Ridgeview Acres Farm marks bicentennial

Bob Ambrose jokes that he sells “low-cost wife insurance.”

“Another phrase is, ‘candy is dandy. liquor is quicker, but flowers make a long-lasting positive impression,'” said Ambrose of Stahlstown.

Ambrose and his wife of 54 years, Sally, both 76, grow more than 100 varieties of flowers on their scenic 130-acre farm, a property that has been home to farming families for two centuries.

Ridgeview Acres Farm recently received recognition as a bicentennial farm from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. The Bicentennial Farm Program praises families who have farmed the same land for 200 consecutive years.

“There's a limited number of them in the state,” Ambrose said.

“I think it's great,” Sally Ambrose said. “We're still using some of grandma's bushes, like the hydrangeas near the house.”

Bob Ambrose sifted through deeds and family history to track down the farm's transitions in ownership. He said one of his ancestors bought the farm in the 1770s, but lost it by the end of the century. Another branch of the family purchased it in 1814, owning 400 acres.

“By about 1870, it was down to about 180 acres, and two daughters got married and split the farm in two,” Ambrose said.

His great-grandfather married one daughter. “And that's how the farm came to the Ambroses,” he said.

Ambrose's grandfather took over the farm and worked a truck route in Latrobe. He would sell farm produce when he went into town — anything from apples to chickens. After his grandfather's death, Ambrose's uncle took on the property.

“My dad grew up on the farm, and he left after high school to go to the University of Maryland and never really came back again,” Ambrose said. “But he bought it from my grandmother in 1968, fixed it up a bit, had some timbering done, and he was going to sell it in 1972.”

Ambrose — married, living in Cincinnati and working as an engineer at the time — convinced him otherwise.

“He bought a tractor, and I bought a this, and he bought a that,” he said. “Pretty soon all of a sudden we're farming this thing with no knowledge from 300 some miles away.”

Ambrose and his wife, a math teacher, commuted to the farm for several years, trying their hand at field crops and cattle. They moved in permanently in 1993.

The couple found success in vegetables, selling at the Ligonier Country Market.

“We weren't setting the world on fire, but there was a little money coming in,” Ambrose said.

Sally Ambrose had several burgeoning flower gardens and eventually decided she had more flowers than she needed.

“I said, ‘Well cut them off, put them in a tin can and put them on the table at the market and see what happens,'” Bob Ambrose said.

At the market, a woman was willing to dicker on the price on the Ambroses' 75-cent broccoli, but was ready to pay any price for the tin of flowers — an observation that inspired the couple to pursue the flowers as a full-time business.

Today, the couple harvests from outdoor plants and four greenhouses, even growing some flowers inside their home. Dahlias, lisianthus, sunflowers and coneflowers are a few of their varieties.

The floral operation has since overshadowed the vegetables, but they still sell their locally renowned asparagus.

Bob Ambrose travels to downtown Pittsburgh every Thursday to sell bouquets and asparagus at the farmers' market in Market Square.

“I've got one lawyer ... who buys a $30 bouquet for his wife every week,” he said.

“He says, ‘If I go home Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, she says ‘Oh, you're home.' Thursday she bounds out the door and says, 'What did you bring me?'” Ambrose said. “Then she'll take the bouquet and go to Google and try to figure out what's in it, which is pretty tough because there are weeds, grass, shrubs, berries and everything else in the stuff.”

Last year, the Ambroses provided arrangements for 40 weddings.

“I enjoy the creativity,” Ambrose said. “Growing the flowers is sort of a necessary evil. In some cases, it's drudgery. It's not very glamorous.

“The creativity of the weddings is good, when we're given our free rein,” he said.

Sally Ambrose likes every step of their operation.

“I like working outdoors,” she said. “I like arranging (the flowers). I like picking them, too. I like the whole process.”

The couple receives assistance from several part-time helpers to arrange the large volume of plants they sell at markets and for weddings.

Tracy Morrison met the couple through working at DBEC Wholesale Co. in Greensburg. At Ridgeview Acres Farm, Morrison, who has worked with flowers for 40 years, appreciates the freedom to design and to choose from the great selection of flowers.

As for the best part of being at the farm, Morrison points to the couple running the show. “These two — especially Sally,” she said. “She's a sweetheart.”

Bob Ambrose would like for the farm to stay in the family, but with sons living in other parts of the country, he isn't sure it will be possible.

“It's like my cousin who is now dead said — it all belongs to me now and whoever gets it, can make up their mind about it,” he laughed.

Ideally, Ambrose would like for the farm to sell its development rights to the Westmoreland County Farmland Preservation Program, which he chairs, as a way to ensure the farm remains an open space.

Unfortunately, Cook Township, where the farm is located, does not participate in the program, he said.

Though the Ambroses may cut back on their level of business as they get older, their flower gardens show no sign of becoming barren.

“There are no secrets,” Bob Ambrose said. “You just keep working at it.”

Nicole Chynoweth is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-850-2862 or nchynoweth@tribweb.com.