On March 1st we visited a fair trade store in Hackettstown called "What in the World", with one of our Monday homeschool groups. Lorna has been using the Heifer International fair trade curriculum, "Get It", with this group and researching the history and production of coffee, bananas and cut flowers; with particular attention to how they are traded on a world market.
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What in the World sell coffee, but also many other items including jewelery, clothing and housewares.
| The following Sunday, Lorna, Jack, and some of his other homeschooling friends attended a great seminar about Native American Clothing and Dress. They learned how the presenter made his own clothing and he also related this to the work of some modern artists who depict the historical life and customs of the Delaware Indians. |  |
Our other Monday homeschool group have continued to study local farms and farming families in Liberty Township, and have interviewed our neighbors Doris, Alberta and June about their lives on the family farm. Doris is now 86 and no longer farms, but keeps active in the local community. Alberta, who is also 86 and June, who is younger are still both involved in farming! Alberta now rents out much of her acreage to sod-farmers on The Meadows (or The Mucklands, and this is the origin of the name, Great Meadows, in our mailing address.)
June and her son Carl own the Cummins farm. It was originally Sunnydale Bee Farm, later became a dairy farm and today is farmed for hay. Doris' father sold the Gruver family farm many years ago.
We also visited a farm down the hill in White Township, which is owned by the parents of Lisa, the current Watershed Ambassador for our area. Lisa has been helping the group learn about the importance of soil conservation and the risks of pollutants resulting from farming, which can harm our Pequest river watershed. On the day we visited her farm, we viewed a wetlands restoration project, native grass plantings and learned about integrated pest management on their Christmas tree plantation. She then helped us take soil samples for testing from our own yard.
In other education, Jack and three of his homeschooling friends completed a Physics Quest course on lasers and light (and a little quantum mechanics) run by Phil.
On the 20th, Lorna spotted our first Spring flower, a Coltsfoot, right on schedule on the first day of Spring!
Palm Sunday was a busy morning at church as we introduced our new chicks to the Sunday School class and everyone had the chance to cuddle one. Later that day we caught the final performance at Growing Stage Theater, of "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" - very funny :-)
The Liberty Township Environmental Commission teamed up with neighboring White Township to host an evening on energy conservation. It was interesting and informative, but a bit short on attendees. Go figure!
| Phil went amphibian spotting with Doug and Diane, and also introduced Sharon to some of the wonders of this wet, nocturnal world. As last year we counted peepers, wood frogs, 4-toed salamandars and american toads as well as some big spotted salamandars. Phil didn't notice at the time, but look at the colors on this big american toad (my finger is for scale - must remember to bring a ruler :-) |  |
Work on our Flying Cloud Airstream trailer continued around the other activities. Phil fixed the bathroom floor (partially rotted out) and installed the composting toilet and a new Atwood propane range, and started painting when the sun warmed the interior sufficiently. The rain tested the new roof vent installation which seems to have fixed the leaks.
