Still A Dreamer

For those of us living in or near agricultural counties, New Jersey is a cornucopia of gorgeous fresh produce, pouring in during a long growing season. It’s absolute heaven.

And it’s a shame that so many people think of New Jersey – the Garden State – as a series of networked, ugly highways thorned by uglier power plants and factories. While a small portion of eastern New Jersey may look like that, so many more parts of the state are lush, green and abundant. In Hunterdon County, small farms and farmers’ markets abound, all offering an assortment of delicious fresh produce from early spring through November.

The other day I went berry and peach picking with a friend and her 3 kids at Phillips Farms in Holland Township.

The blackberries were outstanding, but I had really gone for some white peaches and Jersey tomatoes. I suppose many states lay claim to having the best tomatoes, but I’m still sticking with New Jersey.

Same for Jersey corn! Phillips Farm also had a great assortment of flowers – sunflowers plus many other kinds in bouquets, and some plants and herbs at $5 apiece.

Now if you can imagine, we have all this for months on end. Inside there was corn picked just that morning, gorgeous string beans, zucchini, kale, radishes, onions, cucumbers and more.

This same friend had come back from a trip to Colorado – a somewhat isolated city, (as they called it – a suburb to New Jerseyans), where the food was … well … pretty poor, as she described it. And then I realized how enormously fortunate we are to be sitting right next to our food sources for so much of the year. I sure am grateful!

In the area? Visit one of the many fabulous local farms/farmstands or farmers’ markets in New Jersey – they’re all over the state. And if in western Hunterdon, visit Phillips Farms on Church Road in Holland Township!