SHARON — Local French pastry buffs do not mind a bit that the lines are sometimes long at the Blue Gate Farm Bakery in Sharon. After a few years of offering baked goods at a variety of area farmers’ markets, the bakery settled down and opened for business nearly a year ago.
Located on the Sharon side of the Housatonic River where Routes 7 and 4 meet, the bake shop is the work of pastry chef Bruce Young, along with his wife, Yobana, both owners of Blue Gate Farm in Warren. They paused for an interview on Thursday, March 21, after a busy day of preparation for Friday’s sales.
“We’re a small community in Warren,” said Bruce Young, who recalled the beginnings in 2020 at a farmers’ market behind the Warren General Store, later adding a similar farmers’ market in Washington Depot, and then others. Young grew up in Warren and he and Yobana still live there in his boyhood home that had been built by his father.
A Washington Montessori schoolteacher during the week, Yobana welcomes customers at the bakery on weekends. She also handles the bakery’s business details.
Transition from farmers’ markets to retail location came suddenly, according to Young, who recalled the day that he pulled into the gas station and convenience store that stands along Route 4 on the Sharon side of the river just west of Cornwall Bridge.
“I stopped for gas and ran into Liz Macaire, a long-time acquaintance,” he said. She pointed to the building across the road and recommended that he look at it. He remembered that she insisted that he needed to open his bakery there “immediately,” so 48 hours later, he was open for business.
“We haven’t had a slow day since we opened,” Young reported, pleased that the line of customers extends out the door, and that people are sometimes waiting in line before the bakery opens in the morning.
Baked goods are all baked on site. Breads include traditional, European, and the baguettes are done to French weight and size standards. Sourdough is naturally fermented. Multigrain and variations seasonally rotated.
Croissants are made on site. “I start with a scoop of flour, water and yeast, and very expensive French butter,” Young said. The French butter works the best for laminating pastry.
Hard rolls are made fresh every morning, Young said. “I cut and weigh and shape every one of them, about 85 each day.
“I’m pretty fast,” he added.
Young said that he arrives at the bakery each day at 3 a.m., working six days a week. The schedule is necessary in order to fill the bakery shelves with the variety that is sold on the busy weekends.
Area towns have their own designated rolls. “We always have a local roll,” he said. The Cornwall roll is topped with a pistachio ganache, for example.
On a Saturday, Young expects there to be seven types of breads available, and always baguettes. Blue Gate bakes varieties of tarts, and regional French specialty items, including short-crust pastry with black cherries, walnuts, or red plums as a few examples.
Delicate barquettes, shaped like small boats, are filled with lemon curd or fresh fruit as some of the choices. French caneles, local to the Bordeaux region, are a frequent feature.
“We have an astonishing variety,” Young said. “We do what we do best.”
The coffee comes from Sacred Grounds in Sherman. Choices include latte, cappuccino, or espresso. Hot chocolate is made with Lindt chocolate truffles topped with handmade marshmallows.
There is no indoor seating, but customers are welcome to find a spot outdoors to enjoy their purchases. Many summer season patrons walk over from the Housatonic Meadows campgrounds for warm pastries and coffee in the mornings, or some prefer the fresh breakfast sandwiches.
“I’ve been cooking since I was 14,” Young said. He lived in England for nine years working for a French chef whose father was a baker from whom he learned much. He noted that he has been largely self-taught and is always learning.
An unusual companion to a bakery operation, a design and décor note is added by Ivy’s Collective, stylishly occupying the other half of the building’s interior. In high spirits from having acquired pastry before the bakery sells out, visitors can shift gears and view an array of antiques and collectibles. Prices from a few dollars to higher. Ivy’s is owned by former New Yorkers, Ivy and Daniel Kramp, and managed by Liz Macaire, merging talents to create an ever-changing display in an unrushed country environment.
Both the Blue Gate Bakery and Ivy’s Collective are open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (the bakery closes earlier if things sell out).
Photo contributed
Sample baked goods offered by the Blue Gate Farm Bakery in Sharon. The rolls with the pistachio ganache (green) topping are called “Cornwall rolls.”
A blue SUV remains in a ditch after an early-morning crash along Segar Mountain Road in Kent May 27.
The driver was transported to Danbury Hospital with minor injuries, according to police.
The damage to a utility pole forced crews to shut down parts of the road and reduce traffic to a single lane throughout the day. First Selectman Eric Epstein announced that traffic would be impacted as utility companies make repairs. Motorists were advised to avoid the area until the work is complete.
As of 2 p.m., traffic at the scene was reduced to alternating single lane travel. Employees from Eversource Energy, Aquarion Water Company and the state Department of Transportation were at the site making repairs to the utility pole and wiring. They have yet to provide an estimate for when the repairs will finish.
The car was still in the ditch as of mid-afternoon, officials on the scene said.
In an email to Kent residents, which was sent at approximately 12:40 p.m., Epstein reported that a water line connected to one residence in the area was also damaged, but clarified that it was not the line supplying the town.
Repair crews respond to an early-morning crash along Segar Mountain Road in Kent that damaged a utility pole and water line. Ruth Epstein
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Filmmaker Yonah Sadeh on a shoot last year in New York City.
It is an exciting opportunity for Sadeh, who has built his own business, Sadeh Studios, by working with small area businesses and nonprofits, “helping to tell their stories through film,” he said.
Some of his projects have included projects for local affordable housing organizations and area nonprofits such as Berkshire Busk, Berkshares, Naturalis Healing, local after-school programs and the Falls Village Fire Department. Current projects are for Berkshire Mountain Bakery and a documentary about Great Barrington’s revitalization in the 1990s.
Sadeh discovered early in life that he wanted to make films and began to develop his process and distinct style.
“It started with puppet shows and musical performances, and then, when I was around 12, a family friend showed me how to use my family’s computer to record and edit short homemade videos using iMovie. From that point on, it was pretty much all movies. I would set up my mom’s computer on a stack of books and record with the webcam.”
An early influence was Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” which, “inspired my Claymation videos when I was 10 and remains one of my favorite films.”
He said getting his first camera made a big difference in his filmmaking.
“I was no longer stuck filming wherever I could set up the laptop. I could move with the camera and be more intentional about how things looked.”
Finding some of the technical aspects challenging, he watched YouTube to learn.
“I would imagine these big scenes, like fight sequences with lighting and effects, and then have to figure out how to actually make them. That process pushed me to learn. I spent a lot of time watching people like Casey Neistat, Film Riot and Corridor Digital, and just trying things out.”
Knowing the path he wanted to take, he pursued his high school education at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA. The school has since relocated to Barrytown, New York.
“Simon’s Rock was not a film school in a traditional sense, but it had incredible faculty that I was able to work with one-on-one throughout my years there,” he said. “It gave me the flexibility and time to make films both in and outside of class, and to start my production business while still in school.”
He was able to take college-level film courses while still in high school.
“It seemed like the perfect opportunity. I loved it so much that I stayed at Simon’s Rock after graduating from the academy for my bachelor’s degree.”
Filmmaker Yonah Sadeh at work. Lisa Volmer
After graduating, he focused full time on his freelance business.
“Most of my professional work is in documentary, where I am a one-man crew overseeing every aspect of the process, from meeting with clients to develop the idea to planning, filming and editing it all together. I love working in this way, with my hands in every part of the project.”
In addition to documentaries, he also works on narrative films.
“The script I am working on now is set over the summer solstice and follows two kids over a short but formative period of time. I feel like this idea of land and place, and the passing of time, is a pretty consistent theme in all of my work, both narrative and documentary.”
Narrative films involve working with a crew, and he said writing and directing have presented different challenges.
“By the time I get to production, I’ve usually been sitting with the story for a while and have a pretty clear picture of how I want each scene to feel. So a lot of directing is about communicating that vision to the actors and crew. It can definitely be stressful, especially with the pressure of being on set. But I’ve been lucky to work with people I really trust and enjoy collaborating with, which makes a big difference.”
The finished film, Sadeh said, “becomes something built by everyone involved.”
Eager to share his love of filmmaking, Sadeh recently took on the role of curator of the VideoWall at the Hunt Library in Falls Village.
“I would love the VideoWall to become a place that showcases the work of local filmmakers, and I hope that other creatives in the area will submit their work to be shown.”
Reflecting on his chosen path, Sadeh said, “I feel really excited and creatively fulfilled to be doing the work I love in the place I grew up.”
Learn more at sadehstudios.com
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
