Stopping by Weis on a rainy morn...

I saw an amazing thing the other morning when I stopped at the Weis Market in Ephrata, Pa., not far from the LF office. I was finishing my morning cup of coffee, or maybe it was my second, listening to the end of an NPR report before dashing into the store, and thinking, "Should I be a sissy and dig out my umbrella or not?" And in the  space of just  a few minutes, I saw maybe half a dozen people - youngish people, oldish people - bring their carts back to one of those cart parking places.

Did I mention it was raining?

Where else do you see people bringing their carts back? You certainly don't see it in the tourist areas of a state I won't name for fear of offending our readers there, but it's slightly to the east of Lancaster County, it's on the ocean and has a bunch of casinos. Maybe it's just the tourists who abandon their carts in the middle of parking lots, because why should they care? They don't live there. What's it to them?

But I'm a tourist when I'm there. I put my cart away. Doesn't make me a hero, but it does make me special in New J... that other state.

Shopping carts aren't a big deal. So, the wind gets hold of one and slams it into the side of your Buick. It's just a possession. Be glad, for one thing, youwern't driving a Pontiac.  You can still get parts for your Buick.

But carts are the visible symptom of something that is a big deal. Call it courtesy. Civility. Good manners. Or the lack thereof. It's nice to know that pockets of it do exist. Let's hope they grow.

In Philadelphia, a regional food bank called Philabundance is working to get farms signed up for a gleaning program that could provide many tons of food for its 65,000 regular clients. Last year, the organization received 200,000 pounds of less-than-perfect peaches from New Jerseycanner. So far this year, they have one Pennsylvania orchard involved in the program. Lancaster Farming staff writer Chris Torres talked to Philabundance recently, gleaning enough material to write a report, which appears in the current issue.

Your Farm Bureau advertising dollars at work...or not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1KMk2b3acs