Archives for 2015

Cranberry juice is a popular folk remedy for staving off urinary tract infections and the berries contain chemical compounds with potentially powerful antibacterial properties. But clinical trials that have tested cranberry products have yielded mixed results, possibly because studies tested juices and supplements with varying amounts of active ingredients. Many trials also had high dropout rates… Cranberries contain chemical compounds called proanthocyanidins that can prevent E. coli bacteria from sticking to the bladder walls, “preventing the first step in the infection process,” said Amy Howell, an associate research scientist at the Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research and Extension at Rutgers University. Dr. Howell explained that if bacteria cannot stick to a cell, they cannot multiply and produce toxins… Most cranberry juices you will find in grocery stores contain added sweeteners or are mixed with sweeter juices. To get enough of the active cranberry ingredients, choose a drink with at least 25 percent pure cranberry juice, Dr. Howell said, and drink eight to 10 ounces a day.

Tidal flooding has been increasing along the Jersey Shore and it’s expected to get worse. Flooding challenges the O’Neills’ access to doctors or repairmen or houseguests. Flooding has increased more than 600 percent in the last 60 years at Atlantic City and Sandy Hook, according to NOAA data from those two places, which have a long history of tidal gauge data compared to other points on the coast… Atlantic City and Sandy Hook ranked third and fifth in a list of 45 sites in the nation for increased flooding in a 2014 NOAA study… As sea levels rise, the Mallard Island woes will spread along the Shore, according to Lisa Auermuller, watershed and outreach coordinator for Rutgers’ Jacques Cousteau Coastal Education Center, based in Tuckerton… Trouble comes down to inches, according to Dave Robinson, state climatologist at Rutgers University. “When you think about it, there are areas that are just precariously above sea level – when you raise it up 6, 10, 12 inches – that’s the difference between having a dry road and a road that’s underwater,” he said.

Honoring his more than 30 years of leadership and research, the United States Golf Association has named Dr. Bruce Clarke, of Rutgers University, as the recipient of the 2016 USGA Green Section Award. Presented annually since 1961, the USGA Green Section Award recognizes an individual’s distinguished service to the game of golf through his or her work with turfgrass… Clarke, of Iselin, N.J., is an extension specialist of turfgrass pathology in the department of plant biology and pathology at Rutgers, and is the director of the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science. Clarke has authored or co-authored 75 refereed journal articles and more than 200 industry publications, and he has edited three books, including the second and third editions of the Compendium of Turfgrass Diseases. He is also a frequent contributor at turfgrass conferences throughout the world… “While the efforts of scientists throughout the country advance turfgrass research and help provide golf with exceptional playing conditions, Dr. Clarke goes much further,” said Dr. Kimberly Erusha, managing director of the USGA Green Section.

For most families, Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without turkey. Or cranberries… Cranberry cultivation soon caught on in New Jersey, since cranberries grow wild on long-running vines in South Jersey’s sandy bogs and marshes. The Pine Barrens …

In case you’re wondering why the sky over New Jersey and New York City looked so spectacular Sunday evening as the sun began its descent, it all came down to perfect timing by broken clouds… A colorful sunset like Sunday’s – with pretty shades of pin…

Tomatoes, corn, and peaches are the staples of New Jersey agriculture. But at Morris Gbolo’s farm in the state’s southern tip, crimson-hued amaranths and plump Liberian bitter ball are the prized crops… The Gbolos are believed to be New Jersey’s only African-born farm owners. They devote nearly 80 percent of their acreage to specialty crops like nightshade, jute leaves, roselle, Ghanaian pea eggplant (a berry-size vegetable, which Gbolo calls “kittley”), okra, habanero peppers, and a Liberian variety of bitter ball (a type of eggplant)… “Ethnic farms like Morris’s cater to recent immigrants who cannot find the fresh specialty produce [of] their homelands,” said Richard VanVranken, an agricultural agent at Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Atlantic County who has studied New Jersey’s ethnic food industry since the 1980s… VanVranken hired Gbolo to work in his extension program in 2006 and soon realized it was an opportunity to study African crops and learn from Gbolo, who had been a farmer and agriculture educator in Liberia.

“It’s only once a year,” Bob Cratchit tells Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol.” And it’s that kind of un-Scrooge-like thinking that can turn the merriest holiday season into one that piles on months of debt… As Barbara O’Neill, personal finance professor at Rutgers Cooperative Extension, notes, “People could save themselves a whole lot of stress and money if they just had a plan. But so many don’t.”… If paperwork gives you migraines, O’Neill recommends using online planners. Google “holiday spending calculator” and several options will come up. The budget planner at practical moneyskills.com has spaces for all of your holiday expenses, from gifts and home entertaining to travel and charitable donations… As far as holiday entertaining is concerned, O’Neill says a potluck is a time-honored option, but why not add a little fun to it? Have your guests vote for the best soup, entree or dessert, with a $50 gift card going to the top vote-getter.