Hot News

9.15.2008

By Tamara Scully
AFP Correspondent

PITTSTOWN — The farmers of the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Northwest Jersey Chapter — like farmers everywhere — are accustomed to dealing with the unpredictability of the weather.
So they took it all in stride on Sept. 7 when a tropical storm warning forced the postponement of their “rain-or-shine” third annual Farm and Food Open House Tour and Local Foods Dinner.
Scheduled each year on the Saturday following Labor Day, the event moved to Sunday in deference to the storm.
“It was the right call,” Louis Tommaso, of L.L. Pittenger Farm, a BFBL sponsor farm, said.
Even though the rain held off until mid-afternoon, the state was under a severe weather advisory, with Gov. Jon S. Corzine issuing warnings for people not to drive unless absolutely necessary.
Sunday proved to be a gorgeous late-summer day.
With nine farms open for farmer-led behind-the-scenes tours — as well as four business partner stops — tour participants were able to fill the day exploring meat, vegetable, biodynamic, small and large sized farms and ag-related businesses in Sussex, Warren and Hunterdon counties.
As diverse as an apiary and a winery, a 700-acre crop farm, a hillside orchard and a pastured livestock farm, participants were treated to a rare glimpse into the real face of northern New Jersey farming.
Families learned more about how local food is grown, how it differs from the industrial farming that primarily feeds our nation, and why it is a smart, healthy choice to make.
Farmers involved in the BFBL chapter are all advocates of direct marketing and of consumer education.
The more the customers or potential customers know about how and where their food is grown, the methods used to grow it and the reason why those methods are utilized, as well as the effort, time, labor and knowledge needed to grow food in a sustainable manner, the more reasons the customer has to buy local.
At Peaceful Valley Orchards, visitors were treated to a lesson on integrated pest management and its use in reducing chemical inputs on crops.
Farmers Meredith and Jeremy Compton said they are proud of the numerous tree fruits, vegetable and melon crops they produce via IPM techniques.
They also are active Grow-A-Row farmers, donating land, seed and more so that local community groups can plant, sow and reap a bounty of farm-fresh produce for those less fortunate in the community.
Nearby, Tassot Apiaries in Alexandria Township awed visitors with their beekeeping knowledge, demonstration hives and honeybee facts.
Bea and Jean-Claude Tassot and family manage more than 160 hives scattered on farms throughout the region, and extract and package raw honey in a variety of forms: Liquid, creamy, complete with beeswax, or made into soaps or candles.
All of it is direct from their hives, in its unfiltered, unheated state.
In the Sussex County town of Branchville, Plaid Piper Farm was busy showing visitors all about raising free-range chicken, pig, turkey and beef.
In between, the Community Supported Garden at Genesis Farm, Howling Wolf Farm, L.L. Pittenger Farm, Donaldson’s Farm and Best’s Fruit Farm were also busy giving tours as visitors made their way across the region.
Along the way, BFBL business partners were also greating visitors.
These ag-related businesses opened their doors with special tour participant discounts or events.
At Ag-Choice in Green Township, visitors learned all about how their NOFA-NJ certified organic compost is created with horse manure, pre-consumer food scrapes, and intricate measurements of humidity, temperature and moisture content.
In conjunction with Slow Foods Northern New Jersey, the event also featured cooking demonstrations at several of the farm stops.
At L.L. Pittenger Farm, visitors were treated to a lunch featuring the meat raised right there on the farm.
Even with these culinary delights, the Local Foods Dinner, held at Donaldson’s Farm in Mansfield Township, was welcomed at the end of the day-long adventure in farming.
Local chefs prepared an array of dishes from tacos and roasted pork to wheatberry salad to local fruit sorbet. All were made from food donated by the particpating farms.
Serving approximately 400 guests, including 100 volunteer staff who made the tours and dinner possible, the farmers and chefs partnered together to make this dinner one to remember.
Kendrya and Rick Close, a husband-and-wife team from Hardwick Township, organized the dinner logistics on a volunteer basis.
Hundreds of hours of their hard work went into the planning and coordination of the event.
Their efforts, along with that of the participating chefs from throughout the area and many of whom were on hand to serve and to great visitors, and Margaret Noon of Slow Foods Northern New Jersey, who coordinated the farmer to chef food distribution as well as the menu planning, resulted in a pleasant and pleasurable dinner.
Tour volunteer Kim Hood, who was assigned to assist at Tassot Apiaries, not only enjoyed the delectable food and down-home farm environment of the dinner, but also the educational and fun aspects of being a tour volunteer.
“It was a fun day meeting and greeting the visitors to Tassot Apiary and a great opportunity to learn about the secrets of beekeeping,” Hood said. “It was really interesting learning about the process behind creating local honey, beeswax candles and soaps.”