Millstone market to finish first season Saturday

By John Dunphy, Managing Editor
   MILLSTONE — While it might have been late to the party, the Millstone Farmers Market has made an impact on this predominantly rural community during its inaugural season.
   For those who have not visited the market at Wagner Farm Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays since July 12, they have one last chance, as the Agricultural Advisory Council-sponsored event will bow out for the season after this weekend.
   Lori Maher, advisory council secretary, says the goal of this opening season was to support local farmers in town, “since we’re considered an environmentally sensitive and agricultural community.”
   Considered a trial season, Ms. Maher says, the general consensus among farmers and patrons was positive. “I think it went very well,” she says.
   While some community farmers markets pull farmers from throughout the state, the Millstone community farmers market consisted entirely of farmers from within the township.
   ”We wanted to bring residents in touch with farmers in town and get them together,” Ms. Maher says.
   While that approach ensured what was being sold was about as fresh and local as it could get, it did make for a more inconsistent crop on occasion, Mayor Nancy Grbelja acknowledges.
   ”Over these last couple weeks, we’ve found we didn’t have as many vendors,” she says. “I think next year, as we review our farm market, one thing we might want to do is go out and solicit farmers that have full crops so we would have more choices (throughout the season).”
   That could include soliciting farmers from outside Millstone, something farmer George Asprocolas of Asprocolas Acres knows well.
   Mr. Asprocolas, a former landscaper, moved onto 12 acres in Millstone from Edison Township in 1991 “prior to the housing boom,” he says, originally to house his previous business. However, by 1995, he was farming a variety of field crops throughout 25 owned and leased acres.
   Today, Mr. Asprocolas, a member of Millstone’s agricultural advisory board and president of the board of the Tri-County Farmers Co-op, thrives in the farming business by traveling to farmers markets all over the area, the majority of them in northern New Jersey and New York City.
   Mr. Asprocolas has seen an increase in farmers markets statewide in this year alone, which is why he was initially apprehensive about bringing one to Millstone.
   ”There are so many in this state, I was worried about oversaturation,” he says. “In Bergen County, each community has farmers markets.”
   But with the floundering economy, a number of recent food health scares, as well as a growing awareness of how the many miles our food travels affect not only its quality but the environment, eating local as a way of life has picked up steam, Mr. Asprocolas says.
   ”A lot of people are buying local,” he says. “People are relearning how to cook.”
   That means a good turnout for Millstone’s Farmers Market, which consistently had at least five vendors, as sometimes as many as eight, Mayor Grbelja says. “As a beginning step, I was very happy with the way the market ran this year.”
   And it can only get better, Mr. Asprocolas says. As someone who considers himself a new generation of farmer, one who got into it in the last 20 years, Mr. Aspercolas says recent and veteran farmers would do well to seek out farmers markets.
   ”For the farmer who is willing and able to adapt, if they can be receptive to new ideas, I think farming is an extremely lucrative business for anyone who wants to try it,” he says. “I had to turn down half a dozen farmers markets this year. I can’t be everywhere.”
   But, he is in Millstone and says he will be here next year.
   ”Initially we didn’t think a farmers market here would do too well. We were pleasantly surprised,” Mr. Aspercolas says.
   The Millstone Farmers Market will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, at Wagner Farm Park, at the corner of Baird and Woodville roads. For more information, call Lori Maher at 732-446-4249, ext. 1103 or e-mail [email protected].