A Visit to Well Sweep Farm

This is mentuccia / nepetella

A number of years ago, I got it into my head that I wanted to have mentuccia in my garden. Mentuccia is an herb that is used frequently in Roman cooking, especially some vegetable dishes. It tastes a bit like a cross between mint and oregano, in fact, its name in Italian means “crummy or inferior mint”. I looked for seeds for it on a trip to Italy, but did not find it. So, when I got home, I decided to see if I could find it here in the States. First, though, I had to establish what its biological name was. I began doing research on the web. There I quickly discovered that more than one plant carried that moniker in Italian. After consulting several sites, I concluded that the plant I was looking for was calaminta nepeta, or nepetella, as it is known in English. Equipped with its name, I began trying to source either seeds or plants. To my delight, I found it in my own back yard, at a place I had heard about for years, Well Sweep Farm. Well Sweep Farm specializes almost exclusively in herbs and their online catalog included nepetella. I decided to make the trip.

The beds at Well Sweep Farm

Well Sweep Farm is located in Port Murray, NJ. The area has the name because it was on the Morris Canal back in the 19th century. It is technically part of Mansfield Township and is not far from Hackettstown. While it is not that far from Morristown as the crow flies, it takes a while to get there because it is not located on any major roads. The whole way there, I kept repeating the name “calaminta nepeta” over and over in my head. It was a chilly spring day the first time I went there. When I arrived, I was the only car in the parking lot. I got out and began looking around. There were row upon row of beds with herbs. I thought, “How am I ever going to find this?” Fortunately, a fellow emerged from somewhere and asked, “Can I help you find something?” I quickly responded, “Yes! I am looking for a particular herb; it is called . . . “My mind had gone blank. At the very moment I needed it, the name that I had been repeating to myself for 45 minutes had disappeared. At a loss, I just blurted out, “I can’t remember its real name, it’s called mentuccia in Italian.” “Oh, we have that” he answered in a completely matter of fact way. “I was in the Air Force and was stationed in Aviano (the big US airbase in Northern Italy), that’s how I know the name.” What were the chances, I asked myself, that I should just run into this person. That day, I went home with three healthy nepetella plants: one for a friend and two for me. My two are still thriving in the garden and provide me with all the mentuccia I need.

Many different varieties of rosemary

Having left the garden unattended for a year, there were some fatalities. As the spring wore on, I could see no signs of life in my thyme plants and my sage bush did not appear to be returning either. On the other hand, a few lavender plants that I had moved before going away were flourishing. The location seemed very favorable for lavender so maybe a few more plants were in order. I also wanted to experiment planting rosemary along the south wall of the cottage. I decided that it was time for a return trip to Well Sweep Farm. I knew that I would find a much wider selection of herbs to choose from there, not to mention nepetella.

My purchases

I made the trip last week on a day when it was too wet to work in the garden. I let my phone plan the route and it took me all over the place, probably not the most direct route. Still, I found it OK. It was a cloudy and cool day, so there weren’t too any other customers. I was surprised, too, that many of the beds were still empty. Clearly they were not rushing the season! I located the lavender and there were at least twenty different varieties. I hadn’t done my homework, so I just picked three healthy looking plants. I managed to find some French thyme, but not much else. Of course, I had to ask about the nepetella. That was still “out in the field”, but the same man who had helped me before went out to get it. While waiting for him to return, I picked up some rosemary and, just for fun, some lily of the valley for the back of the house. He returned with two plants and advised me that they were not fully rooted yet, so I needed to wait at least two weeks before putting them in the ground. Not a problem, I informed him. So, I loaded my hod and went inside to pay. While the woman was writing me up, she told me that someone had published an article about mentuccia or mentioned it in one. She said that they had been receiving calls from across the country placing orders for it. Who’d have thunk it?

Fields near Port Murray

Now that it was almost lunchtime, I decided to try a new burger place in Long Valley, called OMG Burgers and Brew. I put the address in my phone and soon I was on my way. Once you come down off the mountain where the farm is, you arrive at the very easternmost end of the Lehigh Valley. I crossed the remains of the Morris Canal and found myself in farmland. You might have thought you were in Ohio, not 40 miles west of New York City. Even here though, new housing tracts were being developed right on the edge of fields that were still being farmed. Even on this misty day, the countryside was beautiful. I’d like to go back on a sunny day. New Jersey still has some remarkably undeveloped spaces, but who knows for how long.

My OMG burger

I reached my destination and had lunch. The place is very attractive. It’s a new building, but it has the feel of an old barn. The burger was good, but nothing worth making a special trip for. The beer selections were extensive with lots of local craft beers. I’ll give it three stars . . . By the time I arrived back at the house, it had begun raining seriously. It seemed like a perfect afternoon for a nap.

Foodie Interlude #2

Most people who know me or follow me will know that I am an inveterate Italophile when it comes to food. What most people will not know is that Italian was not the first ethnic cuisine to capture my imagination. The first one was Greek. It happened this way. As an undergraduate Classics major at Catholic University, our department organized a yearly outing to the Akropolis restaurant in D.C. ( I think it was on M Street) The Ancient Greek instructor, Mr. Theodore Papaloizos, a native of Cyprus, would help us with the menu and make recommendations. If my memory serves me correctly, it was the moussaka that won me over. Following graduation and the summer break, I took a 5 week trip to Europe. About 5 days in Rome, the rest I spent wandering all over Greece. I took the ferry from Brindisi, Italy to Corfu and traveled on from there, eventually making my way to Crete by way of Santorini. It’s interesting to think back on that trip. I spoke no Modern Greek (though I could read the signs!) and back in 1975, Greece as not the tourist destination that it has become. Somehow, though, I managed and had an amazing experience. Sadly, I have never been back. I tried to work it into my sabbatical travels, but it just never happened. I still love Greek food and always seek out Greek restaurants when traveling.

In March, I registered for a three-hour daytime cooking class at the Natirar Cooking School. The class featured a Greek menu with five different dishes. I was very much looking forward to it when I received an email a few weeks later saying that class had been cancelled due to low enrollment. I was very disappointed. The school allowed me to transfer my registration to another class, but there wasn’t much that appealed to me. Eventually, the woman who handles the registrations encouraged me to sign up for an evening session called “A Greek Easter”. Up to this point, I hadn’t considered an evening class, but the menu looked interesting, so I signed up.

Wrangling an octopus

When the evening came, I was a little anxious. I wasn’t sure what to expect at Natirar. The other cooking classes I have taken at the Farm Cooking School were rather informal and egalitarian affairs. Natirar, on the other hand, is a very high-end restaurant and event space on the former estate of the king of Morocco. I arrived, parked and went inside. The hostess informed me that they were still preparing the classroom, but I was welcome to wait in the bar and someone would come get me. Not sure how long the wait would be, I ordered a glass of wine. Of course, the minute it arrived, they came to say we could go in. Fortunately, I could bring my wine. There appeared to be about a dozen of us. We sat at a counter surrounding the cooking area while the instructor explained how the class would unfold. We would work on six dishes: smoky eggplant dip; grilled octopus salad, marinated butterflied leg of lamb, lemon potatoes, moussaka stacks and kolourakia – Greek Easter cookies. A quick inventory of the participants revealed that a majority were of Greek descent, as was the instructor. Before we broke up into “teams” to prepare different parts of the menu, Joanne, the instructor showed us how to boil the octopus.Then we set to work.

John grills the octopus

The instructor must have deduced that I was Irish, so I was assigned the task of preparing the lemon potatoes. That was fine. I had to cut the potatoes into wedges and then season them. I was working alongside the team that was making the marinade for the lamb and across from a couple who were preparing the moussaka stacks. It was a convivial group and there was a lot of banter as we finished up our tasks. Then it was back to the counter to watch how to prepare the lamb. Once that was in the oven, we shared some marinated feta, olives and the eggplant dip, while she was demonstrating how to prepare the octopus for grilling. The grilled octopus was dressed and plated for us to sample.

I made these at home

Then it was back to the worktable to make cookies. She prepared the dough in the stand mixer and then gave each of us to turn into cookies. Kolourakia are typically braided is some shape. A piece of dough has to be rolled out by hand into about an 8” ‘rope’ that is then braided, brushed with an egg wash and then baked. I’m not sure how many dozens of cookies we shaped and baked that night, but I know I did almost two full cookie sheets.

First step - Browning the lamb

By now the lamb was done, so we returned to the counter to eat our main course. The lamb was delicious and I must say, the lemon potatoes were outstanding! The moussaka stacks were also yummy. The cookies didn’t take long and emerged from the oven while we were eating our meal. Soon we were all finished and, after sampling our cookies, people got ready to leave. Goodie bags were offered, especially for the mounds of cookies. I took about six, but I already knew that I would be making my own! It turned out to be a very fun evening.


Happy Easter!    Καλή Ανάσταση!