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About Martenette Farms, a certified organic vegetable farm in Hillsborough, NJ
Martenette Farms is a small, certified organic vegetable farm on Amwell Road in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Farmers Andrea and Tony Kennette grow vegetables year-round on about 7 acres and sell them through a customizable CSA with local delivery, an online farm shop and the Lima Family Farms market.
What does Martenette Farms do?
Martenette Farms is a certified organic vegetable farm. We sell through several retail outlets, and we have a special group of customers who value local, seasonal, organic and small-scale produce: our CSA members. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. By buying into our farm now, you help us buy seeds, soil and equipment, and you secure your access to delicious organic produce from Memorial Day to Thanksgiving and beyond!
How does Martenette Farms grow?
We are a small-scale, certified organic farm with a focus on building macro and micro biodiversity on our land.
Building biodiversity
From cover cropping our fields to improve soil health to replanting our wooded areas with native herbs, shrubs and trees, we work to bring more microbes, natural predator insects, butterflies, moths, birds and other wildlife to the farm.
Planting for the years ahead
We've been adding fruit trees, berries and other delicious perennials to the land, with the goal of expanding what we offer over the next five years.
Grown mostly by hand
Our main tool is (wo)man power. A walk-behind tractor with a rotary plow, tiller and flail mower breaks new ground, and when we can, we skip the tilling and seed or plant right into an empty bed. Everything else is a human-powered transplanter, hand tools and battery-powered weed whackers, hedge trimmers and chainsaws.
Who are the farmers behind Martenette Farms?
The farm grows and develops every year, and we're excited to share our progress with our customers. The day-to-day farm activity is Andrea's passion. She relies on Tony for infrastructure projects, mushroom grow management and general cheerleading. Throughout the farm season, she gets help from a few teenage workers on break from school, and Kaya and Tyler, Tony's sons (Andrea's stepsons), help when they're able and available.
Andrea Kennette
Lead farmer
The mastermind and lead farmer is Andrea. She knows every aisle, bed and plant on the farm, since she's the primary caregiver and orchestrator of all the goings-on! With a collegiate background in medicinal herbs and a New Jersey massage license, Andrea values the farm not only as a way to get food to the people but as a way to help support the health and well-being of her neighboring community.
Tony Kennette
Field hand, forager and beekeeper
Said to be an intuitive improvisationalist, Tony is not only the marketing man and mouthpiece of Martenette, he's also a field hand, a forager, a beekeeper and the infrastructure go-to guy! Like Andrea, he has a background in alternative healthcare, and he regularly teaches goat yoga at What a View Farms. When Tony isn't on the farm, he's creating events, content and community with NOFA-NJ and his band, Tony and The Trees!
Who else keeps the farm running?
No farm is complete without the protection and distraction of doggos and kitty! Meet the rest of the crew.
Foghorn Leghorn
Top rooster
Foghorn is our top rooster now. He protects the flock, keeps the other roosters in line and makes sure we have fertilized eggs, should we ever want to hatch them.
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Aril and Bourbon
Family dogs
Our family dogs are always with us, protecting the garden, our chickens or the latest mouse carcass. Aril is an American Dingo, and Bourbon is believed to be some sort of retriever mix. They're both rescues and wonderful with people!
Desi and Ernie
Flock guardians
Desi is our 4-year-old Great Pyrenees, and Ernie is his 1-year-old sidekick. They watch over our flock of 100 pasture-raised, organically fed laying hens. They love scratches behind their ears, running in circles and sniffing everything.
Jasper
Barn cat
Barn cat extraordinaire! Jasper is the most vocal, lovey-dovey, chill cat we have ever had. He hangs around the barn, the greenhouses and the woods, keeping the rodents in check.