Her interest in natural history became evident at an early age and she used to ramble near her home, studying the animals, flowers and plants she saw there.

[4] At first she was unable to find suitable employment as an entomologist and spent two years teaching English at a high school, but she got her chance when Dr. Charles D. Woods offered her an unpaid post.

[2][5] Patch was always concerned with the practical applications of entomology and wrote bulletins about the pests of agricultural and horticultural crops of Maine and forest trees.

Her specialism was the aphid family with their complex life histories, their capacity to transmit viruses and their alternating host plants.

An additional publishing, Little Gateways to Science, told the story of 12 birds and the unpropitious effects human activity can have on the natural world.

[9] In 1913, Patch purchased an old farmhouse with fifty acres of land at Old Town, Maine and lived there for the rest of her life.

Built in the 1840s, "Braeside" is a derivative of the Scottish word brae meaning bank, which refers to its location alongside the Stillwater River.

The property consists of 50 acres of wild garden, home to bustling societies of insects where Patch spent most of her free time studying and writing about the natural world.

By the 1990s it was deemed to be in violation of various codes of safety and was destined for demolition, and an arrangement was made to allow it to be burned down as a training exercise for firefighters.

[10] In 1997, a few days before it was due to go up in flames, activists managed to get it added to Maine's list of most endangered properties and it was saved for posterity.