The Rinehart Farm specializes in growing hay. Mr. Rinehart grows timothy and orchard grass.   Mr. Rinehart bails hay once or twice a year from June to September. When he bails the hay, he sells it to a mushroom farm. The Rinehart Farm has been in the family for three generations. The farm came into the ownership of the Rineharts in 1896. It has been owned and operated by a member of the Rinehart family for over 100 years. In the past, the farm grew many crops, chickens, and beef animals. His family never owned a farm before this one. Mr. Rinehart learned how to manage his farm through experience and the advice of past family members. There might have been Indian settlements on their farm before they owned it. Like many farms in Franklin Township, the Rinehart Farm began as a dairy farm in the early 1900's. Peaches were also an important crop. A peach blight in the years between 1910 and 1920 ended most of the peach growing in Franklin Township. During the time of World War II, the Rinehart Farm aided the American effort by growing vegetables such as tomatoes, peas, and baby lima beans. Dairy farming continued until 1955. The farm continued to grow corn, soy beans, and hay until around 1990. Currently, the farm specializes in growing hay. The actual name of the Rinehart Farm is J.B. Farm. JB stands for Jack and Bob. Bob Rinehart and his brother Jack were in business together from about 1950 until about 1985. Jack retired at that time, even though, he still helps around the farm. Mr. Rinehart is planning to continue farming for a few more years. He is not going to sell the farm, but he has sold various small pieces of his property to people for housing lots. If he had a son, he would have passed the farm down to him. The beautiful stone farm house was built in the 1700's and is the center piece of the farm. It was restored a few years ago. The actual stone part of the house was built before the wood part of the house. In the house are three fireplaces. Like many older homes there is a cellar, but it isn’t very big. The farm property contains a pond that is used for fire protection. This is an amusing story about watering from the pond. One day Mr. Rinehart sprayed his pond with a chemical that kills algae. This seemed like the right thing to do. After a dry spell, he used the water in the pond to water his lawn. The next day the lawn was dead. Later he found out that the algae chemical killed his lawn. For the most part the Rinehart Farm is in a quiet corner of Franklin Township. There was some excitement in 1980. A field fire burned off about sixty acres. Mr. Rinehart’s life is not based entirely on his farm. In his free time he likes to fish.

 

Did You Know? The difference between hay and straw is that you need to grow a grain crop and remove the grain to get straw.

 

 

Pictures from the Rinehart Farm

Mr. and Mrs. Rinehart
The main barn
A side view of the barn
Farm equipment
A front view of the farm house
A side view of the farm house
The main tractor
Students at the farm

 

A Quicktime movie from the Rinehart Farm

 

 

Interviewing and Web Page
by
Kristin, Corey, Connor, Danny, Paige

Photographs
by
Shawna, Tanner, Kate, Shaun

Video
by
Jon B., John S., Justin