Here’s the Scoop!!

Bishop’s Orchards Creamery features delicious flavors, sundaes, ice cream sandwiches and our specialty… the Bishop’s Blitz!!! Delicious and fun flavors for everyone include Sea Salt Caramel, Moose Tracks, Fly Fishing Fudge and Black Raspberry!! Specialty flavors for dietary needs are also available!

Order Online For Pickup

NEW! We have recently added our most popular items to a new, online ordering platform. Using this new ordering system, you can pre-order groceries for curbside pickup. No need to get out of your car!

Additional items are added on a regular basis and we look forward to serving you both onsite and online in the seasons ahead.

CSA Program

Community Supported Agriculture, commonly known as CSA, is a popular term among food conscious people. Bishop’s CSA program directly links the consumer to the farmer by offering a share which contains an extensive fresh selection of both fruit and vegetables every week, grown with love right here in your community.

SAVE THE DATE – Little Red Bar[n] Opening Night

The time has finally come to open up our Little Red Bar[n] for our Summer & Fall season! Feel good at Bishop’s and unwind as you kick-back and relax. We love seeing family and friends gather on the farm patio for afternoons and evenings filled with good food & drinks, good music and straight up good vibes! The property will OPEN for the season on Friday, 5/26, at 4:30pm. Thursdays – Sundays, through the end of October. The field adjacent to Bishop’s Farm Market will be in full swing with wine, beer, froses, BBQ and more! Adirondack chairs, wooden picnic tables, and patio furniture line the property, with our sailcloth tent dazzling in twinkly lights.

A New Direction With Change

 

Feel good about change!

As our family continues to grow, so does our business and the desire to provide every customer with a fun and enjoyable experience that creates memories to last a lifetime. With change being something we all can dread, we are excited about our new and improved layout for the fall, and hope you will Feel Good about it too! Let’s start with the biggest and most noticeable change to come…

Stay Connected with the Farm

Does your seasonal bucket list include fresh strawberry shortcake, making berry jam, or even looking for something to do with your kids, family and friends? Are you concerned about missing the short pick-your-own windows that seem to get shorter as our days get busier? 

Feel good about being the first to know what’s ripe (and what’s happening) on our farm with short and simple text alerts from Bishop’s Orchards. 

As personal as all other aspects of what we do, these infrequent notifications will share weather updates, crop status, and other need-to-know details to ensure you have a great experience at our farm/farm market— which is our top priority. 

How to enroll? All current Rewards Customers (with mobile numbers) will receive an opt-in text and invitation to enroll in notifications. For those not yet registered with us, you will be able to text to instantly enroll and we will be sharing details on how to do so, in the next few weeks.

Not sure if we have your mobile number, or have questions? Stop by our Customer Service Desk or call us at 203-453-2338 to update your account.

Thank you for helping us, help you. – Keith, Sarah, and Carrie

What’s Happening in the Greenhouse

It is close to that time of year where buying dried herbs is out, and purchasing herb plants is in! The greenhouse has been busy and is gearing up to bring over our fresh herb plants and Mother’s Day baskets around the first of May. Michaele Williams, our Farm Manager, cannot wait for you to see how the potted herbs came in. There is nothing better than the smell and taste of fresh, locally grown herbs! Herbs are a great way to bring flavor to your dishes and add a little something extra to your meals. One of the biggest advantages of growing your own herbs is the flavor. You can never get the same flavor from dried herbs that you can from fresh herbs. Fresh herbs also have more nutrients and antioxidants than dried herbs, which can boost your health. You can easily grow them at home in the garden or in their pots. All of our herbs are easy to grow and don’t require a lot of maintenance. Taking fresh herbs home to grow on your own is also a great way to save money. You can buy one plant and get more than enough herbs for your needs. Plus, you won’t have to worry about buying more herbs when you run out. Some of the potted herbs that you can expect to see soon in the farm market are basil, cilantro, oregano, parsley, dill, and more!

Our Mother’s Day baskets are always a huge hit, selling out rather quickly with only 75 made for the season. They make the perfect gift, hosting multiple herbs like basil, dill, oregano, thyme, chive, cilantro or tarragon. All herbs are put into a biodegradable bowl that you can either put right into a planter, or if you want them to grow larger, you can separate them and plant them individually.

So instead of buying dried herbs from the store, try growing your own, with Bishop’s Orchards helping you with the roots!

If you’re interested in learning more about our herbs, give us a call at 203-453-2338. Mark your calendars for May 1st and be sure to check out our Mother’s Day baskets and herb plants.

April Creamery Specials

Spring Into Tasty Features

As we enter a new month and spring is officially here, come try our new creamery specials for the month of April. The Ice Cream Stand is scooping something extra special to really jumpstart the season.

  • Cadbury Eggs-plosion Blitz – vanilla soft serve blended with crushed Cadbury mini eggs and caramel sauce, topped with whipped cream & spring sprinkles
  • Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake – cheesecake ice cream, strawberries and crushed graham crackers blended and topped with whipped cream and a graham cracker rim.
  • Easter Bunny Sundae – vanilla ice cream with Milano cookie ears,  eye sprinkles, and a candy button nose.
  • Spring M&M Cookie Sandwich – vanilla soft serve stuffed between two M&M sugar cookies.
For more information and to view our creamery menu, visit the creamery’s webpage.

Apple Brandy & New Hard Ciders Released!

Our first ever Apple Brandy is bottled and ready after 2 years of aging! A portion of our apple crop has taken a different journey then ever before over the last 3 years. From our drumlin orchard soils, nutrients have traveled through xylem and phloem, forming blossoms that grew into tasty apples, which we juiced and fermented into hard cider.  As Winemaker and Cidermaker I veered off the known path, and partnered with Fifth State Distillery, who distilled our hard cider to make our delicious 80 Proof Apple Brandy.  What better project during COVID that is now ready to share? Our December special intro pricing is 2, 750ml bottles for $50. One for you and the other for a gift of ‘local’ to a special friend or family member.

In 2005, Bishop’s became the 16th licensed CT Farm Winery (there are over 40 in 2022), and in 2008 was also licensed to make Hard Cider. CT Farm Wineries are permitted under Ct General Statues Sec. 30-16  “the scope of operations of the holder shall be limited to wine and brandies distilled from grape products or other fruit products, including grappa and eau-de-vie.”

Is brandy the same as eau de vie? In French, eau de vie is a generic term for distilled spirits. The proper French term for fruit brandy is eau-de-vie de fruit.

We assigned the distilling expertize to Distiller Robert Schulten of  Fifth State Distillery for our first ever Brandy, an outcome of his distilling some of our other wines into hand saniziter during the first year of COVID to assist with the santizer shortage. So now from ‘tree to glass’  has a new meaning at Bishop’s compared to Grandpa’s making fresh apple cider in the same location over seven decades ago.

As we released our Brandy this week, we also celebrate our new Hard Ciders! We have just released two new Hard Ciders and two ‘Perry’ Pear Ciders, all made from Bishops Orchards grown fruit. Our Spiced Hard Cider is a reflection of our popular Farm House Hard Cider, infused with our mulled cider spices. A smooth finish makes this semi-sweet cider a delightful drink to enjoy during the fall and the winter months. Our Scarlet Hard Cider is a blend of our Farm House Cider and local Killingworth Cranberries. The Scarlet Knight  cranberries give this cider a tangy,  zesty yet semi-sweet finish rich in taste and with the cranberry hue.  This cider is perfect for the holiday season, enjoyed by the fireside or at mealtime when paired with turkey, or with a snack of a Bishop’s freshly baked pie with our Ice Cream. 

All our Wines, Hard Ciders and Brandy are Gluten Free.  The Ciders are sold in 4 packs of 12 oz cans, as well as a mixed variety 4-pack. Save with our Special offer through New Years… buy 3, 4-packs, or any combo of our Wines and Hard Ciders, and $ave $1 off each item.

Our sparkling hard ciders are light, refreshing  and fruit forward. With a crisp and clean finish, you will be pleased to experience our new blends. Be on the lookout for more varieties of Ciders out soon: Duke Hard Cider (Blueberry) and Golden Hard Cider (Golden Delicious and Russet varietals), which will join our existing line up of Farm House (our flagship cider), Crosby (Black Current blend), Lillian (Berry Blend) and Burton (dry, heirloom apple blend).  Our Peach Brandy is still aging with our release date unknown.

Continue to follow our journey and discover our new and exciting blends. When our Little Red Bar[n] venue re-opens in the spring, you can enjoy these on-tap.  As our capacity increases, we can sell to select liquor stores and restaurants.  Let us know your favorite locations, or tell the to contact us for these products.  For more information and individual descriptions on all hard ciders, our brandy and wines, please visit our listings.

… and the Kitchen Continues to Grow!

Over the past two years we have witnessed so much growth in our business, especially in our Kitchen and Bakery Department! We have seen so many new meals, all of which hand made here, by some amazing new faces! Along with our Head Chef Ian and Sous Chef Kevin, our other Sous Chef, Frank Connors, comes with quite the experience, having started in the industry when he was still in high school.

Frank attended Emmett O’Brien Tech School in Ansonia, where he focused on culinary arts. He got into cooking out of necessity. Having parents who worked 2nd and 3rd shift jobs, he knew that working in a restaurant would keep him busy and fed. He got a job as a dishwasher that lasted 3 days. The prep cook had quit so he was thrown into this new roll. Once in this role, his enthusiasm grew and his true passion came from trying to make different and new things. He took a job at Rapp’s Paradise Inn in Ansonia for a year, until his high school chef reached out to get him into Oak Lane Country Club in Woodbridge. He remained there until after graduation, when he took a position as a seafood line cook at Gennaro’s Restuarant on State Street in New Haven.

Frank stayed at Gennaro’s over a little over a year. He then took a job at Brookside Inn in Oxford and stayed for 16 years! He grew within this family run business, knowing the ins and outs and capable of running the business himself. “I loved working for a family business and felt like a part of the family myself,” says Frank. “If they hadn’t closed and moved away from Oxford, I would have stayed forever!” When his stint at Brookside ended, he became a part of the opening crew for GW Carson’s in Branford. He trained the opening crew and spent two years as their line cook, before moving on to a new adventure.

Frank’s friends were opening Entray on the shoreline and they wanted him to take charge as the head chef. Entray was built around homemade prepared meals, but unfortunately did not last long. When the business fell under, he moved on to Madison Beach Hotel where he was a Sous Chef for over 6 years. When the pandemic hit, the restaurant closed and when they finally reopened, he felt it no longer the right fit for him anymore. After deciding to move on and taking some time off, he found his way to Bishop’s Orchards!

As a newer member of the Department, he is excited to bring new ideas and recipes to the table, lending a helping hand to all. His favorite dish, and has been since he was six, is pizza. He has worked cooking with all cuisines, but he loves cooking all cuisines especially those different and unique like Asian Cuisine. Through his variety of experiences, he has come to know one thing… that experiencing failure helps to make the highlights stand out that much more. “I love being back in a family run business again, especially right after leaving the corporate field. They just understand it and help you make the balance possible.”

With over 27 years of experience, we are so honored to have Frank a part of our establishments. Be on the look out for more of his famous dishes, still to make their way into the Farm Market. In the meantime, you can probably find him cruising around Branford with his wife and step daughter… and their Pomeranian Oaklee.

“COVID hitting and changing my direction was difficult, but maybe the best thing that could have happened. Having daytime hours instead of evenings in the restaurant gives my family more time together. We all got to know each other again and reconstruct our family dynamic.”