Our Story
About 26 years ago, we (Scott and Rachell Penton) started Penton Farms, a fourth-generation family farm in Verbena, AL. We began with a few acres of peach trees and a handful of other vegetables. From there, we have grown to over 150 acres in production with 6000+ peach trees, a successful strawberry u-pick, and a growing pumpkin patch. We go to several farmers' markets every week in the summer like Pepper Place, Eastchase, Millbrook, and more. In peak season, we can pick over 1000 baskets of peaches plus hundreds of baskets of other fruits and vegetables! Two of our biggest helpers are our kids: Austin, 26, and Courtney, 23. We could have never gotten to where we are today without the help of our family!
In 2008, we started Sugar Hill U-Pick Farms. Penton Farms and Evans Farms (one of the many farms within the family!) decided to co-own a strawberry u-pick patch right here in Verbena, AL. We began with a small 8-foot table, 28,000 plants, and customers who have given us their business from all the way back then to now: 15 years later! As our customers grew, we did too. We now have over 200,000 strawberry plants on about 20 acres and a custom building to house all our pre-picked strawberries, fruits, and vegetables. We now have schools book field trips with us throughout the season, a large picnic area, and a playground for the kids.
In 2016, we started a new challenge to help us further our small business: Penton Farms Pumpkin Patch. Thanks to our loyal customers from the strawberry patch and farmers' markets, our first year was a hit! Since then, we have constantly added new activities and upgraded the barn with a new concessions stand, bathrooms, shaded picnic areas, and more! We spend all summer getting ready for the yearly pumpkin patch season; schools begin to book visits in May, some pumpkins and gourds are planted as early as June, and decorating the entire farm takes more than a month's hard work!
We hope to continue growing every year in each aspect of our farm, and we know we couldn't do it without the help of our family and our sweet, loyal customers. We thank and appreciate those who have stuck with us through the years and supported our small business.