Secor Farms — Attraction in Mahwah

I absolutely love Secor Farms. I have visited many a nursery being a lover of gardening, and Secor Farms, especially in the early springtime, might be the closest thing to heaven on earth that I've experienced. Their greenhouse, with all the baby annuals just starting their lives, just did something to my energy! Moving row to row of all those tables just full of baby plants, just completely filling me with utter excitement and a desire to buy a bunch of each variety!

If you're into quality plants, like Proven Winners varieties, I've not seen a better selection of Proven Winners Annuals anywhere, in the whole region! Nothing competes with Secor's annual selection, and price - each 4" pot is only $4.95 typically, you cannot beat it!

Better yet, the entire staff is always incredibly pleasant, knowledgeable and friendly! I am so grateful to be their customer, as Melissa and Jackie both share in my love of plants and landscape design; and, the owner, Darrell, is the absolute man! They recognize a customer's love for the plants and appreciate that you're taking their plants to a good home!

I can really keep going on and on, singing their praises, but I can only thank them all by referring fellow, plant enthusiast I meet in my travels to their beautiful business. Oh, I don't think I mentioned the produce at the farmstand inside, nor their infamous, and delicious, Apple Cider Donuts! I could spend all day at this place, but then I wouldn't get any gardening done! 😊 All that said, I always leave this place with not just the best plants that'll perform the best in the landscape but also with a feeling a joy that is so fulfilling. I can't wait to visit again - heck, I might go today now that I'm thinking about it! 🤣 You must check...

A trip to Secor Farms for the corn maze, picking out pumpkins, apple cider donuts and a bag of winesap apples has been our family's Halloween custom for over 10 years. Though some of the activities were scaled back, presumably due to the pandemic, we enjoyed it just as much. Tickets for the short wagon trip out to the 2 corn mazes and the outer pumpkin "field" are $5 this year, but the smaller of the two mazes has several more paths than usual (you still really can't get lost). There are still plenty of photo op spots and the usual Halloween decor along the wagon ride.

If you opt not to pay for the corn maze/wagon trip, you can pick out pumpkins either at set prices on stands or at a smaller 'field' right by the Glitter Tatoo stand and the line for the wagon ride. Plenty of props here for Halloween photo ops, including a disabled tractor (there's another in the 'field' out by the corn mazes).

The pumpkin 'fields' are actually just grassy lawns with the (imported) pumpkins spread out for picking, but we don't mind. (It's certainly less muddy than a real field.) This year pumpkins from the 'fields' were 75 cents a pound, but there were also smaller pumpkins for $3.50 each.

The pumpkin and gourd selection was excellent as always... multiple sizes, colors and types abound. Other Harvest decorating essentials like bundles of colored corn and shocks of cornstalks, decor strawbales, and autumn plants were in evidence.

There's also a small petting zoo of farm animals and a strawbale maze for kids (much smaller this year).

The donuts were superlative as always, as were the apples-- they have at least 7 varieties but it's the only place in the area we can get our favorite Winesaps, a late-October variety.

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When one thinks of the words ‘rural’ and ‘farmland,’ these are not terms one hears a lot in Bergen County, NJ, one of the most heavily populated counties to surround New York City. Yet the county has a rich history in farming and agriculture from the late 1600s up into the 1970s.

The small farms in north Jersey do more than just provide fruits and vegetables for our tables. They are open-air classrooms to our agricultural past, places to buy fresh produce and baked goods to support local family farm stores, and places for interesting special events and outings for families.

Being the first Saturday after Labor Day, my partner and I got a head start on the apple cider donuts made fresh daily, just oozing with apple cidery goodness and never hot.

Since 1973, located on Airmont Avenue in Mahwah, Secor Farms is a reminder of Bergen County's rural past and one of the last farms left in the area, passed down through three generations.

Upon arrival in the afternoon, parking was not an issue with only a handful of vehicles. However, the farm comes alive starting Sept 15 with a corn maze, hayrides, pumpkin picking, and a petting zoo where reservations are required, with all sorts of activities.

Their outside garden centers had pumpkins, gourds, fall decorations, and mums for purchase. We went inside their marketplace full of produce and managed to get a bag of mixed apple cider donuts and a quart of apple cider.

These baked donuts have the sweet tartness of apple cider with a coating of cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar. They were soft, moist, tender, and tastefully delicious. The price was reasonable. The staff was friendly.

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