The farm tradition will continue.
The Cheshire Old Bishop Farm apple orchard, open for more than 200 years before current farm owners John and Carolyn Torello put it up for sale, has been leased to husband and wife Matthew West and Dakota Rudloff-Eastman.
The farm, located at 500 South Meriden Road in Cheshire, hopes to reopen to the public on Saturday after being closed since December and will continue to offer homemade apple cider, doughnuts, ice cream and more.
The Torellos purchased the farm in 2015 and renovated the property, cutting down hundreds of old apple trees. They replaced them and reopened in 2018. Carolyn Torello said the couple has been looking to sell the farm following the passing of their 15-year-old son Michael in 2021.
“Michael was special needs and had cerebral palsy and was wheelchair bound, and we bought that farm for him. We bought it so he could grow up and have a purpose and work on the farm. That’s what I wanted for my son if he survived,” Carolyn Torello said.
The Torellos made the farm accessible for disabled workers and customers. Over the last several years, the Torellos invited special needs schools and organizations to come to the farm with a job coach and learn to work on the farm. She said that Rudloff-Eastman and West would continue the tradition.
“They aren’t saving the farm because we didn’t allow it to become anything but a farm, but they are keeping it alive,” Carolyn Torello said. “We wanted to keep it a farm because of our son because we believe in farming and because my husband and I planted every single tree on our own.
“(Rudloff-Eastman) is going to keep the ‘Believe’ sign on the farm and our whole vision of the farm she’s keeping alive. We were ready to step down from the farm but wanted to keep our vision alive, and they are enabling it to be kept alive,” Carolyn Torello added.
Rudloff-Eastman and West are familiar with Cheshire; they also lease Ives Farm in town. In addition, the couple owns River Ridge Farm in Portland and runs the River Ridge Farm and Market in Middletown. The couple has also been managing Rose’s Berry Farm in Glastonbury but do not have a long-term lease there.
Rudloff-Eastman, 29, grew up in Maine and West, 35, is a Meriden native. The couple lives on their farm in Portland. The couple managed other farms throughout New England before coming to Connecticut in 2019. Initially, they farmed in Roxbury on leased land at Maple Bank Farm in 2019. After a brief stint there, the couple bought their farm in Portland in 2021. In 2022, they opened their store in Middletown, in 2023 started they started leasing at Rose’s Berry Farm in Glastonbury and late last year began leasing at Ives.
“We were happy to work with them because we wanted to keep the integrity of the farm,” Carolyn Torello said of the couple. “We wanted to keep our vision. We know it’s not easy to be farmers, so we wanted to give them a good start. We are giving them a good start and eventually the plan is they are going to buy the farm.”
Cheshire assistant town manager Andrew Martelli said he’s had multiple conversations with Torellos who spent years repositioning the historic property after years of neglect.
“Mr. Torello and his family have put their collective heart and soul into this property and it’s so exciting this group will be operating the farm,” Martelli said. “Bishop Farm is an iconic part of the Cheshire landscape and seeing it continue into the future with new operators is exciting.
“Cheshire has a long history of agriculture greatness, and Bishops is a slice of what led to this area being known as the Apple Valley,” he added.
Rudloff-Eastman and West found out about the farm was for sale earlier this year when they received an email from the Torellos as members of the New Connecticut Farmer Alliance.
“We didn’t think too much of it,” Rudloff-Eastman said. “But last month my husband had driven by Old Bishop Farm a couple of times and said, ‘You know what, we should really reach out and see’ because the listing price was just out of our budget. It was too much. But we thought maybe we’ll see if they could do some kind of creative arrangement with us to be able to acquire in the future.
“I sent a cold email to John (Torello) and said, ‘Would you entertain this?’ Sort of thinking that he would shoot back with ‘No way.’ And they’ve been more than willing to entertain it,” she added. “We moved very, very quickly on it and came to an agreement I don’t know, I think like maybe two weeks ago. And we’re excited to hopefully open, pending the health department, on Saturday.”
Rudloff-Eastman said this property is a missing piece for their business. The couple are four-season farmers.
“Adding year-round markets is pretty important for us and also just wanting to have more space where the public can interface with the farm in a way that makes sense. And we’ve also wanted to have a kitchen and a bakery in a big way because that allows us to really reduce our waste because once a carrot gets soft, you can’t sell it retail but we can make carrot cake out of it. And so really kind of reducing waste, too, in creative waste. And then the ice cream is just fun. The ice cream is just a big bonus,” Rudloff-Eastman said.
In addition to the two fields of apple trees, Old Bishop Farm also has blueberry bushes, peach trees, as well as raspberries, blackberries and a flower garden. The Torellos also put a greenhouse and a vegetable garden on the property.
Rudloff-Eastman said just some minor cleaning had to be done to get the farm up and running because the farm had been closed since December. She said that Carolyn Torello has been “great about showing us the ropes.”
“They are both very kind people and overly supportive and showing me how they did everything,” Rudloff-Eastman said.
Rudloff-Eastman said they will bring in more produce and a more robust grocery section. The biggest change from previous years is that the farm plans to be open all year Tuesdays through Sundays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Rudloff-Eastman said she’s not certain what is next for the couple and if there will be more farms in the future. For now, their 7-week-old son Ila is keeping them busy.
“Opportunities keep presenting themselves and if it makes sense, we will continue to expand,” Rudloff-Eastman said. “We see this gap in agriculture, which is why we started our own farm. It’s really hard to have a career in small-scale agriculture, in terms of being able to support yourself and to have a family and live comfortably just as a farm worker. … We want to be able to build a business that has enough assets that can provide real jobs for adults who have families and children.”