An Ice Cream Stand—

The County’s Last Commercial Dairy Farm Makes A Stand

By Kaaren Valenta

Shirley Ferris watched as her husband, several of her five grown children, and a couple of grandchildren herded the family’s dairy cows out of a pasture, across Route 302, past the new Ferris Acres Farm Creamery sign, and into the field that leads to the milking barn.

It is a sight that always makes her smile.

And now that Fairfield County’s only remaining commercial dairy farm has opened its own ice cream shop, Ferris Acres Creamery, Shirley, and her husband, Charles F. Ferris III, hope that the family farm will be around for generations to come.

“The ice cream shop is more successful already than we expected,” Mrs Ferris said. “The support from the community has been very encouraging and our whole family is very appreciative.”

The ice cream shop quietly opened several weeks ago as Shirley and her daughter-in-law Terry Ferris were training the staff, arranging schedules, and making tubs of ice cream.

“About four years ago I took my sons out to lunch and we had a long and serious talk about the future of the farm,” Mrs Ferris said. “That was followed by a series of formal business meetings where it was decided that the family wanted to stay in Newtown and stay in the dairy business but with the realization that we needed to have a retail outlet of some sort to sustain the farm.”

While prices paid to dairy farmers for their milk currently are good, this has not been the case for the past two decades, she explained.

“A year ago, and even six months ago, the price [to the farmer] was less than 20 years ago, but the price of everything else — everything we have to buy to run the farm — has quadrupled,” she said. “Since our sons [Charles IV and Brendan] wanted to stay in the business, the farm has to support three families so additional revenue is necessary.”

The Ferrises examined other possible sources of income including vegetable farming, raising horses or beef cattle, creating corn mazes and holding hay rides, and rejected each one of them for a variety of reasons. Since they have long had a dream of being able to bottle their own milk in an old-fashioned style that is pasteurized but not homogenized, an ice cream shop seemed a logical first step toward a dairy operation.

“We aren’t using just our milk for the ice cream because it has to go through the milk cooperative to be processed,” Mrs Ferris said. “But having served as commissioner of agriculture, I know pretty much whose farms it is coming from. I know the state regulations and the farms, and I know that I want Connecticut milk.”

Leaving state government last year after serving two four-year terms as agriculture commissioner, Mrs Ferris joined her family members in learning everything they could about ice cream production. They met with their financial consultant and attorney, visited other farm ice cream shops, and met with an engineer and the town’s zoning officials.

“We found the town officials very helpful in steering us in the right direction and helping us through the permitting process,” Mrs Ferris said.

She took a rigorous course in commercial ice cream making at Pennsylvania State University and the family hired Larry Fischer, a friend and neighbor, to do most of the carpentry for the new shop.

“The serving counter and the beams inside the building are from what was the tallest Norway spruce tree in Connecticut — 109-feet, 9½ inches — until it was hit by lightening two years ago,” Mr Ferris said. “Originally there were four Norway spruce in the yard, although growing up here I only remember three.”

The tree had stood sentinel over six generations of Ferris’s who operated the farm since William David Baldwin Ferris, a descendant of the first Ferris to arrive in Newtown around 1703, purchased the land on what is now Route 302 in 1864. While his son also grew apples and raised beef for the wholesale markets in Bridgeport and Danbury, his grandson, Charles D. Ferris Jr began the transition to dairy specialization in the 1930s. In the mid-50s, Charles D. Ferris III upgraded the herd with registered Holsteins and introduced modern technologies in crop, environmental, and herd management. In 1996, Charles D. Ferris IV (Charlie), Brendan, and their sister Colleen, who is currently a teacher at Newtown High School, joined their father to form Ferris Acres Farm LLC.

The Ferris family has 80 acres of land, rents an additional 250, and has 120 cows, 68 of which are milkers.

Because the family members knew they would not have time to run the farm and build the shop, they hired Mr Fischer as well as other local contractors that include Brian Risko, Mike Zeno, and Tom Bruno, to do the foundation, plumbing, and electrical work.

“The Kimball brothers did the construction work — septic, driveways, parking — and built some of the fencing. The rest was done by my sons, including the stone walls,” Shirley Ferris said. “Dave French did the quarry tile floor to meet health regulations and DeGrazia was the well driller. [Charlie’s wife] Terry, Colleen and I did the painting with some help from the grandkids. [Brendan’s wife} Michelle painted the stencil. Colleen and I did the landscaping; Michelle planted the tubs of flowers and trees.”

Because of the demands of operating the farm, the job of running the ice cream shop fell mostly to Shirley and Terry. Terry does the accounting, payroll, and inventory side and also supervises the staff while Shirley makes the ice cream and manages the operation. Michelle put together an employee handbook for the business and also mows the lawns. The Ferrises also have two other children, Ginny Sue and Aaron, and 13 grandchildren.

Grandaughters Sarah Ferris and Emily Kimball help the staff of ice cream servers, which also includes Kate Sullivan, Amber Finlayson, Lauren Baggage, Erin Beckman, Jamie Beckman, Emily Fields, Brendon Goodridge, Ryan Martin, Julia Lysaght, Katie O’Connor, and Stephanie Corleto.

On Saturday, July 17, the Ferris Acres Creamery, “Where the Cows Cross,” will be celebrating a grand opening from 3 to 5 pm. Children will be able to win a free T-shirt by naming the farm’s newest calf. Adults will be asked to choose a name for one of the shop’s unique ice cream flavors.

The farm store offers soft and hard ice cream, yogurt and sorbet, ice cream cakes and sandwiches, specialty food items from Connecticut farms, such as ice cream toppings, jellies and jams, maple syrup and honey, and root beer, as well as fresh flower bouquets from the Ferris family’s own garden, Cabot cheeses, and other items.

There are various size cones and cups, toppings, sprinkles and dips, sundaes, and “moo mixers” that incorporate toppings into soft ice cream. Traditional favorites like brownie sundaes and root beer floats are available along with a “Cow Crossing Sundae” that includes three scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, green sprinkles — to represent grass — and three handmade chocolate cows. This concoction is served with two spoons for two people to share.

“Customers have been making suggestions and we are listening,” Terri Ferris said. “For instance, we are now open until 10 pm by popular demand.”

“We are also responding to requests for new flavors, such as cookie dough and pistachio, as fast as possible,” Shirley Ferris said. “Now that I am finally able to get a steady supply of the ingredients, we’ll have maple walnut on a more regular basis.”

Shirley Ferris believes this is a very auspicious year to launch the ice cream shop.

“The ice cream cone was officially invented at the St Louis World’s Fair in 1904,” she pointed out. “This is its 100th anniversary.”

Ferris Acres Creamery is open daily from noon to 10 pm throughout the summer, and will remain open probably through October, weather permitting, with reduced evening hours.