Lower Connecticut River Valley Region Farms
Featured Farmer | John, Jennifer and Alden Halfinger | Halfinger Farms
Farming is hard work and growing daffodils is no exception. “Dancing Daffodils” is famous all over Connecticut and beyond, the first Pick-Your-Own daffodil farm in the state. Inspired by Wm Wordsworth’s poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, Jen’s enthusiasm is immediate, light-hearted and infectious. The romantic poem was penned when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing -- marked by a change in how people work, pervasive pollution, and the drift away from spending time in nature for pleasure. Much like now.
Today we feel the same sentiments Wordsworth expressed, 120 years earlier: the pleasure of being close to nature, not quite so alone, and much better for it. Only at the grower’s do we know the origin of our flowers and appreciate the supreme quality and longevity of the plants.
You plan your visit to welcome spring or Easter and find it’s the start of making memories and finding joy throughout the year. You return in May --the #1 month for plants-- and wander the greenhouses for annuals and perennials, all grown by the Halfingers. They are closing down for the season by mid- June but already looking forward to re-opening on September 1st.
In the fall, the scene changes once again. Come for hand-harvested pumpkins and gourds as well as mums and asters, arranged by color, not flowering time. You will be especially delighted by the asters in pink, blue and purple and feel spoiled for choice until mid-October. Then the focus becomes getting spring flowering bulbs in the ground.
John met Jen in 1995 and brought her to his Victorian family home, the original house, barn and 2 acres (later adding 7 acres). John’s Dad had bought the property after WWII and started farming. Like his Dad, their son Alden has known no other home and looks set to continue the story.
The entire neighborhood is in a time warp with many of the properties dating from the late 18th century. The first settlers seem to have been largely inter-related, living among steep slopes and valleys with a horse-shoe shaped road connecting them. A half-mile further up on Jacoby Road is the 12-acre former WinMar Farm (now Dancing Daffodils Farm) which John and Jen added to their holdings in 2017. It had lain fallow for years and was a monumental undertaking to make ready before turning into the couple’s dream, a pick-your-own daffodil and narcissi farm.
Bulb-growing is fascinating and John is still learning. Until now, the bulbs have been imported from the Netherlands. He concentrates on three sizes, the smallest going back in the ground to mature and multiply. He’s using a no-till planter, also from the Netherlands, on glacial till that is delicately balanced between neutral and acid. New for 2025 will be Connecticut-grown bulbs, a change from imported ones. Among the 150,000 bulbs is Grower’s Pride –10” to 12” tall and early blooming, the star of the show among 26 varieties. Over a period of 4 weeks or so, the daffodils’ DNA reveals their differences: height and strength, whether forward- or upward-facing, and bloom time.
Daffodils can be snapped off with your fingers and don’t need water or a receptacle for the trip home. Even tightly-budded ones will open the next day in a warm house. But you will be hard-pressed to resist the reclaimed and rescued vases, curated by a designer, and available for the price your heart sets and speaks to you. You can choose a permanent reminder or two of your fun day in Higganum, when your daffodils finally do fade, with a vase or two to enjoy year-round.
As summer approaches, you should plan a wander in the greenhouses for bedding plants. There are four 144’ greenhouses on one-third of an acre combined under double-layer plastic. Here you will find individual patio plants, 1,000 hanging baskets, herbs, veg and more. A hydroponic system, using raised ebb-and flow benches, enables individual watering and fertigation on a number of different plants. These plants can be on different spacing without individual feed lines going to each plant, and overhead watering is eliminated. Ebb-and-flow systems are ideal for seedlings and potted plants.
November is daffodil-planting time and the cycle begins again. There is a wonderful rhythm to the Halfingers’ life, and their ambitions are hardly dimmed after 29 years of agro-tourism with support from the CT Departments of Agriculture and Tourism. They want you to know that April 1 – May 4 is Pick-Your-Own Daffodils season for 2025 and Easter is April 20th.
Spend a day outside with family and friends, picking your own (weather dependent). You will be part of something bigger: an atmosphere of celebration. John and Jen are happy to answer your questions, give you tips, and explain their methods and madness. Why would you not buy from the growers? Capture a moment, make a memory. Their generosity is unbounding, and Jen may well remember your name when you return.
By Sandra Childress | May 2025
About the Author: Sandra Childress tends to her herbs on 1/3 acre in Essex. She is reluctantly moving toward growing them exclusively in pots above ground as an appeasement to her creaking joints. If it's edible and medicinal, Sandra is willing to give it a try. If they have a perennial inclination in an east-facing exposure, she's a dévotee for life. Hello sage, rosemary and thyme.