Your guide to the heart of Litchfield County:
Discover local stories, hidden gems, and must-know events.

Real Milk, Raw Milk

By Michelle Madden 

Photos by Ryan Lavine

The workers at Calf & Clover Creamery in Cornwall go beyond standard hospitality. Molly gives me a gentle smile, Helena licks my hand, and Starlight nuzzles my leg before resuming their lunch of fermented alfalfa and clover. Greetings complete, the “ladies” stride into the barn, find their name printed on individual chalkboards hanging over their stall—reminiscent of a preschool classroom—and milking begins. Molly, Helena, and Starlight are part of a 20-cow herd (Jersey and Normande breeds) that bring raw milk to hundreds of uncompromising customers who stop by the farm 365 days a year, sunrise to sunset, to get what owners Sarah and Jeff Casel describe as, “One of the healthiest foods available.”

Why this almost cult-like devotion to raw milk?

We don’t usually think of milk as a processed food, especially whole milk—which by its very name suggests it’s, well, whole, meaning what-came-with-it-stays-with-it. But most milk does undergo “processing” either through homogenization, pasteurization, or both.

Whole milk must be at least 3.25 percent butterfat. (Commercial outfits have no incentive to make it higher, as the money’s in the cream.) So before commercial milk becomes whole milk, it first becomes skim milk. Homogenization strips out fat molecules, spins them to render them small enough to remain suspended, and then returns them to the milk to achieve the desired fat percentage. Along with the fat, fat-soluble vitamins A and D are removed and often added back (in synthetic form) to meet required levels.

Pasteurization, which all non-raw milk undergoes, is the process of killing most of the bacteria to reduce the risk of pathogen growth. (Ultra-pasteurization destroys all bacteria and inactivates most nutrients, rendering the milk essentially inert in order to extend the shelf-life upward of three months.) As Felice Martin, the owner of Nature View Farm in Bridgewater, puts it, “Pasteurized milk is dead milk. With raw milk, the probiotics, enzymes, minerals, and vitamins are in their natural state.” 

Raw milk is neither pasteurized nor homogenized. Everything it came with, it stays with. It often has higher milk fat, exceeding four or even five percent (due to the breeds more often used for raw milk and a largely grass diet) resulting in a creamier taste and often higher, naturally occurring, Vitamin A and D. “Good fats are good for you,” states Rick Plumb, the owner of Meadow Ridge Farm who sells raw milk in Litchfield. Science is now proving that the prior warning against saturated fats was overly simplistic. The message that whole fat foods might actually be good for you is slowly seeping into consciousness.

Many consumers report significant health benefits from raw milk, noting everything from a reduction of eczema to the elimination of GI problems. Casel feels strongly that the act of reducing the natural size of the fat molecules (through homogenization), means that lactose—the sugar in milk—gets absorbed too quickly by the gut, leading to bloating and other digestion issues. Perhaps too, it’s the bacteria that’s playing a role. “Milk is not inherently full of bad bacteria,” says Casel. “The bacteria actually has an important role to play in its digestibility.” Some even believe that raw milk, with abundant healthy bacteria, is an immune booster. 

Sales appear to back this up. All three farms report soaring growth with Calf & Clover selling 250 gallons to consumers weekly. Every customer has their reason: for some it’s health; for others it’s the desire to connect to the source. I can say, it’s hard not to meet Nutmeg, as she grazes in the Litchfield hills, letting out contented steamy breaths, and feel that what she is producing is perfect—just the way it is. —calfandclovercreamery.com

 Local raw milk is available here:

Calf & Clover, 332 Kent Rd. S, Cornwall Bridge

Meadow Ridge, 277 Beach St., Litchfield

Nature View, 59 Second Hill Rd., Bridgewater

By Michelle Madden
Photo by Zandria Oliver 

“One of my dreams was to live in a colonial house and have a hearth fireplace in which to cook,” says Dr. Alicia McKelvey, a former thoracic surgeon who now practices holistic medicine. You get the feeling as you talk with her––her demeanor soothing, her knowledge boundless—that she has all the time in the world to not only guide, but more importantly, to listen. You could imagine her removing a black, cast-iron kettle from the coals and offering you tea. 

Holistic medicine is based on the philosophy that mind, body, and spirit are one. Dr. McKelvey augments this approach with genomic testing, which identifies unique variants in a person’s genetic code that could be leading to suboptimal health. A simple cheek swab provides data on thousands of variants, or what Dr.McKelvey calls “typos” in our genomic code. These variants get turned on and off like a switch (through diet and lifestyle) and if not identified and managed, can lead to everything from obesity to dementia. 

 What leads a highly accomplished surgeon to pivot to a very different style of medicine? “I had always had an interest in a more holistic approach to my own health care,” says Dr. McKelvey, “With many of my patients, I could see that most of their chronic illnesses, even cancer, was due to missed preventative opportunities.“ 

 The conditions that Dr. McKelvey treats are diverse. Take Jennifer, a middle-aged woman suffering from long-covid and bedridden with fatigue. Her primary care doctor said she had a mental health issue and sent her to a psychiatrist, who did little to alleviate her crippling symptoms. She eventually came to Dr. McKelvey who identified genomic variants that helped to treat and manage her symptoms––through lifestyle, diet, and supplementation.

Dementia is another area of growing interest. Dr. McKelvey can identify whether a patient is at risk and help ensure variants do not get “turned on” or if the switch has been triggered––slow the progression. “I am wary of saying that dementia is preventable,” Dr. McKelvey notes, “but there is no question that knowing your risk profile can significantly alter its course. For patients at high risk, even a 30-minute daily walk, can reduce their chances of dementia by 50 percent.” 

Why is this “whole body” approach, with a focus on root-cause and prevention, not more common in traditional medicine? The reasons are many, from a quota system––inquiring about sleep is not happening when a doctor is required to see six patients an hour, to sub-specialization or the “silo-ing” of healthcare. Doctors stay in their lanes. When you suffer an acute medical issue, you want this, but when the symptoms are many and the cause unclear––specialization can hurt.

Holistic medicine does not promise a quick fix, nor is it (or genomic testing) cheap––insurance does not cover testing or Dr. McKelvey’s services, though health care savings accounts can be used. But if the goal is keeping your own internal “fire” burning strong, then it’s good to know that this doctor is in. —medicineforlivingct.com

A Holistic Approach to Healing Takes Many Paths

By Wendy Carlson

Photographer: Ryan Lavine

When Dr. Tamara Sachs examines a patient in her New Milford office, she looks beyond recognizing and treating the symptoms of their condition. Think of her more like a detective bent on tracking down clues to the root cause of the patient’s illness to determine the best path toward healing.

Sachs began practicing in New Milford more than 30 years ago after working for several years as an emergency room physician in New Haven. For a decade she was a primary care doctor in New Milford. In 1998, her focus shifted from conventional medicine toward functional medicine, a model that offers a more individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach, allowing patients and practitioners to collaborate in addressing the underlying causes of disease and promoting optimal wellness.

“Basically, I went back to my roots,” she says. Sachs earned a B.A. in molecular biology and philosophy at Hunter College. Then, after studying naturopathy in France for three years, she set her sights on medical school.

“I had the naive idea I would do research to prove that natural medicine worked,” she says. She graduated from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City with honors and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Saint Raphael Hospital and Yale University. But along the way she lost sight of her original goal.

“In medical school, it’s hard to think outside of the box when you are so involved in studying and training,” she explains.

While she enjoyed her time working in the emergency room and in primary care, it wasn’t what she went to medical school for. She wanted to understand how the human body works and to help people learn how to become healthier without becoming dependent on conventional medicine that addresses only the symptoms of an illness. So, in 2003 she began practicing functional and integrative medicine. Integrative medicine seeks to understand the whole person and uses many different types of therapy to heal mind, body, and spirit. Functional medicine seeks to identify and treat the underlying cause of a condition and creates individualized therapies.

“By addressing root causes, rather than symptoms, we become more aware of the complexity and interconnectedness of chronic disease,” Sachs explains, “One condition has many different causes and, likewise, one cause may result in many different conditions.”

This holistic approach takes into consideration each patient’s genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors as well as physical and mental traumas and uses that data to design personalized treatment plans. Sachs uses specialized laboratory tests in conjunction with uniquely comprehensive intake forms to assess nutrition, inflammation, oxidative stress, detoxification pathways, toxic load, and how certain gene variations called SNPs influence health, disease, drug response, and other traits.

Most importantly, she is passionate about helping people understand how their body works so they can have some agency over their own health. “I’m optimistic,” she says. “More and more people are seeking to learn about the connections between health, diet, and their life.” —tsachsmd.com

Walt Whitman in 1881 expressed, “As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles.” Whitman goes on to list some very ordinary phenomena as miracles, from “stars shining quiet and bright,” to standing under trees in a wood to observing birds in flight. The vein of American mysticism that links the natural world with the spiritual has found form in artists as disparate as Rockwell Kent, Agnes Pelton, and KK Kozik: all artists who process what they see, what they experience, and what they imagine into a painted image.

 A Sharon resident, Kozik’s minor miracles mostly surface from the rhythms of her day. Prosaic encounters of beauty during hikes, strolls, and swims simmer on the back burner of her mind until stirred up and warmed they knock on her door, demanding to be painted. Ideas and images never come out quite the way they went into the pot. Kozik is not a realist, slavishly painting a tree, branch by branch, but rather embodies a transcendental hunter-gatherer, a sly burglar of ideas and colors. An island of trees in a lake is what was seen, but Miracle Island is what she painted. The artist releases beauty from the prosaic; her work converges at the center of the everyday world, weaving together the processes of imagination in memory and the execution by her hand.

Show runs from March 30 – May 12, 2024 at Kenise Barnes Fine Art. 7 Fulling Lane, Kent, KBFA.com

In an Adult Ballet, Perfecting Plies, Pirouettes, and Pas de Deux 

By Wendy Carlson

“You’ve got this!” our instructor Victoria Mazzarelli cajoled us as we readied ourselves to dance across the studio. Everyone in this Sunday morning adult ballet class at The Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory in Torrington was up for the challenge regardless of their experience, age, or ability—which came as a relief to someone who had never taken a dance class before. Despite our differences, we all shared a common desire to make ballet a part of our lives and an appreciation for its health benefits.

Ballet develops better balance and posture, improves focus and flexibility, expands our bodies range of motion, builds endurance and stamina, and strengthens our bones. There are cognitive benefits, too. Concentrating on the sequence of steps and coordinating it to the music is a brain workout. Learning in a supportive group setting also helps reduce stress, anxiety and depression, and creates social connections. 

Still, learning ballet is no cakewalk. I sheepishly took my place at the barre behind a woman wearing pretty pink leggings with her hair swept up into a perfect bun, whom I tried to follow. Noticing my ill-fated attempts, she told me after class that she knew absolutely nothing about ballet when she started several years ago at age 57.

“I was absolutely terrified in the first class and decided I would never come back,” says Melissa Marks. “But I went home and watched a lot of Ballet 101 on Youtube. Finally, my sons persuaded me to go back because they knew ballet had been my childhood dream.”

Her encouragement came at a good time as I watched Joe Lauretano, 63, leap across the floor like a gazelle and I was next after him. Lauretano began taking ballet lessons at age 18 with Sharon Dante, the founder of Nutmeg. Now, 39 years later, he decided to resume his passion. “I just light up with joy when I cross that floor,” he says as he glides up to me.

I had not reached that level of exultation yet, but I did experience a frisson of joy after successfully making it across the floor without falling flat on my face.

This eclectic group works largely due to the supportive and forgiving environment. Victoria Mazzarelli, Nutmeg’s executive director and artistic director, is an uber-accomplished professional who clearly loves teaching ballet, even to beginners. 

For newbies, her advice is to allow yourself to be vulnerable. She will often take a flustered student by the hand and guide them across the floor as she counts beats out loud and bold faces the steps.

Newcomer Claudia Larssen, explains: “You can’t be intimidated.You just have to jump right in, you can’t be afraid of making a mistake. We’re not 13-year-olds, no one is going to laugh at you.” 

Truth be told, I will never master ballet, but therein lies the beauty of the discipline. There is always something to work toward and that in itself is satisfying. In the process, I like to think I leave class standing a little taller, walking a little more erect, and feeling more graceful. —nutmegconservatory.org

Hot Times in Torrington

By Cynthia Hochswender

On the spectrum of sweaty athletic endeavors, yoga tends toward the dry side—but not at Sanctuary Power Yoga in Torrington, where owner/teacher Heather Rems Korwin specializes in heated power yoga—an energetic practice done in a room where the temperature is set at 85 degrees.

“The heat promotes flexibility, and is a good detox for the body,” Korwin explains. 

There are many types of yoga, but it was heated yoga that Korwin fell in love with when she began practicing, and then teaching, a quarter century ago. She opened Sanctuary 13 years ago, mainly to teach heated power yoga—although Sanctuary offers a menu of other practices, including restorative (fewer poses, held for a longer period of time, with the help of bolsters and other props) and slow flow. The studio also offers Reiki and sound healing, as well as massage and other body services, all taught by a variety of practitioners and specialists in a large, sunny loft-like space that manages to feel cozy and warm.

“Beginners can join all our classes, no matter the style or the level,” Korwin promises. “It’s important to me that people feel welcome when they come for class. For many of our students, this is a sanctuary, where we support and encourage each other.”

Classes are available individually and in packages; the first class is free. 

Learn more at sanctuarypoweryoga.com.

Go on a Goat Adventure
By Cementina Verge

Nothing lifts the spirits quite like an outing through a forest, except perhaps being accompanied by a herd of adorable goats. 

Such a charming and unforgettable experience is possible in Washington Depot, courtesy of Got Your Goat, LLC, whose motto is “Our Goats Spread Joy.”

“They really do,” says owner and caregiver Kristen Gill. “Goats are naturally playful and inquisitive creatures. They love to follow the leader and stick together, which makes them ideal hiking companions, especially for children.”

Gill opened the business in 2020 after losing her job during the Covid pandemic. Since then, her herd has grown to about 70, consisting of mostly Nigerian dwarf goats.

In addition to guided nature hikes, the Got Your Goat herd fulfills its joyful mission by traveling year round in the “Goatmobile”—from Philadelphia to Boston—visiting senior centers, schools, and parties. 

It also hosts various Litchfield County events, including spring celebrations. This year, the farm will host three egg hunts, on Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter), Good Friday, and the day before Easter.

Hunts begin at 10 am (tickets are available through Eventbrite or via the Got Your Goat Facebook page) and take place on the farm’s ten acres, located behind the 1930s farmhouse at 59 Wheaton Road. Look for the mailbox with a goat weathervane atop and the goats rushing to greet you at the gate.

By Clementina Verge 

Photo by Judith Petrovich

Famous and beloved for her children’s books, Madeleine L’Engle wrote her most famous stories while quietly living in a farmhouse still standing on West Street in Goshen. She was a Litchfield County resident for more than 50 years, until her death in Litchfield in 2007.

Born in New York City in 1918, L’Engle was a gifted pianist who graduated from Smith College with honors and acted in Greenwich Village. In 1952, already a mom to a daughter and pregnant with a son, L’Engle and her husband, fellow actor Hugh Franklin, moved to Connecticut where they later welcomed another child.

They purchased an 1800s farmhouse and named it Crosswicks, which served as the inspiration for her series of memoirs The Crosswicks Journal. 

Franklin left acting and to replace the lost income, they successfully took over a small local general store. This newfound rural life inspired L’Engle’s later works, including the Austin Family Chronicles. 

Ten years after moving to Goshen, her most famous novel, A Wrinkle in Time, was published, winning the Newbery Medal in 1963. 

She continued to write and earn honors for the remainder of her life, balanced between New York City and Goshen. In 1996, she was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded her a National Humanities Medal, noting that her “works inspire the imagination and reflect the creative spirit of America.”

L’Engle’s legacy includes more than 60 published works, earning her recognition as one of the most influential authors of children’s fiction. —madeleinelengle.com

The Spa at Litchfield Hills celebrates its 20^th anniversary, this year, with the unveiling of their newly developed wellness destination property in the fall of 2024. The property offers guests a chance to connect with nature and indulge in wellness experiences through a variety of beauty, health, and holistic offerings. New offerings feature innovative bio-hacking services such as infrared sauna, cold plunge, neuroacoustic software, along with medspa services. The new facility will also feature a curated boutique with a focus on clean cosmetics, luxury self-care, holistic wellness, and sustainable lifestyle brands. The Spa will continue its legacy of offering premier services with its award-winning team and customer service this community has come to know and love. Guests can look forward to enjoying all that the new property has to offer whether they are booked in for a wellness experience or simply want to come visit, shop, and relax.

Follow @thespaatlitchfieldhills on social media for ongoing updates and visit litchfield-spa.com to learn more.

407A Bantam Rd., Litchfield, 860-567-8575

A Lifeline for Families of Vehicle Accident Victims
By ML Ball

Photo by Melissa Langevin

For parents, the death of a child is beyond devastating. Some are so shattered, they never recover. Yet in 2022 when Jeffrey and Jennifer Forlastro of New Milford lost their son Brandon in a motorcycle accident, they decided to turn their grief into action. They created Gears in Heaven, a nonprofit run out of their home which helps the families of motorsport enthusiasts who have been killed or seriously injured in a vehicle accident.

“We’ve been there. We know the heartbreak they’re going through,” says Jeffrey. 

After the loss of their son, it was important to the Forlastros to not only honor his life but his passion for cars and motorcycles. “We searched for an organization that would connect with families of loved ones with that same passion, and we couldn’t really find anything,” Jennifer explains. “Brandon always talked about how he wanted to have a nonprofit to help people who couldn’t do things for themselves. So we said, ‘Let’s start something, knowing what people are going through, and give them what they need.’ It all happened very rapidly. Brandon knew a lot of people in the industry. And he also had a lot of friends.”

That helps explain why in such a short time, Gears in Heaven has grown far beyond Connecticut. “We get contacted by families from all over the country, all over the world,” Jeffrey says. “People will say, ‘I just lost somebody and I saw your name on the internet.’ Just about everyone in America knows somebody who has been impacted in some way by a vehicle accident.”

Since each accident victim’s family has its own unique needs, Gears in Heaven offers a wide range of services, including: sending handwritten sympathy cards, placing flowers at a memorial site, organizing candlelight vigils, performing household chores, and assisting with final affairs and probate.

“Our volunteers help in any way they can. If a family needs their lawn mowed or laundry done, they’ll do that. Providing support to families in need is our mission. Thanks to the generous support and gracious love of our sponsors and donors, this is all possible,” Jeffrey says.

Another much-needed service is patient advocacy. As a director of nursing with over 20 years of experience, Jennifer knows how to navigate the healthcare system. “When an accident victim is in the hospital, the family often doesn’t know what questions to ask, how insurance works, or the resources available to them,” she says. “I can work with the medical team and the family and explain things. I know what they’re facing.”

Yet probably the most valuable service Gears in Heaven offers is just being there when families want to talk. “People can call and talk with us for as long as they want, years in some cases,” Jeffrey says. “We’ve been there, we get it.”

When asked if they ever feel Brandon’s presence, both parents answered in unison. “Oh yeah. He’s definitely steering the ship.” 

To volunteer for Gears in Heaven or use its services, visit gearsinheaven.org or facebook.com/GearsinHeaven.