Mr. McGregor's Garden Farm and Deli

 

   Saturday, May 24, 2025: After visiting Johnson's Locus Hall Farm Market earlier that day, I traveled a few miles up Monmouth Road to Mr. McGregor’s Garden Farm Market and Deli, 2816 Monmouth Road, Jobstown (Burlington County), New Jersey (609-723-1200). This market was really low key compared to Johnson's Locust Farm Market, but once inside, they did sell some produce, plenty of baked goods—especially pies, some jarred foods, and packaged foods. Currently, it looked like this place was being renovated, both the farm market and the deli, but I noticed more varieties of food products for sale. To top it off, I found the prices on average to be cheaper than the place I had visited earlier that day. Outside, they offered plenty of flowers for sale. I would recommend taking a look at this market—and don’t be surprised, you may end up buying something here!

   

Johnson's Locust Hall Farm

 

   Saturday, May 24, 2025: A few days ago, I had visited Johnson's Corner Farm. On the date above, I visited another farm that the Johnson family owned: Johnson's Locust Hall Farm,  2691 Monmouth Road, Jobstown (Burlington County), New Jersey (609-353-9000). Compared to the Johnson's Corner Farm, we had to drive down a dirt and gravel road to get to the farm market, and once inside, I noticed that aside from strawberries in season, this store sold no produce! Nevertheless, this store sold jarred products-most of which the staff made from fruits and vegetables grown on this farm, baked goods, and non-edible merchandise: decor for the kitchen, tableware, and dishware. If you wanted produce, however, you had to pick it, or your family joined you in picking it. This place offered hayrides to the fields to pick what was in season. Like the Corner Farm, there were petting areas containing farm animals, but unlike the Medford farm, the farm market didn’t sell ready made foods in salads, sandwiches, dinner entrees, and so forth that you could buy inside and eat outside. They only had a food truck outside selling the usual sandwiches, hot dogs, burgers, etc. that you could eat at the outside tables. Meanwhile, the farm market shared space with a winery that sold wines along with a tasting room for adults. Throughout the year, Johnson's Locust Hall Farm played host to different events, but even though this farm was more low-key compared to the Medford farm, I still found it worthwhile for families to browse, maybe buy, and take a hayride to pick the latest crop. The farm has been around since 1693, but different families owned it in these last few centuries until 2014 when the Johnson family acquired it. 

Medford Mill Shoppes

     Tuesday, May 20, 2025: From farmland to an eclectic-artisan co-op shopping area in a former mill, I saw different kinds of merchandise in what I humorlessly called “artsy-fartsy.” At The Shoppes at Medford Mill, 18 Charles Street, Medford (Burlington County), New Jersey (973-939-1940), over 80 vendors sold things on commission, and each vendor had his or her own cove displaying what was for sale. Some of the merchandise these vendors sold included jewelry, clothing, and household items, as well as collectibles, gourmet snacks, and so on. If you needed gift ideas, this would be the place to look—and maybe buy! (At least this place looked colorful.) Meanwhile, the downtown area of Medford along Main Street also offered its share of shops and eating places. In addition, throughout the year, both the Medford Mill Shoppes and downtown Medford held special sales and events: Some of it was seasonable. Between browsing, and sometimes buying, in both the mill shoppes and along Main Street, Medford, NJ, could make for a full day. 

Johnson's Corner Farm

     Tuesday, May 20, 2025: When I read that Johnson’s Corner Farm, 133 Church Road, Medford, New Jersey (609-654-8643), has been listed as a major attraction in Burlington County, I decided to visit and see for myself. Anyway, I’ve liked visiting farm markets, regardless of whether they were a major attraction or not. At this farm, I could see why: There was something of interest for the whole family! Among the offerings were hayrides to the fields that the family could take to pick the latest crop in season together for the price of a ticket. (If nothing else, children could learn that food doesn’t start at the supermarket.) Another ticket included a chance to feed and pet farm animals; plus, children could be active in the Discovery Barnyard playground where they could pretend to be farmers. For adults without children along, there has been a sizable farm market that sold both edible and non-edible merchandise: produce, jarred foods-both sweet & savory, and baked goods, as well as sandwiches, salads, entrees for dinner, ice cream, candy, etc. In addition, the non-edible items included tableware, decorative stuff for the kitchen, flowers, and so forth. If the weather was good, visitors could eat what food they purchased inside at the picnic tables outside. Throughout the year, Johnson Corner Farm played host to different seasonable events. 

Grist Mill Antique Center

      Wednesday, May 7, 2025: Back in April, I visited Haddon Heights Antique Center. On the date above, after seeing Second Time Books earlier, I went to Pemberton (Burlington County), New Jersey, and I stopped into the Grist Mill Antiques Center, Route 616, 127 Hanover Street (609-726-1588). Similar to the Haddon Heights store, this was a dealers’ co-op but larger: 125 dealers compared to 80 in Haddon Heights. Nevertheless, although this store was bigger, I didn’t find it as varied in merchandise as the other store. I did not blame the vendors; however, it seemed that most of the merchandise was glassware. Now I didn’t mind because I enjoyed looking at glassware—and they even had uranium glass! The problem was that some of the aisles were too tight. I feared going through some of them. So I did not. Anyway, I would suggest that if you saw something you liked and might want to buy, but you had second thoughts about navigating in that area, then ask the staff for help. While glassware seemed to dominate the merchandise, this store did sell other stuff in between the glass: toys, jewelry, and accessories, as well as artwork, furniture, and other items including pottery, books, etc. While browsing, words such as “They don’t make that anymore,” crossed my mind often. I also learned that this store had played host to outdoor flea markets at different times of the year. Overall, this place offered plenty of eye candy, but just watch where you are going. 

Second Time Books

 

     Wednesday, May 7, 2025: Because the weather on the date above was nice, I went antiquing. The first place I visited was the area called Rancocas Woods Shopping District in Mount Laurel (Burlington County), New Jersey. Therefore, along Creek Road, roughly between Fleetwood Avenue and Rancocas Boulevard, I noticed more than a dozen different businesses: retail stores, eating places, service businesses, etc. housed in mostly log cabin-styled and other quaint-looking buildings. The bookworm in me stepped into Second Time Books, 114 Creek Road (856-234-9335). Here, I looked at room-upon-room and aisle-upon-aisle of (You guessed it!) books. They sold almost everything from old magazines to leather-bound antique books—and anything in between of different genres and subjects. If you couldn't find anything here, you weren't looking very well. They said that they had over 69,000 titles in stock, and I believed it. Meanwhile, other businesses along Creek Road included retail antique stores, art galleries, furniture, jewelry, clothing, home decor, crafts, and so on. I also glanced at close to six eating places, and in addition, Rancocas Woods played host to events throughout the year: farmers’ markets, car shows, block parties, and so forth. Even if nothing special was going on, it was still interesting to see this shopping district.

Moorestown Mall

     Thursday, May 1, 2025: In 1963, a few years after Cherry Hill Mall opened about three miles away, a new mall opened: Moorestown Mall, 400 New Jersey Route 38, Moorestown (Burlington County), NJ (856-231-4444). This mall always reminded me of a smaller version of Cherry Hill Mall, but in these last few decades, Moorestown Mall has had more ups and downs. Currently, it has been going up, but it needed more tenants to get back to its former glory between 1963 and into the 1990s. In late 1992, the mall had a fire and had to be renovated, but even then, it did get plenty of tenants. Then in the early decades of the 21st century, this mall started to decline, just like many other malls in the USA. Of course, in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t help either. Nevertheless, this mall, on the date above, contained about 90 Stores, including a food court, a cinema, and a medical center. Inside, it looked like a typical mall with title floors, fountains, a bit of greenery here and there, and the usual mall stores that have been similar to other malls. If you are in the area, it is worthwhile to take a look. As for me, I’m glad to see one of the few shopping malls making a comeback!