We’re excited to announce our new farm location in Washington, NJ! It’s a BEAUTIFUL farm full of scenic views, gorgeous sunrises, and breathtaking sunsets. It’s endless acres of opportunities, hopes, and dreams. It’s going to take lots of blood, sweat, and tears (as well as time!!) to get it to where we want it to be, but we’re excited about the challenge.
No, we’re not moving. And no, we won’t be hosting any of our usual VonThun Farm events up there any time soon. What we will be doing is planning and cleaning and planning and organizing and, well, planning. We’ve got LOTS of planning to do! Eventually we’ll plant crops that we can offer for pick-your-own. And down the road maybe we’ll do a corn maze and have a pumpkin patch and fun fall activities. But that won’t be any time soon.
BUT – we do have some plans for VonThun Farms in Washington for this season…
We are planning to use the farm as a Host Site for our CSA Program. Our Washington CSA Program will differ slightly from our South Brunswick based CSA Program, as it will only be a 12 week program. We’re in our planning stages of this program, so please spread the word to anyone you know in the Washington NJ area that might be interested in joining!
Our new farm came with a barn with horse stalls. (Look…our barns in Washington are RED!!) So guess what … we found a barn manager and we’re getting ready to board horses, give riding lessons, start a kids Saddle Club, and host some other horse programs. We’re SO excited!!
Later this spring, we’ll also welcome some Red Angus beef cows to the family, as there’s plenty of fenced pasture for cows. (The farm’s former owners used to keep water buffalo in the cow pastures. Cool, huh?!) Who knows, maybe in a few years we’ll be able to offer a homegrown Angus beef share option to our CSA program!
This fun program was designed for kids age 2-6 who have an interest in farm life and a love of outdoors. Each week has it’s own farm theme (see below). We’ll start each session by learning about our topic through the reading of a book, we’ll meet some farm animals, and we’ll do a hands-on activity. The Barnyard Buddies Program is now available at BOTH of our farm locations!
Additional Information:
WHEN: Sessions are offered on Friday mornings from 9:30 – 10:30.
AT VONTHUN’S, SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ (MIDDLESEX COUNTY): Class meets at VonThun’s Farm Market, 505 Ridge Road, South Brunswick, NJ 08852 and will move outside under the tree
AT VONTHUN’S, WASHINGTON, NJ (WARREN COUNTY): Class meets at VonThun’s Farm Market, 438 Route 57 West, Washington, NJ (between Tractor Supply & Warren Co. College) and will move outdoors
TO REGISTER: Register in the farm market. Registration starts 15 minutes prior to the start of the program.
CLASS TYPE: For kids!
AUDIENCE: Kids who love outdoors. Parents must accompany their children for the entire program.
THINGS TO BRING: Water bottle, sunscreen or hat, chair, towel or mat to sit on for story time.
COST: $10 per child per session
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Email Cindy@VonThunFarms.com
2020 Weekly Themes:
June 19 … Cows
June 26 … Pigs
July 3 … Chickens & Eggs
July 10 … Goats
July 17 … Sheep
July 24 … Bugs & Bees
July 31 … Donkeys
August 7 … Corn
August 14 … Flowers & Seeds
August 21 … Chickens & Eggs
August 28 … Tractors
We are often asked if we are organic … and the short answer is no. In order to be certified organic farm fields must be free from commercial fertilizer and synthetic pesticides and farmers must keep a ton of extra records, which adds a lot of additional cost and labor. As a farm family we have decided not to be an organic farm, but instead to be responsible in being the best stewards of the land we can while providing safe, healthy, fresh and quality produce for our customers.
We use an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Program here on the farm…we hire Cooperative Extension employees from Rutgers University to scout our fields a few times a week and make suggestions as to what (and when) we need to apply to our crops so we can be assured of quality produce to harvest. When we do use sprays on a crop, it is used at the recommendation of the Rutgers scout to keep a crop from falling victim to insects or disease. The crop protection products that we use are very expensive and using an IPM approach helps to limit our costs. Every time the scout comes out to the farm we’re hoping he says the fields are free of insects and disease!
In addition to scouting, we use many other farming practices to help limit the number of sprays we apply. We rotate the location of our crops from year to year to keep the insect and disease pressure low. We use black plastic mulch on raised beds to help keep weeds down and provide well drained soils to help prevent root issues with our crops. These practices, coupled with the Rutgers scouts allow us to grow some of our crops without any sprays at all. We cannot, however, claim these crops as organic because we do use fertilizers (similar to that used on your lawn) for our crops.
As a family, we eat all the crops we grow (except for Tim who doesn’t eat tomatoes…go figure!) and raised our children using the same growing methods we use today. We take pride in producing safe, healthy, fresh quality produce for our family and the community. We feel that knowing who grows your food and where your food comes from is MUCH more important than it being organic or not. Know your farmer … know your food!!
