Buried Acorn FLX looks to expand offerings

In November 2021, Stone Bend Farm in Newfield, in collaboration with Buried Acorn Brewing Company of Syracuse, premiered a craft beer tap room nestled in the farm’s signature greenhouse. Buried Acorn FLX is the newest addition to the 4,200-square-foot geothermal greenhouse Stone Bend has become known for.

In the three months that have followed since the grand opening of the tap room, Stone Bend Farm and Buried Acorn FLX have decided to expand.

“The taproom has been very well received by the locals,” said Timothy Shore, owner of Buried Acorn Brewing Company. “The response has been so overwhelmingly positive that we’ve decided to expand on our ideas. We’re looking to the future and would like to see Stone Bend Farm and Buried Acorn FLX become an entertainment destination for Newfield.”

Stone Bend Farm owner Terry Bloom built his geothermal greenhouse from the ground up, designing it with sustainability as the main focus.

“I wanted something long term and sustainable for the future,” Bloom said. “I wanted to build a place that would be sustainable — a permanent place to put down roots, a place where my kids would always have as a base they can come home to.”

The geothermal matrix uses insulation, concrete and gravel to create a sustainable future for the greenhouse, using minimal fossil fuels, electricity and power outside of what nature already provides.

“The idea is to use the Earth’s resources and avoid fossil fuel use as much as possible,” Bloom said. “Our goal is to impact the environment as little as possible while remaining sustainable.”

Using the Earth’s constant temperature, which stabilizes around 55 degrees, the 4,200-square-foot structure allows air to circulate from the ground to regulate temperature throughout the building. Air is pulled up through pipes under the cement and then is circulated back through the greenhouse, which will acclimate the greenhouse to the weather according to seasonal temperature changes.

“Terry and I originally met on the punk rock show circuit in Syracuse,” Shore recalled. “He reached out to me when he needed a guitar player. I flew out to Chicago where he was living at the time. I learned his band’s whole album in a dorm room. We then began touring and playing shows together.”

While touring, Shore and Bloom struck up a close friendship that would culminate in a business venture that neither could have predicted becoming a reality in their near future.

“When we were touring, Tim and I would talk about different ideas we had,” Bloom said. “Tim was interested in craft beer, and I became immersed in sustainable agriculture. We used to dream of a collaboration where we could combine our ideas.”

Eventually, Bloom left the punk rock music scene, returning to New York in 2016 and determined to make the dream of his eco-friendly, sustainable farm a reality.

“It was serendipitous how this all came together,” Shore said. “It just so happened that my life plans would find me coming back to New York as well. It was four or five months after Terry had gone to Newfield that I let him know that I would be permanently in Syracuse very soon.”

While Bloom built his state-of-the-art greenhouse, Shore worked on his dream of owning a brewery. Shore opened the first Buried Acorn Brewing Company in Syracuse in 2018.

Although both men were focused on building what each had dreamed of for himself while touring, the idea of collaborating persisted.

“From the beginning, we would always talk about how cool it would be one day when I had this farm and he had a brewery,” Bloom said. “Once I had my farm and greenhouse established and my wood-fired pizza business going and he was up and running with the brewery, we just decided to go for it.”

Tucked in the east corner of the sprawling greenhouse, the tap room features 10 taps and a collection of cans, rotating to offer Buried Acorn Brewing Company’s current offerings.

“You can come here and hang out and grab something off of my rotating food menu to enjoy a beer with or you can pop in and buy cans to go,” Bloom said. “We want to offer more options to Newfield and the surrounding communities.”

The new year sees the collaboration between Shore and Bloom expanding their venture to transition part of the farm into an event venue.

“We will be clearing parts of the farm and building stages that will host bands,” Shore explained. “Eventually, we will also start booking comedians as well. We want to offer a full entertainment experience by bringing new entertainment options to Newfield.”

Despite a second Buried Acorn location opening this month in Syracuse, Shore remains passionate about building on the dreams he and Bloom share for Newfield.

“It’s going to be a lot of work to clear the farm and build what we want,” Shore said. “It’s going to take a lot of planning, but I think the space we’re building and the things we’re bringing are definitely going to be worth it.”

Updates, selections and hours can be found on Buried Acorn FLX Facebook page (facebook.com/buriedacornflx) and Stone Bend Farm on Instagram (@stonebendfarm).

Newfield Notes appear every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.

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Bake sale

The Newfield Public Library, 198 Main St., will be holding a Valentine’s Day bake sale on Feb. 14 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. This is a great way to support the library. Those who like to bake are encouraged to donate baked goods to the sale (preferably individually wrapped). There will also be an opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for a basket full of Valentine’s Day goodies.