Family farm is still going strong

Getting up in the morning when the sun begins to shine is one of Blair Porteus' favorite things about farming.

"I've always enjoyed what I did and the farming way of life," he said.

Porteus was born in 1923 on a farm on Otsego Avenue where he and his family still farm and reside. Even as a little kid he enjoyed farm life.

"I used to follow my dad through the fields when he was plowing or planting corn," he recalled. "If I didn't get to the end of the field before he did, I'd sit down and wait for him to come back."

He attended elementary school near his home in the school building that later became the Head Start. He attended Coshocton High School (where Central Elementary is now).

"I'd walked to high school with my one sister but she walked home by herself since she couldn't keep up with me," he said. "It was 2.2 miles to get to high school."

On his father's farm they had a few milk cows, chickens, some pigs and sheep. They farmed 20 acres of corn, which was considered a lot back then.

"I used to drive the horses when I was young, but my father and the hired hand got most of the plowing done while I was in school," said Porteus. "We got a tractor the year I graduated from high school. It was a 1940 model. The tractor, plow and cultivator (all new) cost $1,000. It took about all we had."

After his father got the tractor, they began to rent more ground to farm. Five extra acres was a big area for then.