Participants learning about beach plum cultivation at the Rea Farm
Welcome to our third and final post highlighting the Stewardship Department’s outreach events in South Jersey!
On May 18th, back by popular demand, New Jersey Audubon’s Stewardship Department and Cape May Bird Observatory (CMBO) hosted the Taste of the Bayshore Trolley Tour as part of Spring Festival 2024! Guests, quite literally, had a taste of the products of conservation at three local stops. Attendees also learned about the conservation projects, made possible by New Jersey Audubon’s Healthy Land and Waters Grant (HLWG) and USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
First stop was The Rea Farm! Guests were treated to a tour of the farm’s beach plum orchard by Joe Alvarez, who explained beach plum cultivation and the importance of native Prunus maritima on the dunes of Cape May, followed by a beach plum jelly tasting. The owner of the farm also shared the importance of having access to technical assistance for conservation practices, through HLWG and EQIP, and the value of protecting one of the last farms on the island of Cape May through farmland preservation.
Next up was Rutgers’ Aquaculture Innovation Center (AIC) & Betsy’s Cape Shore Salts! Guests were given a tour of the facility including algal culture rooms and shellfish breeding center, and learned how the AIC develops their technology and educational materials for current and future aquaculture farmers. Betsy Haskin of Betsy’s Cape Shore Salts provided delicious oysters from her farm on the Bayshore, talked about the importance of aquaculture’s interaction with horseshoe crab and shorebird populations, invasive species removal, and native plantings made possible by NJA’s HLWG.
Last but not least, Nauti Spirits Distillery! Guests were given special access to the distillery with a tour and tasting of their craft liquors. Growing enough grain to supply the distillery on their land can exhaust the soil, so Nauti Spirits Distillery worked with the HLWG to plant a warm season sorghum sudangrass and sunflower cover crop to rest the soil for an entire growing season. In the fall, they were able to cut a maze in the cover crop, and left the standing residue in place over the winter to provide protection from soil erosion, and food and cover resources for wildlife.
To learn more, please join us for the Taste of the Bayshore Trolley Tour during Fall Festival 2024!
Photos by Alyssa Bright
