Author: Janet

“Farm-to-Table” is more than a slogan at Jones Family Farms in Shelton, Connecticut. One of the rare cooking schools actually located on a farm, the classes in the Harvest Kitchen at this family owned farm in Fairfield County are able to use many ingredients grown on site.

Seasonal foods are the focus for many sessions, showing how fresh ingredients make for healthier and more delicious meals. The classes follow many creative themes, from ethnic cuisines like Japanese and Mediterranean to “Parties Inspired by Books,” with original menus inspired by volumes like The Great Gatsby or Pride and Prejudice. The Essential Eating series encourages home cooking from scratch and building a nutrition-rich home pantry.

Three-hour classes are held most Saturdays from 12 to 3 p.m. from spring through the holidays. Most are limited to 12 participants. The sessions are relaxed and informal, a mix of demonstrations and hands-on activities suitable for beginners, as well as experienced cooks. They conclude with everyone gathering around the big kitchen table to enjoy the meal they have prepared, along with a glass of the farm’s own Jones wine. Students take home their aprons and copies of nourishing recipes.

The Essential Eating Series will include Vibrant Vegetarian on April 11, Japanese Serenity on April 18, and Mindful Mediterranean on April 25. In May, the Parties Inspired by Books Series will feature The Great Gatsby on May 2, Pride and Prejudice on May 9, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on May 16.

See the web site, www.jonesfamilyfarms.com, to register. Early reservations are strongly advised as classes fill up fast.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

Cooking is only one of the reasons to visit the 400-acre farm where the Jones family has been working the land for over150 years. Successive generations have left their impact on the original dairy farm. Philip Jones, the fourth generation, planted evergreen seedlings as part of a 4-H forestry project in the 1930s. Some of these originals, now 100-feet tall, tower over what has grown into 200 acres of Christmas trees. Guests are invited to hike the fields to harvest their own or to pick a fresh-cut tree in the Homestead Barnyard, a treasured tradition for many area families.

In the 1960s, Philip’s son Terry, the fifth generation, added the fields of strawberries and blueberries that are favorites for pick-your-own fans each year. Terry’s wife Jean, a licensed nutritionist, originated the cooking classes in 2009. Their son, Jamie began the Jones Winery in 2004. In 2013 Connecticut Magazine named it “Best Connecticut Vineyard.”

From summer berries to fall grapes and pumpkins to trees ready for trimming, Jones Family Farms is a delightful outing year round.

For more information about the farm and the area and a free copy of Unwind, a full-color, 152-page booklet detailing what to do and see, and where to stay, shop and dine in the Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County in Western Connecticut, contact the Western Connecticut Visitors Bureau, PO Box 968, Litchfield, CT 06759, (860) 567-4506, or visit their web site at www.visitwesternct.com

On Wednesday, April 8 at 12:15 p.m., the PT Barnum Museum located in Bridgeport Connecticut is presenting a program called Elephants in the Room: Stories of Elephant Artifacts and Images in The Barnum Museum’s Collection a Sneak Peek.

This will be presented by Adrienne Saint-Pierre, the curator of the Barnum Museum. April’s Sneak Peek program focuses on the large variety of elephant artifacts in The Barnum Museum collection in celebration of the past event of Jumbo, the famous African Elephant, arriving in America after being purchased from London Zoo by P.T. Barnum on April 9, 1882. Some artifacts include the largest taxidermy baby elephant, “Baby Bridgeport,” the second elephant to ever be born in America was in Bridgeport, CT many years ago. A piece of famous white elephant tusk in the museum collection and a number of photographs featuring Victorian era elephants in photographs, post cards and advertising will be on display at the event. “Baby Bridgeport” was recently x-rayed by medical imaging faculty from Quinnipiac University. In the 1880s a color lithograph and handkerchief were created to celebrate the elephant’s birth, Barnum’s pride and joy.

No registration required. $3 Suggested Donation. Free for museum members and kids under 12. Patrons are encouraged to bring their lunch.

A program on Jumbo the elephant called Jumbo: Marvel, Myth, and Legend will be presented on April 19 at 2 p.m. by Dr. Andrew McClellan of Tufts University. This program explores the magnificent life of the late Jumbo The Elephant, a larger-than-life celebrity in the animal world. His legacy lives on today: “jumbo” is now an English adjective used to describe anything humungous. His image is also featured in many advertisements throughout the past, and a giant Sequoia tree in California now bears the same name. View little-known images featuring Jumbo and learn about his extraordinary life. Led by Andrew McClellan, professor of Art History at Tufts University and author of Jumbo: Marvel, Myth & Mascot (2014).

No registration required. $5 Suggested Donation. Free for museum members and kids under 12.

The PT Barnum Museum is located on 820 Main Street in Bridgeport CT. Call for more information 203-331-1104 ext.100, M-F from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information http://www.barnum-museum.org.

For more event information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

The Litchfield Performing Arts, whose signature event is the Jazz Festival that is taking place this year August 7-9 also offers a Jazz Camp for aspiring students. To raise money for the Jazz Camp the Litchfield Performing Arts has organized their first ever Antique, Vintage and Tag Sale that will be held at St Michael’s Church on 25 South Street in Litchfield April 17-19.

There is a early buying and preview party on April 17 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and ticket prices are $35. Participants on Friday evenings preview party and buying event can shop while enjoying hors d’oeuvres and beverages and great jazz by the Litchfield Jazz Camp faculty. To purchase tickets email tegan@litchfieldjazzfest.com.

The tag sale continues on Saturday, April 18 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Sunday, April 19 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and admission is free. Treasure hunters will find a variety of antique and vintage items including: an Edwardian flip table, an 1880’s Belgian tile cook stove, Victorian and Queen Anne mirrors, dressers, clocks, china, chandeliers, stained glass panels, jewelry and much more. Vintage pieces include Drexel Heritage sofas and chairs, Ralph Lauren dinnerware, a 1940’s Duncan Phyfe dining table… Tag sale items range from decorative pottery and glassware to housewares, all in good condition.

For more information about the Litchfield Jazz Festival and other events the organization hosts visit http://litchfieldjazzfest.com/festival

Explore nine decades of Palace Theater history and backstage mystique during the Waterbury performing art center’s monthly guided tour scheduled for Friday, Apr. 10, from 11a.m. to 12:15pm.

Each Palace Theater tour is approximately one hour and fifteen minutes and is led by a team of Palace Theater Ambassadors, a specially trained group of engaging volunteers well-versed in the theater’s rich history, architectural design and entertaining anecdotal information. In addition to exploring the theater, Poli Club and lobby spaces, patrons will also have the opportunity to walk across the stage, visit the star dressing rooms, and view the venue’s hidden, backstage murals – artwork painted and signed on the theater walls by past performers and Broadway touring companies.

Due to the tours’ increasing popularity, reservations are required in advance. Each tour is $5.00 per person and single tickets for individuals or groups of 10 or less can be purchased online at www.palacetheaterct.org. Larger groups are asked to contact the Box Office at 203-346-2000 to book their reservations.

A special boxed lunch and tour package is also available for groups of 15 or more and cost $17 per person. Tour and dessert packages can also be arranged for $12 per person. Reservations for the lunch and dessert packages need to be made at least three days in advance of the desired tour date and paid in full at that time.

Built in 1920 and recorded in the National Register of Historic Places, the Palace Theater is known for its grand architectural design. Designed in a Renaissance Revival style, the building features an eclectic mix of Greek, Roman, Arabic and Federal motifs along with marble staircases, gilded domed ceilings, cut glass chandeliers and intricate plaster relief details that make the Palace one of the most striking performing arts spaces in the state.

Spend your April Vacation with us from April 14-16 and experience what kids did for fun more than 200 years ago. Our Education Director, Elizabeth Devoll, has used her creativity to come up with fun-filled activities that will inspire, enrich and educate every kid!

Learn about the button factory in Saugatuck while using antique buttons to decorate wooden bowls. Another important local industry 200 years ago was a tin factory and we’ll construct elaborate tin mobiles and hand-stitch a version of an American flag.

Celebrate spring with cooking and planting. Learn about the many apple farms in Westport and bake apple tarts. Decorate vintage flower pots using a mosaic technique and paint local historic scenes with watercolors.

A behind-the-scenes tour of the historic Wheeler house will be included along with insider legends to excite the imagination. Yoga with Sue and role playing drama games with Jen Devine will round out the activities.

Snacks will be provided; bring a bag lunch. Registration is required, please call: 203-222-1424, Members $150, Non Members $175, Sibling discounts. Ages 5 – 11, 10 am -2pm. For more information http://westporthistory.org.

The Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy located in Litchfield Connecticut was founded by S. Dillon Ripley, considered to be one of the twentieth century’s outstanding figures in ornithology and conservation. Ripley began building an internationally known collection of waterfowl in Litchfield, Connecticut in the 1920’s. He started his first duck pond at age seventeen and taught ornithology at Yale while director of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. In 1964 Dillon became the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution where he led the creation of numerous new museums, such as the National Air & Space Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum, and the development of the Smithsonian Magazine.

An avid aviculturist, Dillon Ripley is credited with being the first person to propagate successfully many threatened and endangered species in captivity, such as the red-breasted goose, nene goose, emperor goose and Laysan teal. Dr. Ripley also raised various endangered species in Litchfield for re-introduction to the wild.

Today, known as the Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy, this is one of the pre-eminent facilities for breeding rare and endangered waterfowl. The public is invited on self-guided tours on Saturday and Sunday beginning April 1 and running through November 30 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Visitors to the Conservancy are invited to visit the aviaries at their leisure and enjoy the diversity of waterfowl on display. Information panels provide interesting insight about each species and Conservancy staff and volunteers are available to answer questions.

Visitors can also visit the duckery where ducklings and goslings are hatched and reared. Even during the fall and winter months there are often eggs incubating or chicks hatching as the southern hemisphere species often reproduce during Connecticut’s northern hemisphere winter.
October through May are the best months to observe male ducks in their breeding plumage. Male ducks of many species (but not all) molt their colorful breeding plumage towards the end of June and most resemble their respective females until late September when they molt into breeding plumage once again. Male swans and geese remain colorful throughout the year.

Admission is $10.00 per adult, which includes one child under the age of twelve. Additional children are $5.00 each. Please note that no pets are allowed on Conservancy grounds.

LRWC is located on Duck Pond Road in Litchfield. For more information http://www.lrwc.net. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com