Monthly Archives: August 2019

‘A Farmers’ Market’ Opens Saturdays for the Season at Tiffany Farms

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Bill Hurtle and Jen Tiffany are preparing to open ‘The Farmers Market at Tiffany Farms’ on June 15.

LYME — It was looking as though Lyme Farmers Market, which has for more than 15 years been a perennially popular destination for both local and regional shoppers, was going to be absent from the landscape this year.

In an exciting turn of events, Jennifer Tiffany and her husband Bill Hurtle have reincarnated the market with a new name and location, and will open for business on June 15.  Tiffany explained in an exclusive interview with LymeLine.com that Bill has fostered the idea of running a farmers market for many years. He hails from Long Island and was used to seeing the numerous farm stands at the side of the road there and longed to do something similar in Lyme.

But there was no inclination to follow through with the plan in any major sense while Lyme Farmers Market was still bustling just up the road on Ashlawn Farm in Lyme.

A view of the iconic Tiffany Farms where the new market is planned.

Their first iteration of Bill’s dream happened last summer when Tiffany started hanging buckets of flowers on the feed bunk by the ‘Ladies in Waiting’ sign at the corner of Sterling City Rd. and Hamburg Rd., where the Holstein cows known as the “Ladies of Lyme” used to congregate. But someone said they thought it was a memorial for the cows, which are no longer kept at the farm.

As a result, Tiffany says, they “dragged out“ Tiffany Farm’s old silage cart and placed it on the same corner and Tiffany’s daughter, Lisa Simiola, fashioned a nameplate out of wood calling it “From the Farm.” Tiffany and Hurtle then added farm produce to the flower selection  on the stand, all of which was successfully sold on the honor system.

However, when Tiffany read online that Lyme Farmers Market would not be opening this year, she and Bill saw an opportunity.  Jen is passionate about the current plight of farmers — “they’re a dying breed,” she notes sadly — and wants people to understand that her and Bill’s overarching intent in starting the new farmers market is to help and support farmers.  

Tiffany stresses that this venture is absolutely not a money-making one on their part — they both have full-time jobs so it’s “not their bread and butter,” she explains.  Rather, she sees it a way not only to support farmers, but also to bring life and beauty back to the iconic farm and regenerate the sense of community vibrancy previously associated with Lyme Farmers Market.  Any income from the market will be plowed back into the operation to help fund the overheads.

Opening Day for ‘The Farmers Market at Tiffany Farms’ is Saturday, June 15, and the market will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Tiffany stresses, “All Department of Agriculture, Markets, Department of Health and CT Grown guidelines will apply.”  She is “envisaging the same look as [Lyme Farmers Market at] Ashlawn,” which means there will be neither entertainment nor what she describes as “flea-market-type stuff.”  The aim is a “very classy ” market in Tiffany’s words, focused on Connecticut-grown or-produced items such as dairy, beef, vegetables, herbs, jellies and syrups.

Aerial view of Tiffany farms showing where the Farmer’s Market will be located.

The field generously made available for the market by Susan B. Tiffany — the current owner of Tiffany Farms — is a “secluded area where my grandfather kept draft ponies,” notes Tiffany, adding the layout of the market will involve keeping cars and vendors separate. She and Hurtle are hoping to have a minimum of 10 vendors and says they will be “elated” if the number reaches 20.

The list of vendors who have already signed up for Opening Day includes:

  • Four Mile River Farm
  • Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm
  • Upper Pond Farm (also representing Ashlawn Farm)
  • Sweet Pea Cheese and House of Hayes
  • T.A.L.K. Seafood
  • Fat Stone Farm
  • Dondero Orchards
  • Deep River Farm
  • Wave Hill Breads
  • Beaver Brook Bakery
  • From the Farm

Vendors are still welcome to apply for a spot at “The Farmers Market at Tiffany Farms.”  Vendor applications are available by calling Jennifer Tiffany at 860-434-6239 or 860-575-4730 or emailing jtiffany01@msn.com

Editor’s Note: The Farmer’s Market enjoyed a wonderful Opening Day June 15 with more than 500 people visiting the market. Congratulations to Jen and Bill on such a successful and well-deserved start to their new enterprise.  We heartily commend them for having the courage to take on this venture, the total belief in its mission, and the passion to make it happen.

Griswold Petition to Run on November Ballot as Old Lyme First Selectman Has More Than 80 of 85 Signatures Required, Expects to Meet Goal by Tonight

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Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder. File photo.

Former Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold. File photo.

UPDATED 08/02, 3:17pm : see text in bold — After their meeting last week to endorse a slate of candidates for the November election, the Old Lyme Republican Town Committee (RTC) entered “No Endorsement” against the position of First Selectman. Just over a week later, former Old Lyme First Selectman Timothy C. Griswold is petitioning to be the Republican candidate and has almost collected the required number of signatures to submit to the state.

Asked in a phone conversation yesterday why he was running, Griswold told LymeLine, “I didn’t plan to run but when I looked around at the recent landscape, it seemed as if someone should mount a challenge for the position of First Selectman. It appeared wrong that the voters didn’t have a choice on the ballot.” Alluding to his previous 14 years as Old Lyme First Selectman, Griswold added with a chuckle, “I think I can still find the office.”

Although he has already been endorsed by the Old Lyme RTC to run as Town Treasurer  — a position in which he already serves — Griswold noted he would be unable to serve as Town Treasurer if he were elected First Selectman in November.

The “recent landscape,” on which Griswold did not elaborate, is presumed to be the request last week from Governor Ned Lamont for incumbent First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder to resign from the position of Connecticut Port Authority Chairman amid growing concerns about how the quasi-state agency has been operating.

Incumbent First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, who has already been endorsed by the Old Lyme Democratic Town Committee to run for a fifth term with fellow incumbent Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal, shared with LymeLine in an email last night, “Tim and I have worked together on things and run against each other in the past. I will run on my record of accomplishments.”

Christine Gianquinto, Old Lyme Democratic Town Committee Chairman, said in a statement to LymeLine last week, “We believe it is important that she [Reemsnyder] should continue her leadership and the positive progress that has led to significant accomplishments for the benefit of the Town of Old Lyme.”

According to the state’s timeline, Griswold needs signatures from 5 percent (around 85) of the registered Republicans in Old Lyme by Wednesday, Aug. 7.  In order to verify all the signatures for legitimacy, Republican Town Registrar Cathy Carter has requested that signatures be submitted by Monday for her review. She shared with LymeLine today in a phone call that she had also also recommended those collecting signatures should aim at 150 to allow for some signatures being rejected during the review process.

Barbara Crowley, the owner of The Chocolate Shell on Lyme Street, has confirmed to us this morning in a phone call that she collected 54 signatures yesterday while Griswold has confirmed to us in an email shortly after that he has 27, also noting, ” a couple of others also have petitions.”  He added in a further email just an hour ago, “We may hit our goal by the end of today.”

The petition can be signed at The Chocolate Shell today and tomorrow between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.  The store will be closed on Sunday and Monday.

 

Tim Griswold Petitioning to Run as First Selectman in November, Signatures Required by Wednesday

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Former First Selectman Tim Griswold is petitioning to be on the ballot in November. File photo.

UPDATED 8/2, 07:08am :  Tim Griswold has now confirmed to us that he is petitioning to be on the ballot in November. Petitions are available for signature at various locations around town. More to follow later this afternoon.

Old Lyme Republican Town Committee Chairman David Kelsey has confirmed to LymeLine.com that it is his understanding that former Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold is petitioning to run as a Republican for the position of First Selectman in November.

We now understand that the required number of signatures, which we believe is around 100, must be submitted by Wednesday, Aug. 7.

It’s ‘First Friday’ in Chester Tonight!

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Chester’s Main Street will be bustling this evening during ‘First Friday.’

CHESTER – It’s August, and the Chester downtown merchants are fired up to beat the heat and kick off the last month of summer during First Friday festivities on Aug. 2. All shops will be open until 8 p.m. serving samples of delicious libations and snacks.

Blackkat Leather will unveil a new collection from Crystal-Anne Chijinduis, a New York-based photographer specializing in narrative portraiture and still-life photography. Her work reflects her passion for people, culture and visual storytelling, which she explores through fine-art work. She recently earned her master’s degree in Digital Photography from New York City’s School of Visual Arts.

The “Pop & Beyond” exhibition at Chester Gallery has been extended due to popular demand. The gallery features the serigraphs, lithographs, etchings and gouaches of Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist, Jim Dine, Sam Francis, Adolph Gottlieb, Keith Haring, Robert Indiana, Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg and Chester’s own Sol LeWitt.

Elsewhere around town:

Dina Varano will be hosting a ‘Crystal Extravaganza’ tonight during ‘First Friday.’

  • Dina Varano Gallery is showcasing a collection of raw crystal and gemstones. From Amazonite to Labradorite to Zeolite, the gallery is explaining the myths and legends that surround the stones.

The C & G building in Chester is home to The-e-List shop, which will be open tonight to celebrate ‘First Friday’ in Chester.

  • The E-List Shop is having its End of Summer Sale and previewing fall fashions.

The ‘Arrowhead String Band’ will be playing during First Friday at the Silver Spring Gallery tonight.

  • The band Arrowhead will play from 5 to 8 p.m. outside Leif Nilsson’s eponymous gallery on Spring Street, which is also showing the artist’s travel-inspired paintings.

In addition to on-street parking in Chester, there is free parking available in the town’s public lots on Main Street by the cemetery, on Water Street and on Maple Street.

More information about First Friday is available on Facebook.com/VisitChesterCT or by calling (860) 322-4047.

Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Soul of America’ by Jon Meacham

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This is an engrossing reflection on past American leaders, elected and publicly acknowledged, and how they have shaped our peculiar, yet resilient, form of governance.

Meacham leads us in a thorough review of our history: early (and conflicted) visions, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, its aftermath (Reconstruction, the Klu Klux Klan), Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and our entry into world affairs, the Depression, FDR, McCarthyism, Martin Luther King, and LBJ. Throughout he gives us the sense that all human beings, and, indeed, our so-called “leaders,” are both selfish and altruistic, often at the same moment.

We are both hopeful and fearful. It is, again, a story of trying to organize ourselves when we are simultaneously rational and irrational.

Meacham is a storehouse of relevant quotes from earlier observers. As an example, his last six pages cite 28 comments of others, often at length.

But his narrative ends with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yes, that was a momentous achievement, but our scrambling did persist thereafter. As Sean Wilentz, in his New York Times review on June 10, 2018 explained, “Suddenly we are thrust back into the present with little understanding of how we got here from there”. What has gone wrong, or has, indeed, anything gone wrong? Are we simply, as so often in the past, struggling to find reasonable courses of action, both domestically and internationally?

Perhaps an answer lies in his quote of Eisenhower on leadership: “It’s persuasion – and conciliation – and education – and patience.” But are we ready, even willing, to accept that rational guidance?

Throughout, the author cites our very human compulsion to accept ”the most ancient of institutions, a powerful chief” connected to “the more modern of institutions, a free, disputatious populace.” Can they work together? Is our system really worthwhile (a strong executive, balanced by an equally strong legislature and judiciary)?

I continue to look with envy at a system almost as old (created in 1848), the one in Switzerland: seven rotating presidents, each serving a one year term, with a strong Assembly and local cantonal legislatures. And the Swiss employ four languages! It works and it has much less publicity …

Meacham’s five concluding “ideas”: (1) Enter the Arena, (2) Resist Tribalism, (3) Respect Facts and Deploy Reason, (4) Find a Critical Balance, and (5) Keep History in Mind.

Keep listening, reading, and thinking!

Editor’s Note: ‘The Soul of America’ by Jon Meacham was published by Random House, New York in 2018.

Felix Kloman

About the Author: Felix Kloman is a sailor, rower, husband, father, grandfather, retired management consultant and, above all, a curious reader and writer. He’s explored how we as human beings and organizations respond to ever-present uncertainty in two books, ‘Mumpsimus Revisited’ (2005) and ‘The Fantods of Risk’ (2008). A 20-year resident of Lyme, he now writes book reviews, mostly of non-fiction, which explores our minds, our behavior, our politics and our history. But he does throw in a novel here and there. For more than 50 years, he’s put together the 17 syllables that comprise haiku, the traditional Japanese poetry, and now serves as the self-appointed “poet laureate” of Ashlawn Farm Coffee, where he may be seen on Friday mornings. His late wife, Ann, was also a writer, but of mystery novels, all of which begin in a village in midcoast Maine, strangely reminiscent of the town she and her husband visited every summer.