'Farm Kings' Reality Show Features 9 Brothers, 1 Sister, 1 Mom on Butler County Farm
The oldest three boys—Joey, Timothy and Peter—own Freedom Farms.
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The table filled with a King’s ransom did not hold coins or jewels.
Instead, delicious fresh produce, perfectly spiced free-range chickens and a smooth-tasting apple pie with a light flaky crust was the treasure served by the King family of Butler County.
They invited local media to join them Monday night at a banquet table set up in their new market in New Kensington while a camera crew from Great American Country filmed.
The Kings are the stars of a new GAC reality show about farming called … is this too obvious? … Farm Kings.
The show premiered June 14 and will start airing regularly on Thursday, Sept. 27.
“The oldest three boys—Joey, Timothy and Peter—own Freedom Farms,” their mother Lisa says in a premiere episode. “It’s their business. But we all still work as a team.”
That team includes nine brothers (Joe, Daniel, Pete, Luke, Sam, John, Paul, Timothy and Ben) and one sister (Elizabeth), ages 29 to 12, along with their mother … but, not their father.
“Ten kids and your parents get a divorce. It can make it tough,” oldest son Joe said in the film. “We had to move on from my dad after five to 10 years of failed attempts to try to do something together."
“We needed to start fresh and earn our own way. So now my dad is my competitor.”
Their dad is the sole proprietor of Joseph P. King Farm Market.
Farming seems to be an extended family affair. Their dad’s cousins run Harvest Valley Farms in Middlesex Township, with a market on Route 8 in Richland Township, Joe said.
A guest at the table said she gets produce from Dillner Family Farm.
“That’s our aunt,” Joe said as he joined members of the media and friends at the table.
Freedom Farms has a market on Route 8 at 795 Pittsburgh Road in Butler. Nearby is Boldy’s Homemade Goodies, which the Kings bought in October 2009 and renovated.
The bakery is a good fit, giving the business income in the winter, Joe said. It also fits well with Lisa’s Gardens—their mother's flowers go well with wedding cakes.
The Kings’ latest venture is The Market @ New Ken at 4323 Shearsburg Road in New Kensington.
That is where the King brothers’ sister, Elizabeth, and mom prepared Monday night’s meal. The boys—Joe, Pete and Daniel—served and sat at the table to chat about their passion for farming.
Farming has been a family affair for generations, said Joe. His "Grandpap" raised livestock and his dad moved into the produce business.
The brothers started out with produce when they founded Freedom Farms in 2009 “after a lifetime of farming in their father's shadow,” their website states.
Joe said he previously worked as an engineer before going into full-time farming.
“You can’t go to school for farming,” he said. “It costs too much … just read a book.”
Joe talks about leading by example and making farming cool again instead of viewing it as a poor man’s trade.
“Farming gets in your blood,” Joe said.
“I couldn’t sit behind a desk all day,” Pete adds.
Of course, the Kings have done more than read books; they’ve been farming all their lives.
“We were born to farm,” Joe said.
Their goal is to make the farm sustainable, Joe said, who manages the operation.
The brothers pitch in to do everything, but the partners have their specialties.
Tim concentrates on the crops, spending his days in the fields.
Pete handles sales when the produce is sold at local farmers’ markets. He also raises chickens, selling the eggs and slaughtering the chickens for their meat.
“Animals make good compost if they’re managed right,” Pete said as the conversation turned toward the Kings’ plan to use as few chemicals as possible and to rotate crops to make the best use of the land.
Farming Does A Body Good
Farming does a body good, as evidenced by the Kings’ website that lists the health benefits of different types of produce.
But the King brothers’ muscular bodies have done farming good too.
After they posed shirtless for the cover of Edible Allegheny magazine in 2011, Stage 3 Productions contacted them and filmed a pilot show in October.
It obviously went well; GAC bought the pilot.
Although it was awkward to get used to cameras around every other week, the family members said they are getting used to it.
“It’s another job,” said Pete, who was initially “on the fence” when the TV show was proposed.
Farm Kings focuses more on farming than family—no Jersey Shore here, Pete said.
“It’s a little bit of a pain in the butt, but it’s unbelievable exposure,” Pete said. “It’s huge.”
Farm Kings airs on Channel 165 on DISH Network and Channel 326 on DIRECTV. To figure out the channel on your local cable provider, click on this link: http://gac.viewerlink.tv/
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Rithea Brown
12:36 pm on Monday, October 15, 2012
Love this show. Way to go guys! Never forget that your best cheerleader will ALWAYS be your mom!
constance
10:10 pm on Thursday, October 25, 2012
Support your local farmers:-) :-) :-) :-)
Nancy Kline
11:17 am on Monday, October 29, 2012
Enjoy your show. We run a dairy farm and grow our own crops for feed we also raise our own vegetables for freezing we appreciate all your hard work and family's togetherness great teamwork and passion! Keep up the great work.
daisy lucas
12:21 am on Friday, November 9, 2012
I love the farm kings show and the king family! Finally a show about a group of people who are real and have true values.
rita crowley
6:00 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012
Love the show and the family. God bless their eneavors.
Doti
12:21 am on Monday, December 3, 2012
Stumbled upon this show. Love it. Posted on FB that everyone needs to watch this. I have a 5500 sq ft garden and 70 tree orchard and sell small amounts to my 200 neighbors. No way a farm. Hard work for sure. Can't imagine a 200 acre farm.love to see a nice family on TV for a change.
Robert
1:32 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Alight Mama bear, make these young men wear their seat belts while driving, many episodes show them not and its what could save their lives.
What a awesome bunch of kids, only once did I hear a bleep to cover a cuss word. How refreshing to see so many kids in today's world that does not have to curse ever other world to get their point across. And I love how Bitty is right in the middle of every thing, go Bitty.
jo
4:18 pm on Sunday, December 9, 2012
Love the show and tell all my friends about it. All for one and one for all. My family after many generations sold family farm. Sad but the work is unbelievable hard.
Tim Patterson
11:49 am on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Enjoy the show. It is alot of growing produce and other things.I sell and grow alot of produce myself. Keep up the good work and have a good year coming up. Hope mine year does as good i hope it does. thanks Tim patterson from reidsville NC
susan dempsey
11:47 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
i could watch farm kings 7 days a week! great show. love watching the family working together. love when the boys take their shirts off. good gosh. susan from nc
Tina Cavender
1:01 am on Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Never heard of ''Farm Kings'' before I found it on GAC and watched every episode back to back. I absolutely love this show, so clean, refreshing, and wholesome! This family teaches hard work and unity...I LOVE IT!! When will the next season start?
Desta Brown
2:46 pm on Thursday, December 27, 2012
I LOVE THIS SHOW! My daughter just moved down the road from the farm in Lower Burrell. I will be going their for sure!!!!
Heather James
11:54 pm on Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Love the King family ! They are not only all beautiful, they have such a strong hard work ethic. They are so genuine and kind and loving towards each other ! Finally a show I can watch with my 15 yr old daughter and know its not trash like all the other reality tv ! Plus we have crushes on the King boys haha !
Karen Kornegay
6:50 pm on Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Stumbled across the show by accident. Now I'm hooked. LOVE IT!!!!
Connie Brown
8:50 pm on Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Just found this show the other day and after watching a marathon, loved it! Great family with a wonderful mom and the boys are definitely not bad to look at!!! This is my new TV obsession.
Kimberly
9:21 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
I stated watching the marathon over my boys' Christmas break, now I believe their as hooked as I am. They are 11 and 12 and fight constantly. They couldn't be more different but the the King family displays exceptional brotherly love!! I even heard my sons talking about an endeavor they could do together one day!! Wow! What? Awesome show and delicious looking food!! (And men)
JB
1:25 am on Friday, January 4, 2013
Addicted love love love
maui girl
2:03 pm on Sunday, January 6, 2013
These are what I call "salt of the Earth" people..Happy, healthy, kind, confident, motivated and humble. That's a real homegrown corn fed bunch you've got there Mama bear! This is TV I like to see...let's get REAL reality TV! Inspiring.
Marlane Lord
8:02 am on Monday, January 7, 2013
This show should be promoted better. We just found it surfing channels and we are locals and never heard of it. Good show in the reality line up!!
Rick Cox
1:39 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Iam overwhelmed by this show cause it shows what family means and how they stick together no matter what obstacles lie ahead. The love of the land and teamwork they portray of the farmland and quality of home grown produce and getting it to the markets on time is something to be so proud of. I grew up on a farm and I know what hard work and dedication to the land is. I am proud to say I applaud your show and what it truly means as we need all the farms.
steve mistich
11:07 pm on Thursday, April 11, 2013
Great show can wait to get in my garden the next day after watching nice clean family show
LISA lucero
2:10 pm on Sunday, April 14, 2013
Awesome example of a family's commitment to each other, and family business through support, tenacity, encouragement, smarts and LOVE! Not to mention strong good looking sons!!! Wow! Someone raised them kids right!! Mom is awesome, and leads by example! She must be so proud and thankful for such a beautiful family inside and out!! Love this!!!! Keep it going!!!! so inspirational
carol raget
10:09 pm on Monday, April 15, 2013
CAROL R.
IM FROM TARENTUM PA AND NOW LIVE IN LOS LUNAS NM. FOUND THIS SHOW BY ACCIDENT ON TV AND NOW A REGULAR WATCHER. THE FAMILY IS GREAT. THEY WORK SO HARD. WISH I WAS THERE TO ENJOY THE PRODUCE. MUCH SUCCESS TO THEM.
Jessica
7:25 pm on Friday, April 19, 2013
I love your show so much! It's on too late at night for my kids so they get to watch it the next day on demand. They love everything about farms,animals,tractors and they love you guys! Great family, great workers, thank you for being real ! We are only 20-25 minutes from them and I am excited to go to their markets with my kids & support local farmers! Yay Farm Kings
Pauline Long
8:54 pm on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
love your show grew up in the city I feel like I missed out on nature. Will visit your farm this summer. Fan from Las Vegas NV Pauline Long