More than 40 years ago, John and Lynn Holbrook purchased 12 acres of land in Bethel, Connecticut to open their very own family farm. With a mere 2 acres available for farming, the Holbrooks were tasked with maximizing space while remaining environmentally friendly. The rest is history.
While the Holbrooks still own the spectacular farmland, as of this past March, four new faces have joined the farming family. Jeff Taibe, Stephanie Sweeney, and Sean and Erin Reilly decided to tackle the business side of things when the previous tenant opted not to renew her lease. With Taibe and Sweeney owning their restaurant, Taproot, and the Reilly’s owning the Redding Roadhouse, the four decided to merge the Bethel and Redding communities with Holbrook Farm as their link.
FreshDirect, the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, announced that it will be extending its service further into Connecticut, and will now be delivering to Fairfield, Norwalk, Southport, and Westport, in addition to Greenwich and Stamford, starting Tuesday March 26th. Why is this exciting? For those not familiar with FreshDirect, they pioneered the short supply chain, so you can experience fresh food at its finest. Place an order online before 9pm, and you can have ALL of your groceries delivered to your house the following day. From responsibly sourced seafood to organic produce, their food comes to their campus straight from the source and is delivered to your door at peak freshness in just a few days. That's less handling by middlemen—and it puts more money in the bank for local farmers, skilled artisans, and responsible fishermen.
Fairfield & Greenwich Cheese Company have introduced a subscription cheese box service that curates small batch, artisan and traditional cheeses and delivers them, freshly cut, to the doorsteps of food lovers across the nation.
Cheesemonger Box will curate a selection of small batch and traditional American and European cheeses for monthly home delivery, launched this winter as the first cheese subscription service of its kind.
Founders Laura Downey and Chris Palumbo, co-founders and owners of Connecticut cheese shops Fairfield & Greenwich Cheese Company, are launching the service with the goal of “spreading the cheese love across the country” and empowering customers to “become the expert” on artisan cheese.
Family owned and operated Stew Leonard’s today announced Stew’s Fresh Delivery Powered by Instacart, the technology-driven, nationwide on-demand grocery delivery service. Starting Wednesday, November 1, 2017, same-day grocery delivery service will be available to 365,000 households within a 20-30 minute drive of Stew Leonard’s farm fresh food stores in Norwalk, Danbury, and Newington, Conn. as well as in Yonkers, Farmingdale, and East Meadow, N.Y.
Customers who sign up for Stew’s Fresh Delivery by February 1, 2018 using code stewsexpress will have free delivery on orders over $35 for up to a year.
It's that time of year, and Sundays in downtown Fairfield are about to become even more fun. The Fairfield Farmers Market returns for its second season starting Sunday, June 11. The market will be every Sunday 10-2, rain or shine, until Oct 1st on the historic Sherman Green in downtown Fairfield. Over 20 farms and food producers will have everything you need for beach picnics, Sunday dinner, even your weekly shopping. [View complete vendor list below]
Farmers’ markets in Fairfield County, CT will begin opening in May and early June and we will update the listings below (from 2016) with 2017 information as it becomes available. Here are the markets updated so far via our friends at Fairfield Green Food Guide.
New Canaan opened April 22
Shelton opens May 6
Norwalk Rainbow Plaza opens May 17
Westport opens May 18
Greenwich @ Arch & Horseneck Streets opens on May 20
Fairfield’s downtown market that launched last year opens June 11
The UberEATS app launched in Connecticut this past summer and it hasn’t taken us very long to get totally addicted to the on-demand food delivery platform. Ideal for next-level work lunches when it’s too hectic to leave the office, or dinner when the fridge is empty and you just can’t bring yourself to cook, UberEATS delivers from top restaurants across Fairfield, New Haven, and, as of last week, Hartford Counties. Here are some of our top picks across CT for great bites, delivered.
Tired of cooking? Looking for something less expensive than take-out from a restaurant? Then a new venture on Vitti Street in New Canaan, GOOD2GOURMET, may be an alternative. The brainchild of local resident and mother of four, Lisa Strupp, GOOD2GOURMET offers a variety of soups, salads, and entrées for families to enjoy. Teaming with business partner Kevin Schmudde, the two enlisted the culinary skills of Executive Chef Eric Ulbrich to create a menu that includes soups, salads, pastas, and entrées. Customers go to the website (they do not take telephone orders), place their order, choose a 1-hour delivery window (curbside pick-up at the store is also available) and the food will be on the front stoop as requested. Alternatively, customers can visit and purchase a selection of items at the store.
Fresh Nation, the online marketplace for farmers markets, and Westport Farmers’ Market announced they have formed a strategic partnership to provide online shopping and home delivery. Fresh Nation will operate an online storefront for the Market, providing local consumers with the ability to place an online order from many of their favorite Market vendors and receive same day home delivery from a Fresh Nation personal shopper.
Fresh Nation delivers fresh food direct from farmers markets to consumers, by bringing local farmers markets together into a convenient online shopping destination, enabling farmers and food makers at the markets to reach new customers who do not normally make it to the market. The company employs trained food shoppers to go the markets and personally fill customers’ online orders. After receiving orders from Fairfield County residents for Thursday delivery, Fresh Nation fills these orders at the Westport Farmers’ Market and drives them directly to customers’ homes.
“We are committed to bringing the freshest and best foods from the Westport Farmers’ Market to all members of our community,” said Lori Cochran
The Farmer’s Cow announces its 2014 Farm Tour schedule and invites visitors to come out to the country and meet the farmer’s that bring you real local Connecticut milk and dairy products.
Locally sourced food is one of the hottest trends in the 2014 culinary forecast according to a recent survey by the National Restaurant Association. But what is local? The Farmer’s Cow milk comes from the contented cows of six real local Connecticut family-owned dairy farms, not from six other states. “Real local” means our farm fresh products get to you faster and that means greater nutritional value and a smaller carbon footprint.
“If you can visit the farm, then you know it’s real local,” said Robin Chesmer, Managing Member of The Farmer’s Cow.
"We invite families to see first-hand what life is like on a working dairy farm and learn about how we are working to save Connecticut farmland and sustain farming as a way of life.”
The 2014 Farm Tour schedule includes events in every season – winter, spring, summer and fall. Each tour is unique and celebrates a different aspect of what it means to be “real local.” Visitors can meet the cows and calves, learn about dairy farming and sample The Farmer’s Cow milk, ice cream and beverages. Hosted by The Farmer’s Cow farm families, all events are free and fun for all ages.
In case of inclement weather, please check The Farmer’s Cow Event and Facebook pages for updates.
All events are free and no reservations are required.
Wakeman is offering not one - but TWO - CSAs to provide you with fresh-picked produce all season long.
One is from Sport Hill Farm in Easton, the other is from Stone Gardens Farm in Ridgefield. Both are for pickup at Wakeman Town Farm
Choose your day!
Organic Sport Hill Farm CSA is accepting applications through 3/31. Order now and receive weekly produce delivery every Friday at Wakeman Town Farm! To order, click here:
A Note from Organic Farmer Patti Popp, of Sport Hill Farm in Easton:
We have extended the 2014 CSA deadline until 3/31/14 for pick up at Wakeman Town Farm Sustainability Center on Friday afternoons 1-7 or at Black Rock Farmers Market Saturdays 9-1. Our CSA program runs twenty weeks. Usually begins the first week of June through mid-October. We are mainly a vegetable production farm, we grow watermelon and cantaloupes. Cooking is a must. Please e-mail me for an application if this seems like a good fit for you and your family.Farmgal596@gmail.com
There is nothing better than being able to select a gourmet recipe and have all the needed fresh ingredients arrive and ready to cook with just a few clicks.
Plated.com makes meal making fun, easy, and a delicious experience. It is a mash-up of an online grocery store and a private cooking lesson. Easy to follow recipes, with pictures are provided. This is a great activity for two or the entire family, helping to reconnect people while sharing great food. The average time to prepare one of the meals is 30-40 minutes.
“Each week, 7 chef-designed recipes are featured on the menu. The dishes include 4 healthy meat & fish options and 3 unique vegetarian dishes.” The produce is fresher than what is typically found at the grocery store and can be enjoyed all week long.
Costs are simple to understand, they are per plate. Trial offers are currently running so check it out and go cook something extraordinary!
Chef Arik Bensimon of le Farm embraces the summer growing season with this simple recipe inspired by a recent trip to the local farmers' market. Thinly shaved vegetables with varying weights and texture are drizzled with a light take on a classic Caesar dressing. (You'll want to save this recipe for use year round.) Chef Bensimon has left off the quantities on the main ingredients as there are no wrong answers here, and he recommends any raw vegetable that is to your liking as the summer harvest rotates through. Enjoy this wonderful Summer Market Salad Recipe from le Farm.
The Westport Farmers' Market will be opening for the season in just one week, beginning on Thursday, May 23rd. This weekly summer market runs every Thursday, from 10 am to 2 pm at Imperial Avenue Commuter Lot in Westport.
If you haven't yet made it to this Market, you'll want to mark your calendar. This all-organic market will be announcing the final vendors next week and will be selecting a rotating group of featured artists, vendors, guest chefs and non-profits to join the Market each week.
So who's at The Westport Farmers' Market this year??... (this is the fun part) See below for a complete list of vendors:
Shares in Sport Hill Farm's Organic Summer CSA Now Available ORGANIC SUMMER CSA are Now Available at Wakeman Town Farm!
Interested in getting farm fresh produce while supporting our local farming community?
This is your chance to share in the local harvest from the verdant Easton fields of our favorite farm gal, Patti Popp. Many of you know already know and love Patti and her delicious, local organic produce from her stall at the Westport Farmers' Market. This is your chance to become a member in her organic, summer CSA program without having to drive up to Easton to retrieve your weekly goodies! Pick up your fresh-picked produce every Friday at Westport's Wakeman Town Farm. Register to Reserve Your Share! Deadline to register is March 31.
Zinc has been a fixture on the New Haven green since 1999, well before farm-to-table restaurants became the sought-after reservation. Even then, Chef Denise Appel was designing plates that changed with the season, and "continued to do so even when people in town wondered if she'd ever make her mind up on a menu," laughs co-owner Donna Curran, who has worked alongside Chef Appel for more than two decades.
Named for the traditional zinc bars in European bistros, Zinc has successfully become a well-known neighborhood gathering place over the past dozen years. Warm and welcoming for its minimalist design, the restaurant is long and narrow, as expected in an urban setting. Yet with a profound cherry bar, generous seating and plenty of quiet nooks, you know you’ll gladly stay a while.
Mike Geller likes that he can tell his customers stories about how the food he delivers is grown and about the farmers who grow it. Conversely, he states, “There are no stories to tell with big agricultural suppliers. No one wants to know about thousands of chickens crowded in a small space with no room to move and no access to the outdoors.”
Mike started Mike’s Organic Delivery in June 2010 with a mission to reconnect people in Fairfield and Westchester Counties to where, how, and when their food is grown. After careful research, he selected 12 farms from the Hudson River Valley, Westchester County and Western Connecticut to become the suppliers for his nascent farm to home delivery service. The farms all use practices many of us look for when supermarket label gazing: organic, sustainable, free range, pesticide-free, no added hormones, no steroids, and no antibiotics. While we may find some of these methods on supermarket labels, Mike guarantees that his produce is picked no more than 36 and usually less than 24 hours before it reaches your door. That is not likely the case with the produce we cart home from the grocery store.
The 7th season of Dinners at the Farm has just been announced...just in time for holiday shopping. Every summer Dinners at the Farm brings their celebrated benefit dinner series to local Connecticut farms by hosting amazing multi-course feasts of just from the earth food, cooked fresh that day. They'll be dicing, chopping, sautéing and plating delicious locally grown food in the fields of host farms including Barberry HIll Farm, Scott's Farm & Greenhouses and White Gate Farm for 12 glorious summer nights in 2013.
And, as with every year, these dinners are benefits. Dinners at the Farm will be donating $20,000 towards the critical work of our beneficiaries CitySeed, CT Farm Land Trust, Working Lands Alliance,Region 4 Schools and NEW this year, The New Connecticut Farmer Alliance, a group of emerging farmers working to grow and sustain new farms in Connecticut ensuring a viable agricultural future. Visit their schedules and tickets page for more details and to purchase tickets.
Winter is drawing near, and many of us will eat the last of our local, farm-fresh veggies alongside our Thanksgiving turkey. Luckily, with Winter Sun Farms & Wakeman Town Farm in Westport, you get to keep eating Hudson Valley vegetables and berries all winter. You don't want to miss your first pickup. If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time! (Here is more info on CSA's and how they work.)
The season kicks off in December, when your share is projected to include: Sweet Corn, Butternut Squash Puree, Green Beans, Peppers, Tomato, Blueberries and Pea Shoots. New this year, our tomato puree comes in a shelf-stable jar. Sign up at www.wintersunfarms.com and check Westport, CT as your pickup point.
WinterSunFarms Winter CSA Pickup at Wakeman Town Farm
White Gate Farm in East Lyme, CT, a favorite eastern Connecticut farm stand and Dinners on the Farm venue, is unveiling their new commercial "Farm Kitchen" and a series of cooking classes featuring talented Connecticut chefs.
The series will officially kick off this Friday at White Gate Farm for what they are calling a "Grand Unveiling" on August 24 at 7 pm ($10 per person). The evening will feature a preview of the hands-on kitchen and farm-fresh hors d'oeuvres, wine and chef's presentations. They will also unveil the full season of classes, dates and participating chefs this evening.
