Farm to Hearth moving to White Gate Farm
East Lyme — White Gate Farm announced last week that it will soon be the home of Farm to Hearth, Todd Solek's wood-fired bread company.
Farm manager Kent Girty recalls driving from Lyme to Salem with his sister-in-law in 2011 to go to Farm to Hearth. It was not long after Farm to Hearth opened, and Girty hadn't yet moved to Connecticut.
The bread was so hot it burned their fingers, but the two would eat an entire loaf before making it back to Lyme.
"I want to bring those days and those fond memories to White Gate Farm," Girty said. Farm to Hearth began selling out of Haddam, and now it's coming to East Lyme.
Girty said White Gate Farm is repurposing a former goat barn and dragging it closer to the farm stand and kitchen; Solek will bake his bread in a wood-fired oven just outside the structure.
He mills his own grains, making the bread more nutritional.
Girty said that along with loaves, White Gate Farm will start experimenting with pretzels, and he envisions a German pretzel night where visitors can come and sit and eat their pretzels on the picnic benches.
He also said the farm plans on making pizza.
White Gate Farm already sells Solek's bread on market days, and Girty said Solek will begin baking his bread at the farm as early as mid-July.
"You'll smell that hot bread baking, and you'll be able to watch the flames in the oven," Girty said. "I think that will add a lot as far as the overall experience of the farm."
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