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Down on the Farm in NJ

By Kelly Wolfgang

The name New Jersey usually conjures up a single image: fun in the sun and sandy toes on the shore line. However, the bottom of the state really has much more to offer than beaches, diners, and the jughandles it’s famous for. Amidst the small towns like Mullica Hill, famous for its history, battle reenactments and antique stores, are beautiful farms like Moods who offers Fourth of July celebrations, pick your own fruits, and blueberry festivals. Moods’ huge fields and multitude of produce yield delicious jellies, fruit butters, and honey, which are the perfect addition to any meal.

If you’re looking for a little entertainment while you browse the produce isle, Duffield’s Farm and Farm Market is the place for your energetic bunch. Duffield’s has a small petting zoo where kids can feed lamas, peacocks, chickens, and many more not-always-farm-animals. But some of New Jersey’s farmer’s markets, like Haddonfield’s Farmers Market, are strictly business and provide only the freshest of produce–no arts and crafts, flea markets, etc.

At Haddonfield’s Farmers Market, you can count on feeding your family fresh produce and much of it comes from local farms that are part of a growing phenomenon known as Community Supported Agriculture or a CSA. Community Supported Agriculture is a great opportunity for members of the community to support local farms while enjoying fresh produce and gaining hands-on farm experience.

Haddonfield’s Farmers Market receives some of its large mix of produce from a CSA that is a certified organic farm, two other large commercial farms, another two that specialize in asparagus and strawberries and even one for coffee. The best part is, it’s all local. Joe Brandolo, the manager at Haddonfield’s Farmer’s Market, said when you buy produce at their market you know it’s straight from New Jersey and that it’s fresh.

“You’re buying fresh produce and you can actually talk to the farmer who grew it,” he said. “We’re local farmers.”

Brandolo added that all of the market’s produce is fresh, less than two days old and chock full of nutrients. “It’s picked fresh,” Brandolo said. There’s more nutrients. The nutrients begin to break down the older the produce gets. You’re supporting local farms. These guys don’t use heavy chemicals; they use sustainable agriculture.”

Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals--environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. So they’re not only part of the CSA movement, but part of the move to more eco-friendly practices overall. But CSA’s are growing like wild flowers across the region.

Membership in the CSA may require hours of volunteer service at the farm. Volunteering is the perfect opportunity for those who would love to know more about where their food originates and how a farm operates. Susan Snipes-Wells, the friendly co-manager of Snipes Farms, in Morrisville, Pa., right across the bridge from Ewing and Princeton, N.J., believes that volunteering and tours are both exciting and educational.

“Sometimes the children help us spread woodchips around the apple trees,” she said. “We want them to learn what’s involved in plant nutrition.”

Snipes Farm also offers potluck dinners and gathering times throughout the 25-week CSA period so members have a chance to interact with each other and make some new friends.

“Snipes likes to introduce people to the world of good friends and good eating,” Snipes-Wells said. “Families get involved by coming to volunteer. On any given day they could plant crops, move produce from the greenhouses, or help harvest apples in the fall.”

So if you’re looking to go green too and want to start buying your produce from a CSA, you can find one near you at the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center’s Website, afsic.nal. usda.gov.

Kelly Wolfgang is a staff writer.