· About Us ·
Churchview Farm is a small, third-generation sustainable family farmette in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, owned and operated by farmer Tara Rockacy (granddaughter of the original owners of the land) alongside Events & Development Coordinator Alison Hillard and our expert team.
We exist as a unique model; not as a production Farm, but as a teaching and learning space where our primary focus is to foster relationships and engagement within our community. Our food is grown for and with our CSA workshares, volunteers, and student interns who come to Churchview to learn how to cultivate heirloom vegetables, fruit, and herbs using organic, hands-on methods. We offer opportunities to learn about beekeeping by participating in honey harvests, extractions, and hive inspections in our apiary, as well as hands-on experiences interacting with our pastured hens and ducks.
Education at Churchview doesn't stop at production. Our workshares and volunteers are provided recipes, preservation techniques, and guidance regarding how to utilize the products they help grow and take home for themselves and their families.
Much of the food produced at Churchview is also allocated to our guest chefs for their onsite seasonal dining events, and they use our seasonal products as the basis and inspiration for their menus. Because Churchview exists as a space for learning and engagement, we don’t sell to restaurants or the public. Instead, we are financially sustained by these Farm-To-Table experiences and private events.
We are happy to show the Farm by appointment only. Send us an email to schedule a time.
Tara Rockacy
· QUEEN BEE ·
Tara is the owner, visionary, and farmer at Churchview Farm, an organic farmette with an education and community engagement focus, located in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. In 2009, she stepped away from her career path within public libraries to reestablish her family’s third-generation farm. Today, in addition to yielding bountiful harvests of hundreds of varieties of heirloom fruit and produce, Churchview is a vibrant community space where people come to experience, learn, teach, eat, and engage.
Our space is also home to a variety of feathered, furred, and winged friends; pasture-raised laying hens & ducks for egg production, guinea hens for tick control and predator alert, three “pet” goats (mostly for cuteness), and an apiary offering seasonal raw honey and vital crop pollination. Many of our Farm animals and pets are rescues, and all are living their best lives at CVF.
2024 will be our twelfth season of hosting onsite events, and fourteenth year of farming & educating the community.
History
In the late 1930s, Tara’s grandparents, Emil and Hilda Rockacy, purchased thirteen acres of land in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They built the existing farmhouse and fed their family with the produce they grew and preserved, and the meat and dairy from the animals they raised, utilizing all-natural growing methods.
In 2007, Tara moved to the Farm and began the process of restoring it to a working piece of land. Respecting tradition and the ecosystem of the farm, she (along with a team of workshares, volunteers, and interns) continues to raise food without the use of chemicals, pesticides, or herbicides. Churchview Farm employs sustainable agricultural practices and respects all aspects of the farm by nurturing the soil, treating the animals humanely, and complimenting the natural ecosystem.
Our beloved Farm dogs, Lucy and Fran, embrace their multifaceted roles as welcoming committee, directors of predator control, and food-motivated con artists.
Fran is our 10 yr old Bernese Mountain Dog/Border Collie mix, who has been living at Churchview since she was a puppy. In July 2022 we rescued Lucy as an 8 week old pup. She’s (mostly) Great Pyrenees with a dash of Aussie, and is learning the ropes from her big sister. Both are living their best lives at CVF as the most loved, lovable (and spoiled) farm doggies.
Fran and Lucy live in harmony with their (equally spoiled) feline siblings - Bunny, Victor Ravioli, Paprika, and Poppyseed.
