The Friends of Howell Living History Farm

Howell Farm reopens Saturday, January 30th!

10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Neighbors once called Howell Farm the “ice farm" because they could buy ice from the pond to keep their milk cool on the way to the train station on Pleasant Valley Road. In late January, visitors to the farm will learn about the tools and technology that made ice harvesting a successful business at the turn of the 20th century, and try their hand at using an ice saw out on the pond. Visitors can also help pull ice blocks up the ramp to the ice house, chip ice for ice cream, and make an ice candle to take home!

Mercer County Park Commission 2020 Report

Share the Harvest stats, farm project updates, and Howell Farm's plans for 2021 are all featured in the Mercer County Park Commission 2020 Annual Report, which also includes information on other parks throughout the County. Check out www.mercercountyparks.org to learn more!

Featured: Farm Gift Shop

In the Howell Farm gift shop, visitors can purchase the farm’s own maple syrup, honey, wheat flour, and popcorn – as well as handmade straps of sleigh bells, forged items made by the farm’s own blacksmith, and hand-knitted garments made from Howell Farm sheep’s wool.

Howell Farm's own flock of Suffolk-Romney-Jacob cross sheep produce excellent light and dark spinning wool. It is shorn in May by farmer Margaret Quinn, spun by hand or at a mill, and returned to members of the Pleasant Valley Sewing Guild and other volunteer knitters familiar with unique hat, mitten, and scarf patterns.

Howell Farm's own 2020 popcorn is dried, shelled, and ready to pop! 2-pound bags are available for $5 at the gift shop during regular hours.

Production of Howell Farm's award-winning Grade A maple syrup is a months-long process beginning with tree tapping in January and continuing with sap boiling through March in Farmer Jim's evaporator. Also for sale is honey from the farm's hives, as well as flour from Howell Farm corn and rye, ground at Thompson-Neely mill.

Share the Harvest at Howell Farm

Share the Harvest is a program at Howell Farm that gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the crops and animals producing eggs, wool, whole wheat flour, oats, potatoes, and seasonal produce for donation to Trenton-area food pantries and soup kitchens during the pandemic.

The farm is working to raise $20,000 to continue the program and support people in need through the holiday season. To learn more or make a donation, please visit our Share the Harvest page.

A Fleece's Journey

During the months of April and May, farmers will shear the farm's 24 adult sheep, and care for this year's new lambs. Spring is the time to shear because the small amount of new wool that grows in the summer will actually insulate the sheep from heat.

The annual work of harvesting and processing the wool will soon be underway, and once fleeces have been sent to a mill and spun into skeins of yarn, members of the Pleasant Valley Stitchers' Guild will knit the yarn into mittens, hats, scarves, and socks.