Jersey Fresh

This past weekend my girlfriend and I set out to New York for a wedding engagement party in Long Island and then a relaxing weekend at my parent’s house in New Jersey. Excited to relax, we spent the weekend catching up and shopping…local shopping that is. We spent the whole day on Saturday bouncing from farm to farm picking up fresh seasonal produce from farmers all over Morris County. The end result was a bountiful collection of fresh corn, squash, carrots, pickled items, peppers, and sweet potatoes.

But the last stop on our farm excursion was at a farm that goes by the name of “The Cider Mill”. This enchanting apple farm and bakery welcomes you with the smells of fresh doughnuts, pies, and apple cider. As we parked the car on the grass parking lot, we saw a familiar face from the distance. The face was that of one of the fellow partiers from the wedding party we had attended the night before. Surprised to see him, despite the small population of the town, we joined him and his two friends under the apple tree. Little did we know that one of his friends was the head baker and maker of the apple cider that the farm was so famous for.

After introducing himself, he asked if we had ever tasted the doughnuts. Since we hadn't, he disappeared to return with a generous donation of fresh doughnuts produced by the mill some four hours ago. As we dined on fresh doughnuts and juice, we realized how nice it would be to live in a place that allowed for the specialization of individual ingredients like this apple farm. We took our time with the treats; Washington D.C. could wait a little longer for our return.