It's been almost a year since my last post, but I just love a couple items I saw in the paper today.
- A cabin in South Jersey was built between 1638 and 1643 and is designated the oldest standing wooden structure in North America. The couple that owns the cabin live in a newer part of the structure that was built in the 1900s. Visits to the cabin are free and will be for as long as the couple owns it; tours are available by appointment but they won't turn anyone away that just shows up. The husband is 85 years old and still repairs the cabin by hand using clay dug up from a farm in a nearby county because it was identified as being similar to the clay originally used to build the cabin. The couple is hoping to find someone willing to take over the cabin when they can no longer take care of it that will care about it as much as they do and keep it accessible to anyone that wants to see it.
- What is gleaning? Volunteers go to farms after the commercial harvesting has been completed and collect the surplus crops left behind. The farms always plant extra crops and hate seeing them go to waste. So groups like New Jersey Farmers Against Hunger coordinates between farms and volunteers to get that surplus food donated to food banks from June to December. From the 40 farms they partner with, about 4,000 pounds of produce is collected each week. They help feed about 7,000 people each year.
So a little history and a little volunteerism - much nicer to read about than Ebola
