The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Category Archives: Local

OwowCow Creamery

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Some times, Dad just has to take charge. 
Tonight was one of those times.
Right after the work day ended at 5:30, I declared to the family “We are having dinner at OwowCow tonight.Yeah, you heard me, we’re having ice cream for dinner. Now get in the car already.” 
I think the kids were afraid I would eventually come to my senses so they dashed into the car, no questions asked.
We took the unbelievably beautiful drive from New Jersey into Bucks County, PA and we discussed our plan of attack for “dinner”. I closely follow the OwowCow Facebook page and follow their Twitter updates so I had a good idea of what flavors they had on tap.
We pulled into the parking lot and before I could get out of the car, the kids were already inside:  

The plan of attack was easy. I was going with the five scoop sampler.There were some serious choices to make and I was ready to implement my plan.

The flavors at OwowCow are not your parent’s ice cream flavors. I’m talking:

And:

Is that phenomenal or what? And here’s the best part, the ingredients in their ice cream/sorbet/etc. are from local farms:

We’re talking seasonal fruits, vegetables (yes, veggies) and even flowers. This creates an aura of excitement as to “what will they make next?” You also know you are getting the freshest ice cream around and you can taste the passion and creativity in every gosh darn bite:

Quick tangent – A dream of mine is to one day provide OwowCow with a bounty of produce from my garden and to have a flavor named after me. I will do it.  

So after a serious strategic planning session, I ended up with the following:

  • Lemon blueberry
  • Honey Lavender 
  • Cinnamon Bourbon
  • Corn with Mango Habenero
  • Sweet Potato with Wasabi    

I am by no means an ice cream critic (give it time though) but I can tell you it was an experience for the ages (and that ain’t no hyperbole).

The lemon blueberry, no surprise, had real blueberries and the combo is a natural.

The honey lavender was perfectly sweet and the hint of lavender took it to another level.

The corn with mango and habanero was the perfect mash-up of sweet, savory and hot. Off the charts good.

The sweet potato with wasabi was borderline perfect with just enough of a nice spicy kick at the end.

The cinnamon bourbon, however, was the cream of the crop (pun intended). Holy crap was it good. It was like all cinnamony and bourbony and just an explosion of awesomeness. This one wins for best choice of the night.

My vanilla obsessed son ended up with four different vanilla flavors and Cookies and Cream and the Madagascar Vanilla was the clear winner:

My daughter went with the “I Hate Chocolate” and she is still talking about it.

My wife went with a duo of Caramel Cashew and the aforementioned Cinnamon Bourbon:                

After tonight, I question why I would ever have ice cream anywhere else. This is an experience and I love the fact that my children picked up on the fact that is was all locally grown and all natural.

And one last one. The nine flavor sampler looks like a fantastic gift for the holidays:

Hopefully my wife picked up on my not so subtle excitement when I saw it.

OwowCow is the real deal and if you don’t believe me, check out the reviews on Trip Advisor and the reviews on Yelp.

We all can’t be wrong, right?

John    

 

A fantastic Hunterdon County weekend

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We look forward to this same weekend every year. 
The first weekend following Thanksgiving is when we cut down our Christmas tree and sample all that beautiful, scenic Hunterdon County, New Jersey has to offer. We’ve done it every year since we moved out here. Last year was an eventful one which you can read about here if you are so inclined. No such drama this year.   
Rosemont Tree Farm has always been our tree farm of choice and this year was no different. The selection of trees is overwhelming and the kids can get lost within minutes. Here they are before running off in different directions:  

As is always the case, the kids could not agree on a tree so we had to threaten them in order to come to a mutual decision. Threats carry a lot of weight this time of year with Santa’s arrival on the horizon and I make sure to take full advantage of that. That is called leverage or good parenting.

We finally identified our tree and were ready to take her home:

And guess who kicked some major booty and cut her down?:

Hours later the tree was defeated and victory was mine (Note how over the whole thing my daughter is):

Beautiful tree with needles like knives. Guess who forgot gloves and still has bloodied fingers? This tough guy, who is hiding it well as this photo was taken:

The tree was stuffed in the car and we headed out to lunch down on the Delaware River. It was an exceptionally warm and sunny day and a great time to be outside:

This year, we hit up the Frenchtown Cafe, a local favorite. This place is always on the money. Click on the photo below and you can read all of the positive reviews that have been posted. Lines wind out the door on weekend mornings but it is worth the wait:    

Did it all end there? Hell no. That night, we made it out to the town tree lighting and even brought our ageless 12 year old dog, Casey, who I’m pretty sure made at least 50 people smile. She has that way about her:

Santa arrived dramatically via firetruck and my son reluctantly posed with him after making sure none of his classmates were around. My daughter, on the other hand, ate it all up:  

It was the perfect weekend that felt like it was right out of a Lifetime movie … without the murder or sordid affairs. Good times indeed:    

John

Blueberry time at Solebury Orchards

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I friggin love blueberries.

I eat them like they are M&M’s.

There is absolutely nothing better than downing these by the handful this time of year. The problem is, I have been tremendously unsuccessful at trying to grow them myself – be it in the ground or in a container – and do not have the time to put in the effort to amend my soil as needed. So I rely on my local orchards for my blueberry fix.

My favorite local joint for fresh off the branch/vine fruit is Solebury Orchards in Solebury, PA. It is a quick trip over the bridge from New Jersey and it isn’t like some of the other chain-like orchards in the area. We visited over the 4th of July weekend in hunt of the blueberry:

As we entered the blueberry locale, I vowed to make it down each and every row so I could locate every perfectly ripe, blueberry:

The truth is, it seemed a bit early for a lot of the fruit so we had to choose wisely and really search the shrubs like true blueberry detectives:

While my daughter wouldn’t eat a blueberry if her life depended on it, my son seems to be a fan:

The grounds at Solebury Orchards are rustic and charming and a place you want to hang for a while:

The kids are obsessed with the cider doughnuts that are sold in the store right behind them and were barely patient enough to pose for this shot:

The only disappointment was that we were not allowed to pick any raspberries but we’ll be back soon to devour those as well:

We had two cartons full by the time we left and admittedly, some of the blueberries were not really ripe enough. That didn’t stop me from eating them:

Best of all, my wife (the Chef D’excellence that she is) made lemon blueberry pancakes the next morning and they were ridiculously good:

One of these years, I’ll put in the time and effort to grow my own blueberries, but for now, I’ll hit up Solebury Orchards and let them do all the hard work.

Cheers!
John

Memorial Day

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I am not a parade kind of guy.

I don’t really get the fun in waving to some Girl Scout troops I don’t know or watching some people ride comfortably in a classic car while I stand in the heat next to some crabby kid who just accidentally let go of his helium balloon.
 
Yet, we agreed to attend a Memorial Day parade yesterday and the thought of standing outside in 95 degree heat (not an exaggeration) with two young children sounded sweaty and exhausting at best. Couldn’t we just watch one on TV in air conditioning? I’ve been told “it’s not the same” so we gave it a go. You know what? It was a good time, with a great vibe and admittedly, it tugged a bit on the old heart strings:

The parade was in Bucks County, PA, specifically in:  

There were plenty of vehicles carrying our brave and heroic men and women:

Some animals were thrown in for shits (literally) and giggles:

Some dudes dressed up in old time garb and fired off shots that terrified every child under the age of 10 (and all of the parents would like to thank them for that):

A little not so subtle marketing:

Some serious weaponry (I had the kids in close touch while this dude walked by):

There was an overwhelming feeling of patriotism and just good old fashioned fun even though we all baked like mad in the sun (yes they were all covered in sun screen):

But honestly, the best part of the day may have been the walk to and from the parade. We parked a distance from the parade route and walked along the towpath of the Delaware River canal:

We had never been on this part of the canal and it was beautiful and loaded with wildlife:

We saw a few snakes in the water, a beaver busy at work on a dam and plenty of ducks, which the kids absolutely loved:

Unlike the towpath in our parts up in NJ, there were a bunch of homes right on the canal that were phenomenal:

It seemed like one big party could be had just hanging around the canal and maybe one day we’ll make our way there.

I also spotted some awesome entrances to some of the properties:

The funniest part of the walk was our interaction with all of the geese. They were the most brazen geese I’ve ever seen and were overly aggressive. While the kids panicked as the geese hissed at us, I found it hilarious as they chased after us even after we had passed by with no intention of ever messing with them:

Even the young guys and gals were ready to mix it up and I’ll share that video with you in the near future:

All in all, a great Memorial Day and one not to be forgotten.

Now back to the grind.

John

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The Schofield Ford Covered Bridge

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As I mentioned in the previous post, my in-laws were in town from Oregon this past week. We spent most of our time with them at my brother-in law’s house in Bucks County, PA. Whenever the kids became restless and bored just “sitting around and talking about nothing” (their words), we ventured out to the local parks to allow them to tire themselves out.

On Saturday, just as park visit number three (Tyler State Park) was coming to an end, we drove past a sign indicating “covered bridge” and figured, why not? We had some time to kill. So we parked and headed down the steep steps to check it out:            

After a short walk in the woods, we came upon the Schofield Ford Covered Bridge:

It was pretty damn impressive and a lot larger than I expected, especially when looking at it from a side view:

While we all looked on in awe at the unique construction and read up on the history behind the bridge, the kids just threw rocks into the river below:

Some interesting tidbits we learned from the signs on site and later from a google search:

  • The bridge was originally built in 1873 using native hemlock wood planks.
  • The bridge was burned to the ground (most likely due to arson) in 1991.
  • By 1997, the bridge had been rebuilt just as it had been in 1873 using post and beam construction and wooden pegs rather than steel bolts. 

Construction inside the bridge:  

The “boys” at the other end of the bridge:

A ton of horse traffic on the bridge:

There are six diamond shape windows with views of the Neshaminy Creek:

The horses cross the creek and the kids jumped for joy when they saw it:

The funniest part of the trip to the bridge was my daughter’s disgust at all the horse poop. She is not acting in this photo, I had to carry her for most of the walk to and from the bridge:

She could have done without the whole educational trip to the covered bridge and just gone back to the play ground:  

As for the rest of us, we enjoyed the unexpected discovery and as is often the case, some of the coolest things are in your own backyard.

Back to gardening tomorrow my friends.

John

Rutgers Nursery “Steal This Idea” finalists

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Quick note for today.

My good buddies over at Rutgers Nursery are one of five finalists for the “Steal This Idea” contest with Today’s Garden Center magazine.

If you would be so kind as to click here and cast your vote for their “Go Big or Go Home” concept, it would be mucho appreciated. Check out their 14 foot tall Adirondack chairs which clearly redefine the term curb appeal.

Thank you
ONG

Another side of New Jersey

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When I say New Jersey, what is the first image that comes to mind? Quick, you have five seconds … tick tick tick tick tick. Time is up.

Is it this?

Or maybe this?

Big hair, maybe?

While all of these images are full of NJ flavor, I am here today to hopefully show you another side of the “Garden State”.

This was the first weekend in nearly two months where we had nothing to do. So after sleeping in on Saturday morning (oh the joy), and having a nice lazy ‘ol time, we ventured out to our favorite pick-your-own farm in Milford, NJ. Phillip’s Farm (click here for their website) is located out in the “country” in beautiful Hunterdon County. The goal was to get blueberries (near the end of their season) and peaches. And we scored big time on both fronts.

         

The kids were way into it and I think they get the whole eating healthy and fresh thing which we will continue to hammer home into their impressionable brains:

 

Now some facts to back up my home state agricultural dominance:

  • New Jersey ranks 2nd in the nation in blueberry production growing 38 million pounds of berries each year.
  • New Jersey grows 13.8% of the nation’s blueberries.
  • New Jersey is 3rd in the nation in cranberry production.
  • New Jersey is 4th in the nation in peach production.

After we secured our bounty, we headed into the charming river town of Frenchtown to visit the store “Two Buttons” (click here for their website). Why is that so cool you ask? Well, it is owned by Elizabeth Gilbert and her husband, Jose, both of “Eat, Pray, Love” fame and soon to be portrayed by Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem in the movie version. Jose greeted us as we entered the store and offered us a glass of wine. And I’ll tell you what, he charmed the pants off of me. Very cool, chill guy and the store was very unique with an artists’s vibe. Will definitely be back.

And finally, a quick stop at another favorite local farm, Peaceful Valley Orchards (click here for the website) for some peach pie, cider donuts and a few super cheap perennials. The kids also love feeding the goats on the premises (OK, I am a sucker for it too)

So, please, next time someone says to you “How you doin?” with an awful Jersey accent, punch them in the face for me.

Much appreciated
ONG