In the heart of the food hub that is Asbury, in Warren County, Emily and Dean Buttacavoli set up shop at Kash Valley Farm in an old stone barn that sits right neighborly to the acres they farm organically and the home they share with their 10-month-old son Gus, just down the road a very short piece.

Inside, you’ll find the couple’s seasonal Cabbage Throw Farm produce and vittles from other farmers and food artisans in the region known in culinary circles as the Northwest Kingdom. It’s not a supermarket; it’s a super-food-market. Want details on what’s on shelves and in bins and baskets? Ask Emily and Dean. One of your farmers is likely to be on site, to help and check out customers.

Inside a cozy outbuilding decked in wood walls and cement floors, vintage tables and shelving holding at-peak fruits and vegetables, Stone Circle’s farmers Jennifer and Andrew Steiner might kick back for a little conversation with a shopper curious about how to give shishitos a quick, charring fry or what the difference is among the many varieties of heirloom tomatoes, the colorful eggplants and the bumpy aromatic melons. Andrew’s also a chef, so he’s very in-the-know, and since the shelves at the farm store in Cape May Court House also hold the farmers’ favorite olive oils, vinegars, pastas and rices, shoppers’ suppers can happen in a one-stop jiff.

Abby and Jesse Sickler’s store at their expansive Hidden Creek Farm in Stow Creek sits at the end of a long drive past some of their fields, where, should you have a wandering eye, you’ll see cattle grazing, hogs constantly feeding, turkeys and chickens, both egg-layers and broilers, pecking away at grasses and cackling like the practiced gossip mavens they are. “We got the good stuff,” they seem to be saying. Inside the store are meats from all Hidden Creek animals, plus a well-curated selection of condiments and accents picked by Abby herself.

“When shopping at Hidden Creek,” Abby says, “you are stepping foot directly onto the farm that feeds you.” Stumped at what to do with the all-food bounty? Chances are either Jesse or Abby, like the Buttacavolis and Steiners, will be on hand to outline a week’s worth of menus for you based on the contents of their on-farm store.

The on-farm store is boutique in style and even in content, but it’s the most practical place to shop if what you’re looking for is breakfast, lunch and dinner and not costly center-aisle, chemically created, overpriced food-wanna-bes that you’ll be tossing in the trash – invariably after their use-by dates have passed.

On-farm stores, developed by farmers with convenience and education for the consumer in mind, are not only part of agriculture’s future in the Garden State, these stores are the epitome of smart-shopping.

Today’s on-farm stores emphasize the “on”: They’re not the old-school country markets that also stocked candies and other brought-in-from-the-outside sweets to attract families out for a Sunday afternoon drive; nor are they the monoliths set up to sell overflow crops from mega-farms. On-farm stores are where those who want to know all about where their foods come from do monthly stock-ups, come in on a set day of the week to buy groceries that sustain them for the seven days ahead, and drop in after work or school sports to catch quick-fixes for that night’s dinner. They’re able to do that because many of the farmers operating these stores have families, too, and know exactly what it takes to make meal-ends meet.

Many on-farm stores operate year-round; some are open longer hours now, during peak-harvest summer. While many sit dead-center on a farm, a handful sit down a road or around a corner from the farm’s concentrated acres. Then again, there are farms in our state directly connected – and even named for! – our prime seafood harvests and operated by seafood farmers who have to deal with the fact that it’s not practical (or legal) to set up shops on the water. But ingenious and hard-working farmers of the seas plant place on land to make their harvests accessible to shoppers who put a premium on quality and buying local.

TPW has put together a list of on-farm stores worth a visit with a load of market bags and a cooler with ice packs at the ready. Stop in and stock up. In alphabetical order, a dozen on-farm stores to visit, with specialties of note:

Blue Moon Acres, Pennington

Rice is the king of crops at this all-purpose family farm where prime produce also is grown. But it’s the freshly husked and polished weekly rices you should procure first, then head to the produce section and finish by selecting key condiments to complete meals. It’s a bountiful place, with out-back views of the fields to enjoy post- or pre-shop. N.B. Look for specialty crops, such as fresh young ginger, that’ll work with Blue Moons rices. Website: www.bluemoonacres.com.

Cherry Grove Farm, Hopewell

A wide-ranging choice of cheeses headlines one of the Garden State’s best-known on-farm stores, cheeses found in cases and fridges that also stock various other dairy products, meats from Cherry Grove and prepared foods in collaboration with neighboring farms, most in Mercer County. Condiment geeks should check out Soha Savory marinades, dressings and spreads. Website: www.cherrygrovefarm.com.

Hidden Creek Farm, Stow Creek

In addition to Hidden Creek’s own meats, poultry and eggs, and the extensive condiments/accents and pantry staples collections, there’s a farm-made skin care product line on tap that’s both on trend and being recommended by skin-care professionals: tallow-based balms, creams, scrubs and soaps. Website: www.hiddencreekfarmnj.com.

Kash Valley Farm/Cabbage Throw Farm, Asbury

Synergy scores big at this atmospheric market (which could be the backdrop for a high-style fashion shoot) designed, curated and run by Emily and Dean Buttacavoli. In addition their organic Cabbage Throw produce, the farmers stock top-drawer breads, coffee, flour, popcorn, pasta, hot sauce, honey – and more, sourcing as they do from River Valley Community Grains (Marksboro Mills), Pretty Bird Farm and Comeback Farm. And many others. Website: www.cabbagethrowfarm.com.

Melick’s Town Farm, Oldwick (Tewksbury Township)

The granddaddy of farm stores sits just down the main drag of Oldwick and around the corner of King Street from the orchards that have made the Melicks ag legend in New Jersey. Peaches and apples of serious heritage, plus nectarines and plums, sweet ciders and hard ciders are stocked in the store, along with all the vegetables the family grows and a whole lot of baked goods. Website: www.melickstownfarm.com.

Phillips’ Farm Store, Holland Township

Year-round the Phillips family feeds its community in Hunterdon County’s River Towns and ag-rich townships that sprawl east from the Delaware. Produce, baked goods, meats, condiments – particularly the Phillips’ brand preserves – are stashed on shelves, chilled cases and large bins that highlight current bounties. Off-season and non-Jersey-grown items appear (lemons, limes and such), but locals know the best is local. Website: www.phillipsfarms.com.

Sassafras Hill Farm, Barnegat

Small, but bountifully stocked in high-summer, the shop is open only weekends, showcasing its farm’s vegetables and fruits and supplemented by breads baked locally and meats from esteemed Lima Farms. There’s Sassafras honey, dairy from Garden State sources and specialty preserves the folks here love touting. Pick up a jar of jam made from beach plums. Website: www.sassafrashillfarm.com.

Scallop Shack Farms, Rio Grande

Captain Brady Lybarger, scalloper and fine finfish fisherman, and his wife Amanda Axelsson, whose gifted palate ensures nothing on the shelves of this go-to shop in the Cape May Airport complex is less than four-star for-sure, probably would set up shop on the ocean where Brady and his pro-fisher chums ply their trade – if people were equipped with fins and floating devises that could ferry their catches and Amanda’s pantry products. But we don’t live in fairy tales. We can, however, shop at this boat-to-table market and eat like princesses and princes, courtesy of Scallop Shack Farms. Website: www.scallopshackfarms.com.

Stone Circle Farm, Cape May Court House

Beans spilled at the start of this story as to what’s in store at this on-farm store. It’s a three-season market focusing on Stone Circle’s exquisite produce, but also a place where, its farmers say, you can do your weekly marketing for those fruits and vegetables and also Sickler’s Circle View Farm’s pasture-raised meats, cheeses from Cherry Grove Farm, sourdough bread from Station Homestead, and berries from Happy Valley Berry Farm. Website: www.stonecirclefarm.com.

Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen, Newfield

Oyster farmer Lisa Calvo may raise and harvest her Sweet Amalia oysters along Delaware Bay on the Cape May County coast, but the heart and soul of this market on the edge of Gloucester County is where most get to know the best-tasting oysters this side of heaven. Many of these oysters are realized by the chef on board here, Melissa McGrath, who leads the team of curators bringing in top-notch local produce, best-quality condiments, accents and spices, and even Lizzie Love Cakes. It might well be food heaven on Earth. Website: www.sweetamalia.com.

Valley Shepherd Creamery, Long Valley

Farmer/cheesemaker/dairy savant Eran Wajswol long has crafted cheeses heralded by critics that are sold at farmers’ markets, cheese specialty shops and supermarkets. But it’s here at his on-farm Sheep Shoppe that you can get pretty much his entire lineup, as it’s in season, plus his yogurts, butters, quirky odds and ends, and a host of pantry products. Website: www.valleyshepherd.com.

Windy Brow Farms, Fredon Township

The crown jewel of the Northwest Kingdom is this farm and its store, which just might keep you from making the rest of the stops on whatever tour of the backroads of this region you had planned. So, big deal: Plan another day for all that. Here, at this impressive, large and mindfully stocked store is a bake shop with cookies to coo over and pastries that hold their own with vaunted cheffy bakeries; ice cream freezers holding pints of the singular flavors farmer Jake Hunt creates and makes; freezer cases filled with meats, courtesy of the Hunt family’s very nearby livestock farm; pantry items typically found in chic urban specialty food shops and catalogs; jars and jars and jars of Windy Brow Farms own jams and jellies; and, at center stage, huge bins of the day’s harvests. WBF is known for its tree fruits – pick-your-own dominates late summer and into fall – but it’s also renowned for its walk-up ice cream window and, from mid-May till mid-October, weekend pizza-plus nights under the pergola of the adjacent outdoor kitchen. Be wise, and make it a daytrip. Website: www.windybrowfarms.com.