The Best Kept Secret in the County

I am almost reluctant to share this post because it will reveal Sussex County's Best Kept Secret! When my brother, Frankie, came for a visit from Colorado he took me and Nathan here and I almost want to keep it all to my self {and Nathan, of course}. It was a fabulous outing and I got such a sense of relaxation and enjoyment from being {almost} all alone in the woods/hills of Sussex County.

LUSSCROFT FARM
is Sussex County's best kept secret, neatly tucked away in the hills
of Wantage Township, New Jersey.

The day could not have been any nicer for a visit to this Farm. Immediately I grabbed my SLR and began snapping photographs only to see a message blinking on the screen "No Memory". I left my memory card in the computer at home! I hate when that happens, but thank God for cell phones with the ability to take semi decent photographs.

My attention was immediately drawn to a stone mansion {I will get to that in a moment}, a gorgeous barn surrounded by trees in every color, and a medicine wheel. I was mostly intrigued by the plants that grew within the wheel shaped bed surrounded by stones and wooden stumps not the meaning of the structure itself. I do not subscribe to these beliefs but for those of you who would like to know the symbolism click here.

Most of the plants had medicinal purposes and of course Nathan would fall in love with the echinacea, not for its property of being an immune system booster but because it is prickly. In fact, he fell into the echinacea several times while attempting to pull the flowers off.



The gardener, Brian makes his own composted soil and has used much of it on the medicine wheel. I admire how much work he has put into this area of the farm. Although this piece of land is part of the NJ Division of Parks & Forestry, there is nothing is really happening.



I was super excited to see some Calendula within the spokes of the medicine wheel and may return to grab a few seeds before it gets too cold.



So we enjoyed our afternoon on the farm. We enjoyed sitting on the bench under the tree, watching the slowly setting sun illuminate the many different colors of Autumn around us.



Back to the mansion {Turner Mansion, or the Manor House} for a few photographs with my camera phone. The stone work was amazing! Brian told me to take a walk around back if I liked what I saw up front and I am so glad I did.




The backyard consists of an arcaded stone grotto and viewing deck and a vegetable cellar.



The vegetable cellar is built into the hillside out of concrete and hollow terra cotta block. What a beautiful two chamber arched vault! Now if it would only stop raining so I can return.

UPDATE:
A friend of mine informed me on Facebook that a lot is going on at Lusscroft Farm. There is a committee that meets once (or twice) a month. The school she teaches at, Ridge and Valley Charter School, helped plant the Medicine Wheel Garden. The committee that meets is really trying to do great things with the farm!