Lemonade Stand Evolves Into Goat Fu
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
NORTH BENTON, OHIO
(Portage County) Sharen
O’Brock of North Benton, Ohio!,
has been reading Lancaster Farm
ing since she can remember.
It’s brought her a lot of valuable
tips in the small farm ventures she
has enjoyed with her husband,
Ken.
Among them, her successful
career in making goat milk fudge
which has given her good reason
to proudly display the sign, “capri
culturist,” on the side of her bam.
“The story,” the petite, bib
overallea, Sharen says, began
when her girst child, a daughter,
was only one year old. They
bought her a goat. Both goats and
children began to multiply.
Some years later there were five
O’Brock children and 72 goats.
“We were giving goat’s milk to
everything and it all thrived,”
Sharen remembers. “We had fat
veal calves and healthy baby pigs
as well as meeting our own fami-
Today Sharen with children
Sharen O'Brock and favorite, high-producing goat.
Sharen and the herd which provides the milk for her fudge.
Children’s Money-Making Project Turns Into Mother’s Career
ly’s milk needs.”
As the O’Brock children grew
into the “lemonade stand,” era,
they began clamoring for ideas on
wayks to make money. It was Ken
O’Brock who suggested “Goat
Milk Fudge,” like his mother used
to make.
Using a standard fudge recipe,
Sharen substituted goat milk for
cow’s milk, mixed up some fudge,
put it in a cardboard box, and set
the kids up in business on (he front
porch.
The entrepreneurs were so suc
cessful, they soon looked for other
fudge markets and began carrying
their wares' to a weekly farmer’s
auction in nearby Damascus,
Ohio.
“When we sold out almost im
mediately, we thought we really
had something going,” Sharen re
members. “Next we approached
some local gift shops and farmer’s
markets. We put our fudge in neat
white boxes and we woe in busi
ness.”
raised and gone, is the sole pro
prietor, goat milker, fudge maker,
bookkeeper, goat breeder, and
marketer of her fudge today dis
played in boxes depicting goat
scenes.
Nearby Berlin Lake provides an
excellent summer-based clientele
with June, July. August, and Sep
tember being her peak fudge
months. “I sell up to 800 pounds a
month in the summer,” she ad
mits. Her wares bring $2.25 a half
pound box.
Fudge in flavors of peanut but
ter or chocolate is made in the neat
and spacious kitchen the
O’Brocks added to their new
home, which has replaced the ori
ginal ... the one where the kids
sold fudge from the front porch.
There are no preservatives, only
the goat milk, sugar, oleo, peanut
butter or cocoa, vanilla, and salt.
The fudge is shaped on cold
marble slabs as Sharen watches
her grandchildren from the sunny
window that overlooks a delight
ful play area. Three days a week
she finds time to babysit despite
her busy schedule.
Ken has worked in nearby Ak
ron at General Tire for more than
30 years and, in addiiton, runs a
part-time windmill business.
“But I don’t mind doing every
thing myself,” Sharen says. “I find
such enjoyment and contentment
in milking my goats. It’s my quiet
time, my time to relax.” When the
milking is finished, it is stored in a
stainless steel, water cooled cool
er. Attention to cleanliness is ap
parent and Sharen has had no trou
ble passing the Ohio state inspec
tion required to sell her fudge.
She milks seven Alpines and
has an additional seven kids and
bucks. Sharen oversees all of the
breeding, seeking bucks that have
strong bloodlines to produce does
witih high productivity. Goat milk
average is about 2,000 pounds
with a special Alpine/Sanneu
cross that gives 3,940.
Now that her children have left
home. Sharen buys the feed for the
animals that was once raised on
the farm. “The only thing I add to
their diet is comfrey,” she says.
“That adds a lot of protein and
seems to keep by herd healthy.”
O’Brock farm animals include
chickens (Sharen also sells eggs),
the goats, a pot-bellied pig, an ag
ing collie and a Yellow lab pup.
Some people just seem to have
more hours in their days than
Sharen O’Brock at work In her fudge kitchen.
others. Such is the case with Shar- mu itipi e projects,
en who besides goats, fudge. o *Brocks' youngest son,
chickens, a garden, lawn, large David, is part of the International
house, and grandchiWren finds 4 . H Youth Exchange and is the
time to lead two 4-H dubs One is 1994 representative to Estonia,
strictly goats while the other has
Reading Terminal Market
To Host Pa. Dutch Festival
PHILADELPHIA This year
marks the twelfth year that Read
ing Terminal Market celebrates
the traditions, foods and crafts of
the Pennsylvania Dutch with a
festival scheduled for Thursday,
August 4 through Saturday,
August 6 from 10:00 am to 4:00
pm.
This year’s festival features
many of the favorites from past
years including: Johnny Clay
poole, the hex sign painter, whose
work is nationally known and on
display at the Philadelphia Zoo as
well as the Smithsonian Institute.
Not only will hex signs be painted,
but a Market window will get a
dazzling new look as well with a
four-foot painted hex sign.
Amish craftsmen will be featur
ing wall hangings, toys, wooden
clocks, braided rugs, homemade
brooms, cedar crafts in all shapes
and sizes, old-fashioned wooden
wagons, among many other tradi
tional specialties. The Market’s
beloved Pennsylvania Dutch mer
chants will be selling homemade
ice cream, chicken pot pie, peanut
clusters, funnel cakes, donuts,
canned and jarred goods using
only the freshest produce from
their summer crops, and many
more delectable items.
The festival will also showcase
live farm animals on Saturday
(outside, Arch Street sidewalk)
including sheep, goats, chickens
and a cow. with milking demon
strations by Levi Fisher every
hour. Free pony rides will foe
available for children on Saturday.
Entertainment will abound on
Business
#4 *
4
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Saturday with the Stone Mountain
Boys (a gospel group) and a stroll
ing musician.
In keeping with the PA Dutch
Festival’s tradition, a group of
Amish women will once again
demonstrate their talent in Center
Court (all three days) as they sew
the finishing stitches on a hand-
made quilt which will then be
given away as the grand prize on
Saturday. Other prizes include: a
lunch and dinner for two, ice
cream, baked goods, gift baskets,
crafts, and gift certificates. To be
eligible to win, sign up at the
Market beginning Wednesday.
July 27 at any of the Amish coun
ters. Drawings for prizes will be
held on Saturday, August 6 at 3:00
pm.
Special parking for the PA
Dutch Festival will be available
on Saturday only, on the north
‘ side of Arch Street (between 11th
and 12th streets), and on the 12th
street underpass between Race
and Arch. The Festival is free and
open to the public.
Reading Terminal Market is
one of the world’s largest indoor
farmers’ markets, offering an
unparalleled variety of farm pro
duce in season, Amish foods,
ethnic restaurants, and fish, meats.
poultry, and flowers from over 70
merchants under one roof. Recen
tly renovated and air-conditioned,
this 102 year-old market still func
tions as the region’s only authen
tic farmers’ market Located at
12th and Filbert Streets, the Mark
et is open Monday through Satur
day from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.
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