Tag: farm fresh

July 8th ,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, As you know, Kings’ Just Picked Promise Program is back in full swing again this summer, bringing Ridgewood customers locally grown, farm-fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs within 24 hours of being picked.

Like many of you we were a bit skeptical with the “farm fresh “claim , so we reached out to Kings and they offered us a behind the scenes look at the people who make this program possible…the farmers.

Meet John Ploch the farm owner of Ploch Farms in New Jersey, located south of Ridgewood in Vineland NJ  and is just one of the farms that play a huge role in giving shoppers the benefits of a local farm stand in the convenience of their neighborhood food markets.

John Ploch from Ploch Farms shares his day-to day experience explaining how, “Every day is something a little different, especially if we received weather overnight. We start our day at 5:00 a.m. assessing the harvest and assigning responsibilities to our crews for the day. We’ll then spend the remainder of the morning planting and bringing in produce that is going out that evening or the next day. By midday we have to be in the packing house due to the heat because we can’t harvest when it’s hot out. We finish up reviewing orders for the next day and trying to get as ahead as possible.”

John notes that his farm history goes back to the 1800s with his great grandfather who moved from Germany to Northern New Jersey and started a dairy farm, where they were only a nine acre farm back then. Today, they farm about 250 acres, between the main farm and rented property.

The farm provides Kings’ Just Picked program with greens, including arugula, chard, collards, dandelion greens, kale, lettuce, and spinach as well as its herbs, including basil, dill, mint, and parsley.

When asked what his most rewarding part of his job is, John said, “Working with my father. We both have a great work ethic and work well together – you really can’t beat it.”

Its local farmers like John allow Kings’ Just Picked Promise Program to bring its customers the freshest, seasonal products over the summer months.