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
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.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: dinner
- Method: grill
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
1 pound ground grass-fed beef
4 slices uncured pork roll
one to two tomatoes sliced
1 onion sliced
lettuce
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
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
Yum! This burger looks delicious!
It’s so important to know where your food comes from and try to buy local when you can. What an awesome post! I need to get informed about how to do something like this around me!!
That is a gorgeous burger! I’m so happy I live in an area with lots of farms and orchards.
What a great experience! And the burger looks great too.