Christian Careb

Christian Careb: gardener, caretaker of people, and places. At a young age, Chris learned the art of gardening from grandparents, parents, and neighbors. In 1978, after hearing about a nearby farm, he rode his bike there and asked for a job. That led to his 44-year opus at Stone Acres Farm.

He  graduated from UConn in 1992 with 2 bachelor’s degrees: one in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and another in Agronomy, which included a Soil Scientist certificate. At this time, he was hired as the full-time live-in gardener and caretaker of Stone Acres Farm. During his time there, he restored the grounds, gardens, and specimen trees to their former glory. Over the next 30 years, he rejuvenated the longest (1500 ft) boxwood hedge, north of the Mason-Dixon line, originally planted in 1830. With the owners, he was instrumental in opening the grounds to the public through the Garden Conservancy, as one of the original 5 gardens in Connecticut. They also started selling to the public on a local scale, including the sale of cut flowers, such as Dahlias. For 20 years, he brought joy, education, and the sharing of beauty to the Stonington area. His employment ended in 2022 due to new ownership.

In a classic “one door closes, and another opens,” he was attending a small family event on Ender’s Island when someone mentioned that Father Tom might be interested in hiring a gardener. Looking for a new challenge, he reached out, and the rest is history.