Twin Oak History
The Twin Oak farm property has been in the Cowen Family for seven generations, starting in 1831, when Joseph Cowen, an immigrant, from Ireland, acquired the property. His son, William, and grandson, Philpot, continued to run the farm while also providing the community with legal advice as attorneys.
Philpot needed crutches to walk due to his club feet, but ran the farm with an iron fist. Legend has it that he moved a corn crib built between his house and the main road, now Ohio 95, so he could get a better view of the farm from his front porch, to make sure his ten kids weren’t goofing off.
One of his sons, Joseph, took the farm over and was one of the original board members of the newly formed Ashland Soil and Water Conservation District in 1944. This is when the Cowen family made conservation practices a priority on the farm.
Joseph’s son, Barry Cowen (Grandpa) followed the tradition of the family farm by raising cattle, being an expert butcher, and woodsman. Conservation continued to be a priority as Barry followed in his father’s footsteps and also became a board member of the Ashland County Soil & Water Conservation District.
In 1992 Barry passed away leaving the main homestead to his daughter Cammie and her family. Fred and son Jason, have continued working the farm over the years.
In 2008 The 1831 Cowen farm was given the Twin Oak Farm name. When looking south out the main lane two twin oak trees could always be seen standing apart from the wooded area up on the hill.
Grandpa loved to walk out the lane and sit under the twin oaks where he could see his home, his barns, and all that he had worked so hard on all his life.
As a tribute to grandpa we chose the name Twin Oak Farm.
Show Cattle
The farm has always maintained a herd of cattle. Barry originally preferred the polled shorthorn cows and crossbred them.
Today we maintain a 70 cow herd of primarily Polled Shorthorns. We have improved the pedigree of the herd dramatically since 2008 and have shown our stock in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and the North American International Livestock Exhibition in Louisville, Ky.
Currently Jason Workman, seventh generation, who started farming with his grandad shortly after he learned to walk oversees the entire Twin Oak Farms operation…
…with help from his parents and sister.
Conservation Efforts
Taking great care of the land has been a priority to our family for many years. Today we are proud that we no-till all of our crop acreage and have established rotational pastures, to prevent overgrazing. In addition, we have also worked to fence off all our creeks preventing nitrate pollution and the erosion of stream beds.
We utilize contour strips for all of our planting needs which decreases topsoil erosion. According to ACSWCD reports Joseph Cowen was the first farmer in Ashland County to use contour farming techniques in the late 1930’s with help from Civilian Conservation Corp workers. Then the strips were about 80 feet wide, but now they have grown to 200 feet
Due to the consistent awareness of caring for our land the farm has been awarded the Ashland County Soil and Water Conservation District Outstanding Cooperator three times (1967, 1980, & 2016).
