Maggie Oldfield grew up on a country lane, amid horse barns, acres of woods, and open fields. “We had all kinds of pets growing up. We had horses, sheep; we had bulls and pigs and goats,’’ Oldfield said. But she’s not talking about Middle America, or even Western Massachusetts; this was all just a few miles from Boston, in a corner of Milton tucked into the Blue Hills Reservation.

Oldfield’s father, who grew up in Milton, always wanted to be a farmer and to work for himself. He founded Thayer Nursery in 1965 and “literally grew the business in our backyard,’’ she said. “The customers were sometimes our playmates.’’

Oldfield and her brother, Josh, now manage the nursery and its landscaping business, and their other siblings live in Milton, too. It makes her happy to see her children forming friendships with some of the same families she grew up with.

“People want to return and raise their families in Milton,’’ she said, and not just because it’s so close to Boston, the schools are great, and the Blue Hills are in your backyard.

“There’s just this feeling of support from longtime and, some of them, lifelong residents, and it’s just a nice feeling growing up here,’’ Oldfield said. “We all seem to look out for each other and for each other’s kids.’’

Jon Gorey is a freelance writer in Quincy. Send comments to jongorey@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jongorey.