Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Molly de Aguiar, Program Associate

We can hardly wait for NJ Fresh!, the new series on NJN hosted by Megan Gunning and Barbara Seelig-Brown. The four-part series, which airs in November and December, features visits to four farmers markets across the state as well as side trips to several farms, exploring the connections between land, people and food. The series helps New Jerseyans find the freshest produce and learn how it’s grown. The segments also include a peek at honey production, lavender fields, artisan cheese and sheep shearing as well as cooking segments using farm fresh ingredients.

The first episode, featuring a trip to the Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance‘s farmer’s market at Dvoor Farm, with visits also to Comeback Farm and Bobolink Dairy, airs on Tuesday, November 9 at 9:30 pm.

See the full schedule and details for all four parts of the series, and enjoy these behind-the-scenes photos from the series, courtesy of NJN:

Megan Gunning, host of the NJ Fresh! series

Sweet Valley Farm at Dvoor Farm Market

Dvoor Farm, owned by the Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance (a Dodge grantee)

Comeback Farm in the Musconetcong Valley

Fresh New Jersey peaches

A cooking segment with Barbara Seelig-Brown in Sussex County

Collingswood Farmers Market

Photos courtesy JoAnne Ruscio/NJN

Tune in to NJN’s “backstories” tomorrow, November 21st at 8:30 pm or next Wednesday, November 25 at 11:30 pm when State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa meets with two recent Dodge Visual Artist fellows, Fausto Sevila, an art teacher at Arts High School in Newark, and Kelly Clark, an art teacher at Middlesex High School.

If you are a K-12 New Jersey public school art teacher or supervisor, you can apply for the 2009 Dodge Foundation Artist/Educator Fellowships here. Applications are due by January 30, 2009.

Artwork: Fausto Sevila, Two politicians and a vibrating beetle. 2005-07. Digital photography, acrylic, rusted razor blade, and yellow string. 40×18″. Collection of the Artist.

NJN’s State of the Arts follows Elizabeth, New Jersey poet Joe Weil to the 12th Biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, airing Friday, October 17 at 8:30 p.m. and again on Wednesday, October 22 at 11:30 p.m.

Weil is currently a writing instructor at the State University of New York – Binghamton, and his new book is “Painting the Christmas Trees” (Texas A&M University Press).