Double Brook Farm Autumn Zinnias by Tasha O’Neill

Those of you who know me, know [-- long before my own year in Provence --] that my favorite fragrance in the entire world is lavender.  A close second, –with the added benefit of that pungent evergreen flavor–, is rosemary.  When I lived in Cannes, lavender honey was the key treat of weekly visits to its marche/market.  Fresh herbs were a given, in that land where the mistral infused the very air with rosemary.  However, never did I expect to taste rosemary ice cream.

[As a food stylist in Manhattan, there was nothing trickier than photographing ice cream --Robin McConaughy's masterful image of their unforgettable new specialty: ]

Robin McConaughy’s Rosemary-Caramel Ice Cream!

I tasted this remarkable creation, –rich as Devonshire cream, darkly complex with caramel, redolent of rosemary–, in next-door Hopewell, at Double Brook farm.  There is no better flavoring for lamb — but ice cream?  Splendid, never-to-be-forgotten, and probably unequaled.  Even Shakespeare insists, “rosemary — that’s for remembrance.”

Double Brook Farm Fresh Bean Array by Tasha O’Neill

Those of you who read D&R Greenway newsletters and the local media, know well that sustainable farming is alive and well in Hopewell, thanks to Robin and Jon McConaughy.  This past Friday, friend and fine-art-photographer Tasha O’Neill attended Jon and Robin’s Friday farm produce sale, our first visit to the farm for that purpose.

Double Brook Farm Hot Peppers by Tasha O’Neill

(This energetic young couple had hosted D&R Greenway’s Down-to-Earth Ball a year ago.  Their handsome cattle are carefully moved a prescribed number of times per day, from grass field to grass field, on D&R Greenway’s St. Michaels Farm Preserve off Aunt Molly Road in Hopewell.)

Double Brook Farm Tomatilloes, Tasha O’Neill

THIS day, Tasha and I encountered Double Brook Farm’s raison d’etre, FRESH LOCAL PRODUCE and salumi (exotic meats from their own tenderly animals — Tasha bought lardo and I soppresata) cameras in hand.  She was kind enough to send her images this morning, so I’m sharing them with you.

Double Brook Farm Salumi, Slow-Food-Snail-Seal-of-Approval   Tasha O’Neill

As we insist, over and over in these virtual pages, New Jersey is beautiful.  She produces such spectacular produce, ‘right in our own back yards.’

Garden State Bounty, Double Brook Farm by Tasha O’Neill

Here is Double Brooks web-site — Robin herself could be a fine art photographer:  http://www.doublebrookfarm.com/

Double Brook Okra by Tasha O’Neill

Put yourself on Robin’s e-mail list, so you’ll know when the farmstand is open again.  When the store on #518 is fully restored and providing this sort of bounty year-round.  When the restaurant, on #518, that exquisite red brick home, is brought back to life and its brick-lined paths trimmed and ready for visitors.  Tasha and I and I had been invited to explore the flower paths, the herb gardens behind the soon-to-be restaurants.  But we “had promises to keep…”, in another dear old NJ Town, Kingston.  So we don’t have herb pictures for you.

Robin’s and Jon’s Rubies - Red Onions of Double Brook Farm   by Tasha O’Neill

But we do have some of the essence of Double Brook Farm in these new scenes.

Succulent, Tender, Subtly Irresistible Shiitakes of Double Brook by Tasha O’Neill

I am awash in gratitude, as you know, to those who KEEP THE meaning of GARDEN in the Garden State.

Preserved Farm, Salem County, New Jersey      cfe

I thank you for reading NJ WILD so often and so studiously.  Last month’s statistics included 3500 viewers, most of you staying on for a page and a half, from virtually every country/continent.  How can that be?  Because New Jersey is beautiful and bountiful, and we’re lucky enough to live and farm-shop here!

Pine Barrens Peat Water, Mullica River    cfe

Between drought and development, it is hard for others, even for New Jersey natives, to credit our slogan, “The Garden State.”

NJ WILD readers know, I celebrate New Jersey’s wild beauty wherever and whenever I can find it, even right in my own (near Rocky Hill) rocky hilly foresty yard.

But sometimes, I must go far afield, gulp great ‘draughts’ of New Jersey Beauty.

As. recently, to and from my cherished ‘Brigantine’ - Wildlife Refuge, otherwise known as Edwin B. Forsythe.

The blessings of visiting ‘the Brig’ are beyond measure, starting with the long silent even winding drive through the Pine Barrens to Smithville and Oceanville.  Due east of those tiny pre-Revolutionary towns stretches the 8-mile dike drive among bays and impoundments, rare birds at all times and in all seasons.

Come along with me on last week’s spur-of-the-moment, if not even desperate, flight to beauty.

Queen Anne’s Lace, Mullica River, Pine Barrens      cfe

Beyond the dock, fortunate kayakers make their way up the Mullica, without whose Revolutionary waters and watermen, we wouldn’t have a nation:

Mullica Kayakers,    cfe

Cloud-Studded Salinity-Managed Waters of Brigantine    cfe

FIDDLER CRABS, OUT FOR LOW-TIDE LUNCH, Brig     cfe

NEW JERSEY BEAUTY - CLOUD MAJESTY   Brig     cfe

There were great egrets everywhere, like archangels at the Nativity, as well as black-bellied and American golden plovers, ibis beyond counting, a few skimmers not skimming, and osprey families everywhere we looked — some feeding young, one ‘mantling ‘ - waving mature wings to cool the immature!

Successful Osprey Family, The Brig    cfe

Duck and First Marsh Mallows of the Season     cfe

Glossy Ibis and Marsh Mallow, Brig    cfe

Wild Flowers (water lilies and Sagittaria) and Cranberry Bogs Near Chatsworth, #563,

The Empty, Beauty-Bracketed Route Home     cfe

As you can see, beauty and wildness are with you every step of the way to and from ‘The Brig.’

(”The Pretty Way” will have no cars to speak of, even on major holidays.  Route 1 South to 295 South to Columbus Exit to 206 South to Carranza Road/Tabernacle to 532 (stop at Russo’s for fresh-made cider doughnuts and very local produce).  532 east to 563 South to (I forget the number -[579?]) left to New Gretna below Chatsworth  Route 9 South, moments on GSP, Exit 48 Smithville, back onto Route 9 South below Smithville to left turn to Forsythe Wildlife Refuge after fire station, Lily Lake Road. See Noyes Museum of Art while down there.  Eat breakfast at The Bakery in Smithville; any time at Smithville Inn, and Oyster Creek Inn at Leeds Point, if it’s open when you’re there…)

The First Thanksgiving Painting, Jean Louis Gerome Ferris

Brenda Jones’ image of Geese Overhead echoes Charles Goodrich’s signature phrase

Fellow poet, Penelope Schott, sent me this delightful essay from someone else wise and wild in her new home town, Portland, Oregon: Charles Goodrich.

I e-mailed Charles, receiving merry permission to share his (diatribe, polemic, or just plain delicious excursion?) with NJ WILD readers.   I relish his unique sign-off/signature - don’t you?

Charles knows what to do on the days of Thanksgiving.  That feast did not come into being so that people could shop.  At 4 a.m. in beautiful New Jersey, people could be out tracking in a wood, following a river, coursing over the bounding main, seeking wild creatures– not elbowing aside other frenzied humans in mad excesses of materialism.

Wise Indians talked surviving Pilgrims into setting aside days of thanks for the harvest, much of which would not have been in hand without the steady assistance of the so-called savages.

Thanksgiving is meant to be a celebration of gratitude.  In the wild world, gratitude can be engendered by watching wild turkeys, in this case, battling - rather than fighting off fellow shoppers.

Brenda Jones’ Battling Turkey Cocks

Here is a fellow nature enthusiast, engendering thankfulness the real way.

Thank you, Charles, and I look forward to your new book, GOING TO SEED: DISPATCHES FROM THE GARDEN, due out in April from Silverfish Review Press.

Use Charles Goodrich’s web-site, to track down other thoughtful musings.  Meanwhile, take a stroll in wild Oregon with this fine thinker and writer.

“Black Friday”

Deep in the brambles, a winter wren scavenges insects for her supper, talking to herself in buzzing little syllables. Otherwise, things are quiet in the woods.

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, signs everywhere of recent feasting. Beside the river, a scrubby willow has been clipped off, the clean impression of beaver teeth indented in the stump.

At the base of a cedar, a fresh owl pellet, chock full of white bones and gray fur.

And here, in the center of the trail, splayed out in artful array, the scrub jay’s wings sail on through a scatter of gray and blue breast feathers, right where the fox left them.

I’m sure it will be a busy day at the mall. There are supposed to be bargains galore.

I can believe it, because the catkins of the wild filberts are already an inch long. And now the wren flits to a branch above the trail and scolds me for undisclosed offenses. Prosperity abounds!

*

Brenda Jones’ Wren of Summer

evokes Charles’ Goodrich’s winter wren in another season

Spring Creek Project

The challenge of the Spring Creek Project is to bring together the practical wisdom of the environmental sciences, the clarity of philosophical analysis, and the creative, expressive power of the written word, to find new ways to understand and re-imagine our relation to the natural world.

***

�

Why Choose Jersey Fresh: West Windsor Farm Market   cfe

Cumberland County Fall Farm Bounty, CFE

NJ Wild Readers are well aware of my passion for farms, farmers, farmlands and farm markets.

The legendary Michele Byers, Executive Director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, gives me willing, even eager permission to quote her recent column on these topics.  Because, after all, she exults, “It’s all about education, spreading the word.”

Count yourselves fortunate to have read and experienced the glory of NJ farms in these posts.  And support Michele anywhere, everywhere, everyhow - in her campaigns to keep our NJ Green and Garden-y.

Farm Market Central - West Windsor Farm Market, NJ   cfe

by Michele S. Byers, Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation
As a recent national poll demonstrated, farms and farming are “top of mind”
for most people who are asked about New Jersey. For years, many New
Jerseyans have been savoring “Jersey Fresh” produce - and appreciating the
tremendous importance of agriculture to our state.

Cumberland County Autumn, cfe

Buying New Jersey-grown fruits, vegetables and farm products has more than a
few benefits. One, it’s healthy. Two, it saves energy on transportation.
Three, it tastes better. Finally, it helps keep farming profitable - and
thriving farms stay in business and keep New Jersey green.

Cumberland County Harvest   cfe

Gov. Chris Christie recently approved a new package of bills that reinforce
this link between “buying local” and preserving land. The bills raise the
profile of “Jersey Fresh” and “Made with Jersey Fresh” products and provide
$90 million to permanently preserve more of our state’s fertile farmland.

A Ripeness of Melons, West Windsor Farm Market    cfe

One of the new laws requires “Jersey Fresh” and “Made with Jersey Fresh”
products to be clearly identified and displayed in prominent locations.
“Jersey Fresh” was developed by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture
back in 1983 to help farmers inform consumers about the availability and
variety of New Jersey produce.

Cumberland County Decorative Corn    cfe

New Jersey grows more than 100 different varieties of fruits, vegetables and
herbs. And although the Garden State is small, it’s ranked in the top 10
nationally for blueberries (2nd), peaches (4th), bell peppers (4th), squash
(7th), tomatoes (8th) and cranberries (4th).

An Apple A Day, Trenton Farmers Market    cfe

Only those growers who abide by the state’s quality grading program are
allowed to use the “Jersey Fresh” logo on their packages. “Made with Jersey
Fresh” is a similar program, open to food processing companies that use
products inspected through the “Jersey Fresh” grading program.

Cumberland County Bargains   cfe

So if you can’t make it to your local farm market in the upcoming fall
harvest season, you can still help the cause by buying “Jersey Fresh” at
your grocery store.

Cumberland County, Jersey Freshest   cfe

Just as New Jersey is a top national producer of fruits and vegetables, New
Jersey’s farm markets are also making a national impact. In the 2011
“America’s Favorite Farmers Market” contest, sponsored by the American
Farmland Trust, four of the top 20 farmers markets were from New Jersey!

Symphony of Yellows, West Windsor Farm Market   cfe

The farmland preservation funds approved by Governor Christie will help
ensure that the Garden State’s agricultural heritage continues into the
future. Preserving local Jersey farms means greater food security and access
to healthy food. Less energy is used, and less pollution is produced,
because products don’t have to travel so far to market!

Home From the Trenton Farmers Market    cfe

For more information on the nation’s most popular farmers markets, go to
www.farmland.org and click on the “America’s Favorite Farmers Markets” link
on the homepage.

Peach Abundance, Trenton Farmers Market    cfe

To learn more about Jersey Fresh products, including
recipes and buying tips, visit www.jerseyfresh.nj.gov
<http://www.jerseyfresh.nj.gov/>  .

Awaiting Vincent   West Windsor Farm Market   cfe

And if you’d like more information about conserving New Jersey’s precious
land and natural resources, please visit the New Jersey Conservation
Foundation’s website at www.njconservation.org
<http://www.njconservation.org/>  or contact me at info@njconservation.org.

NJ WILD readers know I spend most of my days furthering preservation of New Jersey’s scarce land, mostly through facilitating art exhibitions at D&R Greenway Land Trust, as well as  welcoming a ceaseless stream of art visitors to our galleries.  We show nature art so that people will more greatly appreciate nature, and therefore preserve it.

Right now, guests may enjoy the Garden State Watercolor Society’s 42nd annual art exhibition, “In Step With Nature.”  GSWS has chosen this nature theme to tie in with our preservation and stewardship mission.  The art is available through October 14.  But come to the August 19 Reception and/or Charles McVicker’s Gallery Walk on Wednesday, August 17.  Both are free and both start at 5:30 and run to 7:30.

Our reception, August 19, will be a lively mix of artists, collectors, Board Members, preservationists, and often people just in off the street to see what all the fuss (two full parking lots off Rosedale Road) is about. We prefer that you call to register, so that we know how much wine, cheese and fruit to have in readiness - 609-924-4646.

A broad array of images, from realist through impressionist to abstract, stands out from our weathered barn walls.  D&R Greenway Curator, Diana Moore, put this work together with an artist’s eye - whether she’ll admit this or not!  Twenty one awards were conveyed at the Garden State Watercolor Society’s private reception August 6.

Visitors are welcome at D&R Greenway, One Preservation Place, off Rosedale Road, to see and purchase these stunning works during business hours of business days.  A percentage of the purchase price comes to us, a non-profit, to further the saving of land.

A wondrous team of Willing Hands is at my side for receptions, so that guests feel fully welcomed, and all the focus is on the art.

Come, join us.     www.drgreenway.org

Here is Tiffany So’s beautiful Constant Contact today:

Exhibit Events All events will be held at the Johnson Education Center and are free of charge. Garden State Watercolor Society August 17 5:30-7:30pm Exhibit tour by artist Charles McVicker August 19 5:30-7:30pm Opening Reception Please call 609.924.4646 or email info@drgreenway.org to RSVP to either event. Quick Links Directions to the Johnson Education Center D&R Greenway’s art galleries About D&R Greenway About Garden State Watercolor Society Garden State in Step with Nature art exhibit Image by Frank Perry This is the 42nd annual juried art exhibition of the Garden State Watercolor Society. Judged by Ken Hamilton and Gigi Burboeck, the exhibit showcases the best watercolorists in the region. D&R Greenway’s opening reception for this exhibit is on August 19, from 5:30-7:30pm. All are welcome. In addition, artist Charles McVicker will conduct a tour of the show on August 17, from 5:30-7:30pm. You may view the exhibit between the hours of 10am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, through October 14, 2011. D&R Greenway Land Trust at the Johnson Education Center One Preservation Place Princeton, NJ 08540 www.drgreenway.org

EXCURSION TO THE BARRENS

I like to watch old farms wake up

ground fog furling within the turned furrows

as dew-drenched tendrils of some new crop

lift toward dawn

three solid horses bumble

along the split-rail fence

one rusting tractor pulsing

at the field’s hem

just over the horizon

the invisible ocean

paints white wisps

all along the Pinelands’

blank blue canvas

as gulls intensely circle

this tractor driver’s

frayed straw hat

from rotund ex-school buses

workers spill

long green rows suddenly peppered

by their vivid headgear

as they bend and bend again

to sever Jersey’s bright asparagus

some of which I’ll buy

just up ahead

at the unattended farm stand

slipping folded dollars

into the ‘Honor Box’

before driving so reluctantly

away from this region called ‘Barren’

where people and harvests

still move to seasons and tides

CAROLYN FOOTE EDELMANN

This old farm is Hobler Park, Great Road and 518, Blawenburg

That at the top is a Bucks County Barn

I work in Robert Wood Johnson’s working barn, D&R Greenway Land Trust off Rosedale Road in Princeton

Johnson Education Center, D&R Greenway Land Trust

Bill Rawlyk (Hunterdon County) Farm Blueberries in

D&R Greenway’s Pergola, Summer 2009

There is NO SUCH THING as TOO MANY FARMS!

SAVE GARDEN STATE FARMLAND!

Historic D&R Canal Towpath, Haven of Beauty, Source of Water

A national organization just sent a bulletin of good news for our environment, all too scarce in MY book!

In fact, among all the ‘Talking Heads” to whose palaver I was subjected this week, I heard the word ‘environment’ but once, in a tragically dismissive tone.

Our Congressman, Rush Holt, is a friend of the environment without peer.  As a naturalist and conservationist, I am profoundly relieved that he won this, his only narrow victory in all these terms.

While thankful to learn the news they conveyed, I felt compelled to write back to the national organization, alerting them to our Congressman Rush Holt’s ENVIRONMENTAL VIGILANCE in our state, in the Capitol. I share some of my response with NJ WILD readers.

As I bolded line after line in Rush’s web-page on environmental matters, –even I, loyal constituent so long as I have known this man–, learned ways in which our Rush Holt tends to Nature.

It is particularly significant that this former rocket scientist continues to instruct Washington to base environmental decisions upon sound science, not upon politics, not in reaction to special interest groups who continually despoil our land.

What I treasure about Rush is that he’s out there noticing what’s wrong, facing problems, solving problems, not merely reacting/vouchsafing sound bites, as do so many politicians…

Lavalette, New Jersey: Calm After Storm

You’ve read my anguished posts and my Packet article on the peril of birds in the wake of the BP disaster in the Gulf.  (from his web-site) Rep. Holt has voted against allowing potentially disastrous oil drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). He also has cosponsored OCEANS-21, comprehensive legislation that would develop a national policy to ensure the health of our nation’s oceans for future generations.

He weaves the young into his work:  Holt is a founding member and co-chair of the Children’s Environmental Health Caucus, which aims to raise awareness of environmental issues that affect health, particularly that of children.

(from his web-site) On May 14, 2009, the House of Representatives passed Holt’s Green Schools initiative as part of the School Modernization Bill. Natural Resources Committee

For this alone, I’d have voted for Rush:  Rep. Holt is a strong supporter of the Endangered Species Act and has consistently opposed attempts to weaken this law.

And this:  Rep Holt is committed to the preservation of America’s natural treasures, including its parks. Recently, he helped pass the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (H.R. 146), historic legislation that combines more than 160 individual measures. Among its many provisions, the bill includes new wilderness designations, wild and scenic rivers, National Park units, hiking trails, heritage areas, water projects, and historic preservation initiatives.

And this:  Rep. Holt does all in his power to oppose the destruction of environmentally fragile wilderness areas.

When I think of Rush, I experience him as listener – need I remind how rare that quality is in politicians in our time?

Our Congressman is also known for his strong historic perspective, terrifically important in this, our most populated state, where not even the events without which we would not be/have a nation, do not effectively protect sites where these events transpired.

Rush remembers and dynamically teaches the remarkable truth:  Ours is the state in which the highest percentage of successful Revolutionary War battles took place, –two in nearby Trenton and the significant one here in Princeton on January 3, 1777.

How many realize that that sacred battlefield could be developed even now by of all entities, the Institute for Advanced Studies?

Rush also knows that lands held open for historic purposes also protects and enhances life chances for native species.

History & Beauty - Historic Batsto Preserve

Pine Barrens of New Jersey - Former Iron Forge Town

His commitment to clean water is vital, as our Canal serves the water needs of millions.  Rush is well aware that New Jersey is the ONLY state with THREE coastlines - Atlantic, Delaware Bay and Delaware River. He is determined to maintain these treasures at the highest level, not only because of tourism dollars, but due to their essentiality to humans and native species on all levels.

Rush remembers, reminds others, and acts.  All that, and he writes personal thank you’s, even for my minuscule contributions.

From Congressman Rush Holt’s website page on Environment:  http://holt.house.gov/ Issues - Environment:

John F. Kennedy said in March 1961, ‘It is our task in our time and in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours.’” –

Rush Holt Rep. Rush Holt has stood up for our nation’s environmental crown jewels, and is committed to safeguarding our National Parks and Preserves. He supports efforts to clean up our air, land, and water, and to preserve open space.

A member of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, he is a leader in promoting environmentally sound alternative energy sources that do not harm our environment. For his work, Rep. Holt has earned a 100 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters.

Throughout his career, Rep. Holt has been a strong advocate for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and its State Assistance program, which provides matching funds to states and communities to preserve open spaces. Early in his career, he was able to restore the state-side grant portion of the program, and he has since fought to retain and increase funding for it.

In the 110th Congress, Rep. Holt led a bipartisan coalition that helped secure $125 million for the LWCF and $25 million for the state-side grant portion. He is leading the effort to secure LWCF in the current Congress as well. The LWCF State Assistance program has aided local recreation projects in over 98% of all U.S. counties, including the preservation of over 73,000 acres of land in New Jersey alone. This is land that otherwise may have been developed for private use or otherwise rendered unusable. Due to the crucial work done by the LWCF, Rep. Holt has fought for full LWCF funding every year.

In July, Rep. Holt voted for and the House passed the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act (CLEAR Act). In addition to fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund, this bill would raise operations standards on offshore drilling, making it safer for workers, as well as for our environment.

Northern Gannet at Cape May -
CMBO Picture –

One of most devastated birds during and after BP Oil Catastrophe in Gulf

In light of the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the CLEAR Act adopts a provision written by Rep. Holt to hold oil companies accountable for the damage they inflict, should an accident occur. The bill is currently awaiting approval from the Senate.

Black Skimmer Glory by Brenda Jones

Bird deeply endangered by oil in water - as it skims waves to feed on resident fish

Rep. Holt supports states’ rights to lead the way on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. He has supported legislation to allow states such New Jersey to create stronger regulations regarding vehicle emissions.

Rep. Holt strongly supports efforts to protect the Clean Water Act. He has cosponsored legislation that would reestablish the original intent of Congress in the 1972 Clean Water Act, ensuring that it applies to all water of the United States.

He also supports efforts to fully fund the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

Holt also is a founding member and co-chair of the Children’s Environmental Health Caucus, which aims to raise awareness of environmental issues that affect health, particularly that of children.

On his web-site, you can read Rep. Holt’s work on clean energy, including his efforts to increase automobile fuel efficiency standards for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Rep. Holt supports the “polluter pays” principle that the financial burden to clean up toxic pollution at Superfund sites should not fall on the backs of taxpayers. Congress created the Superfund in 1980 to clean up the nation’s worst toxic waste sites. Congress placed the financial onus for cleanups on polluting corporations. [This system worked as it was intended until 1995 when the 105th Congress let the Superfund revenue authority expire.]

Superfund still had funding until the Fiscal Year 2003 budget. Yet, the Bush Administration failed to request renewal of the Superfund taxes in any subsequent budget, resulting in the Superfund running dry. This has stalled cleanup efforts in Superfund sites throughout the country, including in Marlboro, NJ, which had waited for the clean up of the Imperial Oil Company site for more than 25 years, until finally receiving approximately $25 million for cleanup from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. Rep. Holt continues to work to reinstate the Superfund tax on corporate polluters.

Rep. Holt has led the effort in Congress to preserve historic lands, as he believes that preserving historic spaces is essential to educating the current generations and future generations and about our rich cultural heritage. This year, he reintroduced the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act, legislation that would help preserve open spaces by authorizing additional funding to protect historic sites dating from these two wars.

Pre-Revolutionary Blue Mill, Blue Mill Pond, Walnford Village NJ

Additionally, in 2007 Rep. Holt secured $150,000 in federal funding for the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area, which he helped to create in 2006. The Crossroads of the American Revolution highlights the role of New Jersey during the American Revolution and brings protection to many historic landmarks, including battlefields, lighthouses, mills, wells and the other Revolutionary War area sites in New Jersey. Crossroads of the American Revolution is headed by D&R Greenway Trustee Cate Litvack, who has become a friend and member of my Willing Hands Committee at the Land Trust, regularly arriving early for events to greet our guests.

Representing a state that is highly dependent on the ocean for its economy, tourism, and recreation, Rep. Holt is committed to ensuring that our coasts and oceans are clean.

Rep. Holt has voted against allowing potentially disastrous oil drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). He also has cosponsored OCEANS-21, comprehensive legislation that would develop a national policy to ensure the health of our nation’s oceans for future generations.

Where History and Waters Meet

Calling to Migrant Birds…

Cape May Light and Ocean Beach in Winter

Cape May Bird Observatory Photo

In January 2009, Rep. Holt reintroduced the School Building Enhancement Act, legislation that would help schools implement energy saving measures to reduce their energy costs. Energy bills are the second-highest operating expenditure for schools after personnel costs, with the annual spending by schools on energy at $8 billion in 2007. Holt’s bill would authorize $6.4 billion over five years for school construction, including funding to help schools become more energy-efficient.

On May 14, 2009, the House of Representatives passed Holt’s Green Schools initiative as part of the School Modernization Bill. Natural Resources Committee.

WILD (literally! & SCENIC DELAWARE RIVER, Brenda Jones

As a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Rep. Holt has worked to preserve America’s natural treasures, including its parks. Recently, he helped pass the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (H.R. 146), historic legislation that combines more than 160 individual measures. Among its many provisions, the bill includes new wilderness designations, wild and scenic rivers, National Park units, hiking trails, heritage areas, water projects, and historic preservation initiatives. The bill preserves New Jersey’s heritage as one of the leaders of the Industrial Revolution by creating the Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park and the Edison National Historic Park.

Rep. Holt has led efforts to oppose the destruction of environmentally fragile wilderness areas, including: In 2007, Rep. Holt led an effort, with 86 of his colleagues, to urge the Secretary of the Interior to oppose increased snowmobile use – which can damage the air and land - in Yellowstone National Park.

In December 2007, Rep. Holt spearheaded a successful effort, with 57 other Members of Congress, asking the Obama administration to overturn a last-minute decision by the Bush administration to auction off pristine public land in Utah’s Wilderness to oil and gas companies.

In 2007, Rep. Holt successfully offered an amendment to the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act that would ensure that national parks are protected from the hazardous byproducts of hardrock metal mining.

Rep. Holt opposes proposals to drill for oil within sensitive environments like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He does not believe that we should harm irreparably the nation’s remaining wilderness in order to produce oil that will not meet the demand for energy.

Rep. Holt believes it is important for the federal government to designate and protect critical habitats that are vital to the continued survival of endangered and threatened species.

He strongly supports allowing scientists - not politicians - to identify what is needed to enhance and de-list endangered species. Holt is working to strengthen the Endangered Species Act and has participated in a number of hearings on this issue as a senior member of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Fox on Ice, Carnegie Lake, Brenda Jones

Rep Holt believes that the humane treatment of animals is a mark of civilized society.Because of his efforts on behalf of animal rights, Rep. Holt was awarded an A+ from the Humane Society Legislative Fund in 2008.

Rep. Holt has cosponsored legislation to prohibit the use of birds in animal fighting, to ban the riding of captive elephants in road shows, and to require wounded livestock to be humanely euthanized, rather than be left to suffer a slow and painful death.

Rep. Holt is a strong supporter of the Endangered Species Act and has consistently opposed attempts to weaken this law.

Rep. Holt has introduced the Fox-Penning Prohibition Act, legislation which would prohibit the transport of foxes and other animals for the purposes of “wildlife penning.” “Wildlife penning” is an inhumane treatment of animals by which they are put in fenced enclosures where wild animals are ripped apart by packs of dogs in competitive animal fights — they are torn apart by dogs in an escape-proof enclosure. “I have introduced legislation to stop this practice by outlawing the transport of animals for the purposes of fox penning.”

Help Yourself Heaven - Salem County, New Jersey

NJ WILD readers know what has to happen, “when the world is too much with me, gathering and spinning…”

I must take myself off to New Jersey beauty and solitude, in this case some of our Land’s Ends.

Thursday morning, I ‘flew the coop’, heading to the Delaware Bayshores.  It was a scintillating day upon which to snatch a bit of Labor Day Weekend, before it officially opened to the rest of the world.

90-some miles from my Canal Road door, Salem and Cumberland Counties beckoned.  In a matter of hours, I had made the most of our least known ‘maritime provinces.’   A few pictures follow - other posts are ‘brewing’…

Enjoy scenes of tiny Fortescue, on the Delaware Bay.  Those waters knew a storm was in the offing.  Humans did not.  Sunbathers and fishermen fringed the last stretches of New Jersey land, as though sun and summer would last forevermore.

“Old Fisherman Crossing, Creek Road.”

When I’m near signs like this, I know ‘I’m not in Kansas any more.’

Fishermen’s Quest — Higbee’s Marina, Fortescue

Gull Heads into Pre-Earl Winds

Sun and Summer Last Forever

Fortescue Stilt Houses — Horseshoe Crab Heaven in Late May

The Brooding Bay Knows Hurricane Earl is Coming

Fortescue is birders’ heaven, especially in spring - when horseshoe crabs tumble ashore to lay eggs by the millions.  This narrow strip of sand, –along with a handful of others along the Delaware Bay, including Reed’s Beach–, must nourish the last of the red knots, surviving ruddy turnstones, laughing gulls beyond counting.

Arctic journeys await knots and turnstones.  If they cannot fatten sufficiently on these delicate sand bands, these shorebirds either cannot reach their breeding grounds, or cannot breed when they arrive.

We don’t see these rarities in obvious swarms in autumn migration.  This year, they face the peril of oiled marshes surrounding the battered Gulf of Mexico.

Salem County is mostly agrarian, then, abruptly maritime.

A handful of hours in her green, then along her sand and blue reaches refreshes, me as though I’ve been away for weeks.

Give the Delaware Bay a try.  Nobody seems to realize -

New Jersey is the only state with three coastlines…

On my way back to the ‘mainland’, and on over toward Cumberland, I stop at a Help-Yourself farmstand for pristine, luminous produce.

It’s because of Salem and Cumberland that New Jersey remains the Garden State.  Keep them that way.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LAND TRUST, such as D&R Greenway, which has preserved over two thousand Salem acres recently, keeping New Jersey GREEN.

Art and Freshly Harvested Tomato on my D&R Greenway Desk

Produce Fresh from Bill Rawlyk’s Farm for Staff at D&R GReenway’s Kitchen

Bill Rawlyk Blueberries One Hour Old -

on bench in D&R Greenway’s Meredith’s Memorial Garden

The Barn in Princeton from Which we Save Land in Seven New Jersey Counties

New Jersey’s Mantra:

My beloved New Jersey has food markets that attain the heights of art museums, for me, with the additional joy that one can bring home their art and enjoy it in one’s own rooms, share it with friends, nourished at many levels by the experience and the art — including the aesthetic.

Some weeks ago, my food-writer friend, Faith Bahadurian, and I made good on a long-time promise to explore the Stockton Farm Market.  She’s written beautifully about her experience there, in her Packet blog, NJ SPICE.  [I chose NJ WILD to link to Faith's clever title.]

Cheery Stockton Market Entryway in Spring

I did not try to cover it then, because her reportage was more essential, more factual, and, frankly, far more thorough than my impressionistic response would have been.

Rudimentary Food Display of a Friday at Stockton

Now, I have been back to the Stockton Farm Market with my other food-writer friend, Pat Tanner.  Pat and I chose a Friday afternoon (open 1 to 7 p.m. now), whereas Faith and I had breakfast at Meil’s, then entered this Artful Market early, before the day’s heat could descend.  On Saturdays and Sunday’s Stockton Market is open from 9 to 3 or so, and truly worthy of the journey.

Appetizing Possibilities at Stockton, Spring

Pat and I lunched at Meil’s after visiting the Highland Co Gourmet Market (343 County Road 519, Stockton, 908-996-3362  turn Right at the Rosemont Cafe) — famous for its resplendent Highlands cattle - orange fur and long horns.  When I first encountered these beasts in Cornwall, in a quest for Dozmary Pool (where Sir Bedivere was to jettison King Arthur’s sword), I answered my baffled photographer friend’s, “But Carolyn, what are those?!” with a quick, “I think they’re wooly mammoths.”  As it turns out the meat of HIghland cattle is renowned, which Pat and I will discover as we cook our gustatory treasures this week.  I’ve already sampled their Shepherd’s Pie, from the Faith trip, when we went to Highland AFTER Stockton, finding it hearty, generous, succulent and memorable.

Proud Family of Highland Cattle, Highland Co. Farm Market, Spring

The Highland Market is unique in the excellence of its accoutrements, as well as the ruddy beauty of its freshly cut meats.  The finest handmade pasta, the best bean soup package I’ve ever used - [I am now famous for it at D&R Greenway because I took it in when it was still soup weather.  Even now, people sail past my desk, murmuring, “I miss that bean soup!”  Glorious olives which brightened my first major dinner party in the new apartment - vivid colors, hilarious title: “Sexy olives”.  Valley Shepherd cheeses.  A plain real handmade angel food cake in the bakery department.  Chatty, homey people to wait on you who are eager to share, and who seem to know all the other customers by name.  Most amazing, a wine section divided as Cool Vines is, by qualities of the wines.  So, under “Rich and full”, or “Fruity and Refreshing”, signs of that ilk, I can find my favorite red, such as Chateauneuf du Pape, then learn what wines of other lands would be like that.  Or my current white, Pouilly Fuisse from several negotiants, and their American, Chilean, Australian, etc., counterparts.  Pat’s more up on wines of other lands than I — France is my limit.  Both of us spent an intense interval in there, as though we were scholars in a library.

‘Wooly Mammoth’ of Highland Farm

Each of us came out with our Princeton Library red bags full.  Her bill was around $30, mine around $40. — and mine went from a hearty steak I had them cut vertically so I could freeze for two thick rich adventures into Highland beef, through merguez sausages, essential to memorable cassoulet, through another Shepherd’s Pie, hefty container of just ground beef (”ground everything”, said our helper, and we knew that would mean flavor.)

Hearty Beef of Highland Market at Stockton Market

Other treasures at the Highland Market, which were echoed at Stockton later that afternoon, were the unique, flavorful, grass-fed-cow cheeses of Valley Shepherd.

Valley Shepherd Cheeses at Highland Market, at Stockton

And the luminous, multi-faceted olive oil of Italy to taste, to take home.

Italy’s Olive Oil to Taste, to Take Home, at Highland Market, at Stockton

Pat Tanner and I agreed, over our savory (too bountiful) lunch at Miel’s, that there is no better appetizer than browsing among our state’s local produce and meat, displayed at the hands of committed growers and purveyors:

Tomato Richesse, Stockton

At dinner tonight with two other food pilgrims, the topic of unhealthy food came up - an egg recall, a ground beef recall.  I recalled when I bought meat loaf mix at WEGMAN’s, of all places, only to be advised by e-mail, AFTER I’d made and eaten some of the meat loaf and frozen the rest, that I “May have purchased contaminated meat.”  That was the end of supermarket beef for me.  I also recalled that, when spinach was poison all over everywhere, New Jersey’s was fine, especially that of the PIne Barrens.

Ultimate Health!

I remember having to drive all over everywhere to find raw milk for my younger daughter, in the 1980’s.  And I would give ANYthing to be able to buy raw milk cheese.  This is a start…

Pastured Chickens!  Hurrah!

OK, everyone knows it’s wise to buy local, save gas, save pollution, support our local farmers.  But how many realize the sheer aesthetic pleasure of farm market shopping.  To say nothing of the joy of talking to the people who planted and tended and harvested whatever I am buying.  Safety is important, yes.  But other factors really matter to me.  Nutrition - the closer the fields, the more alive the food.  I am more alive in times of harvest, because my food has its own vitality.  Flavor - well, Garden State gardeners and shoppers know, NOTHING compares with OUR tomatoes, warm from the vine.

Tomato Heaven, Stockton

We will ACHE for these scenes in a matter of weeks!

Other factors delight at the Stockton Market — the hearty handmade baskets, the equal of any I ever saw in childhood in northern Michigan, made by the Indians.  Glass Gardens, tiny and healthy and vibrant, and not expensive.  One cluster of greenery hides a fox.  Another reveals a quail.  Christmas Present Central - but this day I was there for food.

Handsome, Capacious, The Art of the Future, Stockton

Glass Gardens, Stockton

If any NJ WILD readers are suffering from jaded palates, Stockton is the place to take leaps to new levels of gastronomy:

Rainbow of Carrots

Weird Beans, Stockton

Eggplant Apotheosis

Baker Will Be In on Saturday and Sunday

also the seller of my favorite cremes and lotions and wild lavender of Provence, from Carousel Farm.  And the chocolatier about whom Faith Bahadurian raved and with good reason.  And the fishmonger.  And the Barbecue Man…  The bee honey and beeswax candle man…  The mushroom man…  and not in ‘Drury Lane’ - in Stockton New Jersey, on our Delaware River - reminding us all, we are all in the Delaware Valley, the Delaware River Watershed, and deeply enriched thereby.

Here is the Lesson for Us All:

NO FARMS/NO FOOD — NEVER FORGET!

NOT OBVIOUSLY LOCAL, BUT FASCINATING:

Exotic Flowers at Everyday Prices - we may as well be in Hawaii!

Find your local Farm Market - What Adventures are You Having?

NJ WILD readers know that I choose farm markets for restoration on any number of fronts.  The Trenton Farmers’ Market is what my father would call, “The Grandaddy of them All”, showcasing the treasures of our Garden State long before there was that marketing word, ’showcasing’.

When I go to the Trenton Farm Market, my ‘trick’ is to make several circuits.

I ‘eat with my eyes’, up one aisle and down another.

Then with my camera.

I apologize that their hefty, hearty peaches outshine Russo’s truck on the pavement behind.  You know I often stop at Russo’s farm.  It’s in the Pine Barrens (Tabernacle), and my source for first blueberries from their own bushes, first strawberries from their fields.  The last spinach of November comes from Russo’s, along with Pine Barrens wines - Chambourcin a favorite.  A major delight is to find bulging bags of applesauce apples outside on a wooden table at Christmastime.  You’ll fold three dollar bills for a year’s applesauce into the slit of a metal box.  You’ll find Russo’s apples so spicy, it is a travesty to add sugar or even a cinnamon stick.  It freezes beautifully, and actually lasts longer than a year, I just discovered.

Then, and only then, with my ’sustainability bags’ and coin purse.

That way I know who has the most luminous corn despite dire drought.  Whose tomatoes come from their own fields, more precious than rubies to your writer.  Whose onions equal those of Renoir, Sterling Clark’s favorite of all masterpieces in his museum overflowing with Impressionists in Williamstown, Mass.

An interesting facet of the Trenton Farmers’ Market now is that the food shows, the existence of ‘Foodies’ in our midst (interesting that we’re not to call ourselves gourmands, let alone gourmets, any longer…) brings exotics to the weathered wooden stands on either side of strolling shoppers.

New Jersey Exotics

Some of the fruits of last week’s pilgrimage follow.

Words pale beside the jewels arrayed for us by New Jersey farmers.

Rejoice, Nj WILD readers, that we still have farmers in our midst.

My favorite road sign is the yellow and black icon for tractor crossing…

Be thankful for every tractor that still lumbers up one row and down another, turning over rich New Jersey soil for purposes of nourishment and delight — not for yet another crop of McMansions.

Do everything you can to preserve farmland: in the voting booth, at your computer writing to legislators, and especially all year round in New Jersey’s vital farm markets.

Otherwise, Rutgers scientists predict New Jersey will be the first completely built-out state, in close to thirty years (if that).  You can alter that prediction by your shopping choices.  And, besides, it is not only gastronomically thrilling, shopping farm markets brings aesthetic delight.

Remember, when spinach was poisoning Americans recently, New Jersey spinach was safe and healthy.

The best part is, many of those fruits and vegetables were picked that very morning - it’s as though the dew were still inside those corn husks when you open them for the feast.