A Greenway on the Banks of Big Timber Creek in Deptford Township
upcoming events
ANNUAL JERSEY FRESH PICNIC FUND RAISER SLATED FOR SUNDAY,SEPTEMBER 8, AT OLD PINE FARM LANDS TRUST
The trustees of Old Pine Farm Natural Lands Trust invite the world to the annual Jersey Fresh Picnic on Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. This annual event has been a fund raising success with good food, good company and good entertainment at the Willoughby House in Blackwood Terrace, Deptford, NJ.
The Treehouse Seisiun will return to entertain with Celtic and Irish music. They appear weekly at The Treehouse Café on Merchant Street in Audubon, NJ, on Thursday evenings.
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth, Walk Whitman will make an appearance and read some of his poetry.
Food will be provided by land trust members and visitors are encouraged to bring a pot luck dish. Fresh paw paws will be available for dessert, possibly in the form of ice cream. The event will be held rain or shine as there is room inside the Willoughby House to avoid getting wet. There will be a free will donation for this annual fund raiser.
The Willoughby House is located at the end of Pine Avenue, off Good Intent Road in Blackwood Terrace, or you can put "340 Pine Avenue, Deptford" into your favorite mapping service. There is an additional small parking lot available at the end of Rankin Ave, one block from Pine Ave. Questions – please call 856-217-9138.
LEARN ABOUT MUSHROOMS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE ENVIRONMENT ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 AT OLD PINE FARM
Join Jim Barg at Old Pine Farm Natural Lands Trust for our “Walk in the Wild” on Sunday, September 15, at 2 p.m. for an informative talk and relaxed walk. Jim will lead us down the trails in search of mushrooms. He will explain, in simple language, how we go about identifying mushrooms with special emphasis on recognizing some of the more common poisonous and edible mushrooms. As part of the identification process, Jim will explain the important roles that mushrooms and fungi play in the environment.
Jim Barg is a semi-retired graphic designer who is currently employed as a freelance wild food and mushroom forager for several restaurants in the New Jersey/Pennsylvania area. He is a past President of the New Jersey Mycological Association and is one of their veteran mushroom identifiers. He also serves as art director for the Association’s bimonthly newsletter. In addition, Jim is a consultant to the New Jersey Poison Control Center, acting as one of several mushroom identifiers who are called in cases of suspected mushroom poisonings. Jim’s passion for wild fungi and their identification stretches for several decades.
We will meet at the Willoughby House at the end of Pine Avenue, off Good Intent Road in Blackwood Terrace, or you can put "340 Pine Avenue, Deptford" into your favorite mapping service. There is an additional small parking lot available at the end of Rankin Ave, one block from Pine Ave. Please check our Facebook for changes and directions. Information and questions: Charles White, 856-217-9138. Car pooling recommended. Free and open to all.
Our Mission
Old Pine Farm Natural Lands Trust is dedicated to the continued care of the woods, wetlands, and meadow it manages. We are continuing to acquire additional lots to connect the original Old Pine Farm acreage to a larger trail network running through the Blackwood Terrace area. We also strive to create a deciated green trail from the headwaters of Big Timber Creek to the Delaware River.
Currently, Old Pine Farm Natural Lands Trust is working toward the immediate goals of obtaining additional property to complete the greenway, as well as the purchase of Willoughby House.
Old Pine Farm
Consisting of more than 45 acres of land, Old Pine Farm is one of the few remaining natural and protected areas along the highly developed tidal portion of Big Timber Creek. It offers a variety of terrain, including a meadow, woodlands, and wetlands, while being surrounded on three sides by many acres of fresh water in the Big Timber Creek.
The original Old Pine Farm Natural Lands Trust includes land contiguous to the Big Timber Creek and the Willoughby property, roughly 33 acres. In 2001, the trust purchased an additional 5.1 acres south of Good Intent Road along Bayer Avenue, creating an area called Greenway I. After this purchase, the trustees established a goal of developing a trail to connect Greenway I to the original 33 acres. This lead to the 2003 purchase of another 9.6 acres of land at the end of Second Avenue. This property, Greenway II, adjoins Greenway I. In 2006, an additional 3.3 acres of land between First Avenue and McNaughton Avenue was obtained, creating Greenway III.Acquiring these properties can take up to several years per property, since the process involves getting approval from the New Jersey Green Acres program, finding funds for payment, having the land appraised, and doing a title search.