Save the Date — Join us for the 5th Annual Easton Farm Tour! Saturday, August 10, 2013 from 10AM to 3PM

Last year’s Annual Easton Farm Tour was a big hit!

 This celebration of Easton, a local farming community within Fairfield County CT, was a self-guided tour of Easton farms.  The event began at the Easton Firehouse Green, One Center Road, Easton, Connecticut. Here visitors checked in and picked up the event map and pass to events and incentives offered by farmers and community organizations at the different locations throughout day.  

Fun for the whole family! Visitors enjoyed the many farming delights that Easton has to offer and learned about where food comes from. Visitors enjoyed  tastings, pony rides, antique farm tool exhibit, old-time fun and games by the ECC, petting zoo,  greenhouse tours from Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens and J&L Orchids, Easton grown and harvested veggies and fruit fresh from the farm, and pick your own activities.

 Over 10 Easton farm locations participating in this year’s tour, included Aspetuck Valley Apple Barn, Buttonwood Farm, Dave’s Honey, Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens, Historic Bradley Hubbell House Farm and Barn, J&L Orchids, Lion Hill Farm, Sherwood Farm, Silverman’s Farm, and Sport Hill Farm. 

Visitors discovered opportunities to shop in Easton year-round for seasonal agricultural and horticultural products and services, including fresh veggies, fruit, honey, eggs, mulch, herbs, meat, flowers, rare and unusual orchids, Christmas trees, horseback riding, educational events, or classes on animal husbandry and healthy eating. Visitors to the Easton Historical Society’s  Historic Bradley-Hubbell House Farm and antique tool demonstration learned  what farming was like for children and adults 100 years ago. 

The  Easton Firehouse Green  acted as home base throughout the tour. Food, music, and family entertainment met visitors as they signed in to take the tour.  Easton organizations who support our Easton farmers and farmland preservation showed up and had booths on the green. Skinny Pines – an Easton-based purveyor of wood-fired pizzas –was on site with their mobile wood-fired oven selling pizza, Dan Tressler’s String Fingers Band – one of our most talented Easton musicians — performed  live music, and the Easton Community Center  had the green in full play with some old time fun and games for the entire family — tug of war  and the giant life size game of checkers were some of the favorites. “This day captured the essence of days long gone with the simple enjoyment of a small town, a few farms and wholesome family time” said Cochran-Dougall.

Visitors met with members of the Easton Garden Club, creators of the Easton Farm Map – “Easton is a Farmers’ Market”.  People stopped by  to learn about  how to preserve the produce from local farms and how to “growing your own” at the UConn  Master Gardener booth.  The Easton Public Library prepared an “Easton Farm Tour Reading list” brochure  which delighted  visitors.  Members of the Ag Commisison were on hand to  discuss the farming initiative in front of Samuel Staples Elementary School  and support for our Easton Farmers. The The Aspetuck Land Trust  shared  information about preserving open space and natural resources in Easton, Fairfield, Weston and Westport and  created excitement around the  34-acre Randall’s Farm Nature Preserve, once a dairy farm, now open in Easton.

“This tour is truly a community event in celebration of farming in Easton – past, present, and future.” said Jean Stetz Puchalski, co-chair of the Easton Farm Tour.   Farmers have been a part of Easton’s character and culture for nearly three hundred years and our tour celebrates this unique heritage, supports local farming, and teaches our next generation about the importance and meaning of local agriculture.”

 So, thanks for coming out to the green for the tour. Please contact us by email at farmtour@citizensforeaston.org

See you in August! Check back for details!