In the Press
Cara Weigold and her husband, Richard, to her left, hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of their Northern Farm and Flowers farm store Friday in Goshen. Holding the ribbon are First Selectman Todd Carusillo, right, and Scott Olson, chairman of the town’s Economic Development Commission. Looking on are, from left, Selectman Dexter S. Kinsella, and the sons of Richard and Cara Weigold, Alden and Mason.
John McKenna Republican-American
Tulips in bloom are on sale at the new Northern Farm and Flowers farm store in Goshen.
John McKenna Republican-American
Colorful opening for new farm store in Goshen
By John McKenna / Republican-American
April 7, 2023
GOSHEN – The town’s newest business opened with much fanfare and the fragrant aroma of a wide selection of colorful flowers Friday.
Richard and Cara Weigold of Cornwall welcomed a steady stream of customers to their Northern Farm and Flowers farm store at 59 Old Middle St. in the center of town.
The day began with the owners holding a ceremonial ribbon-cutting that drew First Selectman Todd Carusillo, Selectman Dexter S. Kinsella and Economic Development Commission Chairman Scott Olson.
“This is great for Goshen to finally have a farm store that will focus on selling local products,” Carusillo said. “I enjoy seeing the fresh bread, the eggs and the flowers. They offer a variety of everything.”
Richard and Cara Weigold bought the building last year, and sold products in a more informal setting through the spring and summer. Over the winter, they gave the interior and exterior of the building a complete makeover in creating a store that is spacious, well-designed and boasting plenty of character.
“It’s going to attract a lot of business and will promote Goshen as an agricultural destination,” Kinsella said. “Richard Weigold is a terrific farmer who loves Goshen and has given us an asset that will enhance business in town.”
In addition to the selection of flowers, the store features locally made coffee, products from Arethusa Farm Dairy in Bantam, meat from Hurlburt Farm in Cornwall, maple syrup from North Goshen Maple Syrup and Ridgway Farm in Cornwall, as well as honey, sauces, candles and soap.
“You have a local business that is going to draw people not only from town but also from out of town,” Olson said. “That will be a win for Goshen. The store clearly fills a void in town.”
Former Selectman Henrietta Horvay came to shop for Easter flowers and found everything she needed.
“It’s a beautiful and very appealing store,” she said. “I’m a flower lover and I’ll get all of my flowers here.”
Janice Connor of Litchfield was another impressed shopper.
“I think Goshen has a wonderful destination where people can come and get a taste of homegrown products,” she said.
Donald Wilkes, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, recalled the effort Richard Weigold had to put in to gain zoning approval for the store.
“It was a long process he had to go through, but the result is beautiful,” Wilkes said. “I’m amazed.”
As the summer growing season unfolds, Weigold plans to sell produce from local growers. Inventory will change with the seasons, he said. Soon, plants and shrubs grown in greenhouses on the property will be available.
“We’ll feel it out as we go, but we will keep prices reasonable. And we have a suggestion box our customers are welcome to take advantage of,” Weigold said.
Store hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.
Richard Weigold and his wife, Cara, outside the nursery at 59 Old Middle St., Torrington.
Jack Sheedy / For Hearst Connecticut Media
In Goshen, Weigold’s nursery builds on family farming roots
By Jack Sheedy / Register Citizen
May 21, 2022
GOSHEN – When Richard Weigold looks up at a former hayloft window at 59 Old Middle St., he sees himself as a child in the postwar years, tossing hay bales down to his brother for the family farm.
Now he owns the building and the 7.4 acres on which it sits; and in April, he opened Northern Farm and Forestry, Goshen’s only plant nursery.
“It’s great that this building is staying agricultural,” said Weigold, a Cornwall resident, standing near a hothouse where herbs, flowers and other plants were soaking up sun on a mid-May morning. He has learned that the building was constructed in the 1940s and was a dairy farm until the late 1970s.
By opening the nursery, Weigold is honoring a family tradition of farming and farm-related activities, he said.
“My great-grandfather, Arthur Weigold, was the first to homogenize milk when he ran the Torrington Creamery on Riverside Avenue,” he said.
“Believe it or not, it was an accident,” he said. “At the creamery, to move milk throughout the plant, they used glass pipe. It was thick, a quarter-inch thick, and there were bleeder valves every so often. At night, when they were done moving the milk throughout the plant, they would open up these bleeder valves and pump hot water through it to sterilize the pipes.”
But once, one bleeder valve accidentally was left open after the sterilization process, and when plant workers ran milk through the pipes, the milk was heated and the cream did not separate, he said.
This fortuitous accident occurred in 1919, and put Torrington Creamery in the history books as the first creamery in the United States to homogenize milk for commercial sale, according to connecticutmills.org.
Weigold said he and his wife, Cara, always have been interested in plants, and when the property in Goshen became available last year, he purchased it.
“Even pre-COVID, there has been a huge movement toward homesteading, a resurgence of small farmers, people leaving big corporations and going back to basics,” he said. “When we found this building, we thought it would be a perfect location. We have great exposure here on Route 63. It’s a busy road.”
For now, Weigold is propagating herbs, flowers and shrubs for resale, as well as vegetable starters for replanting. “We are not going to do vegetables. We will sell tomato plants, but not tomatoes. There is no shortage of farm stands to buy produce,” he said.
“The longer-term plan would be a full-sized nursery and you-pick flower area,” he said. “We are going to continue to build out our nursery and eventually we will have a full-sized greenhouse. We might grow some fruit trees here, but not an orchard.”
An area on the south side of the building will be used for growing chrysanthemums, protected by a shade cloth, he said.
The nursery is an homage to his father’s side of the family, but another business he owns honors his mother’s side.
Weigold Floor Covering, at 148 East Albert St. in Torrington, is a direct descendant of A. A. Smith on City Hall Avenue.
Wolcott House on East Main Street was owned by his maternal grandfather and two great-uncles, and featured furniture, bedding and flooring. “In 1980, my mother and father made a decision that they were going to go strictly flooring,” Weigold said.
The couple sold the flooring business in 1991, but in 1997 Weigold and his father opened Weigold Floor Covering on Migeon Avenue. It later was moved to the southeast corner of Water and Prospect streets. Weigold took it over when his father retired in 1991, and in 2014, the business moved to East Albert Street.
But farming was in his blood. Northern Farm and Forestry was launched not only for his own satisfaction, but to bring satisfaction to others, he said.
“A lot of people get enjoyment out of improving their yards,” Weigold said. “It brings them happiness. And the way the world is now, when somebody gets excited about some flowers for their planter boxes, that’s a good thing. There’s a lot of bad out there. So this keeps everybody away from watching the news too much. Some things are important to do.”
Northern Farm and Forestry is located at 59 Old Middle St., about a quarter-mile south of the rotary on Route 63 in Goshen. It is open Fridays from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visit northernctfarm.com for information.
Richard Weigold of Cornwall, second from left, is watched by his wife, Cara, Goshen First Selectman Todd Carusillo, third from left, and Goshen Economic Development Commission member Scott Olson as he cuts a ribbon Friday marking the opening of the Northern Farm and Forestry nursery in Goshen. John McKenna Republican-American
Goshen welcomes new nursery
BY JOHN MCKENNA Republican-American
May 7, 2022
GOSHEN – First Selectman Todd Carusillo and town officials helped celebrate the opening of the town’s newest business Friday.
Northern Farm and Forestry at 59 Old Middle St. is a nursery selling flowers and shrubs. It is owned by Richard Weigold of Cornwall, who also owns Weigold Floor Covering in Torrington.
Weigold snipped a ribbon shortly after noon to commemorate the opening. Economic Development Commission members Scott Olson and Peter Kujawski, Goshen Agricultural Council Chairman Clint Thorn and Town Clerk Barbara L. Breor also attended.
The nursery will be open Fridays from noon to 6 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Weigold, who grew up on a farm in Torrington and recalled family trips to 59 Old Middle St. to buy hay, bought the property in December.
“I’ve always loved this property and when the chance to buy it came, I jumped at it,” said Weigold, who is operating the nursery with his wife, Cara. “I wanted to see its use continue to be agriculture.”
The community response to the new business has been positive, said Weigold, who has a long-range goal of creating a year-round nursery and farm store. For that to happen, the Planning and Zoning Commission would have to create a new regulation.
“It’s good for the town, and a new opportunity for gardeners and farmers,” Carusillo said. “They can come here and get what they need instead of driving out of town.”
A nursery is just what Goshen lacked and needs, Olson noted.
“The property wasn’t being used and just sat here,” he said. “This is a fantastic use that will bring people to town.”
Thorn, too, supports the use.
“It’s exciting to have another farm in Goshen because farming is what we’re known for in Goshen,” he said. “The agricultural council considers this a big deal.”
Northern Farm and Forestry will be part of the council’s farm tour in August, Thorn said.
Contact John McKenna at jmckenna33@optonline.net.
