Peters Valley booth guide

MoonShadows Farm

Wandering into Fresh Pickins, the artisanal-style farmers’ market shop in Sandyston, NJ, on a Monday afternoon, I am greeted by three things—amiable smiles, Fred the resident cat, and an ample display of all-natural jams, jellies, marmalades, and fruit butters from MoonShadows Farm. With a wide array of tempting flavors, from the curiously named, such as Frog Jam, Toe Jam, and Alligator Jam, to the more familiar, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam or Cinnamon Pear Jam, it’s difficult to decide which to purchase. I choose the inky purple-hued Blackberry Jam.

It is a wise choice.

Luscious, sweet, yet never cloying is a hallmark of quality jam. MoonShadows Farm, a company located in East Stroudsburg, PA, in the heart of the Pocono Mountains, captures this by relying on tradition. A tradition that began 100 years ago.

Antoinette and Edward Kraston, originally from Poland, immigrated to America in the mid-teens of the twentieth century and opened a general store in New Rochelle, NY, called White Way Dairy. The name was a nod to the section of Broadway nicknamed The Great White Way, which was one of the first electrically illuminated streets in the country. A customer favorite was Antoinette’s homemade jams and jellies, which she continued to make even as she grew older. enjoyed visiting Grandma Kraston whenever she was preparing them. “Grandma was an excellent cook,” says grandson Jim Guinn.

In the 1960s, the city of New Rochelle took the general store by eminent domain to build the New Rochelle Mall. Afterwards, Antoinette bought a house in New Rochelle and remained there for the rest of her years.

One day in 1988, Jim Guinn and John Doyle, a family friend, were cleaning out the home, which was up for sale, and they unearthed a treasure. Tucked away in an old hat box in the dusty attic were Grandma Kraston’s hand-written recipes.

Guinn and Doyle, who were both teachers in the South Bronx, began making a couple of cases of jam every week, which were sold at the old Marshall’s Creek Flea Market on Route 209 in PA. They were approached by someone asking if they would wholesale their jams. Until then, Guinn and Doyle had never considered making jamming their business.

Over the years, the business, called MoonShadows Farm, grew. Working a full-time job in the Bronx became challenging for Guinn, so he left teaching and took a job driving a school bus in Stroudsburg to devote more time to the flourishing business. Ultimately, Guinn left the bus-driving job to run MoonShadows Farm full-time. Doyle devotes his weekends, summers, and after school to the business. They have gone from making a couple of dozen cases a week to

They still rely on hand making all products in small batches. Not wanting to run a commercial facility with employees, nor wanting to have a company process the products in what Guinn feels is an impersonal way, Guinn and Doyle got creative. They decided to search for a small existing artisan enterprise to help make the recipes.

“We wanted to work with people who were already passionate about what they did and who would personally make our products by hand,” says Guinn.

Creating a great tasting jam is a balance between art and science. According to Guinn, co-packers may know the science, but artisans know the science and the art.

“When something is made in small batches, it involves more care than if made in huge vats,” he says.

“You can’t get that great taste from machinery and computer programs. Have you ever doubled or tripled a recipe? It just never tastes the same. Small batches assure peak flavor since the product is being made all the time and is not stockpiled.”

With 90 percent of the products being made off-site by dedicated artisans, MoonShadows Farm is truly a family enterprise. An enterprise that Guinn and Doyle find rewarding.

“When someone tells us they love our products, and even better, when they tell us a product reminds them of what their mother or grandmother used to make, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Guinn remarks.

Asked how the name MoonShadows Farm was born, Guinn recalls an enchanting August night back in 1995. Having purchased an eight-acre piece of land with a house that was originally built in 1840, they wanted to name the property but couldn’t decide what. Then fate intervened.

“One night there was a bright full moon in a clear sky. It cast beautiful dark shadows across our moonlit back field from the trees that lined it. Immediately, we decided that MoonShadows Farm was the name, and we used the name of the property for our business name.”

Offering a line of fine country foods that include fruit spreads, peanut butter, pickles, and salad dressings, as well as personal care items, MoonShadows Farm’s products are sold at tourist attractions, farmers markets, and dozens of country stores throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and even Virginia. All products are natural, including their soaps, luxury lotions, and body washes, which have 100 percent pure plant-based ingredients. ............................................................................................. For more information, visit www.moonshadowsfarm.com. Note: This article appeared in the online-only version of The Journal in April 2020.

Wayne Card’s Phantasmagoric World of Objects

The tradition of visionary environments is a rich one in the US—especially in the South. But the human desire to create is a force that knows no boundaries, and there are many examples of this genre all over. Our region is no exception.

I recently visited such a fantasy-fueled environment in a rather unlikely place: on a small, back-country road in Beemerville, New Jersey—very much off the beaten track.

The road is named Card Road, and Wayne Card grew up on it—“down aways” as he put it. He calls his place Wayne’s World, but Card’s aesthetic is clearly not even remotely close to that of the ’90s comedy of the same name.

As you enter the driveway, you wonder where to look first. The man is a collector—some might say hoarder—and an assembler of objects. The objects might be finished, they might be in progress, or else they might just be stacks of raw materials. In the studio/workshop, or Man Cave as he calls it, there is no unadorned surface, including the ceiling. And clearly, no studio is ever complete without a lifesize suit of armor displayed in the corner.

Card fits into the category the art world calls Outsider Artists. That’s a person who creates art—often environments in their yards—without having had any formal art training. Such an artist might start making a small project, a birdbath or bench or fence, and just get carried away. Often a hobby becomes almost an obsession of sorts. Card’s output runs the gamut—painting, sculpture, functional items, architectural follies, walls, murals, and mixed media objects. The property features over forty pieces/areas/ structures to view. His energy seems boundless, and he will even take commissions. If you need a custom casket for your pet, he’s your guy. He’ll also make you a gate or an outhouse or…you name it.

He works with any material that comes his way: trees, twigs, clay, stone, wood, and objects of all sorts. Currently, there are ten and a half tons of granite scraps stacked up that he got for the taking.

Card is the oldest of eleven children, and his parents were dairy farmers. After a long apprenticeship, he became a line worker for the old New Jersey Power and Light Company. “I loved it. I was outdoors all the time, and I was able to work with my hands,” he said. He quit in 2000 because the ownership changed, and the new management was “brutal. The unfair policies concerning being on call made me decide to quit.”

The house on his property was built in 1967, and the twoacre piece of land was quite bare when he moved in. It’s hard to imagine a plain white house under all the additions he has added and the yard’s quirky displays.

I asked how it all came about, and he tells me, “I was a bit of a crafter. I started out making birdhouses and walking sticks. They sold my walking sticks at the Peters Valley Crafts Store. Who knows? They may still have some.”

Early on, Card made a large cement panda for his animal-loving daughter, Amanda. (Truth be told, it looks like a mouse or rat.) Amanda is now a veterinary surgeon, and the crumbling panda is in the process of being rehabbed…or reconfigured.

Once moved in, Card worked with stones he found on the property, making the numerous walls that meander everywhere. He followed the rule that, “If you pick up the stone, use it. Don’t handle any stone twice.” His stonework is quite beautiful and rhythmic.

Over the years, Card made friends with a man who, he says, has “an eye. He is a sort of a picker in that he can find great things at auctions and elsewhere. I have gotten lots of stuff from him.” (Including, it turns out, the tons of granite.)

Much of what Card has gathered has become the fodder of his sculptural oddities. There is a Barn of Doors made out of doors found all over Sussex County and elsewhere. He mentions that the barn was constructed out of old utility cross arms and shipping crates.

Looking around you see a boat embedded in a stone wall; an assemblage of wooden wagon wheels (The Swenson Hoops); a home-made two-seater outhouse; a large, living bamboo teepee; a mosaic stairway; and rusty tools and other surprising objects embedded in cement walkway pavers.

What else? You see walls of all descriptions, sheds, sculptures that look like they belong in the Museum of Modern Art or the Dia Collection, and even a sanctuary in the back of the yard that is rarely, if ever, used. Standing tall above things is an 18-foot, hand-carved ancestor totem pole, carved by students and parents for an outdoor education class at the now-closed King’s School in Warwick.

A favorite piece of mine is the Tree House, a fanciful abode in a large tree featuring an inviting circular staircase up to the top entrance. On the other side of the yard sits a large, double-sided abstract painting that Card had on display in an exhibit a year or two ago. It hangs from a large beam outside—he’d sell it for $250 he confides, and I say that’s not nearly enough.

With the local art world being small and friendly as it is up this way, it was only a matter of time before Card connected with Ricky Boscarino of Sandyston, NJ. Boscarino’s wild and fanciful Luna Parc is a prime example of a visionary environment created by an established artist, as opposed

For years, Boscarino has been building architectural follies with blue glass bottles, and he supplied some for Card’s piece titled “Blue Bottle Works.” Indeed, as an anniversary gift to his wife a couple of years ago, Card purchased one of Boscarino’s wind-driven sculptures, which sits proudly to the right as you drive in from the road.

Since knowing Boscarino, Card has been inspired to try his hand at stained glass and other construction techniques that were used in the Luna Parc complex. Card has also “learned as he goes along,” picking up skills and exploring new ideas wherever and whenever he finds them.

Recently, Card lost his wife, Lorraine, and the transition has been difficult. I ask him about the future. What will happen to all this? Some friends call what he makes “tchotchkes,” he admits. But that does not deter him. He’s thinking about it, he tells me. He could donate the place to a non-profit or see if someone could take it over. But for the moment, he mostly wants to finish some of the things that are in progress and make new ones that are in his head. Right now, he muses, “Every day is a gift.” ................................................................................................... To visit Wayne’s Creative Works individually or as a group, call to make an appointment at 973.875.5489. Julia Schmitt Healy is an artist, teacher, and writer, living and working in Port Jervis, New York.

GLOSSARY

Outsider Art/Art Brut • Art made by untrained, selftaught people who make art with minimal or no artistic references or influences. Often the art is made with materials at hand—cardboard, string, soot, thread, stones, objects, rather than regular art materials. James Castle is one such example.

Naive Art • Art created by people with no formal training. Sometimes naive artists have a slight knowledge of, or awareness of, art, such as Henri Rousseau. Often there is a “child-like” quality to the work.

Folk Art • Traditional arts and crafts such as whittling and quilting, often handed down from popular culture.

Primitivist/Faux Naive/Pseudo Naive • Art by trained artists working in a somewhat naive way consciously.

Visionary Art • Imaginative, over-the-top work that emphasizes personal, mystical, or spiritual visions.

Environmental Art • Outdoor pieces, usually made by professional artists, that often have an ecological bent. Andy Goldsworthy would be an example of this.

The Photo Story

In my more than thirty years of living, photographing, and teaching in Sussex County, NJ, I have discovered countless stories to tell on so many levels. Rich with landscapes, history, culture, and art, the area offers the opportunity for discovery and exploration into many fascinating photographic subjects.

Recent projects from my photography students at Peters Valley School of Craft have taken diverse and sometimes unexpected paths—from the autobiographical and lyrical visions of Kerrie Bellisario, whose work takes one on a journey into her past, using local scenes and poetic vision, to Emily Ginder, who uses the Old Mine Road to tell a story of history and change in the area.

In some cases, the physical settings make for telling a story that has actually been created by the artist. Norma Bernstock saw a yellow house on the Old Mine Road and created a story about who she imagines might have lived there and how the house might look inside.

Susan Chval tells the story of a multigenerational family-run business called Well-Sweep Herb Farm. While she attended an open house at the farm, she managed not only to create stunning photos, but also to help us learn about the farm’s history, which goes all the way back to the American Revolution.

My love of photo storytelling has led me to Peters Valley and its inspiring location in an area of New Jersey that would surprise many who think of the state as merely a land of highways, beaches, urbanization, and ports. Any time of year will bring opportunities for making photographs and just enjoying this unique and beautiful region.

Emily Ginder, The Old Mine Road, Sussex County, NJ

The constant clashes between mankind and nature almost always end up in chaos. Warring nations destroy both human and natural habitats. A seething hurricane or a ferocious tornado also destroys both.

However, indifference, unconcern, plus a lack of money and willpower can lead to a victorious rout by nature. A void will never remain empty; a vacuum will be filled. This is obvious when traveling on the Old Mine Road in Sussex County. Only occasionally will you see a rigorous effort made to preserve the past and protect the future.

Norma Bernstock, The Yellow House I will tell you about the lone house near the river’s edge, warm with yellow light, how wisps of smoke like windblown kite tails danced above a slanted roof, how a memory of one day can change a life.

Kerrie Bellisario, Ghost House

I see the intricate cranberry wallpaper as I kneel in the corner for some unknown offense. From the shelter of the cornfield I look up at my bedroom window and I swear I remember the night the angel came to visit me. The farmhouse of my youth, fresh only in my memory.

More Than

I sat there crying, wishing for the pretty barrettes and ribbons that never materialized. My mother would brush my hair,yanking and pulling knots out without mercy. Out the window I see Spring blossoms.