How long will DePiero's be around?

The entrance to DePiero's Country Farm store on a hill in Montvale.

Stairs to the store's gift and housewares loft.

No visit to Montvale would be complete without stopping at the hilltop store of DePiero's Country Farm.

Unfortunately, all of the fresh, local produce and the relaxed food-shopping experience soon may be just a memory.

If town officials approve, half of the farm's 55 acres will be used to build a huge Wegmans Food Market, displacing the homey farm store.

The Wegmans would be the chain's first store in Bergen County.

The Wegmans in Woodbridge is an enormous 140,000 square feet -- bigger than any other supermarket in Bergen.

Photos of the Woodbridge Wegmans 

On Monday, I stopped at DePiero's for a large cup of soup and purchased sweet corn, romaine lettuce, basil and leeks, all grown on the farm.

Fragrant basil, above. Romaine lettuce and leeks, below.

In late afternoon, customers arrived in twos and threes, but the store never got crowded.

The thick, meatless lentil soup was delicious.

When I got home, I shucked and steamed the bi-color corn, which was sweet and need nothing (6 ears for $3.50). 

It was far superior to corn I picked up last week at the Ramsey Farmers' Market.

I chopped some of DePiero's fresh basil, along with oregano and mint from my garden, to use with fresh wild king salmon on Tuesday night.

I plan to use the rest of the basil to make pesto, which is wonderful with fish.

A plastic spoon stood up easily in the thick soup.

Halloween costumes are available now.

DePiero's greenhouse.

DePiero's Country Farm Store, 300 W. Grand Ave., Montvale; 201-391-4576. Open 7 days until 6 p.m.

Web site: An Old-Fashioned Farm

Going to the farm for a nice lunch

I visited Abma's Farm & Market on Saturday afternoon for Taste of the Farm Day, when all the food served was grown on the farm in Wyckoff. I was especially interested in the pig roast, because the animals are raised naturally. Prices were reasonable.

For lunch, which I ate at a picnic table under a tent, I bought a small pulled-pork sandwich ($1), a vegetable kabob ($1), an ear of bi-color corn in its charred husk ($1) and farm-made lemonade ($2). After I finished and walked around looking at the animals and rows of vegetables, I purchased six pork ribs to go ($1 each) and two more ears of corn (the first ear was the first corn I have had this summer that was sweet), placing them in a free Abma's Farm re-usable bag. Suggestion to Abma's: season the vegetables.

At the farm store, I bought salad greens and an herb garden, an oval pot with five herbs. There was more than enough basil to make a batch of pesto when I got home (see recipe, "Spread that pesto nice and thick").

Thumbs up to Abma's for the quality of the food at such reasonable prices and free samples of roasted beets and vegetables. Thumbs down to Abma's for having two pigs roasting in plain view, with the sun glinting off the crackling skin, and not selling the skin to the public. When I asked what happened to the skin, an employee told me it was reserved for the staff. When I asked if I could buy some, she said no.

Abma's obviously knows some people love the crunchy skin as much as the other parts. Please, share the wealth.