Now's time for Jersey produce

The time is ripe for fresh fruit and vegetables in New Jersey. Farm-fresh tomatoes, sweet corn, blueberries, raspberries, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, squash, snap beans and peppers are ready. Peaches will be available in about two weeks.
Blueberries and tomatoes are so popular that the New Jersey State Legislature declared them the state fruit and vegetable.
And at Springdale Farms in Cherry Hill, about 25.000 tomato plants are getting close attention from farmers such as Tom Jarvis, a co-owner of the business that has been family-owned since it opened in 1949. There are roughly 100 farmers' markets in the state, said Lynne Richmond, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
Jersey tomatoes grow into top-quality vegetables with thin, soft skins, thanks to the "sandy and acidy soil" in which they are planted, Jarvis said. The soil, unique to New Jersey, gives the tomatoes a distinctive flavor, he said.
Jersey tomatoes are not shipped out of state and are intended to be eaten fresh.
Many consumers take advantage of the opportunities to buy fruit and vegetables straight from the source.
"I don't buy any of my fruit and vegetables at the grocery store," Beth Ronketty of the Laurelton section of Brick, N.J., said as she left Jarvis' farm store yesterday. "There's so much handling and packaging that by the time they get to their distribution centers and get sent out to the grocery stores, it's days."
The farm-bought fruit and vegetables she buys stay fresh for five days, Ronketty said.
And so far, this season's crop for consumers like Ronketty has been good, Jarvis said.
"There's been enough rain once a week," he said, "and it hasn't been terribly hot yet."
Springdale's plants will continue producing tomatoes until the first frost in October, he said.