Close your eyes.  Imagine a frozen tundra in Antarctica.  Snow and ice everywhere.  Emperor Penguins are huddled together as the wind blows.  And then you see something strange.  In among the ice, the sea cliffs, and the penguins, you see Palm Trees.  Silly, right?  

Now open your eyes and look out your window.  Do you see any Palm Trees in New Jersey? Probably not, however, there are many species of plants that are as much out of place here as those palm trees would be in Antarctica.  You may be familiar with a few of the more troublesome species – Autumn Olive, Norway Maple, Japanese Honeysuckle, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Barberry, Pachysandra, English Ivy.

Not all of them are invasive, a term used to describe plants that choke out the plants that are native to this area, but they all have one thing in common: They were brought here as ornamental plants to provide “beauty.”  And yet, there are plenty of native plant options for your yard that provide not only beauty but, more importantly, will also provide a habitat for insects which are the foundation of our food web – the same food web that we humans are a part of.  Just like a house, the food web needs a solid foundation, and insects are the key to building that foundation.  Without them, we are in deep, deep trouble.

When a plant is described as Japanese, Chinese, or Oriental, it is typically from Asia, which means that it almost certainly will not support insects that live here.  What is meant by “support?”. Simply put, plants that are native to New Jersey provide a food source for the insects that live in our region.  They produce chemicals to protect themselves from the hungry insects so that the plant can reproduce successfully.  The insects that rely on that plant as food have developed a tolerance to those plant chemicals so they can eat without dying and reproduce successfully.  These are mutually beneficial relationships that have evolved over millennia, ensuring the survival of each species.  Most insects are specialists – that is, they prefer one type of plant as their food source.  Some insects are generalists – they can eat a variety of different plants.  But there are far more specialists than generalists and because of this, most insects don’t have a lot of options of what to have for their meals.  And the more options we can provide them, the more diverse (and better!!) our environment will be.  Why?  If we surround ourselves with healthy native plants, then there are healthy insects, healthy birds, healthy rodents, and so on, within the food web.  And whether we like it or not, we humans are a part of nature, and cannot survive as a species for long apart from nature.

Continuing Our Conversation with Jason and Deborah DeSalvo Regarding Land Stewardship and the Importance of Native Plants:

TT:  Let’s remind our readers why native plants are so important.

Deborah:  Let’s go back to elementary school for a moment.  Do you remember learning about the food web as a kid?  Let’s start with an oak tree.  It has grown here over millennia.  It produces a chemical to protect itself from insects, so it can make food from its leaves through photosynthesis, can develop its seeds and hopefully reproduce successfully.  Many insects (over 500) think that the oak is delicious, despite the chemicals produced to deter the insects.  Remarkably, insects have developed resistance to those chemicals so they can eat the leaves, the seeds, or the bark, and carry on with their life cycle.  For many of those insects, the oak is the only plant it can eat.  Those insects are specialists and only eat one kind of plant. There are many insects like that. Very few insects can eat the leaves of multiple plants….Now, what eats those insects?  Most birds when they are feeding their nestlings feed them larval insects: the first stage of the insects’ life, when they are soft and can slide down the throat of a baby bird.   Seeds and larger insects get stuck. Next, you have the predators of the smaller birds: snakes, larger mammals, raptors.  They all eat the small birds that feed on the insects.  Do you see where this is going?  The insects are the foundation to a fragile and vital food web that if the plants are not providing their food, everything else collapses. Just like a house with no foundation.  With nothing to support it, every part of that web will crumble.

TT:  Wow. That tells a story.  Put that way, it is easy to see why native plants are a vital part of our ecosystem. Can you tell us a bit about Land Stewardship on Cold Brook Farm?

Jason:  Before we even finished building our home, we began stewardship projects on our farm. We converted our field to organic and, by doing so, created more habitat for the many creatures that live there.  But aside from the agricultural changes we made, we purchased and planted hundreds of native plants and planted them along our hedgerow and within the woods.  We removed invasive plants and cut down 6 very large Ailanthus trees – the host tree of the Spotted Lantern Fly.

TT:  This sounds like a lot of work and sounds expensive, too. 

Deborah:  It was a lot of time and effort on our part, but it wasn’t as costly as you might think. We bought native plants that were young and small, so they would mature here.  And we bought in bulk, so the prices were lower than buying mature trees at retail prices.  We had to protect them from deer, of course.  Again, not too costly, just some time and effort.  And, removing invasive plants is not expensive, if you do it yourselves, but it does take time and physical effort.  Some of those plants are brutal.  They have thorns, long tenacious viny parts, roots that refuse to give up.  Invasive plants are something you need to tackle with the mindset of it being a marathon, not a sprint.  And take it one step at a time. 

TT:  Is removing the invasive plants something you must do?  

Jason:  In a word, YES.  When it comes to doing good things for land in our part of the world, removing invasive plants is one of the necessary evils.  If you want to put native plants in the ground, you need to be sure they will not be overrun by invasive plants and this makes it important to decide how to deal with invasive plants in areas where you are thinking about planting new native plants.  And trying to take shortcuts will generally cost you dearly in the long run – in time, money or both.  So, we would say yes, removing invasive plants is a vital part of land stewardship.

TT:  How do you know what to plant and where to plant it? 

Jason:  This comes with experience, research, or a combination of both.  Many nurseries are happy to provide information, but there are sometimes gaps in what information is provided.  Is the plant tolerant of Black Walnut?  Does it like shade?  Does it need good drainage?  Full sun?  What soil type does it prefer?  Does it need additional plants for pollination?  It always pays to do your homework.  A little research goes a long way toward ensuring that your beautiful new plantings will thrive.

TT: Could you recommend a few plants that provide excellent habitat?

Deborah:  There are several plants that are considered Keystone Plants or plants that provide “the biggest bang for your buck,” so to speak.  These are plants that are great native species that have numerous insects that feed off them and will play an important role in developing a healthy habitat / ecosystem.   In the category of trees, Oaks (Quercus sp.) are a phenomenal native plant family.  Oaks can host over 500 different species of beneficial insects!  Willows are also an excellent native tree.  Cherries and Dogwoods, too.  Be careful that the tree you are purchasing is a native one and not an Asian or European one. Cherries and Willows and dogwoods all have Asian varieties that are often sold in nurseries. Knowing the Latin name of your plant will help you. Or you can ask a Native Plant Nursery for advice. 

When considering shrubs and bushes, also called woody plants because of their stems,  Viburnum, Holly, Dogwood, and Pussy Willow are wonderful options for our area. 

When choosing perennials—the showy flowers and plants that you can easily create a space for--Goldenrod and Aster families are wonderful options.  They reproduce easily and have the most relationships with pollinators.  Of course, the birds love their seeds, and they are beautiful fall bloomers, providing nectar at a time of year when many other plants have stopped flowering.

I could go on and on about the numerous options you have for native perennials, but we need to wrap things up here….

TT:  Are there some plants you would recommend avoiding?

Jason:  For sure…and sadly, some of them are species used by local gardeners and sold by local nurseries!  Some of the more common non-native species of plants in New Jersey are Norway Maple, Gingko, Japanese Maple, Callery (or Bradford) Pear, Autumn Olive, Asian or European Privet, Rhododendron, Forsythia, English Ivy, Japanese Pachysandra, Kousa Dogwood, Burning Bush, Bamboo, Japanese Knotweed, Japanese Barberry, Japanese Honeysuckle, Multiflora Rose, Oriental Bittersweet.  Not all of these are invasive, but they certainly are like palm trees in the arctic – they don’t belong in our region and do nothing good for the ecosystem here!

TT: What advice would you give to your neighbors about how to be better stewards of the land?

Deborah:  There are numerous ways to be good stewards of your land.  I would recommend starting small.  Projects can become overwhelming and if you hire people to the work for you, it can be costly.  You can start by figuring out where you might want to see a change on your property.  Maybe as you have your breakfast, you would like to look out a window and watch birds or see a fox.  Start there and see if you need to remove any invasive or non-native plants to make room.  Plant three native plants. Three or Five is a good number to start with.  Odd numbers are more “natural” than even numbers, especially when it comes to planting groups. Consider what kind of protection they might need from deer browse.  Some species of native plants are deer resistant, but if the plants aren’t, protecting three or five plants is relatively easy. 

TT:  How would folks know where to start and what to get?

Deborah:  There are plenty of resources out there for you to learn more about native plants and what plants grow in which conditions (shade, sun, moist, dry, etc.), and which are deer-resistant, and where to find them. One reliable and resourceful option is The Native Plant Society of New Jersey. www.NPSNJ.org  Another is New Jersey Audubon https://njaudubon.org/gardening-for-wildlife/ and lastly, there is a great organization called Homegrown National Park which encourages homeowners to create the largest habitat in North America by planting native plants in their own backyards. https://homegrownnationalpark.org/ 

Local organizations like Raritan Headwaters Association https://www.raritanheadwaters.org/ and Tewksbury Land Trust https://www.tewksburylandtrust.org/ have stewardship days where you can work alongside folks who have done this kind of work often. Learn from them and do some great volunteerism at the same time! And then bring that knowledge back to your own property – and talk to your friends and neighbors about it too!

There are also nurseries that specialize in native plants – easily searched for on-line, depending on your location.  We would also encourage you to go to other nurseries and ask them about native species. The more people who encourage these larger nurseries to stock natives, the better for all of us.

TT:  Any final thoughts?

Jason:  Yes.  Sometimes it is easier to learn by seeing things in person and our Farm will be on the Tewksbury Historical Society’s 2025 Garden Tour June 14, 2025.  You can come and check out what we have been speaking about together here and see how it all adds up to a thriving ecosystem!

We Once Were the Breadbasket of America

One of the things that makes Tewksbury special is its wide-open spaces – our zoning rules, preserved land and working farmland (much of it also preserved) combine to create stunning vistas and provide abundant opportunities for exploration and enjoyment of the outdoors in ways that have become increasingly rare in this, the U.S.’s most densely populated state. Behind every pastoral Tewksbury scene, however, someone needed to make conscious decisions about what to farm there and when the DeSalvo’s purchased Cold Brook Farm in 2019 they made the unique decision (at least thus far in our town) to grow Certified Organic cereal grains for human consumption.  The majority of farmland in town is presently devoted to commodity grains or soybeans destined for either animal feed or to be turned into ethanol.  A fair amount of hay is grown here as well, along with lesser quantities of fruits and vegetables.

So, why would two new residents in their mid-fifties with no background in farming decide to grow things like wheat, rye, oats and buckwheat and, equally interestingly, how did they go about doing it in a way that within two years had their grains being used by some of the NY Metro Area’s finest bakeries and restaurants (at least one of them a Michelin 2-Star)?  Check out www.TewksburyConnect..org for our conversation with the DeSalvo’s to find out!

For a little hint, the DeSalvo’s choice had everything to do with the fact that our area of New Jersey was once part of “the breadbasket of the original 13 colonies.”  Not just because the soil was great, but also because of numerous waterways that were available to power mills and allow grain and flour to be easily transported prior to the advent of convenient ground and rail transportation.

The other question you may be asking yourself – that will be answered online – is, “why is this a topic covered in a column called Sustainable Tewksbury?”  It turns out that small grains can be grown in our climate using regenerative, organic farming practices and doing so has a profound impact on the health of our soil, water, wildlife and us!

If you’d like a taste what small batch, Tewksbury-grown Certified Organic Oats and Wheat taste like, Cold Brook Farm’s grains are available at Larger Cross (in Oldwick) and online at www.coldbrookfarmnj.com.

Check back next month for the next installment.

A Chat with Jason & Deborah DeSalvo About Growing Certified Heirloom Grains at Cold Brook Farm

TT:  I want to make sure that I have this straight…neither of you had any farming experience prior to starting Cold Brook Farm in 2020, when you decided to convert a GMO corn field to organic management and grow heirloom grains for human consumption…why?!?

Deborah:  (Laughing)  Yeah, we definitely bit off a bit much all at once!  It started simply enough…we found this amazing piece of property that happened to have 13 acres of prime agricultural land on it that had been farmed “conventionally” for many decades and there is no way we were going to live on land being poisoned with chemicals.  So, our initial goal was simply to have the farmer who had been working the land convert to using organic management practices.  When he would not do this, at first, we panicked, but then we realized that it created a whole new world of possibilities for us.  Rather than having someone else make all the decisions about what would happen on our farmland, we could.

Jason:   We purchased our property in the early Fall of 2019 and had a vacation to Vancouver Island planned in November of that year.  By then it was becoming clear that we were not going to be able to work with the farmer who had been farming our land previously.  He’s a lovely person and a real farming success story in our area, but he just could not get on board with managing things organically and we were unwilling to continue allowing GMO crops, herbicides, fungicides and synthetic fertilizers to be used here.  The soil on our farm was dead and we wanted to change this because healthy soil is the foundation of any thriving ecosystem.  

I started scouring the internet researching various possibilities for what we could reasonably grow on 10 acres.  We knew that would be doing some pretty time intensive farming on the 2.5 acres of agricultural land immediately around our farmhouse – where we now grow well over 60 different fruits, vegetables and nuts – so we needed something on the large field that would be fairly low maintenance during the height of growing season.  I printed out case studies and research papers to read on our transcontinental flights about a dozen or so different potential cash crops that could be grown organically in our area –chestnuts, pawpaw, elderberry, lavender and small grains to name a few.

TT:  What made you choose grains?

Deborah:  That ended up being a combination of four things, really.  First, Jason and I agreed early on that whatever we grew here we’d also have to love to eat.  One of the observations a close friend of ours made recently is that “Food is love at Cold Brook Farm,” and that rings true for us in a big way.  This narrowed our choices and made clear that we would not be doing this solely based on economics.  We wanted to grow exceptional food that would taste great and be healthy for us, our land and the community – and that we would love to eat!  Jason and I are both bakers and so grains moved up towards the top of the list of possibilities.

As Jason continued doing his deep dive about various possibilities of what to grow from a practical farming standpoint, one thing he learned was that our part of New Jersey was referred to as “the breadbasket of the original 13 colonies.”  This really excited us and thinking about it, how many street names can you think of locally that have the word “mill” as part of their name?  It just seemed to make so much sense and became a strong second reason for choosing grains – we loved the fact that historically cereal grains had been grown here – it was a “back to the future” kind of thing.

Jason:  The third thing that made grains attractive was that we wanted something to be replicable for others.  We very consciously developed our property with an eye towards having it be a kind of “demonstration site” for what is currently possible for living a sustainable life, so growing something on the main Ag field that would be overly difficult to easily replicate for other homeowners / landowners was out.  Small grains are grown in much the same manner that people here are already used to – fields are tilled once or twice a year; seed is planted, and crops are harvested with a combine.  If others wanted to follow our lead and convert their “conventionally” managed fields to something more sustainable and healthier they would not need to become familiar with an entirely new kind of farming.

Finally, and I cannot emphasize the importance of this last piece of the puzzle enough, one of the case studies I read was about a local, recently formed grain cooperative – River Valley Community Grains – that was milling locally grown grain right up in Long Valley!  BOOM!  That was the clincher, the stars had aligned.  As soon as we got back from Vancouver Island, I called the folks at River Valley, and we’ve been working together with them ever since.

TT:  What were some of the obstacles that you had to overcome?

Deborah:  We are super proud of the fact that we’ve been able to harvest exceptional quality grains each year so far, especially when you consider the fact that the first four or five years following the conversion to organic management are notoriously difficult and we made this transition during a time that included three very serious drought years.  In fact, 2024 included the longest period in recorded history without any rain.  These things combined to severely limit our yields, however, thankfully, our quality remained excellent throughout – so much so that our 2022 Glenn Wheat was selected by Dan Barber to be served at his Michelin 2-Star restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns (In Tarrytown, NY).

Jason:  Beyond the weather and transitioning to organic management, before we even got that far we had to find someone locally who could help us with some of the farming tasks (and equipment!) that we were not prepared for.  We didn’t grow up on a farm and so we needed help with routine things like disking a field, using a seed drill and running a combine.  Fortunately, we were introduced to a young farmer, Jay Vogelaar, who’s from an outstanding farming family in Far Hills that runs River Bend Farm.  Jay was super interested in helping us grow high quality grain and so we bought a used combine and in exchange for him helping us and using his equipment on our field, he is free to use our combine on any other farm if it is organically managed.  The next big hurdle for us is to develop a local grain processing and storage facility for organically grown grain.  Sadly, our friends at River Valley moved up to Marksboro and it’s no longer convenient to clean and process grain that far away.

TT:  What are you most proud of so far?

Jason:  Definitely having our grains appreciated by someone as fanatical about ingredient quality as Dan Barber is up there along with the hundreds of people we have fed wholesome, healthy, locally grown grains over the years, but I think what we are probably most proud of is how much we’ve been able to improve the health of our soil and the impact that has had on the overall ecosystem on our farm.  When we first started here, our soil was rock hard and dead.  If you dug up a chunk of it up with a shovel you’d see no sign of anything living in it.  No worms, no fungi, no insects, just dirt.  There were also precious few flying insects, pollinators or birds to be seen above the field.

January 16, 2025 marks our fifth year of managing this land using regenerative, organic methods and we’ve seen a quantum leap in the amount of life here.  You can now easily grab a fistful of soil (it’s soft enough to no longer require a shovel) and in it you’ll find all kinds of organic material, earth worms, fungi, insects…the soil is literally teeming with life.  In fact, we’ve increased our soil organic matter from under 2% to almost 5% -- which is quite high for a clay-based soil.  And this is really where the whole sustainability aspect of how we now farm comes into focus.  In addition to the obvious benefits of not dumping toxic chemicals and synthetic fertilizers on our land that ultimately find their way into the ground water and waterways, each 1% increase in organic material in the soil allows an acre of farmland to absorb an additional roughly 20,000 gallons of water.  Given the heavy rain events that are so common now, our little ten-acre field can effectively absorb over 600,000 gallons more water than it could just five years ago.  Imagine how much less run-off and erosion we’d have throughout our region if more farms transitioned to this kind of management?

Deborah:  Finally, on any given day in the Spring and Summer our field is buzzing with insects, pollinators of all sorts and bird life that we simply didn’t see before.  Many an evening in June and July we spend sitting on our barn porch mesmerized by hundreds of thousands of lightening bugs – a spectacle that couldn’t exist previously because our farmland was dead.  That alone has made all the hard work worth it.

TT:  What have you grown so far and is any of it available for sale?

Deborah:  So far, we have grown Einkorn Wheat, Danko Rye, Glenn Wheat, Gehl Oats and Redeemer Wheat.  This coming season we will be growing Buckwheat and next year we plan on growing a rare heirloom wheat that has never been grown in our area before that we are super excited about…stay tuned for more on that!

We still have some of our Oats and Redeemer Wheat available.  The oats are available as whole groats, rolled, milled for porridge or milled as flour.  The Redeemer Wheat is an heirloom variety that came from Ukraine in the 1800’s and is available as wheat berries or milled into flour.  We roll or mill all our grains fresh to order.  Rolled Oats and Redeemer Wheat Flour can be purchased at Larger Cross right here in Oldwick, and everything is available in our online store at www.coldbrookfarmnj.com.  We offer local pickup and ship nationally.

TT:  Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us today!

Driving down any road in our community it doesn’t take long to come upon an incredible home or picturesque property. The countryside scenes can pique curiosity about who lives there, and what the homes look like on the inside. 

In a town adorned with lush gardens, centuries-old stone walls, custom Mid-Century Modern houses nestled in the trees, colorful downtown Victorians, rolling hills full of Equestrian facilities, and seemingly endless driveways leading to remarkable estates, there is no shortage of homes worth exploring.

Tewksbury boasts some of the most alluring homes and properties in the country, but in today’s world where schedules are hectic, life is unrelenting and pursuits have rapidly shifted online, the chances to get to know our neighbors, or become familiar with our neighbor’s homes, are diminishing.  For many, personal relationships with our neighbors are a remnant of bygone days.  We are lucky that a sense of community pride is still present in Tewksbury, and even luckier that many homeowners are proud to share their homes and properties for our readers.  In coming months, this column will feature some of the most noteworthy homes in the community.  “Tewksbury At Home” will provide a glimpse of interiors, gardens, farms, and the ways their residents enjoy them.

“I wasn’t looking for this, but was so happy I found it!” exclaimed Mountainville’s Liz Porter, owner of a 28 acre estate on Schoolhouse Lane. 

Walking through Liz’s five bedroom farmhouse was an architectural history lesson. Each layer of the home, starting with its original structure dating back to the 1790s, offered a story unique to its era. An 1800s expansion included a formal dining room with an ornate fireplace that remains in the house today. The 1930s introduced prohibition era hidden doors and secret cabinets in its added sitting room and upstairs bedrooms. 

The Olsen family purchased the estate in 1969 and began the home’s historical preservation as well as family-needed additions like a great room, and third floor. The Olsens included five fireplaces throughout the home, and strewn across the hearths of all of them was the Tewksbury T. The T is seen on the moldings and trims of doors, entryways and windows throughout the home. Since 2021 when Liz purchased the home, modern updates like a more functioning kitchen and mid-pasture paddock to “effectively rotationally graze” all of her animals on Walnut Hill Farm where she raises chickens, ducks and lambs. A local farmer also seasonally raises cattle at Walnut Hill. 

In our next issue, join us as we dive further into Liz’s home and get a closer look at the inclusive community Liz has worked to preserve in Mountainville. 

Item descriptionJanuary, 2024

By Diana Levy

This month, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sam Freund, Chef and Owner of the Oldwick General Store.  Sam has been in the food industry for 25 years, and has had three restaurants --and he’s not even 40!  Take a read to learn more about Sam, how he took over the Oldwick General Store and what he sees for its future:

Why did you choose to do the old general store as a concept and in Tewksbury? 
“I look at it as almost-- and I may sound a little awkward in a way-- but I feel like the Oldwick General Store chose me. I used to come here when I used to drive my son back to New York City every Sunday and this would be our little spot and I always thought it was really cute. Very, you know, homegrown, and I always loved it. I always love the authenticity of it, the history of it, and I always said it would be so cool to do something there and that was years ago and then fast-forward three years ago, kind of fell in my lap.”

Do you have any family that helps runs the restaurant?
“I do have some family. I consider some people who actually work for me my family.  I have Marisol, who’s worked for me for 12 years.  A gentleman, Javi, he's worked for me for eight years. My mother helps me a couple days a week and I have an uncle who kinda got me into the industry when I was young. He helps me as well. You can always trust family.”

What’s your “vibe” for the Oldwick General Store?
“I come from a history of high and fine dining world in New York City. I wanted to do what I did at my other restaurants and just try to bring as much local product as possible. I use Melick’s farm so much for produce, cider, and I use local people for honey, local eggs. I try to incorporate as many local people as possible or at least willing to.  …  I’m in your face [saying], ‘How are you? What's up? You're my guest. What can we do for you?’  So, my energy, and my staff, is hopefully people leave here a little bit happier than when they walked in.”

Where do you see the future of The General Store?
“I think there's a lot of avenues that I could tap into just out of this little spot we're going be the last couple. For summer, I'd really try to do this ice cream parlor and I'm going to launch that this year. I really want to push the catering. Every month last year we would do like a BYOB wine dinner and I would concentrate on a region of the world that would be Italy, Spain, France, American West Coast, East Coast. I really want to tap into the families here, so I have a plan to do a kids dinner. You know when you come into this establishment I love kids.”

That’s part of why we love coming into OGS. 

Yeah well, when you're in a small town like this, it's got to be about the people you know  and you really try to take care of as many people as you can. Something I tell all my staff, “Treat everyone kindly because you never gonna walk to your door and you never gonna walk out of your door so treat everyone equal.” 

 Peapack Private is the proud sponsor of our 2025 Profiles in Community column.  Peapack Private provides single-point-of-contact private banking, personal and business banking solutions, along with wealth management and tax services, in NY, NJ and CT. 

The New Year is a fabulous time to take stock and commit to things we’d like to do more.  We are excited about doing that by launching our new column – Sustainable Tewksbury.  In this column, we intend to explore topics that can help Tewksbury move forward in areas of sustainable living, environmental preservation, and conservation.  We have planned a series of practical articles that will help all of us learn some simple things (and others not so simple, but equally important) that we can do to make Tewksbury the healthiest, most beautiful place to live – for us human residents as well as all the other living creatures with which we share this special place.

Throughout 2025 we will lean heavily on residents Jason and Deborah DeSalvo of Cold Brook Farm to introduce us to a variety of sustainability-related topics.  In 2019 the DeSalvo’s, 20+ year former residents of Montclair, NJ, decided it was time to live a “more sustainable life closer to the land.”  In the five years since, they created Tewksbury’s only Net Positive Energy Farmstead and converted their farm to Regenerative Organic Agriculture where, once everything planted comes into full production, they will be producing over 60 different fruits, berries, vegetables, nuts and grains.  Equally important, however, is their passion for land stewardship and using Regenerative principles to ensure that their land gets healthier every year – not just for them, but for all wildlife.

As of November 2024, New Jersey had 9,998 working farms with just eighty-eight, or 0.8%, of them being Certified Organic!  Cold Brook Farm is one of them.  In this column, and on www.TewksburyConnect..org (where we are not space constrained), we will look at what it takes to be Certified Organic, why it matters, and steps all residents can take to move in that direction on their own properties.  For starters, see www.TewksburyConnect..org for our conversation 

with the DeSalvo’s about why they began transitioning their land to Regenerative Organic management before they even began building their farmhouse.  

Check back next month for the next installment.

A Chat with Jason & Deborah DeSalvo About Cold Brook Farm and Converting to Regenerative Organic Agriculture

TT:  I guess we should start by saying, “Welcome to Tewksbury!”  You bought your property here in October 2019.  How did you find Tewksbury and what made you decide to make your home here?

Jason:  We lived in the Montclair area for over thirty years and as environmentalists / nature lovers we watched as development pressure and population density really started to degrade our quality of life.  Once both our kids had finished high school, we decided to look for a place to live where we could be closer to nature, grow some of our own food and be surrounded by natural beauty instead of traffic and noise.

Deb:  We were still very connected to Montclair.  I was an environmental educator at Van Vleck House & Gardens, Jason had been the Vice Chairman of Montclair’s Planning Board and we had lots of friends and family who lived there, so deciding to move was a big decision.  We always dreamed of living on a decent sized piece of land but thought we’d end up somewhere in Sonoma County, upstate New York, Vermont or Massachusetts.  Because of our desire to stay close to friends and family, however, we kept pushing off moving.  Fortunately, Jason had been coming out to Tewksbury on long training bike rides from Montclair for decades and over the Summer of 2019, we started looking at properties in the area.  The moment we first drove down Cold Brook Road both our hearts started racing and we knew this was where we were going to make our home.

TT:  You purchased your property from longtime Tewksbury residents Charlie and Jeannie Chapin.  What about the place captivated you?

Deb:  We had developed a multi-page list of requirements for our property – things like Southern exposure (for solar power), enough land on which to have a good sized vegetable garden, easy access to main roads to make travel easier, “quiet and beautiful,” “a variety of habitats and topography,” things like that.  It’s funny, but one of the things that captivated us most was what we couldn’t do with the land.  It was loaded with land use restrictions due to riparian zones, a large easement with New Jersey Conservation Foundation and the general limits imposed on development by the Highlands Act.  Although the property was 43-acres, its “development envelope” was tiny.  This meant that virtually all the land would need to remain untouched.  Potential buyers saw this as a negative, we loved it.

TT:  Coming from Montclair, I assume that thinking about what to do with 43-acres was a very big change for you?

Jason:  Laughing.  Yeah, far more than we initially anticipated, for sure!  We began by looking at properties that were 3- 5 acres and coming from our ½-acre in Montclair, they already seemed huge.  The property we fell in love with on Cold Brook Road was a whole different order of magnitude and its size necessitated some significant “mission creep” in what we were planning to do.  Thankfully, we knew what we didn’t know and brought a couple of incredible resources into our planning discussions to help us answer questions about what Cold Brook Farm should ultimately become?  The professionals at Terra Genesis International and Hundred Fruit Farm helped us envision how we could minimize our own human footprint on this gorgeous piece of land while ensuring that we’d also be able to improve the health and functioning of the surrounding ecosystem and grow healthy food.

TT:  Ecosystem health is a theme I’ve heard you both repeat again and again – in our conversations preparing for the Sustainable Tewksbury series and my own review of your very informative website (www.coldbrookfarmnj.com).  It’s obvious that you feel a responsibility to leave the land better than you found it.  Tell us more about that.

Jason:  This is something that Deb and I take very seriously.  Simply put, we believe that we should live our lives as a part of nature as opposed to being apart from nature.  This core belief infused everything we did to develop what we have come to call our “Sustainable Homestead” – something I expect we’ll touch on in a lot more detail in future conversations.  Living as part of nature is an ethic we try to embody every day.  We live on a very finite planet and us humans have really abused our home in ways that we need to reverse if we want our kids to have any hope of having healthy, long lives.

Deb:  This is the reason that the very first thing we did after purchasing our property was to change the farming practices on the 13-acres of agricultural land where we would build our farmhouse.  Most people do not realize it, but agriculture and land use practices associated with it are the single largest contributors to climate change – collectively more than the emissions from all the planes, trains, ships and automobiles in the world.  We knew that if we were going to rapidly move in the direction of creating a healthier ecosystem on our farm, we had to both minimize the amount of land we disturbed when building our home and we needed to change the way the farming was done.

Jason:  Our land had been farmed “conventionally” as is the vast majority of farmland in Tewksbury.  It had been in a GMO corn, soybean and wheat rotation that was reliant on glyphosate, fungicides and a variety of other synthetic inputs.  We reached out to the farmer who had worked the land before we purchased it and asked if he would help us transition it to organic management, but he was unwilling to do so.  The unfortunate reality is that it’s perceived as being more financially prudent to farm “conventionally” than using organic methods.  For better, or worse, there was just no way that Deb and I were going to poison our land and the waterways that run through it.  In our minds it’s a case of “pay now or pay later,” and we just don’t want to do things on “our” land – which we hesitate to even refer to that way as we are just short-term stewards of it – that harms the health of living things.  Herbicides, pesticides and fungicides cannot be doing any kind of good to anyone in the long term.  If there is any long-term hope for humanity on this planet, we need to make the transition from relating to the land in an extractive, destructive way to that of trying to improve it and leave it better than we found it.

TT:  And yet you built a house right in the middle of farmland.  Isn’t that a destructive act in its own way?

Deb:  Yes, and honestly, the first day of our construction project was a very sad one for us both.  No matter how environmentally sensitive the construction (and we’ll talk a lot about that together later in this series), no matter how many innovative, sustainable building techniques you use, the reality is that there is now a permanent human structure where once there was only open land and that just cannot continue indefinitely.  Our first option had been to retrofit an existing house with all the things we wanted to do – solar electricity, ground-source heating and cooling, outstanding insulation, etc. – but after months of searching it was clear that we’d need to build something designed to be efficient from the outset.

Jason:  Interrupting.  And this is one of the reasons that we kept the footprint of our farmhouse small and employed Permaculture principles in the two acres immediately around it.  By doing these things, the amount of land we used purely for ourselves (the house, barn, driveway and walkways) ended up being just 0.5 acres.

TT:  So, back to the farmland.  I understand that you have converted the large field to Regenerative, Certified Organic practices and that you grow grain for food, is that correct?

Deb:  Yes.  We began managing the field using organic principles in January 2020 and we are very proud to be one of just 88 Certified Organic Farms in the state.  Jason took on the project of getting us Certified starting right around this time last year.  The paperwork was rather time consuming, but it was nowhere near as difficult or expensive as many would have you believe.  Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act provided a sizeable amount of funding for farms transitioning to Organic Management.  When it was all said and done, not counting Jason’s time, we ended up spending less than $500 on the Certification process itself and we have already been paid back many times that amount by being able to sell the food that we grow for a nominal premium to “conventionally” grown food.

TT:  What commercial products have you grown and sold so far?

Jason:  We only just started planting our perennial food crops – fruit, nuts and berries – two years ago, so those will take time to come into commercial production.  But we’ve already grown and sold multiple annual crops including three kinds of wheat, rye, oats, honey, sweet potatoes, garlic, squash and herbs.  We’ll never be a large producer because we want to remain human scaled and highly locally focused, but it is really rewarding to see friends and neighbors enjoy the food that we grow.  I believe we are the only Certified Organic farm in Tewksbury at the moment and we are tremendously proud of that.

TT:  How can our readers buy from you?

Deb:  Some of our grains are always available in Oldwick at Larger Cross, during the growing season up in Long Valley at the Ethos Farm Market, through River Valley Community Grains and, of course, online through our own web store at www.coldbrookfarmnj.com.  If readers join our mailing list, we’ll let them know when new products become available.  Sadly, what we grow does not last long as demand tends to outstrip the amount the two of us can grow!

Advancing Local Leadership

Shaun Van Doren, an 8th-generation Tewksbury resident with decades of public service, currently serving on Hunterdon’s Board of County Commissioners, recently met with the Tewksbury Times. He reflected on his journey through local government, his responsibilities at the county level, and encouraged serving in local government and volunteering to impact people's lives.

Van Doren described his deep family roots in Tewksbury, dating back to the late 1700’s when they started as farmers.

“I'm in the same house that my family has been in for multi-generations in Oldwick built back in 1790. My family, my father's side, were farmers. My family owned what is today the Cold Brook Preserve, just outside of Oldwick, that's a county park. My father, grandfather, great grandfather, were fruit farmers. We had peach orchards, apple orchards, and sold produce from the front of the house, much today like the farmers market, but not anywhere near the size and extent that farmers markets are today.”

Van Doren, who also leads the Tewksbury Historical Society, described his passion for local history as a labor of love that he balances with his full-time work at Merck and his responsibilities as a County Commissioner. 

“It's been a labor of love for me, and a side hobby, amongst serving in government and working a full-time job,” adding that it was his own family’s history that got him started: “I've just been a fan of local history. My family's history, that's really what got me started, and looking at genealogy and tracing family histories. And then, one thing led to another in terms of my volunteering in the society and the activities that we do to try to promote local history.”

Van Doren, who served on the Tewksbury Township Committee from 1997 to 2017, shared that his interest in local government began shortly after earning his driver’s license:

“Once I got my driver's license, I could go to township meetings,” adding, “My father actually chastised me and said, you know, ‘Hey, you don't pay taxes, so don't say anything at the meetings.’ I said, ‘I know, Dad, but I'd like to hear what's going on.’ ”

He explained that his first volunteer role in Tewksbury government was helping sort recycling:

“I volunteered to help sort recycling because you had to sort every single commodity, from newspapers to green, brown, clear glass. And so, I started volunteering on the recycling commission.”

Later, this led to Van Doren’s interest in affordable housing and development issues facing the township and ultimately led to him challenging an incumbent for Township Committee:

“There was an affordable housing board back then to manage the town's obligations. I was the secretary for that. I also was a secretary for the Historic Preservation Commission, which was a brand new entity back in the late 80s  to oversee historic work in the districts Oldwick, Pottersville, Mountainville. It was a very contentious time because of part of the town seeing government regulation that people didn't feel was necessary. But at the same time, there was another segment that felt that our character was being lost in terms of historic integrity, historic homes, and bridges. I just didn't think the township was going in the right direction. So, in the mid-90s, I jumped in to run for township committee [and] challenged an incumbent.”

Despite disagreements, Van Doren reflected on Tewksbury's “congenial atmosphere” with politics, contrasting with it today’s politics more broadly:

“Unlike, unfortunately,  today's politics, where we seem to be at each other's throats and loggerheads, Tewksbury has always had what I would consider a congenial atmosphere when post-election, we come together.”

A three-term Tewksbury Mayor, Van Doren was motivated to pursue county office and, after two unsuccessful attempts to "buck the system," was elected:

“There were times that I bucked or attempted to buck the system. I always wasn't a party person. To me, it was the idea of good government, you got to put forth your beliefs, your ideals, your ideas, in terms of making your case."

Van Doren, at 54 years old, oversees a wide range of county responsibilities, including public works, the health department, and the finance and budget committee.

Van Doren also emphasized being a steward of taxpayer money as a priority:

“From a financial standpoint, I feel we, at the county level, have been good stewards of the taxpayer's money, not just for Tewksbury, but for all of our municipalities. We are the only county in New Jersey that does not have debt - unheard of.Now, that's not knocking those that do, but you know, there's a responsible way to manage it, and there could be an irresponsible way to manage it, and if it's managed irresponsibly, you got debt payments to make, which ultimately comes from the taxpayer. So, we adopted a philosophy, which started before I got there, which is pay as you go. In other words, we fund our capital programs.”

Van Doren also elaborated on how roads and bridges are the biggest part of the county's budget and explained the dynamics associated with State and Federal funding:

“The county is responsible for all county roads, which are the 500 and the 600 series roads, as well as all bridges and culverts in every municipality. And that's a statewide responsibility that's not unique to Hunterdon. As you can imagine, the infrastructure costs are significant, especially if you don't keep up with them. We get funding from the state. We get funding from the federal government. There are strings attached to that money lots of times. And I've had these intentions when I was on the other side, when I was on the township side, where County [Hunterdon] is taking money for a bridge, but the federal government says, well, it has to meet today's standards, which means it's a single lane bridge. And now it needs to become a two-lane bridge. Otherwise, we won't get that funding [from the federal government].”

Consequently, Van Doren described the balancing act of accepting funds for these projects, while maintaining heritage and culture:

“And so then we have to make choices. We have the public to be mindful of, but also, we're trying to still preserve history - whether it's a truss bridge or whether it's a stone bridge.”

Reflecting on Tewksbury’s rural culture and history, Van Doren expressed pride in helping to maintain that history:

“I’m proud we've been able to maintain that, that we haven't gotten overrun with development, and that very easily could have happened. During my years, if we hadn't been proactive to preserve open space, preserve farmland, not allow the large-scale development to come in, even the office buildings, which were proposed back in the 80s for the 78 exit 24 interchange. So basically holding the line on those types of things have helped keep Tewksbury, Tewksbury.”

While Van Doren acknowledged the divisive nature of politics, he strongly believes residents can have an impact on their community at the local level and should peruse service however they can:

“I encourage people to get involved. I know at the historical society we saw in the two years coming out of COVID, 40-some new families I think joined the society. I think that took us probably 10 years prior to that to get us to have 40 new families. So, we certainly saw people moving out of urban areas, whether it was New York City or even Jersey City, Hoboken, just because of the fear of COVID, and unfortunately, the way it spread. We tried to get people involved in terms of volunteering. I would say to people, you know, whatever their passion is, whether it's the environment, whether it's history, they want to run for public office.” Adding further, ”At the local level, at the county level, you can make a difference in people's lives, in people's communities by serving, whether it's government [or] volunteering at a not-for-profit.”

April Shoemaker, a long-time resident of Tewksbury, has been an active member of the Women's Club of Tewksbury Township (WCTT) for 30 years, including serving two terms as president. In a recent interview with the Tewksbury Times, Shoemaker reflected on her leadership experiences, emphasized the importance of volunteerism, and discussed the many ways women can benefit from joining the club.

Originally from Maine, April Shoemaker settled in Tewksbury 30 years ago with her husband and three sons after living in Utah and California. Reflecting on why she chose Tewksbury, Shoemaker expressed her deep connection to the township:

“I looked all over, but my heart was always in Tewksbury. We ended up looking and looking, and we ended up building our house,” she shared, adding, “and we had no feelings of ever leaving.”

Shoemaker explained how the WCTT is part of a larger Federation of Women's clubs throughout New Jersey:

“We're part of a federated Women's Club. There are 6,000 members in New Jersey and almost 300 clubs throughout New Jersey.”

Shoemaker also explained that the club includes members from surrounding communities (including Califon and White House), not just Tewksbury, and that it is a non-profit.

With membership nearing 80, Shoemaker highlighted the WCTT's wide range of activities, including community building through food drives, fundraising for fire and rescue squads, scholarships, care packages for overseas soldiers, and support for Wreaths Across America.

“We are community-based, and we have our goal to help the community in any way that we can. Our charitable budget includes the fire department, the rescue squad, the PTA. We give out scholarships, typically anywhere from $2000 to $5,000 to high school seniors that are Tewksbury residents. And we have given food to banks, one in Clinton, and one in Flemington.”

Shoemaker reflected on how she first learned of the Women's Club from an advertisement at the township library while seeking to meet more people in the community.

“I saw a little ad, a little packet. I had brought my boys to the library, and I saw a women's club meeting. And normally you go with someone that brings you. I showed up, and that was it.”

She also reflected on how the pandemic was a challenging time for the Women’s Club, but how they were persistent and committed to maintaining community:

“I did a Zoom meeting, every board meeting, in every general meeting. For almost two years, that's what I did. And in the meantime, we revamped our bylaws, so we were very productive. We still did a fundraiser with raffles, and we were still able to give to our charitable budget and to also disperse money to different people that we usually give to.”

Shoemaker also explained how the club gives a place for women to build community together and learn from others. This included having Former Governor Christine Todd Whitman speak with the club’s members. Likewise, Shoemaker explained how she started a group that meets a night and gives an opportunity for women to openly speak their minds:

“I started a women's group that was held at night, and women could come and just speak their minds about whatever they wanted to. And I found that extremely helpful, and the younger girls gravitated to that. It was something that they kind of needed. And I felt very proud of that”

While Shoemaker’s term as WCTT President concluded in June, her commitment to volunteerism continues. Shoemaker now serves as the Chair of the New Jersey Children's Alliance, an advocacy organization serving abused children.

When asked why women should consider being involved in WCTT, Shoemaker said, “I think the women feel proud. I think most of the women, if you ask them, that they feel proud that they're part of the club,”  noting further, "If they want to give back to your community, feel part of something, join the Women's Club.”

Andrea Stein: Commitment to Tewksbury Education

Andrea Stein, President of the Tewksbury Board of Education, recently met with the Tewksbury Times to share her passion for education, provide updates on the board’s strategic initiatives, and offer insights on Tewksbury schools.

Originally from Long Island, Stein has made New Jersey home for 24 years, where she and her husband raised their three children through the Tewksbury school system.

“My husband and I both went to high school in Long Island. We met in high school. We went to college in New York, and then after grad school, I got a job at AT&T, and that led us down to New Jersey. Then my husband went to law school in New Jersey, and then we've been here for about 24 years. So, we love it. We're proud transplants to New Jersey."

Stein explained her love of the community and involvement in volunteering in the school district:

“We love the community,” she said. "I volunteered a lot in schools, Girl Scout leader, Odyssey Of The Mind coach, volunteering in the classroom. And then I worked with the Tewksbury Education Foundation.”

Stein, now in her second term on the board of education, described running for the board as a progression of her desire to help the community.

“It just seemed like running for the board was the next step to continue to work directly with the schools, to help keep them excellent,”

Stein also explained how the nine-member board changes every year, with three seats voted by the community each year:

“We have nine members, and everyone runs to be a member of the board. Every year, three board seats are open, so people are either running for an open board seat or running for reelection. So our board does change over every year”.

When asked about her role as President, Stein emphasized the collaborative nature of the board and the importance of facilitating meetings while deferring daily operations to the school administration.

“The function of the President is to really run the meetings. We are a board of equals, and the decisions we make are as a board. As board president, I only speak for the board itself, not for myself. I see it as running the meetings and keeping up with the things we need to make decisions on,” she explained, noting that, “The [school] administration runs the school day to day.”

Stein discussed the district’s recently completed five-year strategic plan, which involved significant community input. “We have a lot of community involvement for that, and we're really excited about moving forward, taking suggestions, putting them in place,” she shared.

Stein also noted the board’s plan to look at additional funding now that bonds that funded the Elementary School are set to expire:

“We built the elementary school a while ago. And we funded that through bonds, and those bonds are set to expire, and it's a good time for us to go out and get some additional funding without really costing the taxpayers very much money.”

Stein encouraged public involvement, saying, “Coming to the board meetings is the best way for the public to stay informed."

Given Tewksbury's small size and limited tax base, Stein highlighted some of the board’s priorities, "We also don't have big businesses in Tewksbury that provide to our tax base, so we're always running lean and mean,” Stein stated, explaining the district prioritizes classroom investments over large-scale athletic infrastructure. “Some [other] schools might have a priority to build a track for their middle school or a turf field. We're focusing on things that we can do in the classroom and extracurriculars and creating an experience for kids.”

She also emphasized the importance of preparing for the world beyond the small town. “It’s a great place to raise your kids, but there's a bigger world out there that you're going to have to live, work, and prepare for,” she noted.

Stein concluded by highlighting that the board is motivated to serve the community and do right by students and staff:

“I think the members of the board are really motivated to serve the community and serve the students. That's what being a board is. We make decisions together, and I feel like together we work hard to do right by the students and the community, which also includes our teachers and our staff.”

Shirley Slusher: A Lifetime of Art and Dedication in Tewksbury

Shirley Slusher, a longtime resident of Tewksbury, recently welcomed the Tewksbury Times into her art-filled home to share reflections on her life in Tewksbury, raising a family, and her passion for art.

Originally from Kansas, Shirley and her husband, Dick, moved to Tewksbury in 1969, looking for an “old house” to make their own and raise a family.

Ultimately, settling in the Mountainville section of Tewksbury, Slusher noted the area was once “run down” and that, at the time, people were buying homes to fix them up. She described how the culture of Tewksbury appealed to their rural roots.

“Dick and I are farmers at heart. We come from the Midwest. So, we wanted a place where we could raise chickens. And which we did, we had chickens and sheep.”

While also raising three children and balancing her roles as an intensive care nurse, piano teacher, and artist, Slusher found a love for the painting technique of 'Egg Tempura', a method predating oil painting.

"It is a basic art form that the old masters used. And when I saw the lady I took lessons from in Bernardsville, she was really into the old masters. So that's what we started with, and I fell in love with it. I just love working with it. I think the colors are so brilliant, and at night, when you see these paintings, they just stand out. It's just so much different than oil.”  Slusher explained.

Slusher also emphasized the importance of mixing her own colors, which she obtains from the Crayola factory, detailing the process she undertakes to produce them.

“I mix my own from the Crayola factory in Pennsylvania. I get the dried white oxide, and I break my egg, and I put a teaspoon of that in. And the other half of the egg, there's always half left, and I stir it up. And then I do several like that. And I put [it] in a little jar and put a little bit of turpentine in with it.”

Slusher produced about two paintings a year, each requiring hundreds of hours to complete. Some of her work is of local landscapes, including the Musconetcong River and a covered bridge on Tewksbury’s Boulder Hill Road.

Slusher also highlighted a striking portrait of a Sioux Indian sub-chief, a project she said required permission from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“I had to get permission from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC, and they sent it back to South Dakota, and the Indians in South Dakota then had to agree that I could do this, and I finally I got to do it. But even after that, it was about six months that it took me to do that [painting].”

In addition to painting throughout the year, Slusher was also a piano enthusiast and teacher, having taught hundreds of children over a 25-year period:

“I think one time, I had 35 students, 35 little kids in the recitals. The recitals were really fun for the parents.”

Dick offered Shirely’s uplifting motto for her young students: “They should feel better when they left, than when they came.”

Offering advice to aspiring artists, Shirley emphasized the importance of persistence and practice.

"Keep at it. Just like everything else, just practice, practice, practice." she encouraged.

An advocate for the arts, Shirley believes in dedicating time daily to creative pursuits. In describing the challenge of balancing work, life, and creative endeavors, Slusher offered the following advice:

"Set aside a certain part of your day, two hours or whatever you want to spend on practicing piano or artwork or whatever else there is. It gives you the strength to contend with some of the other things that you have to do."

On living in the community for nearly 60 years, Slusher praised fellow residents, saying: “all the people are so nice and friendly.” She also highlighted the willingness of neighbors to help, which makes Tewksbury an ideal place for her. “Everyone is just willing and able to help you. We have neighbors next door here that just do anything for you.” Adding “It’s just an ideal place.”

Shirley Slusher's life and work are a testament to the power of dedication, creativity, and community.

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New Police Chief Brings Tewksbury Experience by Don Maye, Staff Writer

Chief Timothy Hanft was appointed Chief of Police for the Tewksbury Police Department on May 16th, taking over from retired Chief Timothy Barlow. Hanft sat down with The Tewksbury Times to discuss his career in law enforcement, provide insights into the department, offer advice for residents, and emphasize the importance of community engagement.

Raised in Bridgewater, NJ, and with family in law enforcement, Hanft became interested in public service at a young age, volunteering with the Bridgewater Fire Department in his teens.

“My grandfather was in law enforcement. He was an Air Marshal, also a New York City fireman. And just growing up, when I was 16, I joined the volunteer fire department in Bridgewater, where I grew up. I was always infatuated with what goes on at night when we're all home sleeping.”

Hanft has long been familiar with Tewksbury through attending church in the community in his youth. Hanft explained he has 22 years of experience in the department, having started his career in Tewksbury right out of the police academy. In explaining why he enjoys his career in law enforcement, Hanft explained the diversity of work and helping people in need.

“I like that you showed up to work every day and you don't know what you're going to get.”adding, “You're going to be doing CPR on somebody, and next thing you know, you're going to go to a SWAT call to a kid choking, or then maybe you get a call to go help someone in a good way.”

The department operates two 12-hour shifts, each manned by two officers, providing continuous 24-hour coverage for the community.

“We patrol 24 hours a day. Currently, we have 10 officers, with one officer in the police academy. There are 10 officers who work the road.”

Chief Hanft reflected the current shift schedule wasn’t always the case. When Hanft began his career at the department, he noted the responsibility of working with fewer officers on staff and patrolling the night shift alone.

“At one point we got down to as low as eight officers. We would work alone. So here at 21 years old, you know, you're thrown to the wolves. The responsibility was a lot for that age. And you know, we would have one person on day shift, one person on night shift.”

Hanft also noted how the department aims to hire officers who are committed to spending their entire careers in Tewksbury. Also leading a young department, Hanft acknowledged the gap between himself and the next officer:

“So there's a huge gap between me and the next officer. So we have a younger department.”

Hanft shared the composition of this department, explaining that as the department’s former detective, they are in the process of filing for that position:

“There's 10 officers who work the road. They consist of chief, two sergeants, and the rest are patrol officers. I was a detective, so we're in the process of having another officer assigned to the detective position.” adding “We are hoping once we can find another officer to hire, we're in the process now of hiring, we going to have a detective back working inside Monday through Friday.”

Hanft described the importance of community engagement, ensuring new officers receive additional training tailored to both the community and the department's specific needs.

“We have a documented training program, anything from check the wheel into the car, here's how to change a tire, here's how to light flare all the way to domestic violence situations or a car accident. Because, yes, we see what you got in the academy, but we want to make sure you're able to be out here and to do what we're able to do”

Likewise, Hanft explained how his department is fortunate to be able to engage with the community, rather than responding to call after call.

“We're lucky that we have the ability to answer calls, be at the schools with the kids, show up at the soccer games, show about the lacrosse games, and be out there in the in the community that the officers aren't running from call to call to call.”

When asked about crime trends in Tewksbury, Hanft acknowledged car burglaries but also an increase in online scams and fraud targeting the elderly.

“We see a lot of online scams, a lot of fraud, especially with the elderly. Some of those scams, that sound too good to be true, but they are professionals at what they're doing, and people fall for the scams. Those are our biggest ones, and a lot of our crime is going to digital or more online”

Hanft added that the time-consuming nature of investigating online crime is why it is important to have a detective on staff:

“It's extremely time-consuming to then get subpoenas and do that investigation. Hence the reason why it's important that we have a detective to do that.”

On safety advice to residents, Hanft emphasized basic measures:“The basics, lock your door, lock your car. If you see something, give us a call.”

Hanft also made a point to share his department will provide house checks for residents out of town as a crime prevention measure.

“Going back to crime prevention, our department does house checks. If anybody's away for any period of time...whether it's a weekend, a week, a month, it doesn't matter. You call the nonemergency line, just tell them you want to put your house on House Check.”

When asked what he likes most about working in Tewksbury, Hanft emphasized the support from residents, as well as the quality of the officers in his department.

“I feel like the residents support our department because of the good officers that we have.”

He added, “I love coming to work. I enjoy coming to work after this long. It was a quick 22 years. But it's because of the residents and the support that we have from the community.”

Thank you, Chief Hanft.

The Tewksbury Township Library, in Oldwick, wants to remind everyonethat it is a designated cooling center.  If your power or A/C is out, or you just need a break from the heat, you can stop in the Library, during regular hours to find some relief along with your next good read.

Everything including the kitchen sink … collectively weighing nearly 15 tons! That’s what more than 1,200 volunteers removed from the banks of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and reservoirs during Raritan Headwaters Association’s (RHA) 34th annual Stream Cleanup this spring.

“In just three hours, volunteers picked up an incredible 29,610 pounds of trash, junk and recyclables,” said Mara Tippett, executive director of the nonprofit conservation organization. “This enormous effort makes a huge impact on the health of streams and vital drinking water supplies in the upper Raritan River watershed - not to mention the beauty of this scenic part of New Jersey.

“We can’t thank our volunteers enough,” Tippett added. “Without so many people donating their time and muscle, a cleanup of this size could not have happened.” Volunteers included families, individuals, and groups from schools, churches, scout troops, businesses, environmental commissions, and other civic organizations.

The April 20 event cleaned up over 40 miles of stream within RHA’s coverage area, which encompasses all or part of 38 municipalities in Hunterdon, Somerset and Morris counties.

The most common items picked up were plastic bottles, plastic food wrappers, aluminum cans, plastic bags, cigarette butts and glass bottles.

But volunteers also discovered plenty of curious items, including a kitchen sink, part of a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and lights, a pregnancy test (negative), wicker furniture, a king-size mattress box spring, a porta john, a parking meter, a vintage desktop computer, a wood stove and multiple bicycles.

The haul also included a considerable amount of construction debris like carpeting, toilets, sinks, wooden pallets, and plastic drums, as well as numerous car and truck tires and auto parts. One alarming find was an unopened bag of pesticides, which could have poisoned wildlife had it leaked into a stream.

“Unfortunately, there are still people who illegally dump unwanted materials into the nearest river or stream, with no regard to the danger to wildlife and human health,” noted Deborah Newcomb, RHA’s volunteer coordinator. “The upper Raritan River watershed is source of drinking water for 1.8 million New Jersey homes and business, both in the watershed and downstream. What’s more, any plastic trash that washes into local streams can eventually make its way into Raritan Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, where it poses a threat to marine life.”

Here are the totals of the most common items removed during the cleanup:

• 7,105 plastic bottles

• 5,667 plastic wrappers

• 5,000 aluminum cans

• 3,887 plastic bags

• 3,579 cigarette butts

• 3,136 glass bottles

• 2,479 plastic caps

• 2,292 drink cups/lids

“Believe it or not, we count every item picked up so that we can track trends from year to year,” said Newcomb. “We recycle everything that can be recycled, and properly dispose of the rest.”

The Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center (JCC) proudly hosted an unforgettable evening to commemorate a decade of dedication and remembrance at the newly named Helen and Sol Krawitz Holocaust Memorial and Education Center this past April 18th, 2024.  The event was marked by poignant student art and poetry, culminating in the dedication of the Holocaust Center, symbolizing resilience and the power of education.

The evening featured a powerful exhibition titled ‘Light From the Yellow Star’ and a poetry workshop centered on empathy through ‘The Little Polish Boy’. These artistic and literary works set the stage for a deeply moving dedication ceremony. Dr. Michael Berenbaum, an esteemed Holocaust scholar, delivered a keynote address that resonated with the audience, highlighting the importance of remembrance and education in fostering empathy and understanding.

Stuart Krawitz represented his 30 family members in attendance, son of Holocaust Survivors Helen and Sol Krawitz, and honored the memory of his parents with inspiring words, touching the hearts of all attendees. The Krawitz family’s presence at the dedication ceremony added a deeply personal and emotional dimension to the event, emphasizing the enduring legacy of Helen and Sol Krawitz.

The Shimon and Sara Birnbaum JCC is dedicated to bringing Holocaust education to the community in various impactful ways. We provide workshops for teens and college-aged students, offer scholarships for the transformative March of the Living experience, and facilitate community programming. In an effort to build a web of connection between the past and present within our survivor and descendant communities, we share the stories of our local survivors in our ongoing and online Survivor Registry. Our mission is to combat Holocaust denial, antisemitism, hate, and intolerance of all kinds. This important work is only possible with the continued support of our community.

They extend their heartfelt gratitude to founding and new committee members: Mark Chazin, Laura Friedman, Nancy Gorrell, Lisa Halperin, Sandy Krawitz, Eric Lavitsky, Elise Prezant, Evelyn Rauch, Richard Skydell, Jennifer Wasserman, and Wally Yosafat.  Their collective efforts and unwavering commitment were instrumental in making this evening a profound tribute to resilience, memory, and learning.

Special thanks are also due to the event committee: Nancy Gorrell, Sandy Krawitz, Evelyn Rauch, and Laura Friedman.  Their dedication and hard work ensured the event's success, creating an unforgettable experience that will reverberate through hearts and minds for years to come.

The Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center remains dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and promoting education to combat hate and intolerance.  The newly named Helen and Sol Krawitz Holocaust Memorial and Education Center will continue to serve as a beacon of hope and a reminder of the importance of remembrance and resilience.

For more information, and to make a donation towards The Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center’s Helen and Sol Krawitz Holocaust Memorial and Education Center the visit ssbjcc.org/holocaust-education. 

About the Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center:

The Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center (JCC) is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary this year in Bridgewater, NJ. The JCC is a vital hub for the community, dedicated to enhancing the quality of life through a wide range of cultural, educational, social, and recreational programs. Serving individuals and families of all ages and backgrounds, the JCC fosters a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone can connect, learn, and grow.

The JCC offers an array of programs and services including early childhood education, after-school programs, summer camps, fitness and wellness classes, and programs for seniors. Through its comprehensive offerings, the JCC promotes health and well-being, personal growth, and community engagement.

The Shimon and Sara Birnbaum JCC is committed to making a positive impact in the community, ensuring that the values of tolerance, understanding, and remembrance are passed down to future generations.