Temperatures will start to rise, and the long, cold winter will begin to recede – but for a lot of local farms, the damage already may have been done. The extreme lows reached this year could impact crops, timing and pricing for agricultural businesses throughout the region, experts said. “We haven’t had anything like this in 20, 25 years,” said Atlantic County Agricultural Agent Gary Pavlis…Mark Ehlenfeldt, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and Rutgers University, spoke at the Blueberry Open House in Hammonton on Thursday, where growers heard from researchers on all aspects of growing the fruit. “People have been concerned about how much cold we have had, and have we had any damage?” Ehlenfeldt said. “Our research shows that if buds are unopened and tight, they are 50 percent hardy to at least (negative) 4 degrees. It varies by variety, but this is an average.”
Group comes up with artsy way to promote rain barrel use at the shore
The people who try to make a splash each year by naming New Jersey’s 10 best beaches are sponsoring a new contest this winter – to find artists to design the state’s 10 coolest rain barrels…And to help spread that message, they’ve started the 2014 Top Ten Beaches Rain Barrel Art Project. The Sea Grant and its partners are calling for artists to use plastic barrels as the circular canvases for designs that “feature iconic coastal, beach, bay, ocean and boardwalk scenes, and images celebrating the Jersey shore…” The value of that stipend hasn’t been announced yet, but all the details of the contest – and access to the actual applications – are available on the website of its partners in the project, the Water Resources Program at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
4-H Youth Summit set
The New Jersey 4-H Program of Rutgers University will host the Science of Soil 4-H Youth Summit on Jan. 15 at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Sixth- through eighth-graders from public, private or parochial schools, as well as youth involved in stu…
Cape May Tech students assist at oyster breeding site
Cape May County Technical High School senior Nate Horvath, even as he was being pelted with freezing rain, was glad to be out of the classroom. Horvath and five other seniors spent their school days this week helping move oysters at the Rutgers Cape Sh…
Sandy’s lesson: Get out when storm comes
Ann Kooperman thought she had lived through the worst storms the shore could offer. The Ventnor Heights resident was a child living in Atlantic City during the March Storm of 1962. She vividly remembered the devastation and discomfort. So, when the ord…
Experts: Rebuild from Sandy with climate change in mind
New Jersey is not doing enough to ensure rebuilding from Hurricane Sandy takes climate change into account, experts said Monday at Rutgers University. And the most vulnerable places are the bay communities that suffered the most damage in the storm nea…
Remnants of Karen could bring flooding
A stubborn and sluggish storm system carrying the remnants of Tropical Storm Karen is expected to bring several days of minor tidal flooding along with rain and wind to the region. The storm may be the season’s first northeaster…A persistent wind out…
Rutgers helps horseshoe crabs get a leg up on repopulation
By now, a quarter-million tiny horseshoe crab hatchlings have made themselves at home in the mud of the Cape May Canal and nearby waters, where they will spend the winter. The hatchlings, about half the size of a pinkie fingernail, were part of an ongo…
Sand in my Shoes: Group members find friendship built around love of finding shells
The Jersey Cape Shell Club had its last meeting this week until next spring. But that doesn’t mean its members have packed away their shells for the winter. Because seashells of all sorts are a passion, if not an obsession or addiction, in this group, …
Cape May wants oyster firms to flourish
Curtis Bashaw, a committee member and hotelier who sells Cape May Salts in three of his restaurants, sees the oysters becoming a tourist attraction. Bashaw said tourists go to the beach in the summer, but during the rest of the year they welcome other …
