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Bob’s Barn came from a humble family farm that began in 1915 by Charlie and Ada Patterson. In 1965, their daughter Inez and her husband Robert Benson set up “Bob’s Barn,” a fruit stand to sell their farm’s produce to the local community.

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While Bob was out working the fields, Inez would tend the fruit stand to sell produce they raised together. They also had many customers from the neighboring states of Indiana and Illinois that came year after year for peaches and apples. Inez sent cards and notes to her customers, keeping them updated on all the happenings of the farm!

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When Bob and Inez both passed away in 1996, the farm went to their daughter Lyn and her husband Ken Craig. Ken and Lyn reopened Bob's Barn with a lean-to on the end of the old barn in 1998, and eventually expanded into a new barn in 2004.

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After nearly twenty years, Ken and Lyn passed the centennial farm along to their daughter Ashleigh and her husband Don Heidelberg and then from Ashleigh and Don to us, Heather and Michael.

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Heather’s dream was to always own a small farm and Michael loved spending his summers as a child on the farm…

 

“…The story behind our adventure is a serendipitous one. Michael surprised me with a beautiful puppy, Mykah our second fur baby (and Jordan the first). After Mykah we realized we outgrew our city home – two dogs and our daughters in a loft wasn’t the greatest idea. Every evening I would look for a quite-modest home to take our family to for the weekends. Fast forward, I came across 4830 Coloma (Bob’s Barn) and instantly fell in love with the farm and possibility of maintaining the legacy and tradition of ‘family’ and 'community’ that Bob’s Barn has brought to Coloma and its visitors for a century.”

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“…I’ve always been someone that you could say has a hard time staying in one place for too long. Looking for that next adventure and wandering wherever the road takes me. Heather once told me, “'You know I much prefer when both of your feet are planted on the ground'". I’ve always looked at things in seasons. Then Heather came into my life, she said one thing and I said another and the next thing I knew, I wanted to spend the rest of my life in the middle of that conversation. Much like the harvests in these parts, our time together in the sun has been a thing of absolute beauty. We woke up one day in the gorgeous shimmering insanity of that Second City we call home and realized we wanted something different, an escape from the norm and a new adventure. A rustic hilly country retreat where we could get ourselves away from the madness of the day-to-day. With both feet planted and at each other’s side, Heather and I took the chance on the beautiful Bob’s Barn and hosting the community around us to the delicious produce and bakery that has been here for a century. We look forward to continuing the generational traditions that Charlie & Ada, Inez & Robert (Bob), Lyn & Ken, and Ash & Don have brought to Bob’s Barn.”

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 - Heather & Michael