Featured Farms
Broken Arrow Nursery
“If you don’t take steps now, the only thing you’re guaranteed to grow in the future is houses. And once agricultural land is lost, it’s lost — you can’t get it back and that isn’t in any of our long term interests.”
Dick Jaynes, owner
Surrounded by dense suburban development, Broken Arrow Nursery in Hamden is a good example of Conneticut Farmland Trust’s (CFT) important role in protecting smaller farms that do not qualify for other agricultural preservation programs. Dick and Sally Jaynes worked with CFT to protect 5 acres of the farm in 2004 and another 13.85 acres in 2005.
Getting started
While these parcels were too small for CT Department of Agriculture’s Farmland Preservation Program, they have prime agricultural soils. CT’s prime agriculture soils are being developed at one of the highest rates in the country. The surrounding population has provided Broken Arrow Nursery with a great market for their horticultural business. At the same time, conserving the area’s limited farmland, no matter the size, is essential. Understanding the development pressure, Dick contacted CFT again in 2022 to donate a 35-acre easement on their main farm.
Conservation yields results
The Jaynes family operates a cut-your-own Christmas tree business and retail nursery. Their two locations in Hamden are a result of Dick Jaynes’ passion for Christmas trees that started in 1947 with a 4-H project. The property borders Lockwood Farm, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station’s 75-acre primary research farm, where Dick worked for 25 years. Broken Arrow Nursery is now owned and operated by Dick and Sally’s son Burton. It is one of the few retail nurseries in Connecticut that propagates and grows most of the plants sold and was included in USA Today’s 10 best plant nurseries in the country.
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