HRT - Hormone Replacement Therapy in Blawenburg, NJ

There’s nothing quite like the luscious scent of blooming lavender radiating throughout the home. Trust us, it’s a summertime phenomenon you and your family do not want to miss. Of course, Essex County isn’t exactly known for its lavender farming, but that doesn’t mean that a day trip to the lavender fields is out of reach. The lavender season kicks off near the end of June and flowering is pretty fleeting. It only lasts about three to four weeks, so you’ll want to get to a field as soon as they start blooming. Keep reading to discover nearby lavender fields to visit this summer near Essex County.

The Benefits of Lavender

Lavender has myriad health benefits. It can be used to treat anxiety, mood swings, and of course, sleep issues. Inhaling some delicious-smelling lavender has been known to help people get to sleep faster and keep them from waking up throughout the night. But lavender isn’t just beneficial to our beauty rest. It can also fight fungal infections, repair hair loss, and treat wounds, too.

Read More: Berry Picking Farms Near Essex County

And that’s just the cosmetic stuff. Aside from being an essential part of your beauty routine (hair, skin — you name it), consuming lavender is also beneficial. It can alleviate many digestive issues such as vomiting, nausea, intestinal gas, bloating, and more. Anecdotal evidence also suggests lavender can cure headaches and relieve pain from injuries like sprains and even toothaches.

Speaking of consuming lavender, you can also cook with culinary lavender. It can go in just about any recipe — from lavender lemon bars to tea and morning lattes. In many bread recipes, lavender can be substituted for rosemary. You can also add it to your honey (and drizzle it on toast), make lemonade, ice cream, and more. Lavender is a beautiful (and delicious) garnish in salads, desserts, and baked goods, and can even be used to top off your Sunday brunch Champagne.

Of course, if you’re going to ingest lavender, you need to make sure it’s fresh. You should never eat lavender that’s not categorized as culinary. If it’s from a florist, nursery, or garden center, it’s likely been treated with pesticides — AKA not culinary-grade. Lavender, however, found and sourced from organic lavender fields is A-OK to eat.

Lavender Farms Near Essex County

Now that we’ve established the many benefits of lavender, find out where you can visit fresh lavender farms near Essex County this summer.

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Located in the Marlboro Township, The Morganville farm has over 2,000 plants — from French to English lavender. Here, you can explore the fields and even cut your own lavender bundles. Alternatively, you can grab some already-harvested bundles in the Pleasant Valley shop.

With ten acres of fragrant field, Pleasant Valley sells fresh lavender by the bundle, dried lavender, loose buds, sachets, assortments of soaps, candles, and lavender honey made on-site from Pleasant Valley’s bees. You can also go home with your own lavender plant, too, if you’d like to reap some of the benefits of lavender at home.

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Just about an hour away from North Jersey, Hidden Springs is very aptly named, tucked away in Skillman, New Jersey. Also a wedding venue, Hidden Springs also features a horse barn and trails for patrons to ride. With 25 acres of farmland, you can take pictures in the fields, buy some lavender-themed trinkets at the gift shop, take a horse for a ride, and even pet an alpaca.

Hidden Springs has four very special residents — Faerie Dust, Golden Girl, Wallace, and Corri Hoillie. Kids can get up close and personal with the alpacas in their pen, petting them and even feeding them.

Hidden Springs is open to the public every Saturday and Sunday from 10AM-4PM. Face masks are required to enter the shop — find more information on protocol here.

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See More: A Guide to Flower Shops in Hoboken + Jersey City

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An hour and 20 from town, you’ll find Orchard View, a pesticide- and herbicide-free lavender farm. Established in Warren County in May 2015, Orchard View is committed to purely organic methods of growing. Like Pleasant Valley, Orchard View guests are invited to cut their own lavender during the harvest season.

It also functions as a wedding and event venue and frequently gets bookings for artists and photographers. You can pack a picnic basket, bring a blanket, or sit in the on-site gazebo to enjoy some of the very purple sights Orchard View has to offer.

Orchard View has many items for purchase: bath and body gifts, household and culinary, teas and tea accessories, aromatherapy jewelry, essential oil, and garden décor and gifts.

This farm is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10AM-5PM. Social distancing guidelines must be followed — find out more here.

Farmers Adrienne + Don decided to turn their raspberry farm into a lavender one — and are sharing their love of sustainable living with the community around them. Located in Milford, New Jersey, Mad Lavender offers pick-your-own lavender from mid-June to early July. Since planting the first lavender crop in 2013, the farm now has 7 different varieties of lavender. The farm also has goat yoga and allows rentals for anyone looking to plan an event or even a wedding. Mad Lavender also sells its own homemade products. For those interested in a pick-your-own lavender visit, guests can schedule a 30-minute period to pick all the lavender guests want. Tickets are $30/person.

Steve Mekler

With Independence Day just around the corner, small-town sentiment and white-picket-fence Americana bubble up in the national consciousness.

Parades, fireworks, watermelon, children running barefoot in the grass — these rites have continued uninterrupted from at least as far back as the childhoods of Winslow Homer and Mark Twain.

Nothing embodies the tradition of a childhood Fourth better than the concert band, that staple of recreational parks and seaside gazebos that reached the apex of its popularity probably 100 years ago.

The Blawenburg Band is the living embodiment of another era, a musical time machine to halcyon days before booming subwoofers rocked even the most remote neighborhoods. It was a time when members of a community relied not on records or radio, but on themselves and their neighbors for musical entertainment.

Jerry Rife has directed the Blawenburg since 1985.

“It’s a band of about 65 members,” he says, “a full concert band, with flute and clarinets and oboes and wooden instruments.”

The band was founded in Blawenburg, a section of Montgomery Township, in 1890. It is the oldest continuously performing community band in the state, and one of the oldest in the country.

A piece of living history, the band plays roughly 30 concerts a year, an all-occasions ensemble, with appearances at parades, church socials and community events. A number of the concerts are annual occurrences, some extending back more than a century.

Rife mentions a flier that surfaced recently advertising the band’s appearance at one of its current venues. The handbill dates from 1911.

The band will appear in Yardley, Pa., on Wednesday for its annual Fourth of July concert, which Rife describes as “pure, blatant Americana at its best.”

The indoor event will include such hits of yesteryear as the overture to Sigmund Romberg’s “The Student Prince,” the World War II song “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and a medley of patriotic standards by George M. Cohan. John Williams’ “Midway March” will be featured, along with a selection of Leroy Anderson’s popular encore pieces, “America the Beautiful,” and of course plenty of marches by the likes of Karl King, Henry Fillmore and John Phillip Sousa.

“And it will be air-conditioned,” Rife adds.

The Blawenburg plays its share of outdoor concerts — in fact, it is more the rule than the exception, with appearances at carnivals, train stations and gazebos — although the band does play indoors at a number of continuing care retirement communities and assisted living residences, bringing cheer to audiences that have limited mobility.

“The spirit and mission of the Blawenburg Band is to bring music to our community,” Rife says. “Our members and I feel these are the most important performances.”

Rife is excited about the band’s Fourth of July concert, and thinks the venue couldn’t be any more appropriate.

The Yardley Community Centre has been a meeting place for area residents since 1851. Once used as a private school (tuition was 35 cents a week), it also served as a center for “The Sons of Temperance” and one of the country’s first Odd Fellows lodges. In 1878, the center was expanded to accommodate church services, fire company suppers and theatre productions.

“The hall will be fully decked out in red, white and blue,” Rife says. “You will think you walked off Main Street and right into a concert in Yardley in 1922. This music is from the golden age of bands, a time when communities relied on live band concerts as their primary entertainment.

“The Blawenburg Band perfectly recreates this feeling of nostalgia. It recaptures a time long past. It transports an audience back to its roots. This truly is the best way to experience the holiday of independence, with a parade, barbecue, fireworks, and a stirring band that guarantees to have you marching in your seats.”

The band has a full roster of summer concerts, including three appearances at the Hopewell Train Station, on July 9, July 23 and Aug. 6.

"It's a real hoot," Rife says of the popular concerts. "The train blows through during a number. It's just pure Americana." Further concerts take the band to the Hunterdon County Library on July 25, Pennswood Village in Newtown on July 30, Rosehill Assisted Living in Robbinsville on Sept. 9, Hunterdon Care Center in Flemington on Sept. 23 and Stonebridge at Montgomery in Skillman on Oct. 7.

The Harvest Home festival at Griggstown Reformed Church (Aug. 18) is an annual tradition.

“It’s right on the canal,” Rife says. “It’s a huge carnival, with lots of home-baked food, corn on the cob, shortcake … It’s a really fine concert.”

While most of the band’s appearances are free of charge, there will be an admission fee for the Fourth of July and Harvest Home appearances, to benefit the host venues.

The Blawenburg Band is a wholly volunteer ensemble, made up of musicians from all walks of life — scientists, lawyers, homemakers, computer specialists and active retirees. Players range in experience from dedicated amateurs, who discovered a love for music as schoolchildren, to those who have had years of training and professional opportunities. Musicians in their teens play cheek by jowl with colleagues in their retirement years.

Says Rife, with pride, “The Blawenburg Band is part of the fabric of central New Jersey, and has been so for well over a century.

"The kind of stuff that we play is golden age concert band music — a lot of transcriptions, opera overtures, some solos, Herbert L. Clarke, Arthur Pryor, a ton of Sousa marches. A lot of small, short, accessible pieces that are fun to listen to." Rife is on the faculty of Rider University, where he has been chairman of music in the fine arts department since 1984.

In addition to directing the Blawenburg Band, he is an active performer himself, playing clarinet with his jazz ensemble, The Rhythm Kings, for the past 25 years. He remarks dolefully (as if anything about Rife is doleful) that since the economy has taken a downturn, the Kings play “only” about 150 concerts a year.

The Blawenburg Band rehearses nearly every Monday evening, year-round, mostly at the Princeton Junior High School on Fackler Road.

More information on the band may be obtained by contacting Rife, at (609) 882-4148 or [email protected], or the ensemble's vice president and booking manager, Sharif Sazzad, at (609) 475-2831 or [email protected].

For a full roster of the band's summer activities, visit its website, princetonol.com/groups/blawenburgband.

Blawenburg Band Independence Day Concert

When

: 4 p.m. Wednesday

Where

: Yardley Community Centre, 64 S. Main St., Yardley, Pa.

Admission

: $15; (215) 493-5014

The Montgomery Farmers’ Market opens Saturday June 3. It will return to the center aisle of the Village Walk parking lot (on Route 206 near Mooyah) from 9 am until noon.

Opening Day will include entertainment by the Blawenburg Band from 10:30 am until noon. Montgomery Friends of Open Space (MFOS) Market Manager Lorette Pruden notes, “We have 15 local growers and vendors; carefully vetted, curated, and balanced for a full shopping experience.”

One of those new to the market is Peterson Farms of Flemington. Since 1955, when John and Esther Peterson began their dairy farm, four generations of the Peterson family have lived and worked on the farm. After John’s death, Esther preserved the farm from development. Her son John and grandson Matthew switched to hay, later adding corn, soy beans, and wheat.

Great-grandson Jake says, “To build on our pick-your-own customer base, my grandparents and parents planted strawberries and Christmas trees 25 years ago to help pay for college for me and my siblings.”

Recalling his childhood growing up on the farm, Jake says, “I’ve been working on the farm since I was a little kid. My summers were spent bailing hay with my dad and grandfather, and riding on the hay wagon and tractor. Ever since I was young, that was the only thing I’ve ever pictured myself doing. I’ve always enjoyed it.”

Jake says the farm is “a whole family effort.” “My grandfather retired last year, but he still helps out. Other family members and friends help out too,” he says. “This is my first year full time on the farm.”

The Petersons use beneficial insects, so they use less chemicals. “It’s hard to be organic,” Jake says. “There is too much disease pressure, especially with fruit trees. Peaches are susceptible to bacterial spot and brown rot, which we’re constantly fighting.”

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Jake studied agriculture at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, Pa and later worked at the Rutgers University’s Snyder Research Farm. Three years ago, he joined his father in planting apple and peach trees. His family will sell their first crop from those peach trees this year.

New Jersey is the third largest producer of peaches in the country, with 80 farmers currently growing them. Yet the number of farmers and acres devoted to peaches in NJ has decreased dramatically in recent years.

According to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, 14,000 acres of peaches were harvested in the state in 1982; 4,100 acres in 2018; and just 3,600 acres in 2021.

The high value of land in New Jersey often pushes farmers to quit the long hours and hard work and sell their land to developers for housing, retail space, and warehouses.

According to Rutgers University and the NJ Agricultural Experiment Station, the average age of farmers in the Garden State is nearing 60, when retirement is approaching. In addition, frosts, which can damage or even wipe out fruit when it is first developing, have been occurring later in the spring due to climate change. Jake adds, “Last year, I lost a few of my peaches to a late frost.”

This is the first year Peterson Farms will be selling their produce at farmers’ markets. “We also started selling community supported agriculture (CSA) shares,” Jake says. “We’re excited. We’re trying to diversify; we might look into cherries, pears, and plums.”

Peterson Farms will be offering strawberries in June, sweet corn in July, and apples and pumpkins in September. They will also be offering their sweet peaches and a variety of vegetables this summer.

Vendors New to the Montgomery Market

• Backer Farms, with pasture-raised beef, pork, lamb, and chicken cuts and sausages from their Mendham farm.

• Andrea DeRiancho, Jardineira Flowers of East Amwell with cut flowers.

• Boas Park, Elm Park Roastery with coffee and beans.

• Mari-Liis Heinmae of Pickle Culture, also selling olives.

• Ed Zimmerman, Princeton Café with sweet breads, cookies, and breakfast burritos.

• Jarad Roper, Roper’s Way Farm Jams of Rocky Hill.

• Kayla Reed, Soupeteer of Flemington, with ready to eat and frozen soups.

Vendors and farmers returning to the market include

• Jimena & Mikl Hajek, Catalina Empanadas of Hopewell

• Christopher Deibert selling Christopher Soaps (vegan-

based, made from NJ grown oils)

• Advah Zinder of the Granola Bar of Princeton, selling handmade bars and loose granola (some organic);

• Caroline and Bob Phinney of Montgomery’s Orchard Farm Organics, with organic eggs, herbs and herbal products, organic produce, flowers, and shelf-stable and frozen jams, sauces, soups, and pesto;

• Reema Gupta of Tript Foods of Princeton, selling Northern Indian style sauces and foods

• George Zell of Zell’s Farm in Hillsborough, offering pastured chicken and duck eggs, mushrooms and Asian vegetables.

• Rashmi Gupta will be selling Ray Candles (On market days that are not too hot).

Market Manager Pruden says, “Our market team is busy planning additional educational and musical events and children’s activities to make every week at the market a new adventure.”

The Montgomery Farmers’ Market will be held Saturday mornings from June 3 through October 28 at the Village Walk, 1378 Route 206 in Skillman.

The Montgomery Friends of Open Space is a nonprofit, volunteer organization formed 20 years ago. Their goals are to preserve open land in Montgomery Township; to act as stewards for properties already preserved; and to support local agriculture through their farmers’ market. Visit montgomeryfriends.org to view vendors, to become a sponsor, or to volunteer.

Regional Farmer’s Markets

Sundays, 9 am to 1 pm, now through November 19 at 62 East Broad Street.

Vendors: Beechtree Farm, pasture raised beef, lamb, pork and eggs; Bread & Culture sourdough bread and pastries; Catalina Empanadas; Fairgrown Farm; Lee’s Honeybees of Rocky Hill; One Up One Down Coffee (every other week); Queen Mab’s Herbs; Sprouts Flowers; and Zell’s Farm.

Thursdays, 10 am to 2 pm, May 25 through November 16, 172 Alexander Street.

Vendors: Barking Good Bakery; Burek Mediterranean and Italian specialties by Zeni; Catalina Empanadas; Cherry Grove Farm artisan cheese; Chickadee Creek Farm organic vegetables; Cookie Maven; Davidson’s Exotic Mushrooms; The Granola Bar; Lima Family Farms grass-fed beef, pastured pork and poultry, and vegetables; Little Star Middle Eastern Foods; Lost Bread Company; Mediterranean Delicacies; Picklelicious; OM Champagne Tea; and Pies and Quiche. Also: Queen Mab’s Herbs; The Shepherd’s Pasture wool, cashmere, and goat milk soap; The Soupeteer; Terhune Orchards; and Tript Foods, Whimsy Design.

Montgomery-grown produce and meats are also available at these farms:

• Bridgepoint Run Farm:

Regeneratively produced vegetables (especially sweet corn), melons, and grass-fed and finished beef, Bridgepoint and Dead Tree Run Roads, Belle Mead.

• John H. Drake Farm:

Produce, eggs, and flowers, 889 Route 518, Skillman.

• Pariso Farm: Vegetables, berries, fruits, and flowers, 404 Skillman Road, Skillman.

• Simply Grazin’: 100% grass-fed organic beef and pasture raised chicken, turkey, and pork (including bacon, ham, and sausage). Skillman Market and Butcher Shop, 1932 Route 206, Skillman. Open Wednesday 10 am to 5 pm; Thursday and Friday 10 am to 6 pm; Saturday 10 am to 4 pm; and Sunday 9:30 am to 3 pm. Skillmanfarmmarket.com. ?

The Montgomery Strawberry Festival isn’t your average community event. Sure, there’s food and live entertainment, even a silent auction. Yet, between the bustling crowds of people, you might notice something surprising.

The people selling and collecting the tickets, serving the food, and running the event aren’t adults, but a group of about 70 strong-minded boys in tan and green uniforms.

On Sunday, June 12 from 12 to 5 pm, Montgomery Scout Troop 46 will host its 54th annual Strawberry Festival at the Lower Middle School Cafetorium.

First held in 1966 by Troop 46, the festival is a family-friendly event featuring games, food, and live performances. The Strawberry Festival provides an opportunity for scouts, particularly those older, to foster and display their leadership skills.

“46 is a scout-led troop,” Michael Babler, a troop leader from Montgomery Township, says. “All the leadership from the very top level through the lower levels is run by the scouts. My [only] job is to guide them through the program.”

Tickets are five dollars and can be purchased online through the troop’s social media, a current Troop 46 member, or seven dollars at the door. Proceeds go to the troop to help fund future activities.

The festival will feature live entertainment provided by the Blawenburg Band and two Montgomery School District band ensembles.

To affirm its popularity, the Strawberry Festival reached up to 4,000 attendees in 2019, the most recent year it was hosted. Troop 46 Board of Directors member Justin Mayer notes that community turnout is particularly crucial this year with respect to meeting goals for fundraising.

The Strawberry Festival is one of two large fundraisers hosted by Troop 46 throughout the year. Funds are required to pay for supplies, materials, and outings such as the troop’s monthly campouts. “We need this year’s event to be a success,” Mayer says.

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Troop 46 is still currently accepting item donations for their silent auction and support from local businesses to cover recent inflation costs.

Yet beyond that, Mayer adds, “The Strawberry Festival has been going on for over five decades. It’s multi-generational, appeals to both the very young and the very old. I’m most excited to see everybody come back together as a community once again.” ?

John Figlar/For The Star-Ledger

MONTGOMERY -- Clement Fiori didn’t start out as an environmentalist, he thought of his work as more of an “art project.”

“I like the ability to be outside doing things with the landscape and seeing it really shape up,” the Montgomery resident said. “It’s almost like an art project for me.”

The 66-year-old photographer said he started on his path to preservation while riding his bike and capturing New Jersey’s eroding landscape.

“The pictures I think are lovely in a certain way,” he said, pointing to black-and-white photos of tree-baren land. “But they also showed how the landscape was changing and I felt I had to do something.”

Fiori began going to planning meetings and took an interest in a housing project that would have paved over 50 acres behind his home. He rallied his neighbors.

“I suggested purchasing the 50-acre park and donating it to the town where everyone could enjoy it,” he said, adding that within a week the developer donated Hobler Park to the township.

That was in 1984. Fiori, who lives in the Blawenburg section of Montgomery with his wife Joanna, has been protecting the land ever since. Last month, Fiori won the Governor’s Environmental Excellence award, which is given to volunteers who significantly impact their communities through environmental protection.

A retired Princeton University Press photographer, Fiori has spent 35 years planting and protecting open space throughout Montgomery. “People look and see a field and think it’s just a field, but when you get down there you see a real diversity of species and plant life,” he said.

Fiori, who has two grown sons, spends several weekends a year making sure that others have a chance to “get down there” by leading volunteers in planting native species and tracking the different kinds of plant and wildlife that live in the spaces he’s helped preserve.

“It’s another way to get people out to appreciate what’s there to see what we’ve set aside with taxpayer money,” he said, adding that aside from lightening the work load, it ensures the work will continue.

“By making the land accessible to the public you create more advocates for open space since they can be on it,” he said.

Montgomery Mayor Louise Wilson said the township owes its strong open space program to Fiori’s efforts and noted that his efforts have inspired others.

“He’s perhaps the finest example in contemporary times of someone putting their heart, soul and mind into perserving what he loves about the town and helping others recognize and appreciate those things too,” she said last week. “He serves as an example that people who are able to and choose to volunteer really do have the ability to shape a community in profound ways that really do last.”

Between his role as chairman of the Montgomery Open Space Committee, adviser to the board of trustees of the Montgomery Friends of Open Space and trustee of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, the Princeton Artists Alliance member said he tries to find time to exhibit his artwork at least once a year.

The majority of his work, including “The Vanishing New Jersey Landscape,“ - a book he published in 1994 - depicts photographs of the very landscapes he’s trying to protect as well as a series of sculptures carved from his collection of tree stumps.

Though you won’t find the Governor’s award displayed on his coffee table or resting on a mantle near his framed nature prints, Fiori said he will use it to get projects moving.

“When I bring proposals to people who need to make decisions about things, it lets them know that I’m not just coming off the street telling them what to do,” he said. “That (the award) makes things a little easier.”

He hopes it will come in handy with his current project, the 350-acre Cherry Brook Preserve. Fiori wants the township to turn 90 of those acres into hiking trails.

Fiori said that he understands the need for development, but is concerned with safeguarding the farming culture of the township. “We have to balance what we develop with what we preserve because if we don’t it won’t be worth living here anymore,” he said.