(This one is from the archives as the visit took place during the Northampton County Open Gate Farm…read moreTour weekend back in October so I may have forgotten more than I remember by this point.) I'm not an alcohol person by a long shot. But even with my Quaker tendencies a good hard cider is always in my wheelhouse and when I saw that Elvern was once again going to be on the Northampton County Farm Tour I knew that it was time to "get off the schneid" and make the trip to Mount Bethel. Now while I've heard second hand that Elvern has had a long time presence in the area with farm stands/stores and produce sales I'm strictly focusing on their 2013 creation with Hardball Cider. Let me just get the two really small negatives out of the way first. The first would be that there was no tour schedule or tour times. It was just Geoff by himself trying to do everything. It was a little disorganized at first but overall no biggie. The second is that the farm is of course not designed to handle the amount of cars that were on the property. The group we toured with while not large per se, was large enough that we had to move in and out of rooms inside the old barn production facility in two parts and parking was kind of make it up along the side of their entrance driveway. With that out of the way let me tell you what worked. Everything else. Geoff the owner did a fantastic job of explaining the process of how he and his family/friends/helpers actually make the cider while showing off the equipment and doing some great PR at the end with a tasting of hard or regular cider. Most noteworthy is that it takes five to seven apples to make one 12-ounce bottle of their hard cider and that all apples used in the cider process either come from their own farm or from well known long time established operations like Bechdolts in Hellertown or Scholl in Bethlehem. The quirk here that I love is not only is this brand about the cider but it's also baseball themed. As someone who loves baseball and cider for me this is the perfect gimmick/combination. Lots of fun product names like Fastball, Curveball, Teddy Ballgame and Slider. I of course had to add my two-sense and begged Geoff for a future cider variety to be called, after HOF pitching/cheater extraordinaire Gaylord Perry, The Spitter. I agreed that one would be a tough sell and we shared a laugh over it but hey, a guys got to try right? We bought a bottle of Shoeless Joe. SJ is a nice mature dry cider that is aged in wine barrels so the taste is reminiscent of cider yet with a very woody-oak-red wine twist. I will say that if your idea of cider is limited strictly to things from Redd's or Magners this stuff will really challenge or reeducate your palate. If you're looking to buy some Hardball the operation while still small can be found in a fair number of area places. They have weekly space at area Farmers Markets, a growing collection of area distributors and restaurants also carry their products but most notably they have a storefront on Main Street in Bethlehem and in several minor league parks in PA along with at CBP in Philadelphia all carry their stuff. This is really good cider and I wish Geoff well long term as he seemed totally into what he is making and selling and I can't wait to see what future varieties he comes up with.

We had a great time picking blueberries at this local family run farm. I love that it's small and…read moreauthentic- not a tourist trap like many are.

This is an amazing place to go and pick up blueberries. They have multiple kinds of blueberries…read morewhich are suitable for different purposes. The staff is super friendly and gives good advice on picking up the berries. Amazing place to go with the family. And affordable prices. Plus, the drive from the Tannerville direction to the farm is adorable, lovely landscapes and beautiful sceneries!

This place had everything! The freshest produce, dairy, baked goods, cheeses, meats, chocolates,…read moreetc. My only reason for the 4 stars is they forgot to put a $5 cookie in my bag that I purchased. Other than that, everything we got was terrific. They also have plants and flowers a plenty. A must stop when in the area!

Wonderful Farm Stand and Nursery right in the Poconos. Lots of Christmas Trees, wreaths and…read moredecorations to choose from right out front. Enter the farm stand shop and you will find a great range of fresh produce, mets, pastas, sauces and seasonings, and lot of sweet treats. You can find a range of frozen foods like pizza and raviolis as well as meats. There are pies, cakes, cookies, chocolates, local honey and so much more. The oatmeal cookies I had were fresh and delicious. If you are in Poconos definitely stop by and check this wonderful place out.

I like local markets. I dislike when they are out of the…read morereason I stopped. But I understand. You advertise fresh cider in January? People will claim it all. I could have taken a gallon on the road with me, but not sure how that would have kept. So I looked around and went with a fresh-baked cinnamon roll and some fresh-made scrapple. Yup. They make scrapple here. That's pretty cool. Not cool? I asked for a half pound. I got closer to a pound. The lady (owner?) gave me a blank look when I asked for less. Because she couldn't mold it back into the loaf or something. I ended up going with it but she should have accommodated and given me what I asked for. Scrapple was the best you'll find this far out of scrapple country. Roll was delicious. My friend enjoyed his homemade pumpkin crumb cake. Other products, I wouldn't bother. A lot of their branded products are overpriced. I asked about their (homemade?) pecans and she said "price is on the bottom of each jar". Actually, a lot of jars were missing the price. So we've got some consistency issues here. I would classify this as a boutique market, a nice little stop if you have a craving, but I wouldn't make this a regular stop. (Sadly, if only they kept up with their cider doughnuts through midday, my review may have ended differently.)

I haven't had the food yet but it looks good. A lot of produce but the cost of the rudest costumer…read moreservice ever so rude and I'm not a Karen trust me.The lady was rude and sound annoyed evan with a old lady. How every thay had shoofly pie which was new and different so that's a plus.The vibes were not fun but it also had that nice country side, pit stop, old rustic, shaby, original,farm, old fashioned ,small shop, nice for road trip stop feeling so ya not horrible vibes

Love this farmer's market setup. A beautiful fall day spent at the farmer's market supporting farms…read moreand local business is the way to go! With several farm options with organic as well you can't go wrong. There's also a couple coffee/tea shops here, a couple warm food options to purchase from, and more. It's located by the beautiful bridge and waterfront which is great to relax by after supporting the local small business here.

Really well organized market! They have a nice variety of stands and lots of produce options. Come…read moreearly when they open to get your pick on what you want before things run out - also to avoid the summer heat! That would be my one complaint- there's not a lot of shade options or water stands. It was very hot when I went and I felt that a lot of the shady spots were occupied by other people. They should have more shady tents and water stands set up (or at least more tents/stands that offer water with a sign that says "water sold here").

WOW just took a 40 minute ride to this greenhouse. What a dump!! I thought it would be fine based…read moreon these reviews, but I was sadly mistaken. And there is no-way this place looked like it does in just a few years. They should update their website to show what it is like today. Save yourself time and $$ go somewhere else. I don't normally leave feedback but this was so bad I couldn't not warn others.

Incredibly honest and friendly! It's family owned and run, and you can feel the difference. They…read morehave great advice for landscaping ideas and sustainable plants, and the prices are better than anywhere I've ever seen. We won't go anywhere else thanks guys.!

Summertime is great to venture away from home and explore ALL the western/central NJ farms and find…read moresomething to about each one. I tagged a handful of farms to visit to buy different produce and meats and what ever else folks offered and this place did not disappoint. We had an hour before heading down @Cabbagethrowfarm as they open at 2 pm so, we stopped @countryfreshfarm to meet Sheri and the hard working staff filling vegetable bins, washing buckets, re-arranging merchandise and making sure the products were ready for the Friday afternoon customers. The free parking lot adjoins the property and beyond there are a myriad of merchandise strewn along the outside of the building to buy from wooden benches, Cowboy boot bird houses, garden carts, flag holders, plants and a separate shed/room full of decorative indoor/outdoor plaques, signs, trays, pictures of Highland cows (my fave) and candles, country kitschy items for every personal style. Everyone was helpful, engaging, shared some info about where certain items were sourced and how they came about selling their items. I purchased a loaf of Amish cheese bread (I'll review that later), some sweet corn, tomatoes and the succulent cantaloupe that I cut up that night and absolutely sweet and ripe. (No comparison to the methane sprayed supermarket melons which are hard and never ripen to their potential sweetness!) There is a play area for the children plus a corn table to occupy them. As the weather gets cooler, we'll return to see what FALL weather offers us.

So disappointing, I was sent over to this business last year at this time via my landscape…read morecontractor. I asked for 2 yards of mulch and told the woman who had sent me. What a ROTTEN FACE I got from her when she heard the name. This should have been my warning to turn around and walk away. I continued with my request for material, and that I wanted a call prior to delivery so that I could be at the house, gave my information and left. I never got a call, my check got cashed and multiple phone calls went unanswered, and I never got the material that I paid for. All I can say is that the customer service is deplorable. They must have needed my $53.00 really badly, just such bad business practice.

I found lots of good deals. So much to see and no shortage of great used stuff. Outside there was a…read morevery nice produce stand. I would not recommend the cookies that the farm stand sells, which are made by a local bakery. The brownies were fabulous. The cookies were inedible.

Really great place to shop love all the options and always fresh vegetables availableread more