Bradstreet Farmstand – Newport Maine

On our way back from the Moore Manor Lavendar Farm we happened upon an old fixture, the Bradstreet farm stand. My mother grew up in these parts and remembers fondly going to school as a child with some of the members of the family that owns this farm.

We had stopped by on this day to see good things we could get to eat and we were not disappointed! Although it was still early in the season they still had quite a bit to offer. I grabbed a bag of fresh peas, some pickling cucumbers, two plump tomatoes, some beets still connected to their greens, and a couple zucchini. Later against the wishes of my body I’d eat the most delicious cucumber and tomato sandwhich with boiled beet greens for dinner later on. No complaints here! Well, aside from my gall bladderless digestive system which now believes cucumbers to be poison. Still worth it. The peas also served for a fun snack for me as I like them raw.

These veggies were pricier than the super market but much fresher and I can’t help but want to support these local ventures as much as I can, especially seeing how old most of our farmers are these days. On this day it was no different as a grandmotherly lady took our money at the counter and quietly laughed at our conversation.

B F Clyde’s Cider Mill – Mystic CT

After getting our share of apple picking at Wittle Willow’s Spring Farm we continued our apple-centric adventures by driving a few minutes down the road to B F Clyde’s Cider Mill. It’s claim to fame is that it is the US’s only steam powered cider mill still running today. And it sometimes gives tours – although it appears only on the weekend and we were there on a Thursday so I apologize for my complete and utter lack of photos.

What I can say is this place was hoppin’! SO MANY PEOPLE had gathered here and it was pretty clear why. They had everything here. Regular cider, hard cider in more varieties than I could easily count, all sorts of old timey county store type things (like the pumpkin pancake mix and pumpkin butter we ended up bringing home) and I was thrilled they had apple cider doughnuts too which I gluttonously ate while sipping a cup of hot cider. It was then as we were all sitting around just enjoying ourselves that the jig was finally up. My companion looked up from his phone.

“It’s your birthday?!”

“Yeah…”

He looked around at where we were, where we had come from, and what we were eating. “This is kinda an awesome birthday.”

“It is!” I laughed.

After this we ambled around some more. There was another little shop there with more touristy things and I bought a magnet figuring it was high time to replace the ones on my fridge currently. Outside this there was a tasting station for all the various hard ciders (and wines? Champaign is a wine I think. Fuck if I know, I’m a teetotaler. ANYWAY…) Across from this they were setting up a hard cider slushee station which our friend gave a go. Sounds like some fresh hell to me but he was impressed and that’s all that matters.

This place was amazing and I left stuffed to the gills but we weren’t done. From here we’d walk off those doughnuts at the Old Mystic Village.

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