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August 2010

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Ancona’s MarketDoing What Comes Naturally

The Girl On The LandStory of Women’s Land Army

HighsteadPreserving Paradise

2 HOME, a Hersam Acorn special section, Ridgefield, Conn. August 2010

The dictionary dismisses a weed as “undesired, uncultivated and useless.” Most gardeners would agree. But at the paradise in Redding called Highstead, there are wildflowers and wild grasses growing so freely and beautifully that the word “weed” makes no sense.

Highstead was formed in 1982 when Mr. and Mrs. James C. Dudley set aside an initial 36 acres of woodland as a sanctuary for the study and appreciation of native plants, animals and woodland habitats. Through additional gifts of land, Highstead has become a center for conservation, eco-logical research and enhancement of native landscapes.

There are now 150 acres of diverse woodland, meadow, pond and swamp habi-

tats, and over two miles of trails through the property. It all adds up to a unique under-standing of the intelligence of nature, the resilience of New England forests, the earth’s natural cycles of life and how our land-use practices have changed the landscape.

At Highstead, not only the concept but the actual sensation of “green” can be felt. Walking into a stand of self-propagated sassafras trees is like walking into a poem. There are 72 cultivars and forms of moun-tain laurel and 14 species of deciduous azaleas. But more than the size, variety and visual discoveries everywhere, the way you relate to the landscape at Highstead is through simple, natural pleasure.

Bill Toomey, Highstead’s director, explains the mission: to connect people

Highstead ... preserving,protecting paradise

by Lois Alcosser

The warm hue of goldenrod brightens the landscape and attracts butterflies.

Highstead staff photos

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August 2010 HOME, a Hersam Acorn special section, Ridgefield, Conn. 3

with plants and woodlands in their own backyards and afar, to motivate the appre-ciation, conservation and stewardship of all natural landscapes for the benefit of the environment and ourselves. This is done in many ways: studying why ash trees have been declining, analyzing the spread of bittersweet, Japanese stilt grass and bar-berry. Of particular interest are the deer enclosures, designed to calculate the effect of deer on tree seedlings. For example, Bill comments, “Many of the mountain laurels haven’t been looking as well as they should lately, and so a study is being done. Is it deer, or is it a decrease of sunlight? Or something in the soil?

“The landscape around the main build-ing has been intentionally managed,” he says, so visitors can readily identify the trees and bushes growing there. “The acre-age further away has been left to grow on its own, but it’s also being managed the way it has for hundreds of years. Meadows are created from forests, for farming and grazing. The meadow must be mowed, oth-erwise the forest would creep in and there’d be no land for farming.

“In addition to the misconception about weeds,” Bill says, “there’s that other negative

phrase ‘invasive plants.’ It’s true that when a plant is brought from its native habitat to some other place and it finds the right conditions for growth, it will grow. It’s not the plant’s fault. Bittersweet, for example, is a delightfully decorative plant that people pay for at city florists. But when it wraps itself around the trees in your backyard, it’s an enemy. You can’t just tear it off or spray it with something; it may take decades to get rid of it completely.”

Kalmia’s beautiful blossoms and evergreen leaves make it one of our outstanding native plants.

See Highstead page 13

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Summer weather has arrived, which to any foodie means grilling. Whatever the meal, outdoor living is all about delicious, healthy food.

Ancona’s Market, in the Branchville sec-tion of Ridgefield, has been in business for 80 years. Now, the third generation of this family, Joe Ancona, grandson of the origi-nal owner, has taken on a long-standing commitment to offering their customers the highest quality of meat and produce in the area.

Joe put it this way, “I’ve become the gatekeeper at Ancona’s, so it’s my job to bring in quality foods. In general, there are many things about food people don’t know, so educating the consumer is what I’m committed to, which means bringing in the healthiest products I can find.”

When it comes to beef, whether a steak, roast or the All-American hamburger, Ancona’s has chosen to go all the way to Montana for natural beef – Montana Ranch Brand Certified Piedmontese Beef, which has a superb taste and tenderness.

“Montana Ranch is a great transition for us,” Joe said. “What I tell people is, try [it] and taste the difference. This beef has a much cleaner and lighter sensation, while still having a very full, rich flavor because these animals are primarily grass-fed.”

Montana Ranch Brand, with head-quarters in Billings, Mont., partners with select family ranches in the United States that raise the Piedmontese breed of cattle, which are native to the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. A unique-looking ani-mal, it developed a lean physique and

ANCONA’S MARKET

Doing what comes naturallyby Priscilla Whitley

Top-quality food and service are hallmarks of Anocona’s Market in Ridgefield.

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heavy muscular structure, appropriate to the high-altitude environment in which it thrived. These attributes, combined with the way the animals are raised, produce a juicy, full-flavored beef with less fat and cholesterol than the traditional beef found in most markets.

The cattle are allowed to roam freely on land managed in a sustainable manner. Not only does this ensure a healthy animal, it also maintains the range lands for future generations. One of the most important

See Ancona’s Market page 6

A 1940’s photo shows the original Joseph Ancona’s Meat and Grocery store.

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factors in the raising of these animals is the lack of antibiotics, steroids or any supple-mental growth hormones, making them unique when compared to their corn-fed counterparts.

Cattle are brought to maturity in about 16 months by feeding them large quantities of corn that is high in fat and concentrated sugar, which fattens them up quickly. Corn also presents a health issue for cattle; it’s hard for them to digest, and so hormones

and antibiotics are needed to keep them healthy. “And we’re the ones now con-suming exorbitant amount of chemicals as a result,” Joe said. “Most people don’t know the ramifications of corn-fed beef. It’s [important to know] because “this waste can now be found in our watersheds and marshlands, having an adverse affect on our health.”

In contrast, the Piedmontese cows mature longer and develop a higher amount

of muscle. This particular breed has a muta-tion of the myostatin gene, a natural trigger in all mammals that causes the muscular development to cease after puberty.

“What happens,” Joe explained, “is the Piedmontese cattle keep [developing mus-cle] through the course of their life, and, in doing so, the muscle tissue becomes one, very lean, and, two, the actual cells in the strands of muscle get smaller and closer together, so once cooked it becomes very tender. With commercially raised cattle on a high-corn diet, you get a huge saturated fat problem and a huge cholesterol problem.

The Montana Ranch Brand pastures them longer so they’re eating grass longer, which is their natural feed. Grass gives cattle a high Omega 3 fatty acid content, which is important to a lot of people right now.

“The beef from Montana comes in very lean, with little gristle,” Joe said. “Beef cut up into small pieces results in a lot of sur-face area. That’s where the bacteria comes from, which is the main transporter of E. coli. We don’t use small pieces, we buy whole chunks of beef from one animal.”

Ancona’s, a full-service market, cuts all their meat in store. They grind their beef

Ancona’s Market continued from page 5

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first thing in the morning, giving it a 24-hour shelf life before pulling it off. So popular is their ground beef, they grind another round mid-afternoon, since the first batch has sold out.

Earlier in the year, Ancona’s partnered with Apple Ridge Farms, part of a local Community Supported Agriculture organization that raises six cows, organically, on the former McKeon farm in Ridgebury.

“We had a great response to this, so hope they’ll continue in the future,” Joe said.

Ancona’s provides the Little Pub, in Branchville, with all their superb ground beef and the concession stands at Little League games

in Ridgefield will be selling Montana Ranch burgers. It will be served Friday nights at the Ridgefield Boys and Girls Club barbecues.

With their long-standing tradition of qual-ity products, Ancona’s Market is committed to educating and enlightening their customers on the value of good food. Joe feels that his best approach is to offer people top-quality food and they’ll come back for more. That way, Joe said, “I’m serving my customers in the tradition my grandfather established 80 years ago.”

Ancona’s Market is at 720 Branchville Road, Ridgefield; 203-544-8436; Web, anconasmarket.com. ■Although still on Rte. 7, a 1950s photo shows the market’s new and expanded home.

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��Box 1019, Ridgefield CT 06877203-438-6544

Copyright 2010, Hersam Acorn Newspapers, LLC

Jackie Perry, editorJessica Perlinski, designer

•Thomas B. Nash, publisher

•For advertising information

call 203-438-6544AUGUST 2010 VOL XIV, ISSUE 7

Special Section to:

Greenwich Post, The Darien Times, New Canaan Advertiser,

The Ridgefield Press, The Wilton Bulletin,

The Redding Pilot, and The Weston Forum in Connecticut,

and The Lewisboro Ledger in New York

HOME

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‘The Haunted Ink Bottle’

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“It’s a hard job to plant potatoes, It’s a darn sight worse to hoe;

It’s a hard job to weed tomatoes, When the pesky things do grow.Farewell to all the bright lights,

Good-bye, old BroadwayWe are all out here to serve our country,

And you bet we’ll stay!”(To the tune of “Tipperary”)

This is just one of the songs that circulated to cel-ebrate the Women’s Land Army of America (WLA). There were 20,000 women across the country, 400 in Connecticut, who left their homes and families to replace the farmers who went to war in 1917.

It’s all documented in Fruits of Victory by Elaine Weiss, who consulted hundreds of sources to research the subject, with special thanks to the Wilton Library.

The Girl on the Land Serves the Nation’s Need STORY OF THE WOMEN’S LAND ARMY OF AMERICA

by Lois Alcosser

There were 400 women in the Connecticut unit of the women’s land army.

This is just one of the songs that circulated to cel-ebrate the Women’s Land Army of America (WLA). There were 20,000 women across the country, 400 in Connecticut, who left their homes and families to replace the farmers who went to war in 1917.

It’s all documented in Weiss, who consulted hundreds of sources to research the subject, with special thanks to the Wilton Library.

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She found long-lost posters issued to recruit “farmerettes.” One showed a woman in overalls and straw hat, “The Girl with the Hoe, behind the Man with the Gun.”

“The history had been forgotten,” Ms. Weiss says. “I didn’t know about it until I met Alice Holway in Vermont, a former farmerette, who was still working the land at age 80. She regaled me with stories and was very proud of having done her bit in service to the country.

“With that as an incentive, I had a grand adventure in archival archeology because the history of the WLA was scattered and buried for nearly nine decades. It wasn’t a government organization; it was privately funded and privately run.”

In 1917, one of the big questions was, “How are we going to feed everyone?” There were slogans: “The fate of the nation depends on food,” and “Food will win the war!”

But where was the labor? Women could be the answer. It would be hard work, learn-ing to drive a tractor, hoeing, weeding and harvesting all day. But women responded. Students, factory workers, teachers, office

See Farmerette page 12

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workers, rich and poor. There was a two-week training period with strict rules.

A Connecticut farmerette wrote in her diary: “Was told to bring low-heeled shoes, overalls, middy blouses or men’s soft shirts, rain gear, bedding, towels and a lunch box. No jewelry or good clothes. Day starts at

5:45 a.m., put on my working togs and learn how to hoe tobacco.”

In Connecticut, the tobacco issue became a problem. The WLA was supposed to pro-vide essential foodstuffs to nourish the troops and stave off famine. But tobacco? “I need smokes more than anything else,” claimed a poster of a soldier. After much controversy,

it was decided that if tobacco helped the troops relax, it was an essential crop.

Two Connecticut women who ran the state’s WLA were Corinne Alsop (moth-er of the future journalists Stewart and Joseph) and Grace Knight Schenck, both of Wilton. Grace Schenck was a natu-ral-born organizer. Three months after arriving in Wilton, she initiated the first women’s suffrage meeting at Town Hall, launched the Women’s Suffrage League

and an Equal Franchise branch. Women were working the farms, but they still couldn’t vote.

WLA uniforms varied in different states. Some wore overalls, some wore skirts or belted smocks covering their overalls. Sunhats were a necessity. In 1917, overalls for women were outrageous. Women driv-ing tractors? Impossible! But those objec-

Farmerette continued from page 11

See Farmerette page 14

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Bill studied biology and marine biol-ogy at Fairfield University, worked for the Nature Conservancy and studied the sci-ence of soil ecology in North Carolina. “I was always interested in frogs, flies and snakes and loved the woods as a boy.” He remembers his late teacher Salvatore Bongiorno, whose passion for ecology was the influence that led him to the field.

Highstead is reaching out to the pub-lic with many unusual events. Recently, Dr. David Kittredge, professor of forestry at the University of Massachusetts, introduced “Wildlands and Woodlands, a vision for the New England Landscape.” Based on the ques-tion of what the landscape will look like in 50 years, the vision calls for a long-term con-servation effort to retain at least 70% of the region in forestland, permanently free from development.

“Seldom does history give us a sec-ond chance to restore our natural infra-structure,” Dr. Kittredge says. “Each year, thousands of acres of forests and farms are bulldozed for houses, roads, commercial buildings and parking lots, but 63 percent of New England woodlands are privately owned. With easements from willing pri-vate land owners and strategic conservation acquisitions, forestland can be retained.”

An art exhibition, “Songbirds of the Eastern United States,” is planned for Sept. 11 to Oct. 29. On Sept. 11, from 10: 30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the artists will discuss their work and share the experiences that inspired them. For details, 203-938-8809 or www.highstead.net

Highstead is at 107 Lonetown Road, Route 107, in Redding. ■

Highstead continued from page 3

The mission of Highstead is to instill an appreciation of our natural habitat to inspire us to become conservators.

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tions soon faded away and so did stereo-types.

Ultimately, the objectors, the groups that feared male farmers were being replaced, changed their minds. Poems, songs, drawings, cartoons flourished. Farmerettes sang while they worked,

despite heat waves, aching muscles and $15 monthly wages. (The going farm rate was 25 cents an hour.) The WLA was considered an example of democracy in action.

With the end of World War I and a lack of funding, the WLA disbanded. The women who’d been active leaders turned their attention to the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Before World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt championed the idea of reviving the WLA, and, in 1943, it became a branch of the United States Crop Corps, which was recruiting volunteers for emergency farm work.

Among the historic pictures Ms. Weiss found is one showing two generations of a farmerette family: a mother wearing her breeches, puttees and belted smock uni-form from World War I and her daughter in one-piece denim overalls, no longer shocking attire, from the Crop Corps of World War II.

Fruits of Victory may be purchased at Barnes & Noble or ordered at your local book-store. It’s available on the Web at fruitsofvic-tory.com or at Amazon.com. ■

Farmerettecontinued from page 12

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Come join the fun at Bethel’s Eighth Annual Gardening Fair, Sunday, Aug. 15, from 12:30 to 5. The theme of this year’s fair is Edibles, and the array of gardening activities is sure to please everyone.

Presentations by gardening experts will include: Edible Landscaping, Vegetables Contained, Vegetables that Grow Above the Soil and Vegetables that Grow in the Soil. Information booths will cover a variety of top-ics – vegetables, invasives, turf care, ferns, power tools for gardeners and low-toxic garden-ing approaches. Master gardeners will answer your gardening questions and offer free pH testing of soil samples.

This totally free event, sponsored by the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program of

Fairfield County and the Connecticut Master Gardener Association, requires no pre-registration.

Free refreshments, demonstrations, a free plant raffle and a sale of gen-

tly used gardening books are planned for those

who attend this eagerly awaited

annual gardening event.The fair takes

place on the grounds of the Fairfield County

Extension Center at 67 Stony Hill Road in Bethel, less

than a mile from Exit 8 on I-84. Call the Master Gardener office with questions, 203-207-3262, or check the fair Web site, BethelGardenFair.com.

Bethel Garden FairMARK YOUR CALENDAR

activities is sure to please everyone. Presentations by gardening

experts will include: Edible Landscaping, Vegetables Contained, Vegetables that Grow Above the Soil and Vegetables that Grow in the Soil. Information booths will cover a variety of top-ics – vegetables, invasives, turf care, ferns, power tools for gardeners and low-toxic garden-ing approaches. Master gardeners will

free plant raffle and a sale of gen-tly used gardening books are

planned for those who attend this eagerly awaited

annual gardening event.The fair takes

place on the grounds of the Fairfield County

Extension Center at 67 Stony Hill Road in Bethel, less

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