Newtown’s Quaint Farm Stands Are Helping Keep Local Farms In Business

By Tanjua Damon

The dirt roads are mostly gone as are the days when farmers filled their wagons with produce to sell in Bridgeport because all the local people had gardens of their own. But now Newtowners are heading to local farms for fresh garden produce for the dinner table or for the perfect pumpkin for the front steps.

Small family farms everywhere operate on the narrow margins of profitability, and many independent farmers are finding that farm stands – as quaint and old-fashioned as they may be – are increasingly important to their bottom line.

Newtown has an assortment of farm stands where farmers offer produce, pumpkins, bails of hay, corn stalks, hay rides, and even a corn mazes for the adventuresome.

Shortt’s Farm & Garden Center is located on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook. Jim Shortt and Sue Killing own and operate the business where people can purchase produce, organic foods, landscaping materials, pumpkins, and enjoy a hay ride. The couple will also be offering gift baskets with themes during the winter. 

“Typically fall gets slower on the farm, pretty much the vegetable season is done,” Mr Shortt said. “You try to increase business with other things that you do. It’s important for the community to patronize your local farmers.”

This is the first year Mr Shortt has offered hay rides to the public. Rides are offered Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. Call 426-9283 for more information.

 “The best time for any farmer is in the summer. When the snow starts flying, when the holidays are over there’s not much there,” Mr Shortt said. “You have to have stuff to draw people in. You have to have something extra nowadays.”

Cherry Grove Farm, a 144-acre farm on the corner of Platts Hill Road and Palestine, is owned by Eleanor Mayer. The Mayer family has been in Newtown for more than 100 years and has raised just about very kind of vegetable you can think of.

“We raise produce, probably the most in Newtown,” Ms Mayer said. “Years ago you couldn’t sell produce because everyone had a garden. But now there is a market for it. Nowadays everything is sold right from the yard.”

Many farmers have to have another source of income these days in order to pay the bills. Farming has changed and running the farm is rarely the sole income source.

“It’s a little mercantile income, but it’s very labor intensive,” Ms Mayer said. “It costs more to raise it than you can get for it. People seem to like it. I appreciate that they appreciate it.”

At Cherry Grove Farm, seven and a half acres of pumpkins were planted this year and ten acres of produce provided numerous vegetable choices for patrons who stop by the farm stand. Now Ms Mayer is offering a variety of pumpkins.

Many customers are regulars. Gloria Bethune has stopped at the Mayer farm stand for years. The quality of produce she finds cannot be found in too many places.

“The fresh natural produce. They are the best. We’ve been buying here for a number of years,” Mrs Bethune said. “The pumpkins are always gorgeous in the fall. It’s a wonderful community resource.”

A Community Effort

Farms are definitely a community resource that many look at as a unique asset. Newtown has two dairy farms – Castle Hill Farm and Ferris Acres Dairy Farm. Both offer a bit of seasonal fun with selling pumpkins, bails of hay, and corn stocks.

The 104-acre Castle Hill Farm on Sugar Lane, owned by the Paproski family, uses the fall to help bring in extra income to make ends meet throughout the year. The family creates a corn maze, offers hay rides and pony rides, and produces a bountiful pumpkin patch each year for the community to enjoy. The Paproski farm stand is open Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. Call 426-5487 for more information.

“The corn maze and the pumpkins, this used to be a hobby. Rainy day money. This isn’t the case anymore,” Diana Paproski said. “This is honestly it. This and our Christmas trees. This is what we’re going to live on. It’s actually costing us to produce milk right now.”

Steve Paproski had a cerebral hemorrhage over the Labor Day weekend and has not been able to take on as much this fall. But the Paproski neighbors love to see the farm, and they have decided to volunteer to keep things going. The family has been deeply moved by their generosity.

“Our neighbors want to keep this farm going,” Mrs Paproski said. “If the people didn’t come out and buy like this, we wouldn’t be here. This is overwhelming. I know they don’t just come because it’s entertaining. They come to support us. It’s really sweet that they do that.”

The Paproskis also rely on two part-time helpers – Wendel Hovey and Will Tucker – who come each day to help milk the cows. The cows have to be milked twice a day, fed, and moved to pasture and back. All this takes time and skill.

The Northeast Dairy Compact legislation, designed to help the region’s dairy farmers, is not going as smoothly as hoped. Milk prices are set in Wisconsin. Dairy farmers across the country make the same amount of money for their milk no matter what the cost of living is in a particular area. The Compact provides a supplement to those where living is expensive. California and Wisconsin are the two leading dairy farming states.

Diversification

The Ferris Family Farm has about 120 cows, 60 of which are milked. Charles Ferris, III, owns the farm, but his sons Charles, IV, and Brendan both work full-time. The rest of the children – Ginny Sue, Colleen, and Aaron – also lend a hand to the farm along with their spouses. The 80-acre farm is located on Sugar Street.

The family uses the fall to diversify income for the farm by selling homemade crafts, pumpkins, bails of hay, and corn stalks in front of their house. The family runs the farm stand on the weekends.

Shirley Ferris, wife of Charles, III, and Terry Ferris, wife of Charles, IV, are responsible for the homemade crafts that draw repeat customers year after year. As commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture, Shirley Ferris is an expert on the need to promote agriculture on many consumer levels. She is particularly fond of the consumers who show up on their front lawn.

“I’d like to think that they are not doing it to just support us, but to get a product they can use,” Shirley said. “Agriculture is a business and this is part of the business. It’s fun to see them come back year after year.”

Nancy Farrell has been stopping by to purchase things at the Ferris farm for years. Terry Ferris said she sees a lot of familiar faces driving up to the farm stand. She even remembered Nancy Farrell’s dog from previous years.

“She’s a friendly lady,” Ms Farrell said. “She makes nice things. I come here every year.”

Charlie Ferris explained that the farm stand is something his family likes to do. It also provides income and an opportunity for people to visit the farm, he said.

“It does help or we wouldn’t do it. It might give people a chance to drive by a little slower,” he said with a smile. “It kills three or four birds with one stone. It allows us a chance to diversify without getting away from the main product.”