A LITTLE ABOUT US

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves. We are the Middaugh's. 

 

I, Jeanne, have grown up being apart of a family business here on these 4 corners of 7 Hwy my whole life. My parents started a seed company in 1978. Myself and my siblings grew up being apart of that. We also were involved in starting a small fruit market back when Hwy 7 was just two lanes. Starting as a strawberry patch (that my brother, Mike, started as an FFA project), every year we added a little more until it became a very busy fruit market and growing our own produce (lots of sweet corn). A couple of the years, we rented the little orchard building and ran our fruit market out of it while Mr. & Mrs. Baxter still took care of the orchard.

My Grandma Fayla and my great Aunt Norma got involved and started making homemade pies and breads, which lead to sandwiches and other specialty items. From there,  our family built a red barn that we used for the fruit market, served lunch,  pies &  breads, jams & jellies and all of the stuff. We started having home-cooked dinner buffets on the weekends and a band playing upstairs. (Which most of the time was my brother-in-law's band that included my sister and Chad & others)   My husband, Chad, was a drummer and played in that band. Funny how God works. I waitressed throughout the year and worked at our market during the summers to raise money for cars and college. Next, one of our seed warehouses was turned into an event center.  All kinds of events were hosted here, along with a music show ran by Chris & Kelly (sister & brother-in-law). All of us kids were going to college or getting established with our own jobs, so those facilities were eventually sold, which became Russell Stover's & Kurweil's Meat Market. 

 

In 1995, that drummer boy got to me. We actually knew each other since the 7th grade, but he didn't catch me until after my freshman year in college...I guess he had to wait so long so he could get my WHOLE heart, because that he did! God had His hand in the whole thing and it was all in His perfect timing. In 1998, we were married...and OUR family story began. 

 

Part of our family then purchased this farm in 2001.  It was formally an old horse stables. The inside of the facility was gutted and gradually turned into a facility to do events again.  In 2004, we started booking several events, weddings, meeting, and even started doing some of those country music shows that my family was, also, apart of.  We even had a pumpkin patch that was fairly simple, but we brought school kids out to our farm and they got to enjoy the story of the farm, while getting to enjoy the pumpkin patch, corn maze, hayride, and other games and activities.  

 

In 2009, I got asked to come back to help with sales in our family seed business due to the loss of one of our main salesman & friend, Ralph Fidler Jr.  So...our events and things we were doing at our farm got put on hold, but God's hand was in all of that, too. 

 

In 2013, the little orchard on the corner mentioned earlier, came back up for sale.  My heart was being pulled very hard back to it and the memories I had growing up.  Our kids were now 9 & 11 and it made us think of the opportunities that we could teach them through this.  Our plates were already full, so there were lots of prayers if this was something we should do. The Lord continued to open up the doors, and half way through the summer of 2014, we purchased the orchard, which is now Upcycled Orchard. WE BOUGHT AN ORCHARD!  What in the world were we doing?!?! But I loved it! We loved it! My dream over the last 7-10 years had been entertaining and educating and connecting people and families with agriculture.  I always loved the pumpkin patch...that was one of my favorite parts. I loved going out to the patch and seeing what crazy thing grew and how amazing it was that it came from that little seed. Our love then turned into fixing up this little shack into a shop that people WANT to stop at. My husband did an AMAZING job of making some of my dreams come true.

 

I know you are probably wondering why I am telling you so much about our orchard, but this all leads back into us starting events again at our farm facility and rebranding it as The Cider House at The Farm. We have started doing Farm to Table Dinners, that are so amazing. We work with professional Chef's and pull together an amazing evening, partnering with local farmers to get the items for the menu, a local artist playing some light music, and a local winery that we pair wines with throughout the dinner.

My husband plays a major role in getting everything ready and being apart of the evening. Our kids help prepare and are apart of serving the dinner, and I get the pleasure of working in the kitchen, serving, talking with all of you...and so much more! We love sharing the goodness of our farm with all of you. It is crazy to see how God can connect all of the pieces of our lives to come around for His greater plan.

 

We are now booking events again when we don't have our own event scheduled.  We have our Farm to Table Dinners, Dinner & Music Nights with a Singer/Songwriter feel with artist that share their story, Cooking Classes, Retreats, Conferences...and much more!  Our shop that was located at Upcycled Orchard has moved over to our farm. Due to kids growing up and things evolving in life...we do not do our daily shop at this time. We do have our shop open during special events and then have special weekends we are open.

 

Our family would love for you to come join us for one of these special events. Thank you for reading our story and we hope to meet you in person some day. We believe God has lots of great things planned for the future and we look forward to sharing those with you.