Eat Local – Lima Family Farms

I am always curious about where my food comes from, and I was excited to have an opportunity to take a tour of Lima Family Farms in Hillsborough, NJ.

This!  Is what I see when I pull into the driveway each week to pick up eggs, meat and fresh produce.  Wouldn’t you agree that it’s much easier to look at than a crowded supermarket parking lot?

As you turn into the driveway of the property, there is a  sense of calmness and serenity as you drive past the free-roaming animals that are living the way nature intended them to.

Lima Family Farms sits on approximately 360 acres on  Amwell Road in Hillsborough, New Jersey.  It’s a farm with a mission to feed the community with high-quality sustain-ably raised food. They pride themselves on the humane treatment of livestock and land, and it shows.

Lima Family Farms follows organic practices to grow and raise their food. Their crops are grown without the use of any synthetic pesticides or fungicides. Their animals are not given hormones and are pasture raised and rotated on a regular basis.

LIMA FAMILY FARMS TOUR

Lima offers walking tours to anyone that’s interested in seeing the farm and learning about how natural food is raised.  I recently had a tour of the farm, and the one thing surprised me was how calm and friendly all of the animals are. Here are the highlights of my tour.

Mother Pigs

The mother pigs live near but not with the young pigs. They spend their day wallowing in the mud and eating.

Doing what pigs love to do – wallowing in the mud.

Mother pig heading out for food.

Young Pigs

Younger pigs live in a wooded area on the farm, once they saw us coming, they came up to greet us.

Young pigs living in their natural habitat

Young Pigs saying hello

Baby Poultry – Brooder House

Baby chickens and turkeys are fed and housed in the brooder house until they are old enough to live in the pasture.

Baby Chickens

Baby Turkeys

Pastured Poultry

We had to stop to pet the playful watch dog before seeing the mature poultry in the pasture. She protects the chickens and turkeys from predators.

Watch Dog

Turkeys grazing in the pasture

The Sheep

The sheep were happy to see us and were not afraid to get close to us.

Sheep – happy to see us

A friendly sheep saying hello

The Cows

Mother cows and their babies live separately from the grazing cows.The babies live with their mothers for about 8 months until they are weaned.

Once they are on their own, the cows are tagged so that they can be traced back to their mother. They stay on the farm until they are  about 18 months old enjoying a diet of grass.

Mother Cows with their babies

Baby Cow with their mother

Young cows grazing in the field

Cow feeding on grass

Green Houses

Lima Family Farms also grows fresh produce. They have a few hoop green houses on the property which is where they start their greens, and grow their tomatoes.

Field Greens that are ready to be transplanted to the field

It’s near the end of the tomato growing season, the tomato plants are still flourishing!

The Market At Lima Family Farms

The Farm market is open to the public three days a week.  You can purchase fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, farm fresh eggs, chicken, and a variety of meats.  They have a nice selection of uncured versions of typically cured meats such as ham, kielbasa, liverwurst, bacon, Canadian bacon and one of my favorites, pork roll.

I picked some up some pork roll, ground beef, fresh tomatoes, and lettuce so that I could make my favorites, a Jersey burger.  If you aren’t from New Jersey you might be wondering what pork roll is.  It’s a type of sausage that was born in New Jersey. 

Jersey Burger

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• Author: anne
• Prep Time: 20
• Cook Time: 10
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Locally raised Grass-fed beef burger, uncured pork roll, topped with NJ Fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and onion piled on top of a whole grain roll.

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

1 pound ground grass-fed beef

4 slices uncured pork roll

one to two tomatoes sliced

1 onion sliced

lettuce

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Instructions

Form the beef into 4 patties

Pre-heat a gas grill on medium heat, once hot, add the burgers and cook over medium-low heat for 4 to 5 minutes on each side until done.*

While burgers are cooking, place the sliced pork roll on the grill and cook for approximately 2 minutes on each side until heated through.

Assemble the burger by placing the burger on a whole grain roll, top with pork roll, onion slices, tomato slices and lettuce

Notes

Note: Grass-fed beef is lean, and will cook quickly.  For a moist burger cook over medium to low heat and should be served medium rare or medium.

*Internal temperature for medium-rare 145, and mediumis 160

• Category: dinner
• Method: grill
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: burger, burger recipe, grass fed burger

Lima Family Farms In  A Nutshell:

Lima Family Farms is Located at: 826 Amwell Road, Hillsborough NJ

Farm Market Hours: Friday 1 to 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 4 pm, you can also find them at the Princeton Farmer’s Market on Thursday’s from Mid-May through Mid-November.

Products Offered: Vegetables, fruits, flowers, grass-fed and finished beef, pasture raised pork, lamb and chickens

Other Places You Can Find Lima Family Farms:  Princeton Farmer’s Market, Thursday’s 10:00 am to 3 pm Mid-May through Mid-November.

CSA: Yes, Market Style

Growing Practices:  Organic standards, pasture raised

Website: https://www.limafamilyfarms.com