Carriage Hill Farm has both a kitchen garden and a truck patch in their 19th century locations. While most food used for family consumption was grown in the kitchen garden, pole beans, quantities of pumpkins and other vegetables that require a lot of space were typically grown in the truck patch.

The term “truck patch” or market garden usually refers to a larger plot used to grow heavier produce to take to market. Farms that were located near a larger city or town would often rely on growing various items to sell to bring in extra income. Crops like pumpkins, potatoes, turnips, beans and melons were all grown in these large plots. In some cases, a farmer could produce his yearly income off of selling just heavy vegetables and crops. In the case of the Arnold family, they discuss in their diaries that they produced “two wagon loads of turnips to take to market”. This gives a better idea of the quantities that would be produced through market gardening. The term “truck” was used in several different ways during the 1880s. It could refer to heavy produce that would be taken to market to sell. It could also refer to a heavy wagon used to haul produce with. Lastly, it could be used as a verb in describing how something was hauled to town. Thus, the produce was “trucked” to town.