I recently spent the afternoon with my friend Sarah at Alstede Farms, a pick-your-own farm located approximately 50 miles from Manhattan in Chester, New Jersey (www.alstedefarms.com). Depending on the season, the massive farm offers visitors the opportunity to pick their own fruits and vegetables, feed friendly animals, stock up on fresh produce, and sample home made ice cream made with ripe fruit.
Colorful directions
Visitors can feed the animals with food purchased in the Alstede Market
Grazing donkeys
A goat that managed to get on the wrong side of the fence
Home made ice cream stand (current flavors are blueberry, black raspberry, and peach)
Produce outside of the Alstede Market
The view inside the Alstede Market
Following the short drive from Manhattan, Sarah and I stocked up on containers to carry our farm fresh goods (purchased inside the Alstede Market for a nominal fee) and walked on a short path to the farm's raspberry fields. We made our way up and down row upon row of prickly raspberry bushes (I escaped with two minor scratches on my ankle and one on both index fingers; Sarah somehow eluded the thorns altogether), and under the hot sun we quickly filled our containers with bright, plump red and black raspberries. Visitors can pick black raspberries from the end of June through the end of July, yellow raspberries from the middle of August through the middle of October, and red raspberries from the end of June through the middle of October for $6.49 per pound.
A view of the raspberry fields
A big fan of tasting the product before purchasing, I had a hard time not sampling as I picked
Red raspberries
Black raspberries
The raspberries that made their way back to Manhattan with me and will likely be made into raspberry preserves
In an effort to deter me from eating our pickings as we walked around the farm (signs posted throughout the fields make it clear this is strictly prohibited until all food is weighed and paid for) Sarah graciously carried our raspberries to the peach orchard. Visitors can pick peaches from the middle of July through the middle of September for $1.59 per pound. We surveyed the abundance of peach trees and headed to the far end of the orchard. The information sheet handed to us when we purchased our containers directed us to be on the lookout for large peaches having a deep red hue- a combination that Sarah, who I think may have been a professional peach picker in a former life, had no trouble locating. After picking about a dozen fuzzy peaches, Sarah nominated me to carry the substantially heavier box, we paid for our fruit (and of course the pies and other produce we happened upon in the Alstede Market) and left, smiling, for Manhattan. Alstede Farms is absolutely worth the trip.
Sarah leads the way to the peach trees
A sign directing us to the end of the row
A cluster of peaches
In front of the peach trees
Our final box of peaches and raspberries
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