2 Hydrogens and 1 Oxygen, Please

Not to be confused with Lambertville, NJ’s fun Shad Fest (celebrating the shad fish in the Delaware River), the Shed Fest is October 1st, sponsored by the Raritan Headwaters Association. A shortening of watershed, the Fest takes place on a wildlife preserve and is a family-friendly event where our local water source is celebrated. Water is life. 

The Water in the Shed

“Watershed” is a familiar term that is slung around but if queried, people might stammer to define. Don’t overthink it – like a shed for tools, spare parts, or extra stuff, a watershed is an area of land that drains into a body of water. It’s where we get our precious, vital water. It’s the lifeblood of plants and animals. It’s vital to the water cycle. It’s a natural resource that is incredibly hard to restore once it’s corrupted. The world is already beginning to experience challenges and conflict over water, even though the planet is 70% water (viewed from space from certain angles, the earth appears to not even have any landmasses!). 

Celebrating the Flow

Califon, the HQ of Bex, is a river town. The fishing shop has been on Main Street since the 70s, the Califon Bridge over the Raritan River inspired the famous bridge scene in It’s a Wonderful Life, and the river is stocked with trout for fisherfolk. A project to remove the ramshackle dam at the curve in River Road is in place. You will often spot young people fishing from the Califon Bridge in summer, evoking wholesomeness and good country living. 

Fairview Farm, in all Fairness

The Shed Fest will be held at Fairview Farm, a wonderful 170-acre preserve that is free to the public (they do take donations). It’s an outdoor learning lab, a deer area for hunting, and an awesome place for birders, plein air painters, naturalists, meditators, and hikers. It’s also a pollinator hotspot. “Fairview Farms is great,” Chef Becky says. “They keep a part of Hunterdon County preserved and wild, as I remember nostalgically from growing up here. Thankfully, Hunterdon County has resisted a certain amount of sprawl and big box and McMansion-ism, but the Fairview Farms is a fantastic model.” She adds: “Good water is essential to good cooking. I use reverse osmosis to improve the water, but water is a given in cooking.” Bex has been a sponsor of the Fest over the years and is sponsoring this year’s. 

Getting Out 

The Shed Fest will feature craft beer and cider, food trucks, kids’ activities, and more. Remember how during the peak of covid, people lamented the good ol’ days of getting out and interacting with others and doing stuff? Here’s an opportunity! Like rights, you have to use opportunities or lose them. In-person interaction fires all our senses (unlike virtual interaction), gets us fresh air, hones social skills, gives us exercise, and more. Like clean air, clean water is a necessity for our sustainability and sanity as a species.