South Schuylkill Garden Club will be hosting a unique speaker for their May program.

Jack Jones of JJ’s Wood crafts will speak on how he creates one-of-a-kind birdhouses and feeders from repurposed barn work from the 1800s. Each house a unique, artistic and one of a kind.

The program will be held on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the library of the First United Church of Christ, Schuylkill Haven.

The program will cover the proper design of a birdhouse and the important features to consider when purchasing a birdhouse.

Jack will cover gardening for wildlife, attracting birds and bird scaping in the garden. The fun part of the program is the passing around of old hardware found in barns to see if the audience can identify the items.

He also beings several house for presentation and display which are available after the program for sale at wholesale prices.

After working for 25 years in a large manufacturing plant of pharmaceutical and Electronic Chemicals as a Director of Corporate Logistics, he retired in 2000.

Jack always loved woodworking and gardening and bought and installed a greenhouse to grow his own plants for the garden.

In the winter months, he started to make custom furniture for the family. The amount of small leftover from woodworking amazed him. That’s when “JJ Woodcrafts” started making birdhouses from recycled materials.

As his business grew, he moved down the supply chain to acquire more materials through the demolition of old barns.

Within each barn, he discovered many old treasures along with different types of wood.

Each house/feeder Jack builds is one of a kind, decorated with the old hardware found in these barns that he has dismantled. He wholesales his products to large retailers and sells them at juried craft shows around the Northeast.

Jack has spent hours researching bird to learn as much as he can about them and their living habits. Each house is quality build with car end creativity. As most wood is 50-200 years old, it is weathered or distressed with variations of grain, knots, and ware. Each house is as unique as the wood used to make it.

The public is welcome to view this program. Following Jack Jones presentation there will be light refreshments served followed by a business meeting of the club.