A year ago, the farm store was just a dream in the mind of Ian Ridgway, son of Gordon and Jayne Ridgway.
But today that store at Ridgway Farm in Cornwall has come together in a way the whole town and more can enjoy, as have the younger Ridgway’s plans to have an apple orchard and make hard and sweet cider.
Ian Ridgway, joined by his parents at the new farm store at their 120-acre farm on Town Street in northern Cornall, opened the venture earlier this season, with hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
“The barn was built this winter, by a team from King Construction, in about two months,” said Ian Ridgway. “We did (a new road) and the parking area, and we mowed a lot of grass.”
He pointed at two wooden picnic tables on the lawn by the store.
“A local person dropped those off for us,” he said.
On a recent sunny afternoon, the new road led visitors from Town Street to the farm store, about a quarter-mile inside the Ridgway property. The post-and-beam building, which has high ceilings, a kitchen and restrooms, is filled with shelving, tables and small refrigerators. Those are filled with food – lots of farm food.
“So far people are really enjoying it. We’ve had live music and tours on Sundays. People are coming,” the younger Ridgway said.
The Ridgway’s produce is front and center: a variety of heirloom and garden tomatoes, corn, eggplant and zucchini, garlic and red onions. Pumpkins are displayed in a cart, and apples on a little shelf, picked from the orchard. Another display features the Ridgways’ own maple syrup, tapped from trees on the property.
There are plenty of other products and foods for sale from neighboring farms: milk, cheeses and ice cream from Arethusa in Bantam; eggs from Maple Hill Farm in Cornwall; and coffee, pastas, honey and pickles from farms in Dutchess County, NY.
In the kitchen, Jayne Ridgway was whipping up a batch of fragrant basil pesto, using her own recipe and a food processor. Little green jars with the Ridgway label were quickly filled with the aromatic sauce and tucked on a shelf in one of the mini-fridges. They won’t last long, and neither will her popular maple balsamic salad dressing.
“There’s nothing like pesto when you have all these vegetables,” she said, as she poured olive oil into the processor for another batch. “It just smells so good.”
Her husband and Cornwall First Selectman Gordon Ridgway made trips back and forth from the large vegetable garden, which faces their farmhouse and greenhouses adjacent to the farm store area.
“These are accordion tomatoes,” he said, patting a row of fat yellow ones. “You slice them along the ridges. They’re huge.”
As 4 p.m. approached, Ian sat in the small lounge area and hit his Facebook and Instagram pages, with new photos for shoppers, reminding them to visit.
On Sundays, the farm store offers cheese or other food tastings, and a tour of the orchard and farm. Sometimes, a fiddler or guitar player visits in the afternoon, and guests can enjoy live music while they’re spending a day outdoors.
“My dad always says, come by and enjoy a visit with your neighbors, get some dinner,” Ian Ridgway said.
Gordon Ridgway founded the farm in 1980 with help from his parents, Bruce and Kitty Ridgway, and his family: Jayne, and their three children, Elizabeth, Ian and Rebecca. The three remain an important part of the operations there, along with Ian’s college buddy, Ian Barry, and other friends and family.
“What a wonderful journey it’s been for this family and the store,” said New Hartford resident Karen Nelson, who stopped by to say hello. “I’m absolutely thrilled for him.”
Resistance, then success
When Ian Ridgway first introduced his idea of growing apples and making and serving sweet and hard cider at the farm, his plan wasn’t well-received by some of his neighbors. They imagined traffic, intoxicated guests and a disturbance to the quiet neighborhood of Town Street.
Determined and undeterred, the younger Ridgway continued revising his project until the Cornwall Planning and Zoning Commission granted approval for the farm store in January 2024.
The biggest change to his plans, he said, was to move the entire operation further away from Town Street, so it wouldn’t be seen from the road. The business is open only during daylight hours, to limit interruption in the neighborhood.
That was nearly two years ago, and things have changed, Ridgway said.
“Oh, everyone’s coming out now, to see it, to say how great it is, and to shop here,” he said. “They’re thrilled, and very supportive.”
Before starting the design work to secure his land use permits, Ian Ridgway also planted trees; varieties of apples he purchased from growers, as well as trees grafted from others in Cornwall, with old-fashioned names like Wickson, Redfield, Yarlington and Golden Russett. If, for example, he discovered a vintage tree in a yard, he approached the property owner for permission to graft some of its branches.
“It’s a way to preserve some of those trees; otherwise they’re just gone,” he said.
Those trees are now part of the 500-plus apple tree orchard, which is carefully tended by the Ridgways. The orchard is surrounded by a gate and a large fence, after deer ate a good deal of a previous crop, and other trees didn’t survive, Ian Ridgway said.
“We live and learn,” he said with a smile. “I planted 80 more trees.”
He also found resources for federal funding and received a farm transition grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a walk-in cooler to store his cider and produce.
The cooler is part of the kitchen, and by next year will be a full-fledged cider room, he said. Ridgway has already begun buying equipment to press his apples.
“This one is great, and you can run it with a garden hose. It’s very easy,” he said, showing a cylindrical press made of steel. “Once I get my cider making permits squared away, I’ll be ready to go.”
Ridgway Farm LLC is at 142 Town St. North Cornwall. To reach them, visit theridgwayfarm.com or on Facebook and Instagram.