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Clayton Farms is set to open for the 2025 season tomorrow, April 10th bright and early at 9 a.m.. This is the family business’s 48th year in operation, and even though its story doesn’t start in Caroline County, it has become a local staple.
Clayton Farms is currently owned by Ken Simmons and Sean Rizer, two brothers-turned-business-partners, but it originated with their grandparents, Teresa and John Schatzschneider. “Schatzschneider was the first generation's last name, and it was a mouthful,” explained Simmon’s wife, Eileen. So instead, the couple decided on Clayton Farms after the road in Baltimore County where the Schatzschneiders owned their first farm, Clayton Road, “then they moved over to the Eastern Shore and kept the name Clayton Farms.” She says this has caused some confusion over the years, “a lot of people think our last name is Clayton, but it’s not!”
Regardless of this fact, the family and the business are one and the same. Even though Simmons and Rizer have taken over as the third generation, their father still does a lot on the farm, “He’s a constant help, still there every day, working ground, loading and unloading, basically whatever needs to be done,” said Rizer. Simmons’ daughters Kennedy, Adelaide, and Quincy, and Rizer’s daughters Morgan and Reagan also help run the farm. And while the fifth generation is still a bit young to be throwing around sacks of potatoes, Simmons says she hopes to “just keep it going.”
“Spending my life on the family farm, working alongside so many friends over the years, and being able to raise my kids there too, is a rarity in today’s world,” said Rizer, “the memories it has given all of us are irreplaceable.”
This season, Clayton Farms will still have its fan favorites: local asparagus, tomatoes, Florida sweet corn, NC strawberries, houseplants, herbs, hand-dipped ice cream, and more. But Simmons is especially excited for the Spring debut of the newly built greenhouses. “The biggest challenge is mother nature,” she said, “we had to work with tents last year, and with all the rain that we had, it was atrocious.” She said she’s been hard at work filling both greenhouses with plants as well as gardening needs like birdfeeders, pots, soils, and tools.
Another recent addition to the business has been their annual Christmas Shop. “For the first 40 years, my in-laws were only open till October 31st, and then when Sean and Kenny took over, we took it to Thanksgiving.” But she said a chance buying trip in Atlanta sparked the idea for a Christmas Shop, “I just said, why don't we stay open till Christmas? So when I asked Kenny he said, ‘Yes, but I mean, I'm telling you, that's it. I need my time to work on tractors. We need to rest before the busy season starts again.’ And I said, Okay, I promise. So we'll never be all year. We will always be open from early April to Christmas.”
While Clayton Farms has certainly expanded over the years to include these new attractions, as well as local crab trucks, food trucks, and vendors, they haven’t lost sight of their purpose. Simmons stressed the importance of working with other farmers to bring fresh produce to the people of the Shore. While she tries to “bring in stuff from all over, especially stuff from our local farmers that we don't carry, like the local garlic and local mushrooms,” she says that if Clayton Farms doesn’t have it, “I will send them to another stand or another farmer’s market, because we’re all in this together.” (But trust me, it’s hard to find something Clayton Farms doesn’t have.)
Rizer, who mainly sticks to the agricultural side of the business, admits “it’s a lot of hours in the late winter, early spring in the greenhouses getting started for the season. Working ground, laying plastic, spraying, planting, all before we start harvesting vegetables for the stand, wholesale, and Foodbank purchases. The process continues again through summer and fall with different crops,” but he says that it’s all he’s ever known, and he’s proud that Clayton Farms continues to create “such an amazing community that continues my grandparents’ legacy.”
“I love the store, I love the people, I love the community. You know, the customers, they’ve all just become our friends and family,” Simmons said.
So if you’ve been waiting all winter for a sign that summer nights and sweet corn – “the sweetest on the shore” – are just around the corner, look no further! Clayton Farms will be open starting April 10th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. And you can rest assured that the Clayton Farms family has missed you as much as you have missed them.
