Some of my fondest memories are of summers growing up in New Jersey on my family’s farm. When I wasn’t stuffing myself with our concord grapes, I spent hours on a tree overhanging the Black River. Catching fireflies in a mason jar to light my room at night was the essence of summer, as was falling asleep listening to the tree frogs outside my window.
do and see outside in New Jersey.
A family affair
And of course, for our family, haying was a family affair for my father, brothers and me. I couldn’t do as much since I was so much younger, but I did heave a number of bails around in that hay loft and built some lasting memories with my siblings in the process.
It didn’t matter what we ate, those summer family dinners were when we had great conversations, growing closer together and learning from each other. And with my own kids, we have had some of our best conversations as a family when we were enjoying the last bits of daylight on a summer night, heat and mosquitoes and all!
Fruit soup
I will never forget driving to a park for a picnic on one such occasion. We had cut up bits of fruit for our lunch, which my then-five-year-old son Taylor proceeded to sit on in the back of the station wagon throughout the journey. By the time we arrived, his squashing procedure was complete, and we were left with fruit soup. Scraped knees, insect bites, food mishaps and all, those are among the memories of family time that we will have for life.
Being together with family, whether for an afternoon park visit, a night of camping or a visit to the shore – anywhere — is important. New Jersey has plenty of beautiful places to be, and there are still warm summer nights to