A Visit to the Sparta Farmers Market

by Alice Magdziak • May 10, 2017 • Food, Garden State, Green Jersey • Comments (0) • 1601

We love checking out different farmers’ markets around the state and one of the first ones to open this Spring was the Sparta Farmers Market. Easy to get to right off the 15 from Route 80, this was a bustling farmers market with all the early spring veggies and lots of vendors with packaged foods and other local products.

Many of the farmers were almost sold out of produce by the time we arrived. People must have been excited for the Opening Day festivities earlier in the morning and cleared stuff out. We still found stuff to buy and I’m sure there will be more in the coming weeks once more vegetables are in season, too. Everlasting Garden had lots of plants you could take home to have your very own local produce.

Vernon Valley Farm had some over-wintered onions and potatoes that looked great and lots of pasture-raised meat for sale. Summer BBQs are sounding pretty good right now.

There was a petting zoo with pony rides. How cool is that?

They also had some shy alpacas that wouldn’t let me get close but they sure were cute. I was able to sneak in a pet on each of their backs.

What we didn’t buy in produce, we did buy in local packaged goods. The Ginger Chai and Spicy trail mixes from Lakeside Maple went right in our hiking pack when we got home. We’ll be snacking our way up some trail this weekend!

We absolutely love the pierogi from Stefan’s Pure Blends. They have tables at a few of the farmers markets we’ve been to and it’s hard to pass up some of their Polish specialties.

We sampled a couple of wines from Ventimiglia Vineyards and ended up taking home a nice dry Riesling.

The surprise of the day was that I found a kombucha that I really liked. Ed’s been a fan for a while but the ones I’ve tried have always been too strong for me. We tried the classic, the ginseng and the chaga and I liked them all! We went home with a bottle of classic and a bottle of ginseng. Can’t wait to see if I can enjoy the health benefits without blowing away my taste buds.

Mo Pweez Bakery had very tasty muffins and other desserts that were gluten free and Top Eight Allergen free. Wow!

There were so many hummus varieties from the Hummus Boss that we wanted that it was hard to narrow down which to buy. We ended up with the wasabe hummus and Ed dug in almost as soon as we got home.

We were very excited to find the famous Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse at a table. Their cheeses are outstanding and their breads looked equally good.

Check out all the pictures from our visit to Sparta and get out to your local farmers market as soon as it opens. There’s nothing like incorporating local fresh produce back into your diet after the long winter.