Business & Tech
WoodsEdge Wools Farm Enjoying 2nd Year at Market
After the success of their first year at Summit's market, WoodsEdge is back with their warm wools, candles, and honey products.
In their second year at the Summit Farmers’ Market, the WoodsEdge Wools farm is still teaching shoppers that clothing doesn’t just come from a store.
“A lot of people think clothing comes from a department store, not a fiber farm. So it takes some people a while to get their heads wrapped around it. But I think the Summit market more than most instantly appreciated its quality,” said the farm’s co-owner, Linda Berry Walker.
The stand which sells a variety of hypoallergenic, chemical-free wool products – including yarn, blankets, and socks – as well as honey and beeswax candles, joined the farmers’ market last Labor Day. The farm, which is based in Stockton, wanted to open up a market outside of its Princeton-area consumer base.
“We’ve always been a fiber farm, but along the way we’ve raised everything from goats to Tibetan Yaks," Walker said.
Walker and her late husband, Fred, a second-generation New Jersey farmer, started the WoodsEdge Wools Farm in 1976 with sheep. In 1982, they purchased their current farm in Stockton, and in 1984 they started raising llamas. In 1989, WoodsEdge became the first alpaca breeder in the state. The family-run business also includes the couple’s son, Brent, as Director of Operations.
While people buy WoodsEdge’s wool blankets and other items as gifts in the summer, Walker admits that high temperatures don’t put people in the mood to try on wool socks. “But once it gets cool, and people realize that alpaca is four times as warm as wool, we have raving fans. New Jersey’s cold in the winter!”
She was happy to return to Summit this year, mentioning that the market and shoppers made WoodsEdge feel at home.
“It really felt like a family experience up there," she said.
The WoodsEdge farm store is open through the end of the year, which is good news for fans looking for more products after Summit’s market closes. They also hold a large indoor farmers’ market there Thanksgiving weekend.
The farm store closes in January, when they start work on next year’s products, but they are at the Stockton farmers’ market year-round.
