History

It all began in 1876 when Milo Porter, a civil war veteran Homesteaded 160 acres with his wife Lucy and family and received the Land Patent on November14, 1881. Milo started a big orchard of Butternut and Walnut trees, maple syrup, honey were made along with ginseng harvested in the woods and even had a lime quarry. The land was actively farmed until sold out of the family on May 29, 1944.

The current Porter farm, which is adjacent to the original Porter Homestead was purchased March 13, 1913 by Milo's son Fred and his wife Nellie Porter. Cliff and Ede Porter purchased the farm July 30, 1923. Roger and Jeanette(Jeep) Porter purchased on May 8, 1948. Allen and Judy Porter purchased sections of the land in 1996, 2000, and 2003. Troy Porter purchased the remaining 80 acres and original farm buildings and farm house on October 6, 2006. The barn was built in 1910 and dairy, pigs, chickens, horses and beef have been raised. The land has been planted in wheat, soybeans, oats, alfalfa, corn and sugar beets.

We are an active working farm with 75 tillable acres and 85 acres of wetlands and woods. Strawberries were first planted commercially in 1986 and have added raspberries, blueberries, asparagus, pumpkins and other vegetables. We currently use rotating commodity cropping to help decrease weed and disease pressure.

We have been fortunate to have many family members and friends come down to the farm to help us over the years. We want to share the experience of being on a small family farm with yours. Start your own family tradition right here at the Patch. Looking forward to sharing our harvest with you every spring, summer and fall.