Take a Field Trip to the Celery Farm

This is the time of year when the garden, although lovely, is winding down and most chores are related to clean-up with an eye towards next year.

It is the perfect time to sneak in a field trip, a nice long walk in a natural setting to soak in some not-so hot sun, while enjoying the flora and fauna of early fall.

If you have not been to the Celery Farm in Allendale, it is about time that you put on some long pants and sturdy shoes and hop in the car with a walking buddy—be sure to bring a camera!

The Celery Farm was once owned by a man named Henry J. Appert, who began farming the area known as “Wolf Lake” in the 1800s. He grew onions and celery on the marshy property that was once inhabited by American Indians. The Lenapes, an Algonquian group from the northeastern woodlands, also farmed in Allendale, specializing in ‘companion’ planting. They cultivated the “three sisters” planted closely together in flat mounds: beans (for nitrogen in the soil), maize, and squash, which spread around the dirt blocking sunlight to inhibit weeds. The prickly vines of the squash also kept the insects at bay. Archeologists have also established the existence of a “fourth sister”—the Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome serrulata) which attracted bees for pollination. Other American Indians also lived in the area, specifically the Ramapough Mountain Indians (whose lineage can be traced to the Lenapes) and the Munsee people.

In the 1940s, the land known as the Celery Farm was purchased by the N.J. Conservation Foundation as an innovative trend to preserve open land. The Borough of Allendale re-purchased 60 acres of the property in 1981 using Green Acre Funds. Subsequently, the remaining acreage was donated by developers and private citizens to bring the total to 107 acres.

The Celery Farm, whose trail is listed as an easy 1.3 mile walk with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, is a pleasant place to spend an hour or so meandering through woodland, meadows, marsh and swamp; a place to take in the flora and fauna of our region in a tranquil setting. When walking there, it is hard to believe there are bustling towns nearby, let alone the close proximity to NYC.

There are three observation platforms along the way, where the visitor will most likely see “birders” with binoculars checking out some of the 240 species (complete bird list on the Fyke Association website) that mingle there, as well as the 50 species that breed there. If you go very early in the morning you may very well run into Herb Houghton, a well-known wildlife photographer snapping shots with his enormous camouflage lense as well as other nature enthusiasts. (It is polite to walk in silence past those in the rapture of observing birds—I once sneezed when passing three 80-year-old veterans wearing World War II hats, who happened to be about to snap a shot of a ‘white-eyed vireo’—a bird that another pair of enthusiasts insisted to be red-eyed! Needless to say the bird took off too rapidly for this close-up that these guys had waited all morning for!) Quite often, however, near the first bend in the trail, you will happen upon the granddaddy of all flying creatures—the Great Grey Heron—and he is a far less skittish sight to behold.

The Celery Farm is maintained by the Fyke Nature Association which ordinarily meets monthly in the Wyckoff Library but is now, due to construction, meeting in the Allendale Borough Hall at 500 West Crescent Avenue in Allendale. The next meeting will be on October 28 at 8 p.m. and will feature a film and discussion on Antarctica. There is also a guided walk on October 1 at the Celery Farm (a “Saturday Stroll”) led by Jim Wright which meets at 8 a.m. (the early bird catches the worm, or in this case the early photographer may get his shot before a sneezer walks by) at the bottom of Greenway Road.

Take a walk on “the wild side” of Allendale and discover the wetlands and largely deciduous habitats that are home to many mammals, fish, reptiles and insects. Watch out for poisoned ivy on either side of the path! The Celery Farm is a wildlife reserve—which means no dogs, it is carry in/carry out and can be muddy after moderate rains. It is located innocuously on the right side of Franklin Turnpike—once a part of the Albany Post Road, whose tollbooth was located at the intersection of Franklin Turnpike and West Crescent and whose stone well house still stands (about .1 mile north of Cottage Road).