Griggstown Quail Farm is a New Jersey producer of game birds that is run by George Rude. [1] It was the winner of Edible Communities' New Jersey Farm local hero award in 2010. [2]
Griggstown Quail Farm is a New Jersey producer of game birds that is run by George Rude. [1] It was the winner of Edible Communities' New Jersey Farm local hero award in 2010. [2]
It is located in the Griggstown section of Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, and was started in 1973 by George Rude with twelve quail on 2 acres (8,100 m2). [3] At that time the farm was owned by Peter Josten. George purchased the land from Josten in 1992, the Griggstown Quail Farm grew to over 75 acres (300,000 m2) of land. In 2007 the farm had about 35,000 pheasants, 70,000 quail, and 150,000 chickens. In season they raise Mallard duck, Muscovy duck, Bourbon Red turkey, and partridge. [1] [4] All the birds are free-range.
The birds are sold to D'Artagnan, Inc., in Newark, New Jersey. [1] In addition, a number of other distributors and restaurants carry poultry raised on the farm. Distributors in New York include Cittarella Market and Ottomanelli Sons, as well as a number of New York City restaurants such as, North End Grill, Lutèce and The Four Seasons. [3] New Jersey restaurants that use the poultry include The Bernards Inn, the former Ryland Inn, Mediterra, Tre Piani, elements, ShipWreck Point, Brothers Moon, Anton's at the Swan, Circa and the Lawrenceville Inn. [5]
Adam Brod of Mount Laurel, NJ is the Executive Chef. [6]
The northern bobwhite, also known as the Virginia quail or bobwhite quail, is a ground-dwelling bird native to Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba, with introduced populations elsewhere in the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. It is a member of the group of species known as New World quails (Odontophoridae). They were initially placed with the Old World quails in the pheasant family (Phasianidae), but are not particularly closely related. The name "bobwhite" is an onomatopoeic derivation from its characteristic whistling call. Despite its secretive nature, the northern bobwhite is one of the most familiar quails in eastern North America, because it is frequently the only quail in its range. Habitat degradation has likely contributed to the northern bobwhite population in eastern North America declining by roughly 85% from 1966 to 2014. This population decline is apparently range-wide and continuing.
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes birds that are killed for their meat, such as the young of pigeons but does not include similar wild birds hunted for sport or food and known as game. The word "poultry" comes from the French/Norman word poule, itself derived from the Latin word pullus, which means small animal.
Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl (Galliformes) and the waterfowl (Anseriformes). Anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives; together, they form the fowl clade which is scientifically known as Galloanserae. This clade is also supported by morphological and DNA sequence data as well as retrotransposon presence/absence data.
Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often reared by humans for their meat and eggs, or hunted as game birds.
The common pheasant is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin phasianus, "pheasant". The species name colchicus is Latin for "of Colchis", a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans. Although Phasianus was previously thought to be closely related to the genus Gallus, the genus of junglefowl and domesticated chickens, recent studies show that they are in different subfamilies, having diverged over 20 million years ago.
The red-legged partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. It is sometimes known as French partridge, to distinguish it from the English or grey partridge. The genus name is from Ancient Greek alektoris a farmyard chicken, and rufa is Latin for red or rufous.
Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products, for recreation ("sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, though most are terrestrial mammals and birds. Fish caught non-commercially are also referred to as game fish.
The Princeton Public Library serves the town of Princeton, New Jersey. It is the most visited municipal public library in New Jersey with over 860,000 annual visitors who borrow 550,000 items, ask more than 83,000 reference questions, log onto library computers over 90,000 times, and attend more than 1,300 programs. Its usage exceeds all but five of New Jersey's twenty-one county systems. Compared to New Jersey's largest municipal library, Newark, Princeton spends four times as much per capita, and has nearly double the number of visitors and circulation in absolute terms despite a tenth the population.
Griggstown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Franklin Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 819. The area was first settled around 1733.
The Nassau Inn is a full-service hotel in downtown Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It first opened at 52 Nassau Street in 1769 in a home built in 1756. The Inn experienced British occupation during the American Revolution and played host to members of the Continental Congress when it met in nearby Nassau Hall. In 1937, the original inn was demolished to make way for the Palmer Square development and a new, larger, inn opened at 10 Palmer Square in 1938. The hotel's restaurant, the Yankee Doodle Tap Room, has a large mural by Norman Rockwell, depicting Yankee Doodle, behind the bar. It is within walking distance of Princeton University.
The D&R Canal trail is a recreational trail in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The 77-mile (124 km) trail is made up of three segments that transverse three counties: a canal towpath from New Brunswick to Trenton; a canal towpath/rail trail from Trenton to Bull's Island; and a rail trail from Bull's Island to Frenchtown. The three combined trails together form the largest completed trail in New Jersey. Much of the trail runs along the existing Delaware & Raritan Canal within the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park.
The Washington Oak is a protected ancient white oak tree in Princeton, New Jersey, USA that overlooks the Princeton Battlefield State Park. The International Society of Arboriculture and the Tree Care Industry Association jointly recognize the Washington Oak as having lived at the time of the signing of the United States Constitution in 1787.
Pheasants Forever, Inc. (PF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization, is dedicated to conserving wildlife habitat suitable for pheasants. Formed in 1982 as a response to the continuing decline of upland wildlife and habitat throughout the United States, Pheasants Forever, and its quail conservation division, Quail Forever, have a combined membership of approximately 150,000 throughout North America.
A heritage turkey is one of a variety of strains of domestic turkey which retains historic characteristics that are no longer present in the majority of turkeys raised for consumption since the mid-20th century. Heritage turkeys can be differentiated from other domestic turkeys in that they are biologically capable of being raised in a manner that more closely matches the natural behavior and life cycle of wild turkeys. Heritage turkeys have a relatively long lifespan and a much slower growth rate than turkeys bred for industrial agriculture, and unlike industrially bred turkeys, can reproduce without artificial insemination.
D’Artagnan (D'Artagnan, Inc., also known as D'Artagnan Foods) is a food seller and manufacturer of beef, pork, lamb, veal, pâtés, sausages, smoked and cured charcuterie, all-natural and organic poultry, game, free-range meat, foie gras, wild mushrooms, and truffles.
Unionville Vineyard is a winery in the Unionville section of East Amwell in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Originally part of the largest peach orchard in the United States, the vineyard was first planted in 1988, and opened to the public in 1993. Unionville has 41 acres of grapes under cultivation, and produces 4,500 cases of wine per year. The winery is named for a former village near where the farm is located.
Heritage Foods USA is an American heritage meat distribution company with offices in Brooklyn, New York. It was formed in 2001 as the sales and marketing arm of Slow Food USA — a non-profit organization founded by Patrick Martins, dedicated to celebrating regional cuisines and ingredients. The Heritage Turkey Project, which helped double the population of heritage turkeys in the United States and upgraded the Bourbon Red turkey from “rare” to “watch” status on conservation lists, was Heritage Foods USA’s first project aimed at heritage breed preservation. In 2004, it became an independent company selling heritage breed meat to top tiered restaurants and consumers.
Hoagie Haven is an eatery located in Princeton, New Jersey, founded in 1974. In 1976, Emily and George Roussos purchased the restaurant and retained the name Hoagie Haven. The store was repurchased from the Russos in 2005 and is currently owned by Mike, Niko, and Costa Maltabes.
Elements is a New American fine dining restaurant located in Princeton, New Jersey which reopened on August 11, 2015 at its new location on Witherspoon Street in downtown Princeton. The restaurant originally opened in 2008 on Bayard Lane in Princeton and closed in 2014 while the new location was developed.
In Princeton, free-range white turkeys and Bourbon Red heritage turkeys are grown by George Rude and his employees at Griggstown Quail Farm and Market. Mr. Rude, a Hillsborough native, whose former business partner, Peter Josten, persuaded Mr. Rude to raise quail on the 65-acre farm he owns, now grows and processes quail, pheasants, mallards, poussins and chickens as well as turkeys at his U.S.D.A.-certified plant. Last year, he raised about 2,200 turkeys and sold about 1,800 directly to consumers. He also sells to the specialty food company D’Artagnan, to 30 upscale New Jersey restaurants and to some markets, including the Whole Earth Center in Princeton, which sells only fresh turkeys.
Farm owner and founder George Rude and Sytsema agree: the hardest thing is the simple thing done well. 'We don’t fancy anything up,' says Sytsema. 'We do the best we can with what we have.' And by all accounts, what they’ve got is a lot.
Griggstown Quail Farm in Princeton started out in the 1970s with 12 quail; within only a few years it had 12,000 birds and was supplying hundreds a week to haute restaurants in New York City, among them Lutèce and the Four Seasons. For the last 10 years the farm has also been supplying game birds to the country's leading purveyor, D'Artagnan, in Newark. Then, last year, Joan and George Rude, the owners of the farm, opened a retail store so the public could buy the same locally raised, all-natural birds that top-name chefs do.
Princeton's Griggstown Quail Farm has gotten into the act: Its slow-growing Bourbon Red turkeys range free in outdoor pens, ...
George Rude started raising bobwhite quail around 1975, mostly supplying them to hunt clubs. But his then-partner happened to know James Beard, often hailed as the father of American cooking, and soon the farm was raising and supplying quail for the kitchen of this champion of American food.