by Angela Olsen

One thing on my “bucket list” I was determined to get to this summer, was to finally check out the Denison Farm Market in Mystic.  My neighbor always comes home with her bounty and I salivate over the rich and luxurious veggies she claimed from vendors who work handin-hand with Mother Nature to bring pure, unadulterated products to market at their prime.  No chemicals, no insecticides, just pure goodness.

On the spot, on a sweltering Sunday at 12 noon, was Archie Chester, Groton, Treasurer of the Denison Society, who gave me a brief history of the Society and its progression.  Captain George Denison received between 170 and 180 acres of land in 1654 for his service to the early Pequot Militia.  This land is still owned by the Denison Family.

The Denison Homestead was built in 1717 and is home to the Denison Museum, which is open to the public, as well as, home to the Society’s offices.  The Denison Society, founded by Ann Borodell Denison Gates in 1930, created a Nature Center after the Mystic Garden Club made the suggestion to their Board of Trustees in the mid ‘40’s.  The Society began leasing land to nature organizations at a low cost, including the land for the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, as well as, sponsoring the Denison Farm Market.

It wasn’t easy to decide which booth to check out first because they all look so tempting. I kind of wandered across the grass, through the humidity, and looked up.  I found myself at Sweet Country Roads with owner Charlotte Abbott, Colchester.  Her stand looks like a hypnotic prism, showcasing hundreds of preserves, with vibrant chlorophyll green – her mint jelly – and a rich, creamy caramel -the rum-banana butter, a favorite as I heard customers in line saying, “I need to buy more of that, it’s my four-year old son’s favorite!”

Charlotte is a soft-spoken woman, not one dying to ‘toot her own horn,’ yet, I know what it takes to make and jar preserves.  It’s a lot of work from seed to jar; it takes patience, love, cooperation from Mother Nature and skill.

I had a feeling that there was a story behind the preserves…. Over seven years ago, Charlotte made a jar of rose jelly, for her father, which he absolutely loved.  Charlotte told him that she was going into business to make jams, and he told her that she “would never sell jam.”  Later that year, her beloved father passed away, so she makes every sale a private tribute to him.

Charlotte said, “As a young girl, I had an affinity for baking. I always helped mom and grandma make muffins and cupcakes.”  Canning was commonplace; they canned green-beans, carrots and made apple sauce.  The majority of her recipes are original, but a few were handed down.  Her blueberry bushes are from the 1950’s!

I stopped a Sweet Country Roads devotee, Bonnie Johns, Groton, who says, “The flower jellies are a strange concept, but are amazing!”  I bought a few bags of her dry seasonings, and tried out the ‘fuego blend’ on a steak which I then seared on high heat… Fabulous!

Also at market, was “Doc” William Burrows, owner, Groton Family Farm.  I remember what seems like just a few years ago, driving past a lot and seeing a few scattered chickens, wondering to whom they belonged and why they were there.  There were 25 chickens, to be exact, day old chicks, which he placed in a box in his bedroom with a lamp to help grow. Doc said, “I went to sleep with chirping chickens.”  There are now over 800 chickens at the Groton Family Farm and a garden.

Doc was a tough case to crack.  I asked him if it was he who performed a highly delicate procedure on my finger to remove a microscopic shard of glass which was the bane of my existence for six months.  He humbly acknowledged that it was he, but wants to be clear that he is a serious farmer!

Four days a week, he is a farmer. He explains, “When I get tired of being a farmer, I go be a doctor, and when I tire of that after three days, I go back to being a farmer.”

Doc is actually a city boy, raised and educated in Boston.  The Groton Family Farm property has been with his family since Adam and Eve.  He moved back to CT to stay in the family home, saying that he always loved the outdoors and wanted farm animals.

He notes that learning these skills in an uncertain time, a time where we can never tell what the future brings, is important.  It’s vital to know how to be self-sufficient, and also kind of cool to stick things in the ground and watch them grow.

Farming skills are those which should be learned again and having the Groton Family Farm gives his life a sense of value; a sense of meaning.

Once he decided to become a chicken farmer, he realized that he ought to “know something about chickens.”  He called up Whit Davis, who told him everything from which chickens to buy, and what to feed them, to the fact that people locally, prefer brown eggs to white.  Whit is his mentor, “his elder.”

He bought mobile coops, which get moved every two days so that the chickens have fresh grass under their feet. They graze on grubs and free range feed.  They also eat some cracked corn and wheat, and are given wood ash which the fowl use to dust themselves and fluff up their feathers.  I’d like to be one of his chickens!

Groton Family Farm eggs became available four year ago at the Denison Farm Market, and Doc learned through trial and error how to grow crops of veggies, at first over-planting so much in fact, that he had to purchase several refrigerators to store the bounty from his garden!  Now, he has a handle on it.

I found myself almost arm-wrestling with Archie Chester over what was left as 3pm approached, for beet greens and Swiss chard.  We reached a compromise and I brought several bunches of the earthy greens back to Noank to whip up for my friends. YUM!  See the recipe on the right.

Amidst the swarm of local vendors is market master Stuart Woronecki, owner, Stonewall Apiary, LLC.  I’m a little scared of someone who works around bees all day, but the rich, amber-colored honey and natural beeswax candles are completely disarming, even welcoming.

The honey is so different than anything I’ve tasted from a grocery store or even other markets.  It is truly unique, it’s liquid gold.

When Stuart was just 12 years old, he met his neighbor Ernest Bourque, who was born in 1896, and was 75-years-old at the time.  Ernest was a bee-keeper.  Stuart helped him often with the duties and caring for the bees.  He went away to college, and did his undergraduate studies at Central Connecticut State University.

Sadly, as the circle of life dictates, Ernest passed away while Stuart was in college.  His widow contacted Stuart and offered the bee-keeping equipment to him. Time did a number on the supplies, and they were in rough shape.

When Stuart married his wife, his passion for bees reignited, and now, he manages approximately 120 honey bee colonies all over CT!  There are colonies in New London, Mystic, Franklin, Hanover, Lebanon, Hampton, and Canterbury.

The Stonewall Apiary has a fabulous website (www.ct-honey.com), which also has a “honeybee medication calculator” as a tool for people looking to treat their bees for common ailments.

When I asked Stuart about people raising their own bees to protect the population, he mentioned that “colony collapse” is not yet a problem in our region.  It’s terrific to see that this is not a dying art!

Christina Kettle is a fresh-faced 32-year-old mom of 14-month-old Krista, and wife to Ira.  She runs the stand for Grande Marquis Farm.  Ira is the farmer, and Christina is the President of Marketing and Public Relations. Only their business is much more laid back.  Every day is “Take your daughter to work day!”

As I glance around the Denison Farm Market, I see vibrant flowers and a bright-eyed baby girl welcoming carnivores to come closer.

Christina went to Ledyard High School and studied animal science with plans of becoming a veterinarian.  She was raised with horses and learned an appreciation for livestock at a young age.

She became disenchanted with veterinary school when she realized the time investment. Instead, upon meeting her husband, over ten years ago, decided to channel her love of animals into becoming a farmer; well, the wife of a farmer.  She openly admits that it is Ira who tends to the farm and she who runs the home.

Among the many concerns of running a farm with 25 cows is the threat of them escaping or getting sick.  Free range beef is pricier than what may be purchased in chain stores, but according to Christina, many people, after watching the eye-opening documentary “Food Inc.” are willing to spend the extra money.  On the need to save money, Christina says, “If I wasn’t in this business; I would probably have to buy my meat from chain stores, as well.”