Mum's the Word

Come fall at 3 Porch Farm in Comer, Georgia, the heirloom chrysanthemums sing

- CAMERON BEALL

IT WAS ON A ROAD TRIP from Georgia to California nearly 20 years ago when Mandy Rovolis and Steve O’Shea fell in love and started dreaming up 3 Porch Farm. “We were already kind of friends, but by day two, I knew: ‘We’re going to be together forever,’” recalls Mandy. In 2011, the O’Sheas spotted a 9-acre plot of land in Comer, Georgia, on Craigslist, bringing them from the West Coast back to Mandy’s home state.

Although Steve is a California native, he’d been enamored with the area since first visiting there in 2003. “The idea of a porch just embodied all the romantic beauty of the South to me,” he says of the inspiration behind the farm’s name. “And when we found this place and discovered that the home on the property had not only one porch but three, we felt porch rich.”