With spring season blooming, Easter is just around the corner! It’s time to say goodbye to harsh colorants and synthetic dyes, and create Easter egg decorating memories with ingredients right from our farm market—or your kitchen! Follow along as we use fruits, vegetables and spices to show the power of natural dyes and provide a safe alternative for Easter traditions. Prepare your eggs ahead of time by hard boiling them in a large saucepan, filled with cool water. Slowly bring it to boil on medium heat. Once the water has boiled, cover the pot and turn off the heat. After letting it sit for 10-15 minutes, move your eggs into a strainer and run them under cold water for one minute.
Choose Your Colors Based on Food Item:
Red Beets = Red/Pink Dye
Turmeric, Yellow Onion Skins or Carrots = Orange/Yellow Dye
Spinach or Green Apple Peel = Green Dye
Red Cabbage or Blueberries = Blue Dye
Raspberries or Blackberries = Pink/Purple Dye
Prepare Your Dye
For fruits and vegetables, add ½ – 1 cup of them chopped, with 1 cup of water. Bring water and chopped veggies or fruits to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. For spices, use a 1:1 ratio of dried/powdered spice to water. For example, turmeric creates a vibrant yellow/orange color with 3 tbsp spice and 3 cups boiling water. Make sure spice powder is mixed well with hot water or the powder may settle at the bottom of your container. If this happens, stir dye a few times throughout the egg dying process. Remove pan from heat and let liquid dye cool to room temperature. Once cooled, use a strainer to pour liquid into mason jars or bowls, removing any food pieces. For a chunky, textured egg dye, leave food in containers. Food pieces give an awesome speckled appearance. Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or cream of tartar into each bowl or jar of dye.
Add hard boiled eggs to the dyes by fully emerging. Use stickers, glitter and rubber bands to create patterns and festive decorations! Refrigerate eggs in containers for 12 to 48 hours depending on how vibrant you wish egg colors. When eggs are dry, remove rubber bands and decorative embellishments to see your creation!
Resets are needed in many ways and for many reasons, and there is a true reason behind the term “Spring Cleaning!” A few months back in one of our manager’s meetings we started discussing doing a “reset” here in the retail market. While we are constantly bringing in new products, we often find ourselves limited on space as to where these new items will go. For staff and customers, our brains get so used to the way things are that we get stuck in our habits and don’t always see everything around us, but rather the things that we are used to. The kitchen and bakery staff have been busy creating new dishes and desserts, and the grocery department has been selecting and purchasing many new items to bring to the shelves. Hence, one of the reasons for needing a change in the store. Something fresh and new for both our staff and customers. New products and a slightly new look! This past Sunday night after we closed up shop, some of our team members got right to work and started working their magic. 
Meet Kevin Wolcott, our new Sous Chef! Kevin is a CT native, growing up in East Haven. At a young age he knew that the culinary field was for him! Despite his first dish ever being an epic failure (New England Clam Chowder), he did not loose hope and continued to explore his passion through high school electives and after school jobs. Kevin went on to study at Johnson and Wales in Rhode Island, graduating in 2005 with a degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. When asked why baking and pastry arts, he said “I didn’t want to stand in front of an oven all day and cook. I wanted something more challenging.” He compared baking and pastry art to science, but on the other hand, very calming and satisfying. “Main dishes and entrees are always evolving with changes able to be made up to the finished product,” says Kevin. “With baking, especially with pastries, it is a hurry up and wait. You can’t rush it, but are eager to see what the finished product is. Once something is in the oven, you can’t change it… all you can do is wait!”
Bishop’s first tractor was an 
A picture can be worth a thousand words, especially one with such important individuals. For those of you who do not know these family members, from left to right are: Barbara Bishop (my grandmother and wife of 4th Generation member Al Bishop), Arthur Bishop (3rd Generation – my great-grandfather), and Diane Bishop van der Grinten (my aunt – 5th Generation). This photo was taken while family and staff were celebrating Arthur’s birthday around 1980. Barbara, my grandmother, would ALWAYS make the time to bake a cake for everyone’s birthday, her father-in-law being no exception! Whether in the breakroom at the farm, Arthur’s office or back home with family, baking was always her favorite thing to do! Her handwritten recipe cards have all been computerized and imported onto our website’s ‘Bishop’s Cookbook’, as well as recipes that still to this day, are used in our Kitchen and Bakery. Barbara’s Blueberry Buckle is still a #1 seller and a dessert very well known throughout the shoreline, and personally my favorite, right after her raspberry pie!