Logo of Patterson Farms featuring a stylized leaf design and the brand name in bold typography, symbolizing agricultural heritage and quality produce.
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Logo of Patterson Farms featuring a stylized leaf design and the brand name in bold typography, symbolizing agricultural heritage and quality produce.

About Us

Our Team

House Tour

Our History

Faces Behind the Bucket

A worker in a workshop stands beside a large piece of equipment used for syrup production, with steam rising in the background. The setting features wooden walls and various control panels, indicating an active manufacturing environment.

Todd Swimley

Todd has been with us for about 30 years. He is like family to us, knowing what needs to be done without telling him.

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At sugaring time, he oversees the daily operations at the farm knowing everything there is about the day-to-day operations of the sugaring process. As the season ends, he is a vital part of the day-to-day operations that continue at the farm as we transition into our custom hay season until it is time for the sugaring season to begin again. Todd is Terry’s right hand man and is very important to everyone at Patterson Farms.

Young woman with long, wavy brown hair and green eyes smiling at the camera, wearing a gray hoodie. Soft lighting highlights her features, with a blurred background of shelves and storage.

Sierra Talbett

Sierra has been with us since 2019. Sierra spent her childhood here at Patterson Farms, alongside her parents as they worked here during various sugaring seasons on the farm.

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She is very well versed in the knowledge of all aspects of maple sugaring and is a vital part of the Patterson family’s daily operations. Sierra runs the store, makes up the customer orders, makes many of our products that we sell, does the customer invoicing and gives most of our tours to the many customers that come into the store as well as our commercial bus & school tours. If you have an order and call in, Sierra is happy to take your order! Sierra is the office assistant to Terri and is an integral part of our team.

Man sitting on a porch holding a large Great Dane dog, with a red barn and green landscape in the background.

Parker Talbett

Parker has been with us since 2020, coming on as a helper to anyone that needed help.

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Since then, he has grown into becoming a vital part of our Patterson family. He helps with all aspects of the farm during sugaring season – tapping trees, checking vacuum, helping to boil sap, to being our “sugar maker”! He then transitions to helping the rest of the Patterson crew when it’s time for our custom hay season and does a great job around the farm keeping everything looking great for your visit!

Smiling woman with curly hair wearing glasses and a navy blouse, posing outdoors with greenery in the background.

Brooke Swimley

Brooke is new as a regular employee at Patterson Farms.

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Brooke is married to Todd and has always been around helping whenever help is needed. She has been a tremendous help in many ways, especially with making products and working with customers in the store. Her joyful personality is unique. We always joke that she can sell ‘ice cubes to Eskimos!!

Older man wearing a black cap and sunglasses, standing outdoors in a natural setting with greenery in the background. He is dressed in a blue shirt and appears to be smiling slightly.

Tim Swimley

Tim joined the Patterson Farms family years ago after retiring from the gas industry

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He does all the canning of our maple syrup. During sugaring season, he also helps as a truck driver, gathering sap for boiling in the evaporator. If he has the time, you can also find him helping in the fields during our custom haying season.

Smiling woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing a light blue t-shirt with "Patterson Farms" logo, seated indoors.

Terri Patterson

Terri took over as the general manager of the Patterson Farms store/business after Linda retired in 2020

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She has over 40 years of experience with bookkeeping. You will find her in the kitchen making most of the products that we sell at Patterson Farms and always coming up with new products to sell. She is consistenty looking for new ideas in marketing or in other ways that will help make Patterson Farms better in every way to continue the traditions and legacy that Richard, Mary Lee and Linda started years ago.

Man working with rustic wooden barrels in a workshop, surrounded by vintage signs and tools, showcasing craftsmanship in barrel making.

Terry Patterson

Terry, who is the 4th generation, took over as the owner of Patterson Farms upon the death of his father Richard in 2017.

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His main goal is to continue the traditions and legacy that his father worked so hard to build and to make sure that everyone at Patterson Farms has everything they need to continue to move forward to with our goals. He worked for many years in the construction industry and continues to enjoy working with his construction equipment and do construction projects. He also enjoys every aspect of farming. He has always enjoyed farming all his life.

A couple stands in front of two horses hitched to a covered wagon, surrounded by vibrant autumn foliage in the background. The scene captures a picturesque outdoor moment, highlighting equestrian culture and the beauty of fall scenery.

Terry & Terri

Terry & Terri, who took over ownership of Patterson Farms in 2017 after the death of Richard, Terry’s dad not only have the maple business, but they own a unique breed of cows since 2000 called Belted Galloways.

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They are a heritage beef breed. Over the years, they have been very dedicated to creating a good bloodline of registered cattle. Today they have around 130 head of cattle and are the largest registered herd in Pennsylvania. Through the dedication of Terry’s father, Patterson Farms is the largest privately owned maple syrup operation in Pennsylvania, and they are very proud to work hard to continue his legacy.

Man in a power wheelchair, wearing glasses and a dark sweatshirt, smiles while sitting on a porch with potted plants and a red barn in the background. The scene captures a sunny day with greenery and flowers.

Travis Patterson

Travis, who is the 5th generation, is proud to be active in the family business. 

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You can usually find him running around to chat with the guys in the shop while they are working on the tractors or when they are making sugar. He enjoys being part of day-to-day operations, especially the farming side of Patterson Farms. He enjoys watching them do custom farming at the customer’s farms each summer. Some of his favorite times are at this time of the year but his other favorite time of the year is during sugaring season when he gets to spend time with the guys as they are boiling syrup! You can also find Travis interacting with our customers and giving them tours of our maple display area explaining the family history, educating them all about maple and then finishing the tour by visiting the tractors and the animals. Travis loves farming and is proud to be a 5th generation farmer.

Smiling elderly woman with short, curly gray hair and glasses, wearing a beige cardigan and seated at a table. Surrounded by family members, she exudes warmth and joy in a cozy indoor setting.

Mary Lee Zechman

Mary Lee is Richard's sister and Terry's aunt. 

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She doubles as our Southern PA sales representative and has been a big part of growing the business since Richard started.

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This is a tour of Patterson Maple Farms in Westfield, PA. This tour, led by Linda Neal of Patterson's, was captured by PCN in 2019.

Elderly man wearing glasses and a green jacket stands in front of a wooden door marked "Evaporator Room," showcasing a rustic setting related to maple syrup production.

Explore Our Sugarmaster History

For four generations, the Patterson family has been producing maple syrup. Around one hundred years ago, Orin Patterson tapped his first trees. The tapping tradition was carried on by Clifton Patterson. They produced enough syrup for their own use and trading necessities.

When Orin was sugaring, there were no tractors or trucks. All the gathering was done by a team of horses and a lot of manual labor. Wooden spiles were whittled from Sumac or other woods with pithy centers. Holes were bore into the tree with a bit and a brace, and the spiles were driven into the hole. Wooden buckets were set under or hung from the spile to catch the sap. Sometimes three to four times a day, Orin and the family hitched Dobbin to the sled and traveled to the sugar bush to collect sap.

Cornerstones of the old sugarhouse, where the entire family worked to boil the sap into syrup, can still be seen today. Wood was the only fuel, and it took more than a little to make syrup. Orin was in charge of the sugarhouse work, while Grandma was in charge of the kitchen where the cream, candy, and sugar were made.

At that time, sugar was poured into molds that formed square blocks of sugar. White sugar was rarely used. Instead, maple sugar was scraped off the block for all canning, baking, and cooking needs.

When Clifton took over the farm, he continued to harvest sap in the same manner. However, he did keep up with the times. The wooden spiles became iron, which then became cheaper ones made from tin. The wooden buckets became covered buckets of galvanized steel, and a Farmall tractor replaced Dobbin. Clifton made a bit more syrup than Orin, but the same love and care went into it.

When Clifton retired, he sold the farm to Richard, who also loved sugaring. As time had went on, a lot of change had taken place. The demand for maple has forced production to increase. A few buckets are still hung by the road, but it is now a world of hi-tech equipment, like plastic spiles, vinyl tubing, battery powered drills, reverse osmosis filters, and stainless steel. A lot of TLC and pride continues to be required, even with this equipment.

We have one large 6' by 16' evaporator and two large reverse osmosis systems. The evaporator is made of stainless steel pans that are turbo diesel fired, and it takes hundreds of thousands of gallons of sap to keep it supplied. Although we continue to tap the same trees that Orin did, we lease several additional sugar bushes, totaling over 80,000 taps.

Every Spring, we hire several loyal people for tapping and boiling. The sugarhouse is very busy from November to April. Several times a season, the sap flows faster than it boils, and we boil around the clock to catch up. The coffee pot never gets a break during sugaring season, nor the camaraderie of good friends.

After the sap stops and everything is cleaned up, we continue the daily process of making various products from the syrup. We only jug our syrup or make certain products as needed. This ensures that all products are fresh and the taste remains consistent.

We are very proud of our history and today's sugarhouse. In December of 2017, we lost the son Richard, but his legacy of a high quality product still laced with tender loving care will live on in his son and family. Together, Terri & Terry Patterson took over ownership as the fourth generation sugar makers in Sabinsville, Pennsylvania. They continue to learn and forward the high tech business that Richard has grown, and Richard's plans will continue on. A few of these plans have recently been put in place. One is a monitoring system that lets us see when tanks are full and allow us to turn the pumps off right from the sugarhouse. Another is a full new sap silo configuration. There are now three 12' x 20' CDL stainless steel sap silos. Each silo can hold 17,000 gallons. They can be fed from top or bottom, and the bottom is both sloped for drainage and equipped with a washing system. Trucks will unload sap into the first silo, where it will then run through a sand filter into the second silo. Filtering the sap before it runs through the RO will prolong the life of their membranes and prefilters. The third silo will hold permeate from the RO for cleaning.

— The Patterson Farms Family