A classic country store brings a message By Joy VanderLek The Cheshire Citizen
It is easy to see why Old Bishop Farm is irresistible to so many. Driving along South Meriden Road, the view across the property’s iconic pond is of a bucolic 12plus acres planted in apple trees, blueberry and raspberry patches, a bold and colorful cutting garden, and a designated vegetable and herb garden. Anchored in the middle of it is a burgundy red building with white railings. This is the Old Bishop Farms country store. The property, farmed since the 1700s, and the former site of
Thursday, September 3, 2020
cheshirecitizen.com
Volume 11, Number 47
John and Carolyn Torello at Old Bishop Farm. The Torellos needed something on the larger side of their country store and chose Joy VanderLek, The Cheshire Citizen “Believe,” as it has a special meaning.
country stores, is still in its nascency, during this reincarnation, as the Torello family take the time to “get it right.” John Torello is the planner, according to his wife, Carolyn, adding that he plans everything out. The couple bought the property in 2017. “We used to come here all the time, as customers, like everyone else,“ said John Torello. As new owners, they saw the work that needed to be done. They shut the property down for two years, to take a pause, in order to “make
it what is now,” John Torello said, proudly looking at the updated surroundings and pointing out new high ceilings in the renovated country store’s ice cream shop. The ice cream is John’s specialty. He makes it. Ice cream aficionados have the usual choices, along with flavors like s’mores, peach, sweet corn and according to the website, lemon ices with a hint of basil just like they make on the Italian coast. Folks seem to love See Store, A5
Passion for native plants motivates this local advocate for biodiversity By Joy VanderLek The Cheshire Citizen
Joanna Giddings is out to change the world ― a few gardens and a few minds at a time. The high school biology teacher is an energetic advocate for the native plant movement with an eye to educate gardeners and homeowners alike. Giddings moved to Cheshire three years ago but has been
“talking about native plants with fellow gardeners and sharing native plants with neighbors for years,” she See Plants, A6
Joanna Giddings in one of the many gardens she has created on her Cheshire property. Joy VanderLek, The Cheshire Citizen
Historian collecting material on how COVID impacts the community By Joy VanderLek The Cheshire Citizen
Cheshire Town Historian Jeanne Chesanow is seeking information on how local residents are faring during the pandemic in order to document life in the time of COVID The COVID-19 pandemic has reached around the world and in the United States has taken the lives of more than 180,000 people. Connecticut has seen 52,000 COVID-19 cases and recorded 4,400-plus deaths. Chesanow is an anthropologist and former Quinnipiac University professor. After reading accounts of how towns across the country want to record personal experiences of their community members during COVID, she was prompted to do the same in Cheshire. The individual stories are crucial, as they will “allow us to recall the deep influence that communities have on history, which is why this project is so necessary right now,” was a comment Chesanow read with interest from a Mill Valley, California library archivist. Chesanow also wondered, “Will future generations be able to understand what was experienced here in Cheshire at this time of uncertainty? What is life really like for people during the pandemic?” Chesanow had been using word of mouth and posted a sign in her front See Historian, A2