HRT - Hormone Replacement Therapy in Marksboro, NJ

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What Causes Menopause?

The most common reason for menopause is the natural decline in a female's reproductive hormones. However, menopause can also result from the following situations:

Oophorectomy: This surgery, which removes a woman's ovaries, causes immediate menopause. Symptoms and signs of menopause in this situation can be severe, as the hormonal changes happen abruptly.

Chemotherapy: Cancer treatments like chemotherapy can induce menopause quickly, causing symptoms to appear shortly after or even during treatment.

Ovarian Insufficiency: Also called premature ovarian failure, this condition is essentially premature menopause. It happens when a woman's ovaries quit functioning before the age of 40 and can stem from genetic factors and disease. Only 1% of women suffer from premature menopause, but HRT can help protect the heart, brain, and bones.

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Depression

If you're a woman going through menopause and find that you have become increasingly depressed, you're not alone. It's estimated that 15% of women experience depression to some degree while going through menopause. What many women don't know is that depression can start during perimenopause, or the years leading up to menopause.

Depression can be hard to diagnose, especially during perimenopause and menopause. However, if you notice the following signs, it might be time to speak with a physician:

  • Mood Swings
  • Inappropriate Guilt
  • Chronic Fatigue
  • Too Much or Too Little Sleep
  • Lack of Interest in Life
  • Overwhelming Feelings

Remember, if you're experiencing depression, you're not weak or broken - you're going through a very regular emotional experience. The good news is that with proper treatment from your doctor, depression isn't a death sentence. And with HRT and anti-aging treatment for women, depression could be the catalyst you need to enjoy a new lease on life.

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Hot Flashes

Hot flashes - they're one of the most well-known symptoms of menopause. Hot flashes are intense, sudden feelings of heat across a woman's upper body. Some last second, while others last minutes, making them incredibly inconvenient and uncomfortable for most women.

Symptoms of hot flashes include:

  • Sudden, Overwhelming Feeling of Heat
  • Anxiety
  • High Heart Rate
  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Dizziness

Typically, hot flashes are caused by a lack of estrogen. Low estrogen levels negatively affect a woman's hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls body temperature and appetite. Low estrogen levels cause the hypothalamus to incorrectly assume the body is too hot, dilating blood vessels to increase blood flow. Luckily, most women don't have to settle for the uncomfortable feelings that hot flashes cause. HRT treatments for women often stabilize hormones, lessening the effects of hot flashes and menopause in general.

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Mood Swings

Mood swings are common occurrences for most people - quick shifts from happy to angry and back again, triggered by a specific event. And while many people experience mood swings, they are particularly common for women going through menopause. That's because, during menopause, the female's hormones are often imbalanced. Hormone imbalances and mood swings go hand-in-hand, resulting in frequent mood changes and even symptoms like insomnia.

The rate of production of estrogen, a hormone that fluctuates during menopause, largely determines the rate of production the hormone serotonin, which regulates mood, causing mood swings.

Luckily, HRT and anti-aging treatments in Marksboro, NJ for women work wonders for mood swings by regulating hormone levels like estrogen. With normal hormone levels, women around the world are now learning that they don't have to settle for mood swings during menopause.

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Weight Gain

Staying fit and healthy is hard for anyone living in modern America. However, for women with hormone imbalances during perimenopause or menopause, weight gain is even more serious. Luckily, HRT treatments for women coupled with a physician-led diet can help keep weight in check. But which hormones need to be regulated?

  • Estrogen: During menopause, estrogen levels are depleted. As such, the body must search for other sources of estrogen. Because estrogen is stored in fat, your body believes it should increase fat production during menopause. Estrogen also plays a big part in insulin resistance, which can make it even harder to lose weight and keep it off.
  • Progesterone: Progesterone levels are also depleted during menopause. Progesterone depletion causes bloating and water retention, while loss of testosterone limits the body's ability to burn calories.
  • Ongoing Stress: Stress makes our bodies think that food is hard to come by, putting our bodies in "survival mode". When this happens, cortisol production is altered. When cortisol timing changes, the energy in the bloodstream is diverted toward making fat. With chronic stress, this process repeatedly happens, causing extensive weight gain during menopause.
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Low Libido

Lowered sexual desire - three words most men and women hate to hear. Unfortunately, for many women in perimenopausal and menopausal states, it's just a reality of life. Thankfully, today, HRT and anti-aging treatments Marksboro, NJ can help women maintain a normal, healthy sex drive. But what causes low libido in women, especially as they get older?

The hormones responsible for low libido in women are progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone.

Progesterone production decreases during perimenopause, causing low sex drive in women. Lower progesterone production can also cause chronic fatigue, weight gain, and other symptoms. On the other hand, lower estrogen levels during menopause lead to vaginal dryness and even vaginal atrophy or loss of muscle tension.

Lastly, testosterone plays a role in lowered libido. And while testosterone is often grouped as a male hormone, it contributes to important health and regulatory functionality in women. A woman's testosterone serves to heighten sexual responses and enhances orgasms. When the ovaries are unable to produce sufficient levels of testosterone, it often results in a lowered sex drive.

 Hormone Replacement Marksboro, NJ

Vaginal Dryness

Often uncomfortable and even painful, vaginal dryness is a serious problem for sexually active women. However, like hair loss in males, vaginal dryness is very common - almost 50% of women suffer from it during menopause.

Getting older is just a part of life, but that doesn't mean you have to settle for the side effects. HRT and anti-aging treatments for women correct vaginal dryness by re-balancing estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. When supplemented with diet and healthy living, your vagina's secretions are normalized, causing discomfort to recede.

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Fibroids

Uterine fibroids - they're perhaps the least-known symptom of menopause and hormone imbalances in women. That's because these growths on the uterus are often symptom-free. Unfortunately, these growths can be cancerous, presenting a danger for women as they age.

Many women will have fibroids at some point. Because they're symptomless, they're usually found during routine doctor exams. Some women only get one or two, while others may have large clusters of fibroids. Because fibroids are usually caused by hormone imbalances, hysterectomies have been used as a solution, forcing women into early menopause.

Advances in HRT and anti-aging medicine for women give females a safer, non-surgical option without having to experience menopause early. At Global Life Rejuvenation, our expert physicians will implement a customized HRT program to stabilize your hormones and reduce the risk of cancerous fibroid growth.

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Endometriosis

Endometriosis symptoms are much like the effects of PMS, and include pelvic pain, fatigue, cramping, and bloating. While doctors aren't entirely sure what causes this painful, uncomfortable condition, most agree that hormones - particularly xenoestrogens - play a factor.

Endometriosis symptoms are much like the effects of PMS and include pelvic pain, fatigue, cramping, and bloating. While doctors aren't entirely sure what causes this painful, uncomfortable condition, most agree that hormones - particularly xenoestrogens - play a factor.

Xenoestrogen is a hormone that is very similar to estrogen. Too much xenoestrogen is thought to stimulate endometrial tissue growth. HRT for women helps balance these hormones and, when used with a custom nutrition program, can provide relief for women across the U.S.

 Sermorelin Marksboro, NJ

What is Sermorelin?

Sermorelin is a synthetic hormone peptide, like GHRH, which triggers the release of growth hormones. When used under the care of a qualified physician, Sermorelin can help you lose weight, increase your energy levels, and help you feel much younger.

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Benefits of Sermorelin

Human growth hormone (HGH) therapy has been used for years to treat hormone deficiencies. Unlike HGH, which directly replaces declining human growth hormone levels, Sermorelin addresses the underlying cause of decreased HGH, stimulating the pituitary gland naturally. This approach keeps the mechanisms of growth hormone production active.

  • Benefits of Sermorelin include:
  • Better Immune Function
  • Improved Physical Performance
  • More Growth Hormone Production
  • Less Body Fat
  • Build More Lean Muscle
  • Better Sleep
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What is Ipamorelin?

Ipamorelin helps to release growth hormones in a person's body by mimicking a peptide called ghrelin. Ghrelin is one of three hormones which work together to regulate the growth hormone levels released by the pituitary gland. Because Ipamorelin stimulates the body to produce growth hormone, your body won't stop its natural growth hormone production, which occurs with synthetic HGH.

Ipamorelin causes growth hormone secretion that resembles natural release patterns rather than being constantly elevated from HGH. Because ipamorelin stimulates the natural production of growth hormone, our patients can use this treatment long-term with fewer health risks.

Hormone Replacement Therapy Marksboro, NJ

Benefits of Ipamorelin

One of the biggest benefits of Ipamorelin is that it provides significant short and long-term benefits in age management therapies. Ipamorelin can boost a patient's overall health, wellbeing, and outlook on life.

When there is an increased concentration of growth hormone by the pituitary gland, there are positive benefits to the body. Some benefits include:

  • Powerful Anti-Aging Properties
  • More Muscle Mass
  • Less Unsightly Body Fat
  • Deep, Restful Sleep
  • Increased Athletic Performance
  • More Energy
  • Less Recovery Time for Training Sessions and Injuries
  • Enhanced Overall Wellness and Health
  • No Significant Increase in Cortisol

Your New, Youthful Lease on Life with HRT for Women

Whether you are considering our HRT and anti-aging treatments for women in Marksboro, NJ, we are here to help. The first step to reclaiming your life begins by contacting Global Life Rejuvenation. Our friendly, knowledgeable HRT experts can help answer your questions and walk you through our procedures. From there, we'll figure out which treatments are right for you. Before you know it, you'll be well on your way to looking and feeling better than you have in years!

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Latest News in Marksboro, NJ

Staying Alert for Traffickers

Mandy R. Bristol-Leverett, the co-founder of (CAN) posed a simple question: “Who is reaching the enslaved in your community?”That inquiry prompted Matt P. Jones to ask Bristol-Leverett, 47, to present her accredited regional human trafficking awareness summit at in Hackettstown, New Jersey. After 100 students, community members, and professional law enforcement personnel learned about the indicators of trafficking and responses, they were invited to enlist.Soon after this, the pastor of the Assemblies of ...

Mandy R. Bristol-Leverett, the co-founder of (CAN) posed a simple question: “Who is reaching the enslaved in your community?”

That inquiry prompted Matt P. Jones to ask Bristol-Leverett, 47, to present her accredited regional human trafficking awareness summit at in Hackettstown, New Jersey. After 100 students, community members, and professional law enforcement personnel learned about the indicators of trafficking and responses, they were invited to enlist.

Soon after this, the pastor of the Assemblies of God congregation saw a woman at a coffee shop in a suburban shopping mall who appeared nervous while answering brief cellphone calls and texts. When the woman appeared to faint, Jones and the manager helped her to a table.

As they talked, the woman mentioned being ashamed of what she had done after coming to the U.S. from another country for a job that hadn’t worked out the way she expected.

“That’s when I suspected she had been trafficked,” says Jones, 56.

Not long after the woman’s comment, two men appeared, asked what had happened, and said they would handle the situation. After the woman indicated she didn’t want to go with the men, they fled. Jones secured help from CAN and the FBI victim specialist the pastor met at the summit.

Jones says the experience helped him appreciate how CAN helps average citizens to identify trafficking victims and rescue them.

“If you don’t think it’s going on in your neighborhood, you are sadly mistaken,” Jones says.

Since that time, Mountaintop has joined the growing number of churches that have started a local CAN ministry.

While every church’s response is unique, CAN offers comprehensive resources — everything from prevention to survivor reentry — built from more than 30 years of experience serving survivors. Bristol-Leverett is CAN’s co-founder and a U.S. missionary endorsed by AG .

Mountaintop’s adherents added their missing children’s outreach to the church’s vacation Bible school and assessment tools to its food pantry. Congregants have served in the county jail, public schools, and at a survivor home for victims (a CAN collaboration). Mountaintop’s CAN ministry leads annual missing children search and rescues, including the nation’s first statewide hotel outreach.

In 2019, the AG’s asked Bristol-Leverett to adapt the regional outreach model she had used for 10 years to reach the entire state. Mountaintop was one of five district host churches for a simultaneous outreach, where hundreds of volunteers distributed materials to every hotel and motel in New Jersey. When COVID-19 closed most hotels in 2020, CAN pivoted and launched a missing children’s outreach that located more than 1,100 young people in 2021.

CAN has enlisted members of nearly 30 churches in eight states and three other nations as abolition advocates. CAN trains and coaches these specialists, many of whom serve and advise state and federal leaders, assist task forces, and help with the federal Trafficking in Persons .

Rachel A. Stoltzfus is the advocate for in Blairstown, New Jersey. The rural AG church’s anti-trafficking response includes community trainings, foster families, trauma-informed children’s drama camps, providing staff for a survivor home, plus strip club, street, and jail outreaches.

The veteran of two short-term trips to Vietnam with an AG missionary couple to do anti-trafficking work, Stoltzfus says Bristol-Leverett’s passion made her want to also help reach the enslaved in America.

“Being involved with CAN is so rewarding because it is a ministry that is about the Father’s business,” says Stoltzfus, 30.

Bristol-Leverett has been dedicated to this work since soon after her Christian conversion at an AG youth retreat in Spokane, Washington. She encountered the first victim she served through leading a weekly prayer meeting. In every church she and her husband of 22 years Dwayne have pastored, she continued to develop a church-based anti-trafficking response. Now she is appointed by AG to equip churches nationwide to do the same.

“Every time God used someone to prevent slavery, God used what was in their hand,” Mandy says. “Moses had a shepherd’s staff. When we go in, we don’t create new clinics, we just retrofit what’s already there. We’re creating pathways to not just identify victims, but help victims heal.”

Photo: Mandy Bristol-Everett, and her husband, Dwayne, have been in ministry together for more than 20 years.

Ruthie's BBQ and Pizza is Closing, Owners Announce New Venture

MONTCLAIR, NJ - A chapter in Montclair history is coming to a close. Ruthie's BBQ is closing its doors, owners announce.Located at 64 Chestnut Street, Ruthie's BBQ and Pizza has been a community staple. To the surprise of many loyal patrons, the owners Ruth Perretti and Eric Kaplan took to social media to announce their decision.“For over 16 years this corner has been not only our business, but our home. It has been our greatest joy to share all that we love with you," the duo wrote. “Yes, we are closing Ruthie...

MONTCLAIR, NJ - A chapter in Montclair history is coming to a close. Ruthie's BBQ is closing its doors, owners announce.

Located at 64 Chestnut Street, Ruthie's BBQ and Pizza has been a community staple. To the surprise of many loyal patrons, the owners Ruth Perretti and Eric Kaplan took to social media to announce their decision.

“For over 16 years this corner has been not only our business, but our home. It has been our greatest joy to share all that we love with you," the duo wrote. “Yes, we are closing Ruthie’s in Montclair, but our journey as creators continues. We might not be running a daily restaurant, but we are on a new mission to give back to our community.”

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The statement reads as follows:

"For over 16 years this corner has been not only our business, but our home. It has been our greatest joy to share all that we love with you; Slow Smoked BBQ, thin crust Pizza and Hot Jammin’Blues. Yes, we are closing Ruthie’s in Montclair, but our journey as creators continues. We might not be running a daily restaurant, but we are on a new mission to give back to our community. In recent years we have been cultivating naturally grown regional grains at Ruthie’s Farm and established Marksboro Mills in conjunction with River Valley Community Grains to create a market for other growers in NJ. Our vision goes beyond simply feeding you; we aim to restore a healthy local grain economy and that nourish both people and the earth. And we will invite you, when we are ready, to come see us as there is no way we will stop supporting live music! We plan on having events with the roots music we love and locally sourced food. It has been very difficult to make the final call on when to close our business here in Montclair, but the night we finally did, July 29th, 2023, it was a typical scene, outdoor music about to start, rain moving in, are we inside – are we outside? We scrambled a bit, and when the rain moved out, a vibrant rainbow emerged above our beloved building. It seemed to confirm that our commitment to creating meaningful experiences goes beyond our restaurant’s walls. We’re sorry to have made this decision without a heads up to all of you, but it was the only way that felt right to us. We will be offering our place back to the universe for the next person to create a new story, just as we did when we purchased this magical corner building those many years ago."

Eric, Chef/Owner also wrote a personal message, “This is a personnel decision that I’ve been thinking about for some time. I’m saddened, and sorry that Ruthies is closing after 16 years. Ruth and I are proud of what we accomplished, and love what we created. To all our community and all the great musicians, I wish we could keep going, but the time has come to move on. I feel guilty for stopping and letting people down and I am embarrassed to stop. Ruth and I are ready for the next chapter in our lives and look forward to creating something out in western NJ with Marksboro Mills."

Last Dance: Montclair’s Beloved Ruthie’s BBQ & Pizza Closes

Montclair is reeling from the news that Ruthie’s Bar-B-Q & Pizza had its last night on Saturday. An announcement on the restaurant’s social media came as a shock to many, but it’s something owners Eric Kaplan and Ruth Perretti had been planning for some time.“There’s no easy way to do this,” said Perretti on Sunday, adding that the couple had decided to ...

Montclair is reeling from the news that Ruthie’s Bar-B-Q & Pizza had its last night on Saturday. An announcement on the restaurant’s social media came as a shock to many, but it’s something owners Eric Kaplan and Ruth Perretti had been planning for some time.

“There’s no easy way to do this,” said Perretti on Sunday, adding that the couple had decided to sell the mixed-use commercial building that houses Ruthie’s and wanted to go out on their own terms. Both Kaplan and Perretti hope to have some kind of final event before it changes hands.

Perretti and Kaplan said the spirit of Ruthie’s, beloved not only for its thin crust pizza and BBQ, but as a live music destination, is something they want to bring west to Warren County. There, they have another labor of love, as the owners of Marksboro Mills. Perretti and Kaplan have become part of the regional grains movement, teaming up with River Valley Community Grains.

An interest in sustainable food movement stemmed from Perretti’s family. She grew up in Montclair, but her family owned property — a house and farm — in Warren County. Her father had a vision of the farm growing food for restaurants in New York City. In 2016, when Perretti left a career in fashion, she turned her focus to the farm and started growing vegetables incorporated by Kaplan into the menu at Ruthie’s.

Kaplan, seeing a farmer growing rye, had the idea that the couple should start growing grains and make their own flour from wheat. They ultimately purchased a warehouse and converted it into a grain mill, now Marksboro Mills. The bigger location allows for events, including live music, something Kaplan, a musician, is passionate about, as well as offering additional space for craftsman and creatives.

As excited as they are about their next chapter in Marksboro, Kaplan said he is sad and emotionally exhausted, adding it will be hard to cancel musicians he had booked through August. However, both say it was time.

The threat of a storm ruining their final night of alfresco food and music didn’t happen. Instead, Ruthie’s was rewarded with a rainbow, something Perretti took as a sign they were leaving on a good note.

The corner of Chestnut and Forest has a long history as a food destination. Growing up in Montclair, Perretti remembers when it was a deli run by the Calabrese family. People would come in and remember their meatballs, says Perretti. She and Kaplan were thankful they had a chance to continue in that tradition and create something memorable in the community.

“Ruthie’s lives on in hearts and minds. We are very hopeful the next owners and caretakers of this corner do it justice,” she said.

These ‘Farmpreneurs’ are Revolutionizing Agriculture in New Jersey

Ruth Perretti of Marksboro Mills with Larry Mahmarian, Len Bussanich and Mike Hozer of River Valley Community Grains. Photo: John BesslerOne day in 2016, Ruth Perretti was out in Marksboro—a tiny hamlet in Warren County’s Frelinghuysen Township, where she lives with her husband Eric Kaplan—when she met the founders of a new business called River Valley Community Grains (RVCG). They knew...

Ruth Perretti of Marksboro Mills with Larry Mahmarian, Len Bussanich and Mike Hozer of River Valley Community Grains. Photo: John Bessler

One day in 2016, Ruth Perretti was out in Marksboro—a tiny hamlet in Warren County’s Frelinghuysen Township, where she lives with her husband Eric Kaplan—when she met the founders of a new business called River Valley Community Grains (RVCG). They knew Perretti had hired a farmer to grow crops on some of her land and asked if she would be interested in trying organic grains. They would advise her on the growing process and find buyers for the end product.

The founders of RVCG—Mike Hozer, Len Bussanich and Larry Mahmarian, childhood friends from Bergen and Hudson counties who had fallen in love with the area’s natural beauty—began their business out of concern about the decades of heavy pesticide use by farmers growing corn and soy for livestock feed for big agricultural corporations. Growing heirloom grains naturally, without the use of chemicals, they explained to Perretti, would reduce the amount of toxins in the soil and watershed, and provide a crop increasingly in demand by small artisan bakers.

Perretti was all in. The Montclair native had spent idyllic childhood summers in Marksboro riding horses and swimming in the Paulinskill River bordering her family’s property (now hers), which spills into the Musconetcong and then into the Delaware. She later inherited the family home. “The water in northwestern New Jersey is some of the purest anywhere,” she says.

In 2017, she planted her first acre of wheat, joining other local farmers switching from feed crops to organic grains.

RVCG provides these farmers with the guidance, tools and resources they need to make the switch—procuring the right heirloom seeds for the soil and conditions, managing pests and weeds without chemicals, threshing and harvesting, cleaning, storing, testing and milling the grain and, finally, finding markets for the flour.

Their artisanal flour and rolled oats are used by local bakeries, pizzerias and granola makers and sold in farmers markets and natural supermarkets throughout the state. RVCG flour is used by Montclair’s Le French Dad Boulangerie, Bloomfield’s Jed’s Bread, Brooklyn’s Otway Bakery, and Frenchette Bakery and Mel Bakery in Manhattan. Chilton Mill Brewing in Long Valley even uses it to make a Belgian wheat beer.

Naturally, RVCG flour was also used in the pies at Ruthie’s Bar-B-Q & Pizza in Montclair until Perretti and Kaplan closed the beloved restaurant this summer so she could focus on the grain initative in Marksboro.

In May, RVCG took a big leap forward with the opening of a home base, Marksboro Mills, in a former farm-machine repair shop. Perretti purchased the property and supervised the renovation, which she hopes will cement Marksboro’s status as a grain hub—the center of an agricultural revolution that will restore small grain farming to an area that, from the late 1700s through the early 1900s, was the bread basket of the region.

“The small farms in this area were decimated by big ag in the ’80s, which gave seeds and chemicals to farmers, dictated what they could grow, and shipped it all to China,” says Perretti. “The small farms had no choice. This grain initiative is so important because it provides a different economic alternative.”

Marksboro Mills will give farmers a place to sell their products. And, in its demonstration kitchen, students, the public and nonprofits will be able to learn about ancient grains and small-scale grain processing and baking.

As its name implies, the mill’s primary function is a place where RVCG can mill its clients’ grain. Since 2019, they’ve been grinding it by hand on tabletop mills in a commercial kitchen in Long Valley, which they could use only one evening a week. Says Bussanich, “To say Marksboro Mills is a game changer is an understatement.”

The cavernous space also has room to host meetings and demonstrations with nonprofit partners like the Food Shed Alliance and Montclair Community Farms; eventually, it could host special events.

Growing grain, especially without the use of pesticides and fertilizers, is not for the faint of heart. The weather, which is getting more severe due to climate change, is a constant threat. In July 2021, for example, just as they were getting ready to harvest five acres of spring wheat on Ruthie’s farm, the rain “came down in buckets and did not stop,” says Bussanich. The better part of the harvest, cultivated for nearly a year, was lost due to the rainfall and excessive summer heat.

With the rain come weeds. To prevent weeds and fertilize crops, cover crops of buckwheat, red clover, oats, peas or mustard must be planted.

The “storage piece” has also been challenging, Bussanich says. The grain’s moisture content must stay at 12 percent or below to prevent the growth of the vomitoxin-causing fusarium fungus. They recently acquired a grain hopper that can store many thousands of pounds of grain, as well as the machinery necessary to move the grain into the bins.

For the founders of RVCG, the challenges are well worth it. With a strong demand for artisanal grains, their business is thriving. Farmers get more per pound for heirloom grains than for feed crops, along with the benefits to the local economy. Even with the extra costs associated with organic grains, including fees to RVCG for their services and time transitioning fields to chemical-free soil, many are finding it worthwhile to make the switch.

Bussanich, who worked for the outdoor store Campmor, and Mahmarian, who worked in corporate relocation, both now work full time for RVCG, and are astounded by its rapid growth. “If you had told me when we started I’d be in a position to commit to this full time, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Bussanich says.

The idea for RVCG was kindled when the three friends joined a group trying to restore the soil and water of the Musconetcong River Valley, run by Sister Miriam MacGillis, who founded Genesis Farms in Blairstown, one of the country’s first community-supported organic farms.

To float the idea of a grain initiative, the three friends and MacGillis hosted a meeting of about 50 locals in February 2016. Agronomist Elizabeth Dyck, who had led grain enterprises in other states, shared stories of successful, small-scale grain enterprises she’d helped jumpstart.

Connecting with Dyck, who did soil testing and advised early adopters how to grow without chemicals, was “critical,” says Bussanich. They’d reached out after reading about her role in the Northeast’s grain renaissance in the book The New Bread Basket, by Amy Halloran.

“Elizabeth told us about this area’s rich history of grain growing,” says Bussanich. “We figured, if it’s been done before, it can be done again.”

Steve Gambino of Villa Milagro Vineyards in Warren County was the first to take the leap, transitioning a field of soybeans into spring wheat and producing a bumper crop of 10,000 pounds. He donated 500 pounds to RVCG, which they had stone-ground into flour by an Amish miller in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was baked into samples given to local bakers and donated to Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse in Milford for a flour-baking class. The results were delicious and promising, and the business was launched.

At this point, the flour produced through RVCG is not certified organic, even though no pesticides are used and only natural fertilizers applied that would pass organic muster. Certification would require farmers to wait three years before planting organic seeds and not allow them to use any equipment they also use on non-organic fields. “Certification is a real hindrance to growers, especially small farmers,” says Perretti. “They can’t switch to organic if it means they’ll lose money; we have to give them a bridge into this.”

So far, the RVCG model has been working. The biggest problem now is that demand for their flour is outstripping supply. “We need more growers to really bring all the benefits to this process,” says Bussanich, “to bring the environmental benefits, and to bring a product that’s healthier and better and stays in the community.”

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Montclair institution Ruthie's BBQ and Pizza set to close, owners say it was time

Montclair is set to lose as an institution after the owners of Ruthie's BBQ & Pizza announced they were closing their beloved restaurant on the corner of Chestnut and Forest.For owner Ruthie Perretti and her husband Eric Kaplan, who served as head chef, the decision was anything but easy. But they both acknowledged that it was time."I've been in the industry for 45-something years," Kaplan said. "I wanted to try something new."Perretti described the restaurant as a "labor of lo...

Montclair is set to lose as an institution after the owners of Ruthie's BBQ & Pizza announced they were closing their beloved restaurant on the corner of Chestnut and Forest.

For owner Ruthie Perretti and her husband Eric Kaplan, who served as head chef, the decision was anything but easy. But they both acknowledged that it was time.

"I've been in the industry for 45-something years," Kaplan said. "I wanted to try something new."

Perretti described the restaurant as a "labor of love." It's easy to understand what she means. She and Kaplan met each other in West Orange over 16 years ago. Kaplan was playing guitar at a blues club, and Perretti was in attendance. They started dating, and both decided that they wanted to open a restaurant. Kaplan was a professional chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America, while Perretti worked for years in the fashion industry.

The pairing resulted in a restaurant with excellent barbecue, a rarity for North Jersey, along with thin-crust pizza.

Ruthie's was "simple food done right," the way Perretti and Kaplan wanted it. But it was also a hub for live music, with bands jamming on the outdoor patio in the summer. It was a community linchpin for Montclair, especially for high school students looking for an after-school slice.

"People would meet each other there," Perretti said. "I had several people who met their future wives and husbands there, we've had weddings there."

It was never just a restaurant to the pair, it was literally home. Perretti and Kaplan lived in the apartment above the restaurant. They'll now reside on Perretti's family farm in Warren County, but will continue to give back to the community.

A few years ago, the couple began growing natural grains and have since established Marksboro Mills. They aim to help start a market for other local growers. The hope is that in the future, Marksboro Mills will eventually be open for more live music and locally sourced food, a Ruthie's staple.

Perretti and Kaplan will both miss the community that was an integral part of Ruthie's. Perretti remembers people who would come up to her at the restaurant, grab her hand and say "thank you." Kaplan says he's heard some say it feels like losing a family member.

"How important is community?" Perretti said. "It's the whole reason we did it."

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