Sweet attraction down on the farm

FARM HANDS: Anthony and Donna Pelloni started their business in 2007 after purchasing the 96-acre Hopkinton property in 1983. At right is their son, Tom Pelloni. / PBN PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE
FARM HANDS: Anthony and Donna Pelloni started their business in 2007 after purchasing the 96-acre Hopkinton property in 1983. At right is their son, Tom Pelloni. / PBN PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE

It’s not every day that an international movie star is eager to track down a farmer.
But Australian actor Hugh Jackman (Wolverine in the “X-Men” movie franchise, among other roles) and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, stopped by Pelloni Farm in Hopkinton Jan. 8 after tasting the farm’s jams at the Ocean House in Watch Hill.
“First thing out of their mouth when they walked through the door was, ‘You have the best jam in America,’ ” recalled Anthony Pelloni, co-owner of Pelloni Farm.
The pair chatted with the Pellonis for about 15 minutes, asking about their work on the farm, before purchasing jams and other products from the farm’s on-site market.
“You don’t get to meet celebrities like that because you make jam, you know?” Pelloni said. “It was definitely an experience.”
Though Pelloni Farm hadn’t brushed with Hollywood fame before, it has garnered local and national attention since opening in June 2007.
When Pelloni and his wife, Donna, bought the 96-acre property in 1984, it hadn’t been farmed for at least 50 years, Pelloni said. “Little by little we have cleared land and brought the fields back,” he said. “We’re still opening up more new land all the time.” He estimated that between 16 to 18 acres are currently in production.
Once the farm was ready for planting, the Pellonis immediately started with berries. Pelloni said he always enjoyed growing berries, and his wife “always had the knack for making jam.” The Pellonis now grow many different varieties of berries as well as other produce.
They opened their market five years ago in a barn that Pelloni, a former homebuilder, constructed. Along with their son, Thomas, the Pellonis sell fresh produce in season and baked goods and jams year-round. The market is open all year, though with more limited hours during the winter.
Pelloni Farm also ships products around the country, mostly during the holiday season.
The Pellonis both grew up on dairy farms, and they lived in Connecticut until moving to Ashaway. They wanted to return to farming and “fell in love with Rhode Island” after vacationing there on weekends, Pelloni said.
Thomas, who attended the culinary arts program at Chariho Career and Technical Center, works with his mother to prepare the market’s baked goods, which include pies, muffins and cookies. The Pellonis have five other children, some of whom live nearby and help on the farm when they can. “Every year the business has grown,” Anthony Pelloni said. The Ocean House in Westerly has served Pelloni Farm jams exclusively since the hotel’s reopening in June 2010, Pelloni said. Ocean House’s orders constitute a small percentage of Pelloni Farm’s business, but it brings publicity and customers to the market, which is only a short drive from the Watch Hill location of the hotel.
“We have some varieties of jam that you can’t find in just the stores,” Pelloni said. “We certainly make the old reliable – like strawberry and raspberry, like people would think – but then we make the craziest combinations you can imagine.” The farm’s newest flavor, Blueberry Rhubarb, has been a popular seller, he said.
Pelloni said the farm produces about 30 jam flavors, including Apple Pie, Tropical Paradise and Peach Cherry.
The farm’s jams and pies complement each other. Many jam flavors – such as Berry Patch, which combines blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries – are also used in pies, and vice versa. “You’re getting that same flavor, but you get to put it on your toast instead of having a piece of pie,” Pelloni said.
The Pellonis also sell fresh berries and other produce in their market during the summertime, with a focus on “varieties that you don’t find normally at the stores.”
The farm will continue to expand, Pelloni said, as the business becomes more popular and more acres of farmland are opened up. “In the future, we probably will have to hire more people,” he said. The family’s eventual goal is to have a portion of the farm open to customers who wish to pick their own berries and fruit. But that could take another five years, Pelloni said.
Thus far, the Pelloni Farm’s success demonstrates that it fills a niche for many food-lovers and tourists. “If you hear that a farm is actually making their own jam with their own products and baked goods – I don’t know how many farms do that anymore,” he said. •

COMPANY PROFILE
Pelloni Farm
OWNERS: Anthony and Donna Pelloni
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Farm
LOCATION: 56 Ashaway Road, Hopkinton
EMPLOYEES: 3
YEAR FOUNDED: 2007
ANNUAL REVENUE: $150,000

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