Support New Jersey Farms

Don't want your local farm stand to be sold and developed into a housing complex, strip mall or yet another CVS Pharmacy (how many does New Jersey need?) Simple: spend some of your dollar there.

I paid a recent visit to Abram Demaree Homestead on Old Hook and Schraalenburgh Roads in Closter, New Jersey. Check out this 2008 profile of the farm from The New York Times, which been a working farm since the 1700s. Let's keep it that way.


You can lunch outside on their quaint patio Tuesdays through Sundays. Vegetarian options include a spinach Swiss cheese quiche, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, chopped salad, and split pea soup - all made on the premises.


The view.

Fresh baked cookies. Ever look at the ingredient list on those grocery store baked goods? Alarming. If you made a rule, 'don't eat it if you can't pronounce all the ingredients' you'd go hungry fast in American supermarkets.

Homemade blueberry pie, $4.95. We bought one of these, and a strawberry rhubarb pie. Yummy à la mode or on its own.

Have strawberries? Try this easy and vegan strawberry pie recipe.


Jersey Girl tomato sauce. Love the vintage pie sign. Pie is the ultimate comfort dessert for me.

Lavender grows on the fields as you drive in. Buy it here.


For organic and local produce, right down the road at Old Hook Farm in Emerson (also featured in the Times), the first corn of the season! I feasted on this corn at a summer solstice supper.

A wonderful selection of organic, homegrown lettuce. So many pay 'convenience' costs of purchasing salads at lunch, but with a little effort, it's so much cheaper to bring your own. Who wants to pay $7 for lettuce and veggies you'll eat while checking e-mail?

When Anton Ego takes his first bite of ratatouille in the film of the same name, he in a flash mentally time travels to a day in his childhood when his mother made the soul-nourishing dish. Upon taking a taste of these New Jersey cherries, my mom and I were instantly transported to a family farmhouse in Switzerland with its cherry trees. Reflect on the food memories you have from your childhood.

Sunflowers from, you guessed it, the beautiful state of New Jersey: $5.99 a bunch.


Find a family farm near you through Local Harvest.