Unassuming Bethel Family Farm Stand Open for 40 Years

Giovanna Fragomeli and her husband Lorenzo have been tending the garden behind their home on Plumtrees Road for over 40 years. And as the harvest baskets overflow, they share their bounty with their neighbors in the form of a small farm stand run out of their garage.

An unassuming sign at the driveway entrance to 102 Plumtrees Road reads, “Fresh Corn, Veg. for sale,” and a few cobbled-together tables and a produce scale make this seem like a humble stand. However the quality and diversity of the fruits and vegetables on display Tuesday afternoon equaled that of larger, more professional farm stands.


Lorenzo, 78, said he immigrated first to West Virginia in 1959, coming from the tip of the Italian peninsula. (He points to the tip of my shoe.) Giovanna, 72, arrived from Italy a year later, coming to Danbury in 1960.

The two met and started and raised a family in Bethel, with Giovanna cultivating her garden all the while.

For the last 40 years, the family has been selling some of that produce out of the garage, open from the first harvest until the frost comes, Lorenzo said.

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, passers-by can come up, peruse the offerings and ring the bell if no one is there to help them. Giovanna is usually there in the garage, though one of their eight children or many grandchildren are as likely to come out to help, carrying their two Chihuahuas along.

(Editor’s Note: I left carrying a complementary bag of tomatoes, peaches and plums, grateful, but with no say in the matter.)