About
Grown Connected is all about our small farms and the farmers who raise super fresh and flavorful foods in Northeastern CT. Though the region has a vibrant farming community, research showed that residents in the Northeast were not utilizing small farms as a consistent source for their shopping. UConn Extension joined a team of community leaders and local farmers to help residents reconsider those shopping habits.
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We created new promotional tools, such our yearly guides, and partnered with marketing and design experts to launch the brand "Grown ConNECTed. The phrase and logo signals that farms are part of our community, and we can grow and thrive through our connections to each other. Our community grows resilient whenever we stop by a farmers' market or farm stand to check in on our farmer friends while we pick up ingredients for meals at home. The conversations we enjoy and the quality of food we purchase make every meal a little richer in its meaning.
Our logo is a signal that what you are buying is fresh, full of flavor and comes from one of the more than 130 farms in our region that sell directly to you, our consumer. We hope to see you soon at farmers markets and farms throughout the region!
Behind the Connections
Grown ConNECTed is coordinated by UConn Extension. We strive to work with food-producing farmers across the region to guide our work. Our hope is that this project will help make local food more visible, easier to find, and more convenient for residents of the "Quiet Corner" so that they can get a full taste of local flavor on their plates. So get ConNECTed, and Find Your Farm!
Jiff Martin is an active program manager of several extension programs promoting local food and assisting new farm enterprises for the UConn College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. She has worked for over 12 years on food and agriculture issues in Connecticut.
UConn Extension Educator,
Sustainable Food Systems
Jiff Martin
Jiff Martin
Becca Toms
Becca is a part time farmer and a part time helper at UConn Extension to get the word out about programs that we are doing in Northeast CT and around the state! She takes care of social media and farmer communique so let her know what you want to see and hear about!
Communications Coordinator
Becca Toms
Communications Coordinator
Madison Moore
Madison helps to promote NE CT farms because she values having access to local, flavorful food & a relationship with the people who grew it. She loves the benefits of local, farm fresh produce for herself, the producers, and the environment and wants you to have all those benefits too!
Project Outreach Educator
Our Farm Advisory Team
Kelly Caisse- KD Crop Farms, Chaplin
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Robert Chang- Echo Farm, Woodstock
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Art Talmadge & Sherry Simpson- Cranberry Hill Farm, Ashford
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Charlotte Ross- Sweet Acre Farm, Woodstock
Susan Mitchell- Cloverleigh Farm, Columbia
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Cari Donaldson- Ghostfawn Homestead, Willington
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Joe Orefice- Hidden Blossom Farm, Union
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Libby Tarleton- Russo's Roots, Canterbury
Betsy Molodich- Betsy's Stand, Sterling
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Nancy Barrett- Scantic Valley Farm, Somers
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Yoko Takemura- Assawaga Farm, Putnam
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Nick Weinstock & Danielle Larese- BOTL Farm, Ashford
Organizational Partner
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As many of the towns in our Grown ConNECTed Northeast Region are part of the Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor, we work closely with them and their work to "connect people with the abundant and diverse natural, historical and cultural resources within eastern Connecticut ... We advocate to sustain our region’s legacy for future generations."
They have and continue to be invaluable thought partners in helping us engage and take pride in our community that are shaped by their open spaces- farms, forests, and fields alike. To learn more about The Last Green Valley, and support what they do, visit their website at: thelastgreenvalley.org