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Morden's Organic Farm Store Our History History, old fashioned values, a passion for healthy, tasty foods and a strong desire to keep supporting local farmers, defines our business located in the heart of farm country near Dundas, Hamilton, Brantford, Ancaster, Waterdown, Mississauga....We are pleased to be able to offer affordable drug and chemical free meats, wild caught fish, organic eggs, butter and cheeses, organic produce and dry goods in a child friendly setting where kids can safely play inside and out and parents can shop in a relaxed atmosphere as in days gone by. But more on the history of 7 generations of the Mordens at 801 Collinson Road in Dundas! Sandy Morden's ancestors starting with Jonathan Morden settled this very location back in 1801. He was about 38 when he came from Knowlton County, N.J. in the summer of 1801 with his young family.
James J. one of Jonathan's children, known as Big Jim, lived to almost 90. He ran a saw and grist mill on the property, married a local girl and sired 9 children. Jacob, his second boy built the big stone house, still the Morden residence today, and trimmed it with wood from trees felled on the property. Jacob married Euphemia, a Scottish lass with whom he is buried in the churchyard at Bullock's Corners in Greensville. They had 4 children, the third was John Fraser born in 1869. John Fraser and his wife, Catharine, had two children, Jacob Osborne, known as Oz and Fraser McDonald. Fraser, the oldest son gave up the farm to Oz who had a family. Fraser got himself a little house down Old Brock Road and went to work at Silverwood's Dairy. Oz, known for raising some of the best beef cattle around, dug in and planted enough acres of Weatherston and Roxbury spuds to earn himself the title "Potato King".
Oz and Victoria raised their children Don and Jean in the big stone house and when Don married Diane (Sandy's parents), Oz bought them a little farm in Greensville where they raised dairy cattle and poultry and grew mixed grains. And this is where Sandy's story starts to take shape. When she was 5, Don's farm was expropriated for conservation land expansion so he moved his family up north to a farm in Moorefield. Victoria died the following year and Oz farmed as long as he could but left his farm in the early 1990's and moved in with Don up north, passing away 3 years later.
By then Sandy was working for a Harriston based organic food company called Nutri Spring Farms Ltd., Sandy bought into the company and is now sole owner. As her primary market was Toronto, she began looking for something more central and the old Morden homestead, though in rough shape, seemed like the perfect solution. She bought the farm in 1997 and set about clearing the heavily overgrown land and refurbishing the crumbling farm buildings. The shop is located in one of the original barns and today it serves as a wonderful reminder of the old farming days in Ontario, which are disappearing at an alarming rate! The Morden Farm ca. 1950
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