Thanksgiving is the ultimate farm-to-table holiday, the perfect opportunity to bring the fruits of Central Jersey’s 2024 harvest into your own kitchen for Thanksgiving, or to take advantage of the prepared foods from a region that can be fairly called the farm-to-table capital of the east.

Originating with the Pilgrims in 1621, Thanksgiving became an official United States holiday in 1942, in a celebration of America’s bountiful harvest. It’s a tradition with special meaning in New Jersey—the Garden State—described as the “Garden of America” in the journal of a French officer during the American Revolution.

By including the bounty of Central Jersey’s harvest on your Thanksgiving table you will enjoy delicious, local food. You may also find the foraging experience to be its own reward. Spend a day or weekend by combining visits to Central Jersey farms with stops at our vineyards, breweries, and distilleries, our farm-to-table restaurants, historic sites, recreation areas, and cultural destinations.

A local Griggstown Farm Turkey.

The appeal of Central Jersey as a special place for Thanksgiving has been noted in a newly published article about “friendsgiving” on the Rent.com blog that features many of our region’s farms and vineyards.

Terhune Orchards is ready for Thanksgiving.

Turkeys and Roasts

We begin with the star on most Thanksgiving tables, the turkey. Griggstown Farm near Princeton has been growing and selling traditional white meat and free-range heirloom turkeys for more than two decades, and they offer a wide variety of fixings.  Over in Hopewell, Doublebrook Farm and the Brick Farm Butcher are collaborating on locally raised turkeys and lots of fixings for a truly local Thanksgiving. New to Central Jersey this year is Abma’s Farm in Hillsborough offering fresh, local turkeys, ham, and fixings, too.

A few other local turkey options include Lee Turkey Farm in East Windsor, Lima Family Farms in Hillsborough, Dipaola Turkey Farm in Hamilton. Wherever you go, order as early as you can because almost everyone will be sold out a week or more before the big day.

Of course, some folks prefer something other than turkey for their Thanksgiving meal. You can find beef and pork roasts, among other centerpiece entrees at Norz-Hill Farm in Hillsborough, Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrence.

Pies and Fixin’s

Beyond the main entrée, Central Jersey farms offer pies and many other fixin’s that are essential for a traditional Thanksgiving. Terhune Orchards and Winery near Princeton is open almost every day, and offers their own pies, ciders, wines, apples, potatoes, vegetables, and more. Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse along with Gorgeous Goat Creamery and Cherry Grove Farm offer local cheeses for a memorable happy hour as you watch the Thanksgiving football game.

And the folks at Hidden Spring Lavender and Alpaca Farm in Skillman can provide you with the perfect house gift made with lavender, including plush animals, lotions, fragrances, and products made from the wool of its adorable alpacas.

Farm-to-Table Capital of the East

Central Jersey, and especially Mercer County, can be fairly described as the farm-to-table capital of the east. The farm-to-table movement started here in 1982 with the formation of the Momo Restaurant Group, owners of Mediterra and Teresa’s in Princeton, earlier even than the slow food movement started in Italy, although after the start of farm-to-table in California and Oregon in the 1970s.

Elements in Princeton is a farm-to-table restaurant offering a Thanksgiving take-out menu. Orders are due by Nov. 22.

Mercer County enjoys Central Jersey’s highest concentration of farm-to-table restaurants, with a dozen of them in Princeton alone, four more in Hopewell, and 12 Farms Restaurant in Hightstown. You’ll also find great farm-to-table dining in Flemington, Milford, Somerville, and New Brunswick.

Check out our extensive list of Central Jersey farm-to-table restaurants, many of which offer Thanksgiving meals either for pick-up or dine-in. You’ll even find farm-to-table ice cream in Princeton, at the Bent Spoon and Halo Pub! LiLLiPIES, a farm-to-table bakery in Princeton is taking online pre-orders on pies for Thanksgiving–including pumpkin, bourbon pecan, key lime, and apple crumb–through Wednesday November 27 at 2pm.

This year, celebrate Thanksgiving the way the holiday began, with the fruits of a bountiful, local harvest!

For more information about everything to see and do in Central Jersey, visit discovercentralnj.com.  This article is supported in part by a grant from New Jersey Department of State, Division of Travel and Tourism.

Click to explore our digital map at Discover Central New Jersey!

Fresh Heritage Turkeys & Much More

Holiday trips in the family car while growing up in the 1970s often featured my mother leading the family in singing “Over the River and through the Woods,” a holiday poem and song written by a prominent abolitionist in 1844. It goes this way:

“Over the river, and through the woods,

To Grandmother’s house we go;

the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh

through the white and drifted snow.”

Early snowfalls are rarer today, but otherwise the spirit of an old-fashioned holiday journey is very much alive in Central Jersey, home to dozens of farms, farm markets, and beverage makers, just an hour’s journey by car, bus, or rail from New York and Philadelphia. Make Discover Central NJ your guide to the Garden State’s holiday bounty.

Crossing the D&R Canal will get you to many Central Jersey Farms

Whether you are crossing the mighty Hudson or Delaware rivers from a major city, or just crossing the Millstone or Raritan rivers from a nearby town, Central Jersey’s Canal Region is the perfect holiday season destination.   Stock up on a bounty of traditional holiday foods and beverages, including a heritage breed turkey for Thanksgiving, an old fashioned Christmas goose, a holiday ham, or a wide assortment of prepared side dishes, fruit pies, local wines and spirits, and gift baskets.

You can make a full day or a weekend of your holiday foraging in Central Jersey by rounding out your itinerary with stops at farm-to-table restaurants, breweries, historic sites, recreation areas, cultural destinations, and hotels.

Turkeys and other poultry

Double Book Farm in Hopewell and Griggstown Farm in Franklin Township pasture-raise heritage breeds of turkeys, the most similar to what was available to the Pilgrims, making them the perfect center piece to your holiday table.

Double Brook Farm and its retail outlet Brick Farm Market are focused on raising turkeys and other livestock ethically.  Turkeys are bred, incubated, hatched, and nurtured until late spring, when they are let out to forage. They eat grubs, bugs and grasses and their foraged diet is supplemented by a non-GMO, feed grown locally by Zeng Family Farm in Ringoes. Turkeys are harvested the weekend before Thanksgiving and sold fresh, never frozen. Advance orders are strongly recommended. To order a turkey or other holiday fixings, visit the Brick Farm Market website.  The farm and market also offer locally pastured beef roasts and holiday hams.

Double Brook Farm’s guard dogs protect the turkey flock for Thanksgiving.

Griggstown Farm is well known throughout the tristate region for its “Griggstown chicken” offered by high-end restaurants. They raise a very wide variety of poultry in a historic canal village, including turkeys, goose, ducks, pheasants, and quail.  Griggstown Farm has been praised by the USDA National Resources Conversation Service for sustainable farming practices, including composting of manure waste to reduce runoff and provide nutrients to vegetable crops. The farm’s mandatory holiday pre-order system offers multiple pick up locations, including the train station at Bernardsville and HeadHouse Market in Philadelphia.

Bourbon breed turkeys at Griggstown Farm are similar to what the Pilgrims ate.

Farms offering a variety of holiday season goods

Central Jersey’s holiday bounty is also available at these on-farm markets:

• Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse is best known for its unique approach to regenerative agriculture and cheese making practices, based near the Delaware River in Milford. They also make a wide variety of brick oven breads.
• Cherry Grove Farm is best known for its cheeses made from locally raised cows on a large dairy farm in Lawrenceville. Its market also sells a variety of local foods and beverages from other farms and wineries.
• Hidden Spring Lavender Farm in Skillman is open weekends and offers a wide variety of holiday gift options made with lavender, including plush animals, lotions, fragrances, and products made from the wool of its adorable alpacas.
• Hillsboro Farm Market is open daily and offers a wide variety of fruit pies, jarred goods, bakery items, Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables, and Christmas trees.
• Now managed by the 12^th generation of the family, Suydam Farms in Franklin is open weekends only, offering locally raised meat and vegetables, and Christmas trees and wreathes starting the day after Thanksgiving.
• Even this late in the year, Terhune Orchards in Lawrenceville is open daily, offering a wide variety of its own apples, vegetables, herbs, many of which are certified organic. Terhune also makes apple cider, wine, fruit pies, other baked goods, and gift baskets.

New Jersey’s nickname, the Garden State, remains as meaningful as ever, particularly in the central part of the state that was settled three centuries ago by Dutch and English farmers. Many of those farms are still in the hands of the descendants of original farming families—to the good fortune of the rest of us.

Gift baskets from Terhune Orchards are an easy way to share Central Jersey’s bounty.