Green & Growing - A Love Story

by MaryEllen Fillo - Lisa Nichols photos

Sarah Cook Colgan was smitten with Mitchel Colgan’s cucumbers before she was smitten with him.

That’s the shortened version of the sweet romance between Cook Colgan, the owner of Willimantic’s NOJ (Not Only Juice) Marketplace and Kitchen and Lebanon farmer, Mitch Colgan.

“I never planned to meet someone but it was nice,“ said Cook Colgan, whose shop offers a variety of fresh-made, natural sandwiches,

salads and blender drinks, featuring pesticide free produce and no refined sugar. She said was selling her wares at the popular Coventry Farmer’s Market when she lamented to a friend that she was in dire need of cucumbers for some of her creations. Her friend, who worked at Colgan’s farm, headed back to his booth at the market and shared the dilemma.

“All of a sudden he shows up with the vegetables,” Cook Colgan laughed, adding that she had ‘seen him around’ at different markets but never talked with him, “Somehow he knew about how crazy I was about good produce and we started talking more,” she said. “Then he found out how much I loved good tomatoes and started bringing me Clementine tomatoes, cocktail tomatoes, and other heirlooms.”

“She does love her tomatoes,” said Colgan, whose Colgan Farm LLC specializes in assorted heirloom produce using sustainable

farming practices including no chemicals or GMOS. “Once I started providing her business with produce for her menu at the store, I remember trying to force excess produce on her because she had a problem with moderation when it came ordering my heirloom tomatoes” he said. “She loved them and couldn’t say no.”

It didn’t take long for the two to arrange a first date, one that reflects their lifestyle, their personalities and their appreciation for a simple, but meaningful life.

“We bought a pizza and sat on the back of his truck and ate it,” Said Cook Colgan about that night in 2019. “We realized we are both homebodies, love to cook good food, and watch tv. From then on we were a couple.” Married earlier this year, the two agree that beyond the traditional love of the heart, is their shared work ethic, love of responsible farming, product quality, and turning what is reaped into wonderful dishes.

“While I think it was my charming personality that attracted her to me, she is special because it is hard in this business for your partner to understand how much time you have to put into farming,” Colgan explained. “I work a million hours a week and that means having to miss a lot of family activities and social events because the work has to be done. It takes someone who understands the value of that effort to appreciate it,” he added. “She does.”

Colgan’s farm includes a few crops that are primarily used by his wife for her menu including kale, jalapeno peppers and, of course, certain heirloom tomatoes. Cook Colgan showcases that produce in offerings including “The Mill Town,” a kale, radish and parmesan salad on a toasted ciabatta roll with smashed avocado and house-made lemon basil aioli. The tomatoes are used in sandwiches including “Not Your Father’s BLT, featuring house-made organic bacon on organic sourdough bread with smashed avocado, vegan mayonnaise and organic vegetables.

The couple both still participate in a few farmers markets and Cook Colgan is in the midst of expanding her shop, as she, like so many in the industry, make COVID-driven adjustments to accommodate the change in the business culture.

Admitting they both are very hard workers who put all they have into their businesses, the newlyweds also share that there are those romantic moments at the end of the day that mix a little business with pleasure and again reflect their mutual admiration and attraction for each other.

“One night he dug up some of the Magic Mollies, a beautiful purple fingerling potato,” shared Cook Colgan as she offered an example of their ‘down time and a romantic night for two’ “We roasted them in the oven and were excited because they were the first of the season,” she said. “We sat down to a nice dinner and then we talked price point and whether buying seeds for a crop would be a good business decision.”

“We share the same appreciation of the how what is produced is then used in land, how you treat it, how you use it, and our businesses where ethics is very important.”

Cook Colgan jokes that it was her husband’s “superior sense of humor” that she found irresistible. But beyond that she knew there was a bigger bond.

“We share the same appreciation of the land, how you treat it, how you use it, and how what is produced is then used in our businesses where ethics is very important,” she said. “I joke that there is not a lot of traffic on the high road and that’s what we share when it comes to our philosophies personally and professionally.”