New Jersey Counties I Visited

      When I turned 50 in 2006, I decided to visit 12 places each year in my home state of New Jersey. Therefore, in this order, I visited and wrote about the following:
2006: I visited 12 major attractions in different parts of NJ and wrote about them in The State I’m In, Issue #1.
2007: I visited more major attractions, and the reports about them appeared in The State I’m In, Issue #2.
2008: I visited even more major attractions that appeared in The State I’m In, Issue #3.
2009: 12 places in Atlantic City in The State I’m In, Issue #4.
2010: 12 places in Sussex County in The State I’m In, Issue #5.
2011: 12 places in Morris County in The State I’m In, Issue #6. 

     Starting in 2012, I started a twice a year publication called The Column from 2012 through 2019. In those issues I wrote about visiting 12 places, six places in each issue, about a different county in NJ—and about other places outside of NJ:
2012: Warren County
2013: Somerset County
2014: Hunterdon County
2015: Passaic County
2016: Bergen County
2017: Hudson County
2018: Essex County
2019: Union County

     I didn’t go anywhere in 2020, but I made up for it in 2021 and 2022, and those reports are in Dotty’s Dimensions Blog. 

Howell Living History Farm

      Tuesday, August 2, 2022: After becoming more educated about water conservation earlier in the day, after lunch, I learned more about farming, circa 1890 to 1910, at this Mercer County, New Jersey place: Howell Living History Farm, 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township (609-737-3299). After I picked up a map of their 130-acre farm, I learned that parts of the farm went back to the 1700s. Through the years, different owners ran this farm until the last owner, Inez Howell, donated the farm in 1974 to Mercer County in the hope that people, and especially children, would experience farm life as she knew it. Therefore, the Mercer County Park Commission has been restoring this farm to the way it would have looked around the turn of the 20th century. As I walked through the property, I noticed fields, fences, and a garden, as well as an orchard, pond, and plenty of buildings! Those farm buildings included barns, a corn crib, and an equipment shed, as well as a wagon house, outhouse, farmhouse, etc. I also looked at some people, many of them wearing early 20th-century-styled clothing, doing farm chores. Meanwhile, someone working here informed me that much of the food produced on this farm would be donated to local food banks. I also saw some of the farm animals: chickens, sheep, hogs, horses, and so on. Anyway, throughout the year, Howell Living History Farm presented events for the whole family to either watch or take part in. They also played host to the Mercer County 4-H Fair. While visiting this farm, you could be as active or as passive as you wished. 

Watershed Institute

     Tuesday, August 2, 2022: Many people were not aware of how important their actions could be toward water conservation and of how water & nature go hand in hand! Nevertheless, at The Watershed Institute, 31 Titus Mill Road, (Mercer County) Pennington, New Jersey (609-737-3735) I became more informed by way of the facts presented at their nature center. Here, I looked at texts, pictures, videos, and hands-on exhibits that explained in detail the need to conserve water and about the local flora & fauna of the surrounding area. Other displays showed taxidermy animals and some live animal displays. Even the flowers and plants outside were native to NJ. After seeing the nature center, I entered the nearby butterfly house where I noticed mostly monarch butterflies and a few other kinds of butterflies freely flying around and landing on the different flowers & green plants. Finally the other areas of this nearly 1000-acre parkland included a weather station, a historic farmstead, an organic farm, and several trails for hiking. If nothing else, I became more enlightened about where my water came from and how it became clean enough for drinking.