Tour de Farm NJ - Hunterdon County
Does the thought of getting on your bicycle and biking through beautiful farm country to meet the farmers, taste their food, and tour the farms appeal to you? If so, you should consider hopping on the bike for one or both of the upcoming Tour de Farm NJ events on September 6th and September 19th (2015).
I recently went on the first of three Tour de Farm NJ trips, which went through Hunterdon County, NJ. It was a picture-perfect day - sunshine and warm. The event attracted a great group of people and it was a lot of fun (and challenging).
Many people who aren't familiar with NJ are surprised when they visit areas like this. The state gets a rep for being industrial and filled with nothing but urban sprawl, but NJ is really beautiful. I promise! There's so much to do and see in this state, particularly through farming areas. This IS the Garden State, after all!
The route was well marked for all three routes
We started out at the South Hunterdon Regional High School in Lambertville, NJ on Sunday morning. They had a great breakfast waiting for us to get fueled up and ready to go. The nice thing about this event is that you can choose from several courses, depending on your skills and what you want to see. You could choose from a 20 mile, 35 mile (which was more like 38 because of some extra accidental detours we took) and an 80+ mile ride. We did the 35 mile route and visited 5 different farms.
I saw alpacas, new farm animals that had been born that morning, tasted great cheeses and other farm goodies, met the farmers, got tours and learned about their farming practices. As one friend described it, this event was MADE FOR ME.
Yak calf born that morning
Cow calf born that morning
When you go to each farm, they have a nice array of prepared tastings for you and if you like something and want to order it, you can. They'll arrange to bring it back to the finish line for you to take home with you. There was also a farm to fork dinner after the ride at The Farm Cooking School in Stockton, NJ, which we didn't do. We knew we would have felt the day was full after biking, so we didn't sign up. It looked like it was a great time though, so it's something to consider if you're planning to go to subsequent rides. Here's a link to the Tour de Farm NJ Facebook album, which captures the day nicely. Also see a few more pix and the recorded route below.
Covered Bridge Near Mile 14
Lots of farms advertised eggs for sale
Well cared for cows
Alpacas
There were many, many signs like this along the way - in protest of the PennEast Pipeline being proposed in the area. Learn more here.
Know before you go:
- Take lots of water with you and refill your bottles or your camelbak along the way at the farms. They were generous in letting people refill their water, which was nice.
- Take cash - most of the farms don't take credit cards.
- Put the telephone number you'll get in the confirmation/reminder emails into your cell phone. If you need assistance, you can call the number and they'll come get you or assist as needed.
- Bring a portable charger for your phone if you think you'll run out of juice.
- Bring a cooler in your car for taking farm goods home with you - put some ice/ice pack in there to keep them cool if it's a long ride home.
