How To: Arrange Your Flowers

Growing up I wanted to open a small flower shop. I wanted it to be tiny and old. Maybe next to a bakery, where people would pick up a fresh baguette and then stop for a fresh bouquet. Instead, I have a tiny and old farm. I feel lucky that my family and I have found this small gem in the birthplace of Bergen County, NJ. Since I am a flower lover at heart and after all my job title is, “Flower Girl” you can imagine one of my favorite things to do is to create flower arrangements. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner we thought a few tips on how to create your own arrangements might come in handy. 

1.    Select a container. Be creative; don’t feel like you need a typical vase. Try an old milk bottle, a teacup or a mason jar (coffee cans will work too, put fresh flowers in a can of your valentine’s favorite coffee - hello romance).

2.    Select flowers. You want to try and get flowers that are in season. Flower shop employees will help you with this. In season flowers, may not have traveled as far and tend to be less expensive (look for a peony in the dead of winter and you could be paying $10 a stem).

3.    Design. Select a variety of textures and sizes. You want some individual stems (large & small) and some fillers (the greens and small bushy flowers). Pick flower colors that live well together. Avoid typical flowers (standard red roses for instance) - go wild.

4.    Arrange. Always cut each flower stem on an angle (this helps them drink easier). Remove all the stems that will be submerged in the water (this keeps the water cleaner). Fill your container with clean room temperature water. Place the fillers in first, next the larger flowers, last place smaller more delicate flowers. Add more fillers in small pieces where needed.

5.    Maintain. Empty your water and re-fill everyday or every other day. Your flowers will last longer.

 I dropped some of these arrangements off at the local nail salon and gave a few to the guys helping us finish the barn. The result is always the same. SMILES.

 If you want an arrangement specially made for Valentine’s Day or a random Tuesday, feel free to email us at the farm.

 Happy Valentine’s Day!

Peace & Love,

Fresh & Fancy

Seeds of Spring

I haven’t had a fresh tomato in four months. It’s not because they’re not available to me, because they are. It’s because they don’t taste half as good as when they’re in season and I’m not even going to get into the nutrients involved. Instead, I will pine over seed catalogs and wait for the snow to stop.

While looking through catalogs, the first thing I ask myself is, what do I want to eat? Immediately, heirloom tomatoes, multicolor carrots and eggplants come to mind (among other things). I check out the seeds I saved the season before and make sure I don’t double up.

Now that I know what I want to eat, the next question is, how do I want to eat it? One thing to note is the closer your fruits and vegetables are grown to your location, the higher the nutrient count and the fresher they will taste. This means you won’t have to do much for a delicious dish.

Here are a few ideas:

Eggplant Bruschetta

What You Need:

• Eggplant (Black beauty, Rosa bianca)
• Heirloom Tomatoes (Marvel Striped, Tigerella)
• Fresh Basil
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

What To Do: 

Slice eggplant into 1’’ rounds. Soak in cool water for a minute. Eggplants are like sponges, so if you let them drink olive oil first, the finishing product could be on the mushy side. Remove eggplant rounds from the water and lay them flat on a baking sheet. Brush on olive oil and top with some salt and fresh pepper. Throw in the oven for 15 minutes on 375. Remove baking tray from the oven and flip the eggplant, top with some salt and pepper and bake for 5 more minutes. 

Chop tomatoes, basil and mix with olive oil, salt and pepper. Top eggplant, open up a bottle of red wine and enjoy!

Note: Use a fork & knife, unless you’re with your parents...they have to love you.

Sweet Roasted Carrots

What You Need:

• Colorful Carrot Mix (St. Valery Orange, Dragon Purple, Yellowstone, White Satin)
• Olive Oil
• Fresh Rosemary
• Local Honey (Try Andrew’s Honey in Union Square on Wednesday)
• Salt
• Pepper

What To Do:

Cut carrots into 1/2” rounds. Toss with olive oil,

chopped rosemary, salt and pepper. Roast at 375 for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, coat with honey and throw them back in for 15 more minutes. These make a great solo side, or mix them into some quinoa and throw in some dried fruit and nuts for a quick meal. 

This spring is the first season Fresh & Fancy Farms will be offering fresh fruits and vegetables to the public. We will also feature cooking classes and even a few taught by Elana of JohnandElana.com! Stay tuned for updates class spots will be limited!

A few newbies to the Fresh & Fancy garden in 2013: 

• Edamame
• Colorful Beets (Detroit Dark Red, Chioggia (the ones with the red & white rings), Bull’s Blood and Golden Beets)
• Purple Dove Beans

Merry Christmas

  Thank you for all of your support in 2012. Here's to a bright future at Fresh & Fancy Farms! We are in the process of building our barn and look forward to bringing the community together to celebrate all things local! If you want updates, you can subscribed to our newsletter here. 

Thank you again and Merry, Merry Christmas!

peace & love,

Fresh & Fancy Farms

Handmade Wreaths at Fresh & Fancy Farms!

It's such a wonderful time of year. Yes, it's chilly and the sun may vanish for days, still everything seems a bit cheerier. People are getting into the Christmas season with kind gestures and warm smiles. And did we mention we have Christmas tunes playing all day? No, we're not sick of them yet...and we're not sure we ever will be. One of the many reasons we love this time on the farm is because we get to create wreaths by hand. They are made with love and no two are the same! We feature unique styles and mixed greens to help brighten your holiday season and your front door. We even create wreaths that are perfect for indoors (like the eucalyptus & hydrangea). So whether you need one for your front door or as a gift, stop by today and see us! We will even give you 15% off if you mention this post...because we like you!

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First Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest Winner!

Christian Mazzariello of Emerson, NJ won our First Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest at this year's Fall Festival!! At our  Fall Festival   we hosted friends and family for pumpkin carving, crafts and fall goodies! We look forward to having Christian's pumpkin carving skills back for next year's contest! Thank you for participating Christian and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Crafts & Costumes!

Fall is such a magical time on the farm. The pumpkins, the mums, the crisp air, it's all just wonderful. But when you have visitors dressed up and excited about arts & crafts...that's when the real magic begins! This past weekend, we had fall arts & crafts on the farm. All of our little fresh & fancy visitors were dressed proudly in their Halloween costumes as they pranced along the fall flowers and through the pumpkin patch.

We hope to see more costumes on Halloween! We welcome all trick-or-treaters!

Stop, slow down, and take it all in! Happy Fall!

Planting Bulbs with the Springboard Program!

Each week the Bergen County Springboard program visits us. They are an awesome group of kids! Today we planted a variety of fall bulbs, daffodils , tulips, muscari, crocus and more! Can't wait to see these beauties pop up in the spring! If you have a group that wants to visit we would love to have them, feel free to contact us today!

End of summer sale!

We're sad summer is coming to an end too...but to cheer you up we are having a SALE! Visit us today for our end of summer sale, we would love to see your smiling faces! Plus, it's the perfect time to plant perennials, tree and shrubs!