To celebrate Flanders Nature Center’s first beginnings as a working farm, the Art Committee of Flanders will host a 1920s-themed Farm Tea on Sunday, May 5, from 4-6 pm in the original Flanders farmhouse, at the corner of Flanders Road and Church Hill Road in Woodbury.
In 1926, on a visit to friends in Southbury, 25-year-old New York artist Natalie Van Vleck fell in love with a farm on Flanders Road in Woodbury. She promptly persuaded her parents to buy it, and so set in train the events that led to the jewel in the crown of Woodbury, Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust.
Van Vleck was a gifted painter in the Modernist style, and additionally an artisan who worked in metal and wood. As time went on, she came to be a highly skilled farmer and ultimately preservationist of the natural landscape, which became one of the first Land Trusts in Connecticut.
To celebrate her accomplishments, the third annual traditional Flanders Farm Tea will feature a selection of teas as well as local jams, homemade cakes, scones, sandwiches, and cookies. A highlight will be a raffle for a basket filled with locally sourced items, including a handmade needle-felted sheep.
The Farm Tea will further herald summer with a talk by plant expert Fabienne Audette on wildflowers that can be found in the meadows and woods in the Van Vleck Sanctuary and a display of Natalie Van Vleck’s paintings that feature plant life. The talk will be held in The Studio, which is situated a few steps away from the farmhouse. Van Vleck not only designed and oversaw the studio construction, but also made the iron door handles, oak tables, and furniture, much of it still in the studio.
We look forward to taking you back in time to the 1920s, to when farm teas were commonplace, and to when a young New York artist fell in love with the beautiful landscape, subsequently making it her home where she painted, then went on to farm those original 200 acres and purchased more land, now accessible to all as the Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust.
Reservations are necessary by calling Flanders at 203-263-3711, ext. 10 or visiting flandersnaturecenter.org to purchase tickets. The raffle drawing is included in the $25 ticket for the talk and tea. Proceeds from the Tea will support the preservation and the furthering of Van Vleck’s artistic legacy. Please reserve early since space is limited and last year’s tea sold out.
About Flanders
Flanders is a community organization dedicated to preserving our environment and history through land acquisition, conservation and management, and using its stewardship of land to foster better understanding and appreciation of nature, art and the wonders of the natural world. Our vision is a future in which our important forests, wet lands, agricultural lands and wildlife habitats are preserved forever, and in which we follow best practices for land stewardship, be a leading center for environmental education for all ages, partner with all levels of government and private organizations to conserve our natural heritage, and insure the financial resources needed to achieve these goals.
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