When the Connecticut State Grange Committee set about notifying the winners of the 2012 Outstanding Agriculture Professional and Outstanding Young Farmer of their selection, it was a simple process — contacting one family did the trick.
That was the family of Michael and Betsey Molodich, who live on Cedar Swamp Road in Oneco. Betsey Molodich was named Connecticut’s Outstanding Agriculture Professional, and the couple’s daughter, Kate, was chosen as the state’s Outstanding Young Farmer.
It is likely the first time a mother and daughter have captured the two awards in the same year.
“The state Grange people didn’t say for sure, but they told us it was a unique situation,” Betsey Molodich said.
Both women were nominated for their awards by the Ekonk Community Grange, in which the family has long been active, and were notified of their selection in mid-October. Kate Molodich, 18, serves as president of the Grange and is a freshman at the University of Connecticut, where she is studying horticulture.
The Molodiches were presented their plaques at the state Grange banquet held Oct. 20 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in East Hartford.
Betsey Molodich opened Betsey’s Stand at the Molodich Farm in 1994, initially selling sweet corn. Soon, she began adding vegetables and, within a few years, added a greenhouse to help increase the amount of vegetables she offered for sale. Today, she and Kate, with help from Michael and an occasional hired hand, plant about 16 acres of crops. That includes 10 acres of sweet corn, an acre of blueberries and the rest of assorted fruits and vegetables.
“As my kids got older, I was able to expand the business,” Betsey Molodich said.
Soon, she was bringing her products, which include blueberries and other fruits, to farmers markets from Putnam to Bozrah, with Kate at her side in both the cornfields and gardens and at the market locations. This year, Kate alone took the crops to the Bozrah Farmers Market, further expanding the family business.
Betsey’s husband, Michael, is one of five Molodich brothers — the third generation of the family — who run the large dairy farm that was founded in 1909 by his grandfather, George Molodich, who immigrated to America from Czechoslovakia. The brothers, including George, Joe, Jim and John, have the only fully functioning dairy farm left on Ekonk Hill, once a prime farming area in Sterling.
Kate has worked alongside her mother for several years, increasing her responsibilities as she grew older.
“It wasn’t uncommon for her to pick 50 bags of sweet corn in a morning and then help pack the truck for the trip to a farmer’s market,” Betsey said of her daughter.
Kate said she currently plans to continue helping her mother while she pursues her college degree, “I think I’ll stay with the family business, possibly see if I can expand it, and then see what happens,” Kate said. “I really enjoy the opportunity to work with my mother.”
