On September 4th, 2015, ADDTEQ volunteered at Duke Farms! The team at ADDTEQ was fortunate enough to be asked to volunteer at the gorgeous Duke Farms.
Located in Hillsborough, N.J., Duke Farms has been the leading sustainability farm in New Jersey for over 120 years. In 1893 James Buchanan Duke purchased a 357-acre farm on a picturesque stretch of the Raritan River. He quickly acquires 40 adjacent farms, expanding the total acreage of Duke Farms to 2,200 acres. With the birth of his daughter, Doris Duke, came a new era for Duke Farms. Doris spent her life becoming familiar with sustainability practices around the world. She visited many countries and adopted their ways of agriculture and horticulture. After traveling, she came back to Duke Farms, renovated, built farm lands, brought in animals and flowers of all kinds and built the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Today, Duke Farms’ legacy and upkeep is due to Doris’ efforts and knowledge of agriculture. In 2006, The Duke Farms Foundation Board of Directors adopts a new mission: “To be a model of environmental stewardship and to inspire visitors to become informed stewards of the land.”
The ADDTEQ team volunteered their services to Duke Farms to help remove pesky roots that were jeopardizing the original structure of the long lasting Duke’s Barn, one of Doris’ favorite areas on the property. Volunteering at Duke Farms was not only a great opportunity to help out such a great property, but also an amazing opportunity to perform team building with the ADDTEQ team members. It was truly a great way to bond with fellow employees and work together to achieve a great cause.
Upon arrival, ADDTEQ received amazing insight on the property’s history, an overview of sustainability practices used by Duke Farms and an orientation of how Duke Farms is available to operate completely “off the grid,” by Clifford Berek, Manager of Volunteer Resources. We then moved over the the old barn to pull out invasive roots. Duke Farms needed these roots removed because the foundation of the old barn, which is in the process of being restored, was beginning to become damaged. With the help of ADDTEQ, the foundation is now in a good spot to be renovated to it’s original potential.
After performing hard work to pull out roots, ADDTEQ traveled to the Orchid Range, the first conservatory built on the property, to view some gorgeous and very rare types of Orchid flowers. The Orchid Range, an 1899 Lord & Burnham built conservatory, has since been renovated to LEED Platinum standards and houses tropical and subtropical gardens that continue a legacy of orchid cultivation at Duke Farms. ADDTEQ was able to roam the Orchid Range, take a tour of the grounds and enjoy lunch at the Cafe. ADDTEQ definitely learned a lot at Duke Farms and we believe what they are doing there is incredible. Years of building, improving and implementing thousands of methods led to this incredible piece of property that holds more animal and tree species, while practicing solar energy, water conservation and habitat restoration. There is no other property like it in New Jersey.
Needless to say, ADDTEQ enjoyed volunteering at such an amazing property and we hope to visit and volunteer again very soon. We would be more than happy to get our hands dirty again at Duke Farms.
If you want to visit official website of Duke Farms click Here
