Homage to Stone's Throw Garden

The highlight of my week in the summer is pick up day at Stone's Throw Garden and I don't mean that I live for a sleazy rural outdoor singles event. We joined this local CSA when we moved to the area years ago, having belonged to others in Morristown, Long Valley and Flemington over the years. I love this one best of all because it suits me somehow in a way that they didn't and elicits a deeper connection. It is about two miles from our house, hidden in a development of large, tasteful new homes. Nora and Mark live in the original old farmhouse on the former farm. The vegetable garden surrounds the house and takes up much of the property. The first things you see as you arrive at the end of the cul de sac are towering 10' sunflowers. Nora usually appears next in one of her practical yet somehow cool, big floppy hats, cut-off overalls, listening to an ipod. She is an amazing gardner, and smart, saavy, and incredibly warm.

The week's picks are stowed in a small stone spring house. Yesterday's selection included Italian parsley, basil, scallions, a choice of greens, five varieties of eggplant, at least six varieties of tomatoes, three kinds of peppers, green and yellow string beans and a choice from the "item bucket" of gigantic beets, and red or green cabbage. How does she do it?! Each week additional items are designated as "pick your own." After I filled my bag with our share of veggies inside, I headed to the garden for beautiful yellow and orange cherry tomatoes and cilantro. Then I made my way to the rows of flowers in the back.

Many things contribute to making this a special place. The first is Nora herself and the incredible bounty that she is able to somehow pull from the earth. The earth! The second is that Stone's Throw is a secret Garden of Eden for the left-leaning in a town and a county where most lean the other way. But for me, it is the "pick your own" option that makes it even more special. Am I ever happier than when I am picking flowers and literally rubbing shoulders and sharing the busy air space with all manner of bees and butterflies?

September is when the weekly pick up is the most generous but in the background is the nagging, bittersweet knowledge that there will be an end to this. That is all the more reason to revel in the precious minutes when time falls away and nothing exists beyond that moment in the garden.