Buttonwood Farm Sunflowers, Griswold

Buttonwood Farm is many things, but for photographers, it's the sunflowers that make the trip worthwhile. And of course, the homemade ice cream makes the trip to the quiet eastern side of the state on a hot July day even more worth it!

The current farm began in 1975, when the Button family cleared the land, using the timbers for construction, and created a business marketing beef cattle and dairy products. The land is used to grow feed for the cattle, among other things. The ice cream business evolved in 1994, and when the first acre of sunflowers was planted in 2003, the family was surprised at what a draw it was for them. Carloads of people came from far and wide to enjoy and photograph the beautiful sunny faces. The next year, they planted 10 acres, and now they plant 14 acres of the glorious bloom. There are two fields of sunflowers, on either side of the Shetucket Turnpike (Route 165). That second year, they decided to sell the sunflowers to the public, and donate all proceeds to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  This tradition continues, and in a short period in late July, they are able to draw people to view the sunflowers by foot or on a tractor-drawn hay wagon, and make a substantial donation to help make dreams come true! And they have line-ups at their ice cream shop!

What to Photograph

Try a multiple exposure to get an unusual effect, like a swirling skirt!

You can't miss the vibrant yellow fields of sunflowers when you come close to the area. There are over 300,000 of the beauties planted inside stone walls on 14 acres. The two fields are on either side of Route 165, and can easily be accessed. Park in the parking lot of Buttonwood Ice Cream, and take the short walk to the first field, adjacent to the shop. There's a wide unplanted swath through that field where you can walk and get up close and personal with the giant sunflowers. They tower well above your head. At the far end of this field, there's a small hill, and if you walk to the top of it you can get a good overview of that field of sunny faces.

There's also a couple of old grey barns standing beside the sunflowers, making a nice backdrop. But check out the buildings for some fun details to photograph. There's great old doors, and windows and weathered wood. And if you're there in the evening, watch for the sunset to reflect in the window!

The second field is located just a short walk away. Cross Route 165, and go left to the sunflowers you see just past the intersection of Glasgo Road (Route 201). This field is best shot in the evening, primarily because the sun sets behind the trees and hills in the distance, and can make for a pretty colorful scene. There is no access to this field, so you photograph from the stone wall that runs along the roadside. Stand beside the wall, or climb up on it for a better view - it's plenty wide enough.

Be sure to look around you for other photo opportunities. There's a great old barn full of character and detail on Glasgo Road, right next to the sunflower field.  Directly opposite the ice cream shop, there's a wonderful hill topped with a tree or two, and on a misty early morning, this is a very photogenic scene.

When to Go

Sunsets are spectacular!

Early morning is our favorite time to go. It's unlikely you'll find much competition then. Since it's a popular spot to go, the evening hours are a little more crowded, and you'll find it more difficult to get photos without interruptions. The second field, a little further from the ice cream shop is wonderful in the evening, but get there early to get a parking spot along the road, and a good spot to shoot from.

Check the website for dates when the sunflowers are in bloom. The first year we drove all the way there, only to find that not one flower was open! And of course, the blooms can vary year to year. They begin cutting flowers for sale as soon as they begin blooming, and then after about 2 weeks, all the blooms are cut for cattle feed. It's a very short season, but it's more than worth it!

Tips and Techniques

You'll want to try different lenses here - from wide angle for that overall landscape, to telephoto for the close-up of the flower head, and even macro lens to get up-close and personal with the seeds and petals. You might even want to bring a small step-stool with you to get super-close. These flowers are 8 feet tall!

Directions

Buttonwood Farm

471 Shetucket Turnpike

Griswold, CT   06351

Phone:  860-376-4081

Website:  www.buttonwoodfarmicecream.com

GPS Coordinates:   Latitude:  41.5553749  Longitude:  -71.8800209

Parking is available in the lot off Shetucket Turnpike. There's a separate parking lot for ice cream store customers, which is a little further away from the sunflower fields.

Tourist Tips

Buttonwood Farm Ice Cream

Delicious ice cream and waffle cones are made from scratch using old time recipes. There’s a wide variety of ice cream, yogurt, and sorbet flavors.

Hours: Noon - 9:30pm Monday - Friday, 11:30 am – 9:30 pm Sat and Sunday

During the sunflower festival, you can take a hayride through the sunflower fields.  Call 860-376-4081 for a reservation. 

Rosedale Farms and Vineyards, Simsbury

Seasonal Rating: Spring **     Summer ***     Fall ***     Winter *

Rosedale Farms and Vineyards operates a market garden farm as well as a winery. It is a fifth-generation farm and has been operating since 1920 in various renditions. It created a niche in the winery business when the owners planted a four acre vineyard and produced their first vintage in 2005. The farm is located near the Farmington River in the Weatogue section of Simsbury, and with its freshly painted barns, the vineyards, and lush fields of vegetables and cutting flowers, it provides a scenic setting for photographers.

What to Photograph

During the summer and fall, the vines, vegetables and cut flowers provide lots of opportunities to capture the feel of times gone by on the farm. After becoming a winery, the barn received a new look and now sports a coat of vivid red paint, adorned with oversized green grape leaves. There are various pieces of vintage farm equipment and trucks on the property that make for interesting subjects. Try composing your shot with a vintage plow or truck in the foreground when photographing the bright red barn to get a contrast between the old and new. Take a few close-ups of details of the trucks or cultivators that are strategically placed on the property.

Of course, in the late summer or fall before the grapes picked, you can get up close with the full bunches on the vines. Look for the different colors of grapes, from yellow-green to deep purple. Try shooting the rows of grapevines, using the lines to give your shot perspective, or to draw the viewers eye to another object, such as the barn or vintage truck.

Starting in late June or early July, the cutting flowers come into bloom. Follow the road past the grapevine barn to the fields of sunflowers and other cutting flowers. The field of sunflowers runs back to the stand of trees, which gives a good solid green backdrop for the tall sunflowers. They don't bloom until later in July, but once they start, blooms continue throughout the summer. An adjacent field is overflowing with colorful zinnias, snapdragons, asters and other annuals used to make the arrangements sold at their market stand.

Painted barn adorned with grapevines 

When to go

The warm summer months, from June through September, are the best time to visit Rosedale Farms. Early morning hours give a nice backlight on the vines and grapes, when you can look for dew drops and soft light to backlight the grapes and outline the leaves. The rising sun shines across the fields of flowers, as well, giving a pleasing glow. The sunflowers face the rising sun in the east, which makes it easy to get their faces when you are positioned on the farm road. Try to go by in the winter and spring if you want to photograph the buildings and capture the starkness of the vines against the land.

Tips and Techniques

Get down low to photograph the grapes, with the sun backlighting the grapes for a nice glowing effect. Use a reflector to fill the dark shadows, if you think it's necessary.

Directions

Rosedale Farms and Vineyards

25 East Weatogue Street

Simsbury, CT 06072

860-651-3926

www.rosedale1920.com

GPS coordinates: Latitude: 41.851339, Longitude: -72.798576

Store hours: 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, in season. (Check the website)

Parking is available in the small lot by the farm stand.

Tourist Tips

Pinchot Sycamore

The historic Pinchot Sycamore tree is the largest and oldest sycamore of its type in Connecticut. It's worth a stop to see the tree, and perhaps photograph it. It suffered some damage in the late October snow storm of 2011, but it is still an amazing tree with branches that reach out like a giant's arms, as if to grab the cars driving by. There is a little parking area just north off Route 185 beside the Farmington River.

Route 185, enter across from Nod Road

Simsbury, CT

 Heublein Tower

Heublein Tower is a six story structure on the top of Talcott Mountain. It overlooks the town of Simsbury and off into the distance of the Litchfield Hills and is visible from Bloomfield to Canton and beyond. It is best to photograph in the late day when the sun is shining on it from the western sky. It almost glows when the light is right, and is a much photographed icon of Simsbury. There are many spots to photograph this tower from. Try driving along Hop Road, south from Route 185, or south on Hopmeadow Street, and stop when you find a parking lot or side street with a good view.

Talcott Mountain, overlooking Simsbury

The Garlic Farm, West Granby

Seasonal Rating:  Spring N/A      Summer ***     Fall***     Winter N/A

The Garlic Farm is a small market garden farm in the village of West Granby. They specialize in vegetables and fall crops, especially garlic, onions, and shallots. It is open for the season when the vegetables are ready for harvest, which means sometime in July. In addition to doing local farmers markets, they sell produce directly from the farm. The crops are grown in the fields surrounding barn, as well as in neighboring fields.

What to Photograph

Garlic by the yard laid out to dry

There are bins and bins of garden produce, both inside and out at the farm-stand, which is located in an old barn first used to dry tobacco. It is painted a nice bright red, which provides a good backdrop for the colorful sunflowers and other flowers that bloom in the cutting garden out back. The cutting garden is full of zinnias, extra-large black-eyed Susans and vivid orange Mexican sunflowers. Towering sunflowers are sometimes thrown into the mix, but have the honor of their own special garden to one side. If your passion is shooting the bright yellow flowers, you can go all out there. With a bright blue sky and the great red barn, it's fun to be creative with the big happy sunflowers.

The vegetables make for interesting photographs, too. They are all displayed in bins, which are stacked  outside the entry to the barn. There are several varieties of tomatoes, including many heirloom varieties. Heirlooms come in all kinds of interesting colors, including yellow, orange, striped yellow and rosy red. Even the familiar tomato-red varieties come in all shapes and sizes. There's also a big selection of peppers, all wonderful to photograph when they are grouped together on display. Other vegetables you might have fun experimenting with are eggplants, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, and of course garlic, which is displayed in bins, and hung from the rafters to dry. Later in the season, there are braided garlic ropes as well.

When to go

Zinnias bloom later in July until frost and stand out against
the red barn once used for drying tobacco

The selling season starts in June, when the farm opens on weekends only to sell the early season garlic scapes. Beginning in July, when the first tomatoes are harvested, the farm stand is open daily, except Mondays. The best time to go is July through October when there are lots of colorful vegetables and loads of garlic drying in bunches, and the cutting garden flowers are in bloom. In the fall, pumpkins, winter squash and fall mums provide lots of colorful opportunities for photographers to be creative.

Late afternoon is also a good time, when the sun is low in the sky and the rows of tomatoes behind the old tobacco barn are bathed in a nice golden glow.

Tips and Techniques

Peppers of all kinds are on display; use a diffuser if the light is bright
to avoid 'hot spots'

Early morning light is good, but it might be best to hope for a bright overcast day to get the best light for the vegetables. Since the bright light really adds a lot of highlights to the shiny vegetables, like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, it's best to find a shaded location where you can take your pictures. Also, remember to bring a reflector to balance the light, or try a make-shift one with poster board or foil. A diffuser is helpful also, if you are doing close-ups in a bright light.

Directions

76 Simsbury Rd 
West Granby, CT 06090
860-653-0291

www.garlicfarmct.com

GPS coordinates:  Latitude: 41.951305, Longitude: -72.837858

Limited parking is available right at the farm stand.

Hours:  10:00 am to 6:00 pm July through October. Closed Mondays. Check the website for opening day and special events.

Tourist Tips

There are a couple of breakfast places in Simsbury, which is the closest town to the farm. Harvest Cafe Bakery is a local favorite, and is always hopping for breakfast and lunch. It is somewhat hidden in a small strip mall.

Harvest Cafe Bakery

1390 Hopmeadow Street
Simsbury, CT 06070-1411
860-658-5000

Hours: Monday - Saturday: 6:00 am - 2:30 pm; Sunday: 7:30 am - 1:30 pm

www.harvestcafebakery.com

Peaburys Cafe

12 Hopmeadow Street

Simsbury, CT 06070

(860) 658-2930

Hours: Monday, Tuesday: 7:30 am-4:30 pm; Wed: 7:30 am-9 pm; Thurs-Fri: 7:30 am-8 pm; Sat: 8 am-10:00 pm; Sun: 8:30 am-4:30 pm 

 Holcomb Farm

Holcomb Farm CSA is located almost directly across the road from the Garlic Farm, and may provide another stop for photographers. There are several interesting buildings and barns, all painted red with white trim, which would make for interesting shots. They also plant a field of sunflowers, sometimes close enough to the road, to be able to photograph. 

111 Simsbury Rd

West Granby, CT 06090

Hours: Does not open for sales to the public.

www.holcombfarmcsa.org