Local farmer's markets highlight locally grown, specialty foods

Lyme ― At the Farmer’s Market at Tiffany Farms, Lyme resident Bill Prentice browsed through the variety of locally grown vegetables, fruits and other specialty items and recommended the “phenomenal” sea salt focaccia bread.

Prentice’s warning that the bread from Norwalk-based Wave Hill Breads goes quickly was well-founded. A line quickly formed and the table quickly cleared.

Prentice was one of the dozens of people to visit Tiffany Farms on Saturday off Route 156 in Lyme to sample from the variety of the offering that included everything from coconut macaroons from Marna Roons of Old Lyme to brie cheese from Groton-based Mystic Cheese.

It is one of dozens of farmer’s markets across the state, this one tucked away on a working farm in a bucolic setting that regularly serves as a backdrop for roadside photos.

Family members are still ubiquitous on a farm that ended dairy operations in 2017. Flowers, vegetables and pasture-raised beef for sale on Saturday come courtesy of members of the extended Tiffany family.

Sitting on a chair under a roadside tent at the entrance to the farm on Saturday was the matriarch of the Tiffany family, Susan Tiffany. She greeted visitors with a smile and a wave while squeezing a handheld clicker to keep count of the number of people pulling onto her lawn. She said half jokingly that she suspects the job was given to her in part to keep her busy.

Susan Tiffany still lives in the house on the farm that has been in the family since 1848. The dairy cows were sold in 2017, the same year one of the farm’s iconic silos collapsed. Susan’s husband, Jack Tiffany, died in 2018 but Susan’s son, John Tiffany, now raises beef cows on the farm. Packages of steaks, roasts and burgers were available for sale at The Beef Barn on Saturday.

It was Susan Tiffany’s niece, Jennifer Tiffany and her husband Bill Hurtle who founded The Farm LLC and started the farmer’s market at the farm in 2018. Susan Tiffany said she was apprehensive at first.

“I said ‘I don’t want people near my house.’ But it’s worked out wonderfully. The people are so nice,” she said.

That sentiment was echoed by visitors.

“It’s nice to have something local like this ... part of the community,” Prentice said.

Lyme resident Marta Cone is a weekly visitor and lives so close she typically walks over to get her fresh vegetable and fruits. On Saturday, her bag contained corn and cookies.

“I love this place. You get to see all of your neighbors. It’s just fun,” Cone said.

While Tiffany Farms offers a quiet no-frills experience, The Waterford Farmer’s Market, also open on Saturday, offers a different experience.

Located in the parking lot outside The Friendship School at 24 Rope Ferry Road, the market on Saturday offered a variety of crafts, baked goods, prepared foods, produce and on this day, music from the band TSC Acoustic.

There was everything from fresh USDA organic garlic gloves from The Daily Market Farm in Waterford to mini-donuts from Spotted Donkey Donuts cooked on the spot and served from a retro-fitted horse trailer.

Jenny Wielk, co-owner of Plainfield-based Dove Hill Farm and Hazel Secchiaroli of Secchiaroli Farm in Waterford, run the market and said attendance has been steadily increasing over the past several years with support from the town.

Secchiaroli said farmer’s markets like Waterford’s is a good way to provide a venue to showcase products that are a step above what you will find at the local supermarket. Secchiaroli Farm specializes in naturally raised pigs and the bacon is often the hot item at the farmer’s market.

The farmer’s market also has events, such as an animal adoption day, to try an attract more families, Secchiaroli said, and plans several indoor markets over the winter.

For Marjorie Lathrop of East Lyme, the big draw at Saturday’s farmer’s market was the produce from Niantic-based Smith’s Acres.

“The corn,” Lathrop said. “Silver queen and bread and butter. It doesn’t matter which one you pick. It’s so fresh and so good.”

The Farmer’s Market at Tiffany Farms at 156 Sterling City Road in Lyme is open 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Saturday between May 25 and Oct. 12.

Waterford Farmer’s Market is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Oct. 12 at 24 Rope Ferry Road in Waterford.

For information on farmers markets across the state, visit www.visitconnecticut.com

g.smith@theday.com