Sometimes when I have appointments down on the Main Line, I go back via Radnor Street Road to check on the Wayne Natatorium sign. The reason I do that is I actually do not trust Radnor Township to maintain it even though it’s a state historical marker. And I am the reason it’s there.
But as I was going through today, I noticed that the parking lot that is at the corner of Willow Avenue and Radnor Street Road for Cowan Field was magically FedEx parking.
Funny thing about that lot is it supposed to be permit parking only or if you’re using the park. I can tell you that there was no one in the park when I drove by.
So is FedEx renting parking spaces from Radnor Township? I didn’t see anything like hang tags that would make one think there’s a parking permit involved.
I did have a giggle over this because when I had come through Wayne earlier, I noticed the stealth parking enforcement fairies’ van roaming around so they could hand out tickets. I guess they don’t go all the way over into Little Chicago?
Of course, I also noticed there were plenty of cars parked around Little Chicago in places that aren’t actually legal.
But hey, that’s Radnor Township at its best: inconsistent.
Isn’t this part of Jack Larkin’s ward? He’s still the Ward 1 Commissioner, right?
Anyway, I hope these FedEx trucks have legal permits because otherwise it’s pretty crappy to get chased around by the parking enforcement fairies and there’s a double standard right?
So this post seeks clarity. Above is straight from the PA Department of State Bureau of Charities Charities Enforcement and Disciplinary Actions. You can look it up yourself. Search FarmerJawn squished together like that. Once in another life, I knew someone who in their other life was an investigator for the Bureau of Charities. This is what they do, they check things out.
See that notice above? That is when they received the letter from the IRS for tax exempt status. If you read the letter, the effective date was mid-2021.
Let that sink in. This has been for a few years. Around this time last year we woke up one day to the news that the Westtown location we knew for 30+ years as Pete’s Produce etc. on Westtown’s campus had been vandalized with hateful and disgusting graffiti.
What is interesting is this news report says that BEFORE the graffiti there had been other vandalism, but correct me if I am wrong (please) that there were no security cameras or trail cameras anywhere? I am guessing if I recall what was said somewhere after these incidents that now they do have cameras? I am glad they do because this criminal behavior is terrible, right? BUT to date these cases of graffiti and vandalism go unsolved, don’t they? And that is a great police department too (WEGO.)
So a lot of events are off site. She claims people have made her feel unwelcome in Chester County, so maybe one reason is her events seem more often than not elsewhere? As in other than all those lovely acres in Westtown? Take the free egg give away recently….in New York City no less?
And her newly minted interview with desperately seeking relevance, Christina Pirello (used to have or maybe still has a TV cooking show), just days before the cease and desist thing broke interviewed her in Elkins Park. At least it looked like something was being grown on the handful of acres she “farms” over there, right?
Why not give out free eggs at the farm store she got to walk into over at Westtown? Why not show Christina Pirello Westtown too?
So first came Axios which most of us then noticed because of Vista today.
Then came the Philadelphia Inquirer article. The reporter I have no issue with but she is part of features/food from what I can tell so we can assume the publicist placed this article?
Then comes the stunning public reel thing someone sent me:
That was sent with this screenshot to prove this was public and available for a re-mix:
Lets talk about this: if you ever question anything you are a hater or a racist, correct? And all the flurry of media? Isn’t it more like she talks when she wants something? Also there is still the whole 501(c)(3) of it all on her website and the donation link is still up:
And there is still a live GoFundMe as of the publishing of this post :
But hey, that is not active fundraising right?
And she gets defensive over her business entities being legally registered. Here they are and nice deflection, and no one said they weren’t registered:
This fauxmer has gotten lots of support and money from all sorts of avenues. A James Beard award, and was briefly it seems a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier. That was for the tea company? Is she still a member?
She talks about keeping employees paid all the time? Has she really? Including all of the time in Elkins Park, as well as the stores she once had at 6730 Germantown Avenue? And what about that wellness spa Mae Bell or whatever from when was that? 2023? (And that wasn’t supposed to be at 6730 Germantown but close by?
Last May, I was attacked viciously online and off for questioning the grant of it all because among other things, the grant application had used that Germantown Avenue address and wasn’t that an odd thing as she no longer was a tenant there, correct?
I and others have been labeled “haters” and “racists” for questioning this from jump. What they always neglect to mention is I have never had an issue with her purported mission.
Also of no 501(c)(3) at present why does her Linktree go to her donation page? Do they have to be called other than donations if 501(c)(3) is not active?
I support supporting local farmers of all kinds and do.
I support dealing with food insecurity issues which is why I support local food banks when I can especially in helping get the word out. So yeah, if her mission statement was more than words at this point, I would be thrilled because there are so many people in need and we live in a world where so many of us have lived on the edge of not being able to be even self supporting.
I am also a big believer in things like community gardens and I think in today’s world having what used to be called victory gardens is a good thing because face it, the US is on the precipice of disaster, which of course will cause a whole other category of haters to rise up because I said that.
I am also not only a supporter of women and minorities in farming, but horticulture as well. Why? Because they are universal things that benefit us all as human beings, right?
I am wondering if the Westtown ought to consider at this point getting a real farmer, not merely a person who checks idealistic or ideological boxes on those acres? The other conversation now should maybe be in the landowner’s failure to supervise and the land’s future? Westtown has not said much of ANYTHING since they approved her to lease the land, have they? So we don’t actually know what they are thinking and how they feel, correct? Can we trust Westtown to keep these acres farmed in perpetuity? Aren’t there still other farmers interested?
And let’s talk about getting the organic status. I have no issue with that and neither does anyone I have ever spoken with. The only detractor is it is honestly expensive to accomplish this. BUT one thing I have never understood is why she didn’t really plant anything much the past couple of years in Westtown? I asked farmers (including female) who told me the land at Pete’s was in good shape and and apparently you can farm land goingorganic but you can’t sell the produce those years as organic so why didn’t she plant more? And last year (2024) as per a 2023 Daily Local article, 63 acres was supposed to be planted? Did that happen?
FarmerJawn Agriculture is bringing organic farming to the 128-acre Westtown School property at 1225 E. Street Road, along Route 926, where farmer Pete Flynn once grew crops.
For the current growing season, FarmerJawn, more precisely CEO Christa Barfield, is farming two acres, and stewarding most of the school’s farmland. She is letting most of the land sit fallow, for this, her first growing season.
FarmerJawn will only raise crops organically. For fruits, vegetable and herbs to be certified organic by the USDA, the land must be chemical free for three years.
FarmerJawn has big plans for 2024; Barfield intends to grow and harvest on 63 acres. Although the crops won’t be certified organic by the USDA, the harvest will be chemical free.
Effective Jan. 1, organic farming is coming to Westtown School.
The Quaker pre-K-12, coed, day and boarding school has tapped Philadelphia’s Christa Barfield to farm 123 acres of the school’s 600 acres. She will farm organically, through an unconventional model.
Barfield is replacing long-time Westtown farmer Pete Flynn who retired in October.
How many of those objectives have been met? Again, where is Westtown School on this?
And again, for the record, what she claimed she wanted to do here is NOT a bad thing, but what has she actually accomplished vis-à-vis FARMING? Where is the food coming from that she sells and doesn’t grow? Pete and other markets will tell you who they bought apples from etc.
The problem is there has been a lot of talk and a lot of plans and a lot of spin courtesy of a publicist but what is going on? Other than events etc. off site from 1225 E. Street Road? Have all five acres on that Elkins estate been consistently farmed?
And the media flurry this time? She ranges between influencer behavior and hiding, but can it be she simply likes to control the narrative which is human?
Now in 2022, she was eligible for a $50,000 grant by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for Urban Infrastructure for Agriculture. That was a reimbursement grant so did she get that money in the end?
So the thing about Pete Flynn from Pete’s Produce? Did that actually happen? Now being new to Chester County can be hard for anyone, not just because of race. Being new in any community once you hit a certain age is hard. But it doesn’t sound like the Pete Flynn most talk about does it?
And that whole thing about the landlord issues in Elkins Park where she once had greenhouses?
Things are looking up for Christa Barfield, owner of Farmer Jawn Agriculture, who faced many hardships this past year. In April, Barfield made a big decision to move out of her old space in Elkins Park after facing landlord problems and the destruction of her crops. One month ago, she launched a new crowdfunding campaign to move the organization onto the Elkins Estate.
“I’m not interested in a farm that’s over an hour away from Philadelphia,” says Barfield, about the importance of the location. “I want it to be accessible, simple, and easy for people to go.”At 1760 Ashbourne Road, the Elkins Estate is a three-minute drive and a 12-minute walk from the Philadelphia borderline on Cheltenham Avenue.
Mmmmkay so if she didn’t want to be on a farm over an hour away from Philadelphia, she comes to Westtown?
Philadelphia Eater had an article in 2021 about the whole greenhouse thing and move to the Elkins Estate:
Ok that I can maybe comprehend. A bad landlord and not prepared? That is a learning curve. But then the store at 6730 Germantown Avenue? Poof? It’s gone and what about the tea business? And the garden supply store that next went into 6730 Germantown Ave? And then the spa thing close by that was talked about?
Grid Philly did a big article in 2022 that also filled in more blanks:
You can read the whole article on their website. So look, I get that setbacks happen etc., but maybe the reality is that this is a woman who talks a good game and has good ideas, but really can’t execute them?
She gets good press. She should, as again she is that rare bird who calls herself a farmer and has a publicist. But the proof is in the pudding. Maybe it’s time to tell the truth and shame the devil as some old people I once knew used to say?
There are just too many questions. And they can’t all be fobbed off as comments from haters, correct?
What will be the future at Westtown?
Will Westtown ever talk about it?
Right now this is all still something I am skeptical of. And after going through her placed media coverage for the past couple of years, a lot of the issues at a minimum come down to a lack of experience. Some will say how can you get experience except to dive right in? Ok right, except we’re talking how many acres of land mostly in Westtown? Perhaps it’s just too much?
It’s time for straight answers. If she doesn’t she runs the risk of hurting the goals she claims to have and the people, all of the people. who are trying to support her.
Will FarmerJawn survive? Will FarmerJawn survive in Westtown? Is this all still too much the Emperor’s New Clothes?
Time will tell.
Sign me, still not a believer and I am allowed. And no, I still have no desire to meet her. Her interviews, when granted, speak volumes. I will however still support local farmers as I always have done. I believe in that. And I also actually love being in Chester County.
Yesterday I threw up a post about a problem in East Whiteland with an orphaned railroad bridge/underpass. It was once part of the West Chester Railroad. The structure is dated 1915 and I’m posting photos that a neighbor to this structure took today.
It’s kind of obvious what’s happening. It’s falling apart and it’s dangerous and it needs to come down. Not everything can be saved, not everything should be saved.
Here’s hoping Chester County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania can look beyond their collective navels and assist East Whiteland here .
I would say it was safe to assume that time is of the essence here and people need to pay attention to the fact that this road is closed with good reason. Today, people have a habit of ignoring police barricades and road closed signs.
Yesterday‘s post by me is at the bottom, and this is one of these things that well a local paper used to write about. But who knows what they let our local paper write about most of the time.
Please avoid Ravine Road in East Whiteland and this specifically is why it’s closed. And please don’t start some big thing about “Oh we need to save this structure.” No, we don’t. It’s dangerous. It needs to come down.
Oh yes, it’s never dull whenever West Goshen is trying to pull something shady as shit.
The latest? They want to erase their meeting videos.
You know just when you think this truly bass ackwards Pennsyltucky municipality has nothing left to make you say WTF, oops they did it again.
Start copying all those videos West Goshen residents if you wish to preserve whatever shady ass record exists or literally they will make a giant April Fool’s joke out of all of you. And oh yeah, get thee to the APRIL 1, 2025 meeting starting at 6 PM.Pack the halls.
So yo, Narbs and Lower Merion neighbors, did you think this was going away? It is NOT. I wrote about this before and the lawyer fighting to save this park is working hard (Phil Rosenzweig) BUT people? You need to go BACK to meetings and speak. Or speak via zoom. Email. Contact media.
I checked when this all went up on Narberth Borough’s website for this evening and well, can you say shifty? They barely provide notice and that is a TYPICAL SLEZOID move to keep people away from meetings.
Narberth’s Democrats should be ashamed since well.. developing a park is hardly environmentally friendly is it? It’s just greed and laziness.
Where is the clause about shady shit in trying to sell a park for development???
People, you can zoom or go in person. But NOTHING beats bodies in the seats in person.
The Save Sabine Coalition has a website. It does need to be updated, as people have lives and they get busy. But folks? It’s pretty simple: if you don’t take an interest, Narberth Borough Council will continue down this path, which to me is sad and I thought they had grown past it but they haven’t.
I can’t fight this fight for you guys, I can only point it out. And I can say I think it is WRONG because it is wrong. But these people who are Narberth Borough government including lame duck Mayor Andrea Deutsch need to hear it from you guys.
That is kind of all I have got.
Narberth has issues and there are people on this borough council who leave me gobsmacked that they don’t get this.
Downingtown tried this a few years ago and got smacked down all the way to the PA Supremes.
So Savvy Main Line blew the lid off of Radnor Township School District and the book banning of it all. The complainant ONCE AGAIN was the SAME guy who tried before, only this time, Radnor’s current unimpressive Superintendent of Schools Ken Batchelor who has obviously forgotten all about the diverse communities he once served, and STILL serves, seems to be capitulating to this dude’s whims?
My opinion on Batchelor is overwhelmingly he needs to go.
What is this man who oops started this again really afraid of? Did Superintendent Ken Batchelor misplace his balls somewhere? Yes, I just did say this because libraries? Libraries are supposed to be a peaceful place. A refuge. A haven. A safe place. I was and still am a bookworm. I loved libraries as kid. It was a place to escape, to visit foreign lands, learn something new, develop your own intellectual curiosity.
A library (again) is supposed to be a safe space.
This same man who has been wreaking havoc in Radnor probably embarrasses his kids, but are they allowed to have their own opinions? So he can keep his own kids out of the library and away from certain books and I have to wonder if he knows what his own kids get up to on the internet, social media, at the mall, etc.? Probably not.
I think this Radnor secret committee is also BS. I hope more and more people jump on this and give the Radnor librarians and librarian everywhere facing these issues back their libraries. And if these committee members are so proud of what they have done, why don’t they stand up in public?
And for every book that is banned, people need to open little free libraries of banned books everywhere.
If you don’t want your kids to read something, that is your personal choice as a parent, except if you think your kids will just not check something out that you said no to like a simple book, were you ever a kid? For me it was Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, yet I think some of those novels like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tom Jones or Valley of the Dolls were a lot more racy.
To follow is the excellent Savvy reporting and Radnor School District won’t allow embedding of their videos so follow this link for the March 11, 2025 Policy Committee Meeting. I also dug up some old articles from when this guy started the witch hunts and book banning circus before.
Here’s hoping Radnor finds a new superintendent along with reversing this book ban. Parents need to parent in their own homes, not an entire school district. Would that this man who is at it again be so passionate about drugs, alcohol, and bullying. And well this angry dad could put his kids in Catholic school or a Christian school. But no, he wants Radnor taxpayers to pay for his phobias. Radnor taxpayers is that ok with you? It would not be ok with me.
Choice. Look it up, Mr. Phobic. Here’s hoping you allow your kids to have choices.
This afternoon was the long awaited ribbon-cutting of the new West Whiteland Township Public Works complex on Valley Creek Boulevard.
It was a nice afternoon with members of the public and public works. Yes I was supposed to go…and I forgot. Life gets busy and I just plain forgot. Thanks to Bill Rettew of The Daily Local I have photos to share with everyone!
Congratulations West Whiteland Township!
Chair of the West Whiteland Supervisors Raj Kumbhardare provides remarks at the ribbon cutting ceremony. (Bill Rettew photo)
I have literally lost count of how many times I have written about this house. I’m speaking about the Joseph Price House in West Whiteland Township, Chester County. Located at the corner of Clover Mill Road and S. Whitford Rd. in Exton the address is 401 Clover Mill Rd.
This is a historic asset that is rotting day by day, week by week, year by year. This home is owned by two older gentleman that I assume bought it as as an investment property only nothing has ever happened. It just rotted.
This house is known as a rural or Queen Ann Gothic. It was built in 1878 and altered in 1894. It is constructed of quarried green serpentine limestone that was quarried locally.
I have known of several people in the past few years who have tried to make a deal with the owners to buy it and save it.
It could have so many adaptive reuses, it could also be a single-family home again. I think it would make a great boutique bed and breakfast AND as there is one down the street so there is a market for this.
The urban explorer known as Abandoned Steve had written about this house in the fall and there was a video. The video has since disappeared.
Coming March 2025 from Abandoned Fantasies
I really wish the video had not disappeared because it gave an accurate account of what the interior of the house was like as well as the fact that it was not a secured location. Sure houses can be empty, but don’t they also legally have to be secure?
I received a tip from another urban explorer letting me know that the interior of the house seems to be getting cleaned out. Not necessarily cleaned up but cleaned out so that could mean any number of things.
At the top of the wish list is it’s being cleaned out to sell.
At the bottom of the wish list is it’s being cleaned out so someone can file a demolition permit.
Using AI, Abandoned Fantasies shows how this beautiful house could just disappear if not saved.
Also on the list is just the thought wrinkling my brain is someone simply stealing from this house because it’s not secure? (I mean, obviously it’s not secure if urban explorers aren’t really having any difficulty entering the premises, right?)
Now, honestly? I would not enter the premises unless I had someone in an official capacity with me and I had permission. I’ve actually wanted to do that for years to photograph the inside before it disappears. Because I really feel unless something happens, it will disappear.
The Joseph Price House is a very unique and special piece of County history and architecture.
In the fall when I saw the video from Abandoned Steve Exploration, I forwarded that video to someone on the West Whiteland Historic Commission whose response was nothing short of snotful after I contacted them a week later to make sure they had received the video after not even receiving a courtesy acknowledgment of receipt of it. I found that rather disappointing personally, but hey, I tried. I do believe that that this historic commission overall is interested in preserving this property. Obviously I just contacted the wrong person.
There have been quite a few urban explorers in and out of this house. None of them want to see the house disappear. Every single one of them says how fabulous this house is and how it could be saved.
As a matter of fact, one has sent me video snippets and there are videos coming the third week in March called Abandoned Fantasies. They are combining actual footage of the house with software that shows you what the house might look like if it was renovated and restored. It takes urban exploration to the next level and I hope it encourages people to have a vision of what can happen if you restore an old house.
Coming March 2025 from Abandoned Fantasies
So I’m voicing concern yet again this morning about this beautiful house.
The Joseph Price House needs to be saved. It’s pretty much that simple.
#thisplacematters
I was sent this photo – very decrepit from the rear also obviously not secure so what if kids get in and I bet they have gone in.
If the house is being cleaned out for some reason, I hope the things that were original to the house like some of the furniture that I have seen in urban explorer videos and photographs are not just disappeared forever.
Irish Eyez ChesCo is reporting more pothole / sinkhole hell on the 30 Bypass.
This has been going on for weeks.
This has even been on the news.
So I don’t know what it’s gonna take to get PennDOT to actually do something but they can’t wait anymore. And I have to wonder about liability given how many people have reported the holes and road issues and they haven’t been fixed properly yet?
PennDOT really needs to get moving somebody could die here.
So…a little follow up for the no-no queen and the ostrich collective…err I mean supervisors and staff in Tredyffrin. I don’t mean to be so municipally sarcastic but somehow Tredyffrin brings it out in me regarding the do nothing attitude of helping Mt. Pleasant and a lot of other stuff these days. But hey you now have an art committee to do I am not quite sure what, right?
Anyway, Erin McPherson, Tredyffrin’s director of planning and zoning seemed like she so couldn’t possibly about anything at last week’s meeting that I wondered if this brand new photo would encourage her to get out from behind her desk and lumber on over to Mt. Pleasant and see for herself? She can use Waze if she doesn’t know how to get there, or ask Manager Bill Martin because he definitely knows where Mt. Pleasant is located, right? He lives in the township, correct?
The next photo is from the summer of 2024 and I was wondering how Erin McPherson, Tredyffrin’s director of planning and zoning thought everyone was going to navigate this?
Tredyffrin Township, your slip is showing….again. And your zoning notices about developers wanting taller fences over on Vincent Road are also amusing…perhaps people really don’t want McMansions backing up to 252 after all?
Welcome to Tredyffrin where officials seem to drool and/or make excuses?
