By Lea Florentine | June 2, 2022
The Farmers’ Market will once again be held in the center aisle of the Village Shoppes at Montgomery parking lot on Route 206, near Mooyah. Every Saturday, beginning June 4 and running through October 29, local produce and products will be available from 9 am until noon.
New to the market is Krista Coleman of Farmer Over Yonder. Coleman grew up in Hillsborough, down the road from Girl Scout Camp DeWitt, and still lives there. She says, “I went to the camp, where my mother worked, every summer. There’s a lot of wilderness, and blackberries grow there. Sharing them with my friends made me think about providing food and protecting the environment.” She studied plant science and then life science education at Rutgers.
After graduate school, Coleman taught biology at West Windsor-Plainsboro South High School. She then moved into scientific research, working on tomato breeding and asparagus cultivation at Rutgers’ Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Bridgeton. She also researched organic solutions to weeds, pests, and plant diseases (integrated pest management) at the Interregional Research Project #4 in Princeton until the project relocated south. Coleman wanted to start her own farm, and began looking for one.
She explains, “I always wanted to try my hand at agriculture and be a farmer. I couldn’t wait any longer.” With the space limitations she had, she set up a vertical hydroponic system and began growing microgreens right before the pandemic began. She adds, “I’m still looking for a farm so I can grow berries.”
Another newcomer to the market is Erica Kovacs of New Brunswick’s Barking Good Bakery, selling dog treats. Returning to the market after a five-year hiatus is Judith Smith Parrott, who started Judith’s Dessert Boutique in Lawrence ten years ago. She offers a selection of baked goods.
Vendors returning to the market include Christopher Deibert selling Christopher Soaps (made from oils grown in New Jersey); James and Alex Klett selling vegetables and fruit from Fairgrown Farm in Hopewell; Advah Zinder of the Granola Bar of Princeton; Todd Royer representing Griggstown Farm; Caroline and Bob Phinney of Montgomery’s Orchard Farm Organics, with organic eggs, vegetables, flowers, soups, and pesto; and George Zell of Zell’s Farm in Hillsborough, offering mushrooms and Asian and other vegetables.
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Montgomery Friends of Open Space (MFOS) Market Manager Lorette Pruden notes that “MFOS won two awards for our environmental work this year, particularly for environmental education at the market. The first was the township’s first annual environmental recognition award for the tables we have on bee-keeping, composting, and native plants. “The second was from the Green Group of Gotham City Networking, for our stewardship of preserved land in Montgomery Township.” Pruden notes, “We continue to follow state and CDC guidelines on COVID-19 protocols.”
MFOS is a nonprofit all-volunteer organization formed 20 years ago to preserve open land in Montgomery; to act as stewards for properties already preserved; and to support local agriculture through their farmers’ market.
See vendor links at montgomeryfriends.org.
Hopewell Farmers’ Market
62 E Broad Street
Sundays, 9 am to 2 pm
Fresh produce, mushrooms, herbs, flowers, sprouts, honey, pasture raised beef, lamb, pork and eggs, homemade soaps and greeting cards, coffee, breads, cookies and more.
For a complete vendor list visit hopewellfarmersmarket.com.
Princeton Farmers’ Market
Thursdays, 10 am to 2 pm
Dinky Train Station parking lot, Alexander Road, Princeton
Produce, mushrooms, fruit, nuts, dried fruit, baked goods, breads, olive oils, pickles, soups, grass-fed beef, pastured pork and poultry, teas, and more.
For details visit princetonfarmersmarket.com.
