If you blink, you might drive right past Fresh & Fancy Farms, nestled on just one acre in suburban New Milford. It might be the smallest farm in New Jersey.

But the family behind Fresh & Fancy Farms has a mission: to educate their neighbors about local growing, both for healthy food and pretty landscapes, while providing a convenient and fun-on- a-farm experience. The farm is one of just a few left in Bergen County, which once had a bounty of farms until suburban sprawl took over.

Practically every square foot outdoors at Fresh & Fancy Farms is filled with something growing, including vegetables, fruits, herbs —and a coop filled with chickens. The family’s motto is “We add a little fancy to a fresh new way to farm!”

The small parcel of land has been a farm for almost 100 years, most recently as Klinger’s Farm. When the Low family took over in 2011, they renamed it Fresh & Fancy Farms. Donald and Kerry Low are the chief growers at the farm, with help from four generations of family members, including aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, brothers and sisters, says Donald. The couple’s daughter, Megan Low Nobile, is a co-owner—and the creative visionary who has turned the farm into a destination for many outside of Bergen County.

As event coordinator, Meg has melded the original farm with her vision of a creative place where she blends her culinary and creative talents. In the early years, family members sometimes gathered for a quick meal outside. Customers often commented how nice it would be to enjoy a meal in such a charming country setting— even with suburban home developments in close view.

Meg saw an opportunity, and farm dinners were soon added as special events. The first dinners were held outdoors, with guests sitting at a hodge-podge of different tables and chairs, eating from mismatched china and cutlery, under a canopy of string light bulbs. Guests loved it, told their friends, and soon Fresh & Fancy Farms became more than just a small farm stand.

Two large barns now anchor the farm, constructed by Amish builders, with brick floors and soaring ceilings. The first was designed as a multi-purpose area, with room to sell gardening items and home accessories. The second barn was built in response to the growing popularity of the farm dinners and special events, with a large kitchen at one end of the large room—and the guarantee of no cancellations because of inclement weather.

“We put up the newest barn as an education center, to feed and teach people about community farming,” Meg says. “It’s a nice place to come and slow down a bit, take a break from the hustle of life.”

Fresh & Fancy Farms grows and sells vegetables (including 20 varieties of tomatoes), fruit, herbs, shrubs and flowering plants. Market items like honey, jams and salsas are also sold at the farm, either grown onsite or sourced locally; Fresh & Fancy’s website lists what is available each day during the growing season.

“Our little farm is a family run business, where we are able to interact with local people from the community,” Donald says. “We also enjoy celebrating theirs and our family milestones.”

“WE PUT UP THE NEWEST BARN AS AN EDUCATION CENTER ... IT’S A NICE PLACE TO COME AND TAKE A BREAK FROM THE HUSTLE OF LIFE.”
—-Megan Low Nobile, Fresh & Fancy Farms

Farm dinners

Many of those celebrations are held at Fresh & Fancy’s farm dinners during the growing months, starting in the spring and ending in late fall. Several of these sit-down events are held each year, each serving 30 to 50 guests at $95 per person. The dinner menus are strictly based on seasonal foods, Meg says. “Most of the food is grown on our farm, but if we get other things from here or there, I highlight where they came from.

“We want people to understand that without these farms, we wouldn’t have a lot of the good things we have, and it teaches us to eat ‘in the season,’” she says. “We’re not eating watermelon in December. We’re not having pumpkin soup in the spring. It makes you excited about eating them, when they are in season.”

Meg’s husband, Michael, often serves as maître’ d at the farm dinners if Kerry watches the couple’s two children—3-year-old Magnolia and 2-year-old Michael. The children are growing up on the small farm, already helping pick strawberries and other small crops.

“I’ve got the best job on the farm: new recipe sampler and food taster,” Michael says. “And I’m always battling my kids for top spot as dessert connoisseur.”

The farm also hosts many private dinners. “I’ll post a farm dinner on our website, and people book them out completely for baby showers, bridal showers, events like 50th birthdays,” Meg says. “It’s all farm to table, so it’s a little different than being a restaurant or catering hall. They can get up and visit chickens with their mimosas.”

Adds Michael: “It’s truly a unique experience for this area. It’s a great place for family and friends to gather together. We cover everything from ‘farmy’ and fun to fancy and formal.”

Adds Donald: “Our little slice of heaven often translates to customers returning year after year to create their own family traditions.”

The atmosphere is an eclectic mix of nostalgia and shabby chic. Fresh flowers from the farm are placed in a mixed lot of antiques like slightly tarnished pitchers, tiny pots and vases, even a bread box. Occasional quotes—typed on bits of paper using a vintage typewriter—are tucked into wildflower bouquets. An array of candles add ambiance to the odd lot of chandeliers overhead.

“The farm is a welcoming place where people come to enjoy an old-fashioned farm experience,” Kerry says. “It’s a welcoming place where people gather, celebrate family milestones, create traditions, buy gifts and flowers, and are able to get advice on everything they need regarding planting, maintaining, and growing anything relating to a garden.”

Fresh & Fancy dinner menus are created just before each event, using what is freshly harvested. “If I know these are the five items I have, I work with what I have,” Meg says. “I work with the land. That’s sort of how I’ve always been since I was younger, opening my parents’ cabinets to see what I could cook with.”

Meg is a self-taught cook, a lover of cookbooks, and inspired by six months she lived in Italy as a young adult. “I would go to markets and use what was fresh, and learned to cook from that,” she says. “Farm to table is not a trend in Italy—it’s their way of life.”

Even without professional chef credentials, Meg’s dinners sell out quickly. “I wouldn’t say the dinners add a huge amount of revenue to the farm. The importance of our dinners are to build community and bring people together around a common table,” she says. “Everyone’s world seems to be so scheduled. If we can slow our guests down for a few hours in the fresh air of our farm, that’s important.

“When you’re at a farm dinner, you get a chance to celebrate the season with a stranger,” Meg adds. “We book only one event a day, because when you take a seat, it’s hard to leave.”

Even with a small profit margin, the dinners “help people know where our little farm is,” she says. “I call it the secret garden. It’s not so easy to find! I hear time and time again, ‘I lived locally all my life and we didn’t know you were here!’

“Our private events bring people from other local towns, and it builds word-of-mouth advertising,” Meg says. “Every private event that’s booked comes from someone who was at a previous event and enjoyed being with us.”

Meg’s farm dinner menus

Spring farm dinners have featured starters such as fried green tomatoes topped with kale, bacon and blue cheese in a balsamic reduction; radish crostini with lavender honey butter and pink sea salt; and a salad with strawberries, asparagus and arugula, tossed with feta, pea shoots and violas. A spring main dish entrée of chicken could be stuffed with roasted peppers and farm-made ricotta cheese and local honey. For something sweet at the end of the meal, guests might enjoy strawberry rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream, cinnamon, whipped cream, and drizzled in agave syrup.

Summer farm dinners always highlight the bounty of warm weather. Peaches might be stuffed with roasted corn and arugula in a lavender champagne vinaigrette. Beet risotto may be enlivened with fresh goat cheese and dill, and eggplant basil meatballs could be topped with a yellow tomato chutney. For dessert, guests might enjoy fresh cherry shortcake topped with farm fresh whipped cream.

In the fall, Meg has served butternut squash thyme tartlets, followed by a sliced pear salad stuffed with spinach, shaved parmigiana topped with toasted almonds and drizzled with aged balsamic. Autumnal roasted chicken might be stuffed with maple bacon and pear with a Brussels sprout and cranberry crust, with sides of honeynut squash stuffed with quinoa, cranberries and goat cheese, as well as apple and onion scalloped potatoes with thyme. The meal could end with a farm-made waffle cone stuffed with apple pie and ice cream, drizzled with maple syrup and candied pecans.

Edible flowers and fresh berries from the farm garnish many dishes. Herbal butter is often served in small espresso cups, with bread in clean berry baskets. “I like to serve food in sort of an unexpected way, and sometimes it makes people appreciate it more,” Meg says. “It’s like earth art for your plate.”

FRESH & FANCY FARMS
575 River Road, New Milford
201.483.9494 freshandfancyfarms.com
Closed January, February and March

Fresh & Fancy Farm Events:
August - December 2020
 

Fresh & Fancy Farms has a variety of events planned for this summer and fall. A farmers market every Thursday features produce grown onsite and from other local farms, as well as meats, cheese and milk. Items can be pre-ordered for curbside pickup, or customers can enter the farm with a mask.

• Seasonal Cooking Classes are held on select Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at $65 per person, with a limited number of guests, and masks are required. Bring your own wine and enjoy farm-made appetizers along with local cheese and seasonal produce.

Sept. 24: Pasta Making on the Farm. Learn to make homemade pasta with two seasonal sauces.

Oct. 22: Pizza Making on the Farm. Learn to make our farm-made pizza from dough to toppings, cooked in the farm’s wood-burning pizza oven.

• Farm Dinners feature a Saturday night on the farm with old friends and new, and sell out quickly. Dinners start at 6 pm and are held outside, weather permitting, or in the food barn. BYOB. Guests are limited; masks are required. The cost is $125 person for six seasonal courses. The dates are Aug. 15, Sept. 19, Oct. 17, Nov.14 and Dec. 5.
   
• The fifth annual Halloweenie takes place Saturday, Oct. 24 from noon to 3 pm. Enjoy gourmet hot dog tasting on the farm, with seasonal toppings including maple bacon and pumpkin Parmesan. Hand-cut fries and farm-made sweet tea and lemonade are also available.