Sometimes the best way to understand where our food comes from is to walk through the place where it grows.
That was the spirit of the latest Folks Farm & Market Seed to Supper gathering on Thursday, August 13, when the series traveled to Fernbrook Farms in Chesterfield for a Sunset Tour of Organic Gardening.
And what better time to experience a farm than during those final hours of a summer day?
As the evening light settled over the fields, attendees were invited to slow down and explore Fernbrook on foot, walking among rows of vegetables while getting a closer look at how one of South Jersey’s most established farms approaches growing food.
Fernbrook Farms encompasses 230 acres of preserved farmland and has long placed education at the heart of its mission. Its farming approach is particularly interesting. While Fernbrook is not certified organic, the farm uses organic practices and avoids synthetic chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides on its crops.
Instead, the philosophy begins with healthy soil.
The farm uses compost, cover crops such as grasses and legumes, crop rotation, and periods of resting fields to build soil health. The larger goal is to farm in a way that protects wildlife and waterways, encourages biodiversity, and produces healthy food.
Those ideas can sound somewhat abstract until you’re actually standing in the fields where it all happens. That is what made this Seed to Supper gathering so special.
Along the way, participants also had an opportunity to sample some of the ingredients that will eventually make their way to the table at the Seed to Supper capstone dinner. That connection is an important part of what Folks Farm has been trying to accomplish with this entire series.
Seed to Supper was never intended to be simply a collection of classes. The program was designed as an immersive agricultural and culinary experience, bringing participants into gardens, farms, orchards, vineyards, and other agricultural spaces throughout the growing season.
Attendees strolled past heirloom vegetables and other crops while learning how Fernbrook works with nature rather than against it. August is an especially abundant time at the farm, when everything from tomatoes and peppers to eggplant, melons, herbs, cucumbers, squash, and other summer produce can be coming from the fields.
At Fernbrook, the farm itself was the lesson. There is something powerful about walking through rows of food growing directly from the earth and realizing that some of what you are seeing may eventually appear on your dinner plate. It creates an entirely different relationship with a meal.
Instead of seeing a tomato, pepper, herb, or vegetable as just another ingredient, you begin thinking about the soil it grew in, the farmer who tended it, the weather that shaped the season, and all the work that happened before a chef ever touched it.
To learn more about Fernbrook Farms, visit their website or follow on Instagram.
To learn more about Folks Farm Seed to Supper series, click here or follow on Instagram.
Special thanks to Brianna Lee Photography for permission to use the photos.
SJFS is dedicated to food, dining, restaurants, and drinking in South Jersey. Got a news tip? Email southjerseyfoodscene@gmail.com.