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.