Purple Cat farm adds peacocks and beehives

By SARAH LEHR

slehr@vindy.com

COITSVILLE

The Purple Cat farm is abuzz and a-flutter with some new additions.

Farmer Casey’s Ranch, 4738 McCartney Road, has added a peacock aviary and an apiary. An apiary is a collection of beehives.

The Purple Cat offers alternative programs for adults with disabilities. The for-profit organization has facilities throughout Mahoning County, where clients gain skills in areas including music, crafts, lawn maintenance, food service and office work. Proceeds go to paychecks for Purple Cat clients, according to the organization’s website.

“I love that the community supports us, and I’m proud of what we contribute,” said Jimmy Sutman, Purple Cat founder. “Everyone wants a paycheck, of course, and more importantly, I think we provide esteem.”

The 52-acre farm, located at the site of a former car dealership, has a vegetable garden and animals, including alpacas, ducks and chickens. An open house Thursday showed off the bees and peacocks, which joined the farm this year.

Melissa Black, a Purple Cat client, works as a beekeeper. Black enjoys the experience, though she acknowledged the beekeeping suit can be sweltering.

She said she used to fear bees before working on the farm, but she wasn’t even fazed when a bee landed on her knee the other day.

“I tried to talk to it, but it didn’t answer,” she joked.

The farm keeps about 300,000 bees at a time, as one bee makes less than a gram of honey in its lifetime. Bees also produce wax for candles and beauty products. Plus, they pollinate fruits and vegetables, such as the ones grown at the Purple Cat farm.

The bee apiary is made possible by support from the Youngstown Foundation, CASTLO and the Simon Foundation.

The 2017 Leadership of the Mahoning Valley class built the peacock aviary.

The farm has two male peacocks, which have feathers in brilliant jewel tones, and two female peacocks, which are mostly brown in color.

One peacock couple has been dubbed “Millie and Louie.” The other couple is nicknamed “Gene Rayburn and Betty White” after the celebrity game show hosts.