Farms, Gardens and Wineries
There are scores of farms in the Northwest New Jersey Skylands, including dairy, produce markets, orchards, berry cultivators, equestrian centers, wineries, herb growers, honey producers, cheese makers. Here are just a few of the many places that welcome your company.
Agricultural Products
- 4-H Fairs
- Today's clubs reflect modern trends and interests, but still emphasize the personal growth of each member
- Apple Picking
- A walk among ageless trees laden with the mythical fruit is a trip through a special kind of garden.
- Birding on Farms
- Wildlife viewers and local farmers can now benefit from a new and innovative partnership that enhances both the ecology of Northwest New Jersey and the economies of our still-rural communities.
- Bobolink Dairy and Bakeyeard
- Artisanal bread, solar-powered cheeses and pasture-raised beef.
- Brook Hollow Farm
- Beautiful apple and peach orchards near the Delaware Water Gap.
- Christmas Tree Growers
- Tree farmers must plan years in advance, provide year-round care, and invest time, labor, and love into a crop which takes 7-15 years from planting to harvest.
- Christmas Trees In New Jersey
- Cut your own Christmas tree!
- Exotic Farm Animals
- Where cows once grazed, mystery creatures occupy the fields. Most serve two purposes: to educate and propagate. If curiosity leads to profits, all the better.
- Farmers Markets
- Day and weekend trips in the autumn Skylands can also be delicious, with the rich harvests of our local farms available to the savvy shopper at farmer's markets throughout our region.
- Food Preserving and Canning
- Take advantage of the fall harvest, and "put up" some food for healthy, nutritious eating during the long winter months.
- Free Range Livestock
- Although the classic image of cows grazing lazily, chickens pecking the ground at their feet and pigs rooting around the barnyard on Grandma's farm is long gone from the commercial landscape, some New Jersey family farms raise and sell meats for local customers.
- Garlic Growers
- It's that white papery bulb that wards off vampires and the common cold.
- Green Valley Farms
- A full plate at this family-run farm.
- Jersey Grown Gardens
- If toxic chemicals don't fit your vision of "green thumbness," look to the following alternatives for making your lawn and garden come alive!
- Orchards
- Much of the terrain in the northwestern section tends to be rocky and hilly, suited more for planting fruit trees than for field crop production.
- Organic Farming
- Because these farmers don't rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides to protect their plants, they rely on the land and treat it with respect. Some sell at market, others sell from a stand. Some share their bounty along with the risk of poor years with farm co-op members.
- Sussex County Farmers Market
- Permanent market housed at the Sussex County Fairgrounds.
- Victory Veggies. Grow a Survival Garden!
- Today it seems we're in a war against old habits. Our excesses may be catching up with us. There's a blight spreading through the money tree in America. Is it dead or just dormant? Will it bloom this year or skip a year, or even more? We keep hearing that the housing bubble has burst and we're in a stock market correction. Maybe it is time for an agricultural correction.
- Warren County Farmers Fair
- The history of the Warren County Farmers' Fair is a checkered one. The event that we know today -- an agriculturally based, family oriented exposition -- was a long time in coming. It almost didn't make it.
- Well-Sweep Herb Farm
- Touring Well-Sweep Herb Farm in Port Murray is an exciting learning experience; part herbal lesson, part horticulture history flashback, part taste test.
General Guides
- Farm Preservation
- Farmland Preservation is completely voluntary, and there are a variety of programs available to assist farmers to maintain their property in functional agriculture.
- Hunterdon County Farm Visits
- They are as different from each other as three farmers can be and as different from a non-farmer's stereotype of farmers as they can be. But they have this in common: They love their work, and their work is never-ending. Talk to any of them for long, and you find out that when a farmer is awake, he's at work.
- Regional Farm Guide
- Regional farm directory
- Sussex County Christmas Tree Growers
- Sussex County farm profiles
- Sussex County Farm Guide
- Sussex County farm profiles
- Sussex Farm Visits
- Sussex County farm profiles
- Warren County Farm Visits
- Warren County farm profiles
Pick Your Own
- Apple Picking
- A walk among ageless trees laden with the mythical fruit is a trip through a special kind of garden.
- Berry Picking
- Beginning with the strawberries and languishing until the frosts of October, berries provide a lengthy time span for berry-lovers in the Skylands region to get out and savor the juicy goodness of a native fruit.
- Orchards
- Much of the terrain in the northwestern section tends to be rocky and hilly, suited more for planting fruit trees than for field crop production.
- Pumpkin Picking
- Fall field trips
Wineries
- Dirty Little Secrets
- Want in on a dirty little secret? "Holy cow, it's in the dirt." Yep, good old Garden State dirt. No, not our usual tabloid kind rife with political scandals, but the stuff beneath your feet. As any farmer and every gardener will attest, it's the stuff dreams are made of. And even if you don't have a green thumb, you'll know its hue, color and timbre, how it compacts and crumbles between your fingers, how its savory aroma wafts up as you bend forward for a whiff, and how nearly you can taste it.
- Elixir of the Senses
- Making wine in New Jersey
- Wineries
- Winery tour