuh operates Sycamore Run Farms in the remote northwestern corner of the county. They plan on turning Pickwick’s north barn into Acres of Adventure, an agri-tourism site.

“We’re looking forward to being in an area where we can impact a lot of people,” she said. “So many kids, and adults, don’t know where their food comes from. Agriculture is so important to our community, and we want to highlight that.”

“Here you know where your food is coming from,” Chris Schimpf said. “I think you’re going to see this evolve.”

Kent Stuckey said his nephew wants to make ice cream at Pickwick, so it could soon have a creamery, which would take it full circle back to when it used to be a dairy. The first of several fruit trees are scheduled to arrive next year.

“Early on, the cleanup seemed insurmountable, and it’s been a real challenge staying on schedule. There have been a ton of challenges, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon,” he said. But he added that people with memories of Pickwick Farms, who are pleased to see the place coming back to life again, frequently stop by to offer encouragement.

“Sometimes people will come by and say the right thing at the right time,” he said.

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ