History

History of Twin Pine Farm

In 1952, Robert and Jeannine Ilyes purchased a 30 acre farm in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania. There were two pine trees by the farm house and one was a double pine, hence Twin Pine Farm was born.

They raised fruits, vegetables, and cattle. After taking his first cattle to a Lancaster livestock auction and making a very minimum profit, Robert decided to begin butchering his cattle in the basement of the farmhouse. Also in 1952, the family started a stand at the Central Market House in York, Pennsylvania to sell their goods and get their products out there. Their first day at market got them a net profit of $7.00 and a $4.00 parking ticket.

Twin Pine Farm Store — York, PA — Twin Pine Farm

In 1965, Robert embarked on building a new butcher shop. Shortly afterward the shop became a USDA inspected plant and is still currently in use today. Throughout the years Robert purchased numerous farms and today Twin Pines owns approximately 500 acres. In the spring of 1993, Twin Pines grew even more when Robert’s sons, Robert Jr. and Dennis became members of the business instead of just employees.

In the spring of 2000 Twin Pine broke ground on a new retail store just south of York New Salem on route 616. On June 8, 2002 Twin Pines celebrated a milestone of being in business for 50 years with a celebration at the new country store. Robert Sr. passed away suddenly a few weeks later on June 29, 2002.

Today the business is managed by Dennis and Neta. They maintain their acreage as well as the country store. Currently they farm around 2100 acres, 500 of which they own and 1600 of which they rent. Twin Pines is a 175 head cow/calf operation where all of their own raised cattle are butchered and the meat is available at for purchase at Twin Pine Farm Country Store.

Twin Pines raises all of their own feed for their cattle which consists of alfalfa silage and high moisture, non-GMO, shelled corn mix, with absolutely no hormones within. Aside from Twin Pines cattle operation, they also cash grain farm, corn, wheat, barley, and soybeans. Twin Pines even does some custom farming and also sells hay and straw, available in small bales and large square bales.

Over the summer, Twin Pines raises all of their own vegetables. The vegetables are for sale at their store. Vegetables are also available in large quantities for freezing as well as wholesale. Some of the produce includes sweet corn, cantaloupes, watermelons, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, squash and zucchini.