Fruits of Their Labor

Kay Hollabaugh reflects on farm and family

After living the farm life for four decades, Kay Hollabaugh understands the pull of the land.

She remembers when she was dating her husband Brad, he told her he had to return to the Biglerville farm his family had been farming since 1955. “At the time, I loved him, and I respected it,” she says, “but now being involved in it for 40 years, I understand the passion.”

Kay’s passion is evident as she described her life on the farm while raising the couple’s two children. “I loved everything about it. I loved the seasonality. I loved the ebbs and flows, the good and the bad,” she says.

Early in Kay’s farm career, she worked with business and tourism groups to encourage people to venture outside of Gettysburg and, as she says, “come just nine miles north to see this beautiful farmland up here.” Today, that goal has been realized. “You hear things now about New Oxford, Fairfield, Littlestown and Upper Adams, and it didn’t used to be that way,” she recalls. “I think we’ve become a more connected county.”

Like the county, the Hollabaughs’ farm business has diversified, from what—and how—they grow on their land to the opening of a retail market in 2012.

The passion that Kay and Brad have for the land was passed to their children, Bruce Hollabaugh and Ellie Hollabaugh Vranich. “When our third generation came back, they brough all kinds of innovative ideas. When our son returned, we started growing vegetables, blueberries, raspberries,” Kay says. “We started planting in different ways in our orchards. Our daughter has brought so much to our market that I would have never dreamed of, like cut flowers and all kinds of games and things out on our lawn that people can come and just enjoy being on the farm.”

Kay is excited about what the fourth generation can bring to Hollabaugh Bros. Her grandson started college at Penn State this fall, and he’s interested in learning more about plant pathology and growing other fruits, like strawberries, she says.

“I think the sky’s the limit if we can get some of the fourth generation to come back and play a role in our business,” says Kay. “It’s very exciting.”

Stewardship of the land is one of the biggest takeaways from Kay’s decades of farming. “I feel like God gave us this land for a reason,” she says. “It’s incredibly good, fertile land with strong springs, and I just think we are supposed to steward it and grow on it.”

Equally as important are the individuals who help the Hollabaughs farm that land. Their commitment to the farm and the family was demonstrated in 2022 when Kay’s son Bruce passed away unexpectedly from complications from a brain tumor. “Our employees just cared for us in every way imaginable. My husband and I had to step away for a little bit to care for our personal lives,” says Kay. “And while we were doing that, our employees knew what they had to do to keep it going, and they did. I just can’t say enough about the kind of people we have working for us.”

An agribusiness requires 24/7 dedication, so it’s natural for Kay to think of the family farm when she thinks of home. But there’s also another, more personal, reason.

“When I think of home, I think of this farm,” Kay says. “We have our son’s ashes spread at different places on our farm. That’s home—because he’s here.”