Blairstown Farmers’ Market is Hot This Summer
The Blairstown Farmers’ Market opened June 1 and is in full swing and is open every Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. until November 23. As the summer heat grows higher this July, so does the line-up of fabulous market vendors including:
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- Apple Ridge
- Arena Farms
- Consulting Forestry Services
- Creek Bend Farm
- Dark Earth Farms
- Flour Child
- Heaven’s Gate Farm
- Hope Cress Farms
- Jersey Pickles
- Jimmy’s Mushrooms
- Kimball’s Farm
- Krakus Deli
- Mae’s Homemade Happiness
- Manskirt
- Mazur Chocolates
- Milk Street Distillery
- Paulinskill River Photography
- Rosie’s Empanadas
- Rotary
- TK’s Famous LLC
- Top of the Mountain
- Yiannis & Yia Yia’s Taste of Greece
With Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville” wafting across the breezy lot, the balmy, tropically dressed, local cover band, Exit 12, sets the tone. The best advice is to arrive hungry and with empty bags and/or a rolling cart.
Homegrown fungi
Jimmy’s Mushrooms offers a wide array of homegrown splendor, 10 types of fungi to be exact. The owner, Jimmy, said they are located in Pennsylvania, “in two barns which are actually cement block buildings, very long and rectangular that are half in, half out of the ground, which makes it easier to heat in the winter and easier to cool in the summer.”
One can find a few types of mushrooms in the grocery store, but not as many featured and grown carefully by Jimmy.
“Mushrooms do not require sunlight, but we do not have miner’s helmets on,” he explained. “It’s not dark. We have lights, but there are no windows.”
These mushrooms are fresh, just picked, and include varieties such as king trumpet, lion’s mane, maitake and golden oyster. Jimmy’s Mushrooms also sells to 26 different restaurants when not vending at the market.
Beyond just vegetables
Kent Kimball, owner of Kimball Farms, has been growing vegetables in this area since 1996. Kimball explains that he “bought the land, started with three acres, and now have 54 acres.”
Kimball Farms grows wheat and rye, but mostly vegetables, all of which are organic. This is the fourth year they have been selling edible flowers. And, week after week this summer, the variety will increase.
Even chocolate
Steve Mazur, owner of Mazur Café and Chocolate Lab in Hackettstown offers all single-origin chocolate bars.
“All our chocolate is vegan and gluten-free,” he said. “I started making chocolate six years ago and opened a shop one year ago. I source the beans, roast them and grind them in a three-day process. Then they are blocked, aged and molded. The only other ingredient is some organic sugar and cocoa butter.”
CBD for your furry friends
“Our Pet CBD oil is the same for both dogs and humans,” Daniel Aiello, owner and educator of Dark Earth Farms in Newton, said. “A similar endocannabinoid system in our body has developed over thousands of years and helps our body place plant nutrients. Pet CBD helps them with arthritis, teeth-cleaning, anxiety, a whole factor of things, like digestion.”
The only difference between the pet and the human oil bottle product is the milligram range.
“We use biology over chemistry to make sure the plants are healthy,” said Aiello. “Unlike corporations that use the trim and stem, we compost the trim and stem, and the oil is totally from the flower.”
Dark Earth Farm solely grows its product and is third-party verified.
Bring a parasol on the hottest day and a blanket for a stroll and picnic at the nearby Footbridge Park. The market is located at 5 Stillwater Road, Blairstown, in the parking lot next to the Blairstown firehouse.
For more information visit: https://blairstownfarmersmarket.com/.
Laura Ward is a gallerist at Infloressense in Belvidere, NJ, whose motto is "poetic synthesis of all the cultural arts." Born in West Orange, NJ, Ward had a unique childhood growing up in a three-story, three-generation, 1895 Victorian where she learned gardening with her great-grandfather, theater with her grandmother, and typing with her mom. Ward spent the last two decades in the architectural design industry, followed by her present pursuit into the entrepreneurial world of art and event planning. Ward lives in the esoteric Delaware Village Historic District and volunteers at Ramsaysburg Historic Homestead. Ward spent 11 years in Florida where she graduated with an English B.A. from FAU and later The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale with an art history minor.
- Laura Ward, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/laura-ward-contributing-writer/
- Laura Ward, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/laura-ward-contributing-writer/
- Laura Ward, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/laura-ward-contributing-writer/
- Laura Ward, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/laura-ward-contributing-writer/
