TRANSITION GRANT IN ACTION
CLOVERLEIGH FARM CONSTRUCTS PROPAGATION GREENHOUSE
Cloverleigh Farm, LLC, is a certified organic vegetable and flower farm in Columbia, CT. At the time of purchase, the 10-acre property featured a farmhouse and
a large barn for storage, a wash-pack area, and refrigeration. With an eye toward long-term growth and health of her farm business, Susan Mitchell, owner of Cloverleigh Farm, determined that construction of a greenhouse would be a critical 
component to facilitate farm success. A greenhouse would allow Cloverleigh to begin seeds each winter and ensure proper early plant growth to support a successful planting and harvest the next growing season.
After receiving a 2021 Farm Transition Grant, work began to prepare the site for a greenhouse. First, a utility trench was dug from an outbuilding to the greenhouse location to provide electricity and water connections. In December 2021, Connecticut Greenhouse Company was contracted to supply the materials and labor to raise the greenhouse over several days. Upon completion of the structure, propane tanks were installed, and an electrician wired circulating fans and thermostats for louvers, exhaust fans, and the heater.
Susan says, “This critical structure will allow us to effectively produce all needed vegetable transplants for the field, in a manner that we see fit and with plenty of
space available. It will also allow us to develop additional streams of revenue by way of a spring seedling sale to supply certified organic vegetable and flower transplants for home gardens.”
Before construction of the greenhouse, Cloverleigh was producing about 1,000 flower starts each year. With the addition of the greenhouse, Susan hopes to increase production to 3,000-6,000 potted flower starts each year. On the vegetable side, the greenhouse was crucial to producing the leafy green transplants that would provide the farm roughly 100-150 pounds of leafy greens a week during the winter months. “This project has provided a much more sustainable and responsible method of producing quality vegetable transplants for our farm, which serves the community through a robust Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.”
The FTG is a competitive matching reimbursement grant for Connecticut agricultural producers and agricultural cooperatives. The Farm Transition Grant is provided through the State of Connecticut Farm Transition Grant Program, established in 2005 through Public Act 05-228, An Act Concerning Farmland Preservation, Land Protection, Affordable Housing, and Historic Preservation.