With churches closed due to COVID-19, DeFrancesco Farm of North Branford has been left with nearly 900 Easter Lily plants in its greenhouses, after all of the churches which would normally be filled with the plants at Easter cancelled their orders. Now, owner Linda DeFrancesco is hoping to give the plants as gifts to front-line COVID-19 workers.

"We are giving away an Easter Lily for every hero that wants to come in and get one," said DeFrancesco. "It could be anybody that's on the front line -- doctors and nurses; it be could fire, police or it could be teachers – any of our heroes."

Once churches began cancelling their orders for the flowers, DeFrancesco said she immediately thought of donating the plants to COVID-19 heroes, but, "...you can't just drive up to a hospital and put out carts of them. So I thought if I could put out some sort of a shout out, then people could come in and get them."

DeFrancesco began offering an Easter Lily plant to every visiting hero on Wednesday, April 8 and will continue to give them away while they last. The plants are available at DeFrancesco's Market and Farm Stand, which is open from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.  (including weekends) and will also be open Easter Sunday from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. , located at 336 Forest Road, Northford.

Staying Open, Staying in Business

The market has remained open and operating throughout the statewide COVID-19 crisis, selling most of its usual staples such as fresh vegetables, milk, yogurt, eggs, local cheeses, jarred goods, maple syrup fresh from their trees and, starting this weekend, pies and cookies. On March 28 DeFrancesco's also opened its farm stand, which offers seasonal vegetable plants and flowering plants.

DeFrancesco is keeping her staff employed both at the farm market and stand and in growing plants at DeFrancesco's greenhouses and fields. The farm has been in Northford since 1907. 

"You don't know too many people that frown at flowers. We're feeling people are going to want to stay home, plant, spruce up their yards, put a vegetable garden in," she said. "So we're planting, hoping that people will come out and buy it, and it gives them a purpose. So my stand is going to stay open and have plants all season. We'll have hanging baskets, planters, geraniums... everything that they need that they put in their garden or window boxes; and all the vegetables plants -- tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cabbage, all the plants they'd put in their vegetable gardens."

Cold weather veggie plants (lettuces, cabbages, parsleys etc.) are available now at the stand. Also newly available are applications for DeFrancesco's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program (download the order form at https://defrancescofarm.com/ ) Subscribers purchase a share of the harvest of vegetables coming into season over 14 weeks, from the end of June through September. Each weekly harvest is packaged up by DeFrancesco's for pick-up by CSA members.

"So if they can't do their own gardening, or if they don't want to go to the grocery store or chance going out with the disease if it's still around, at least they can get everything packaged and just pick it up," said DeFrancesco.

She also hopes people will take advantage of the safe service being offered right now at DeFrancesco's Market.

"We are open, we are safe -- with the plexiglass [between cashier and customer] and nobody else touches the veggies, we handle it ourselves with gloves. People can tell us what they want, we pick it up, bag it up for them, price it and then away they go," said DeFrancesco.

The market has also been helping to pick up the slack caused by restaurant dining rooms forced to close due to COVID-19 restrictions, by bringing in vegetables and other items that restaurants normally would be ordering in greater quantities from their suppliers.

"Those suppliers have a livelihood to maintain, too," said DeFrancesco. "We're just trying to help out other people."