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Selected articles and stories

Jersey-Fresh Vines and Cape May County Wines

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(Previously published in On Deck Magazine and CapeMayCountyHerald.com) Old Vines? It’s no secret that for sweet corn and juicy tomatoes, Jersey Fresh is always a good bet. But now, those with discerning palates are also seeking out the fruits of another vine—New Jersey wines. Before you scoff, consider this. In 1767, nearly a century before Napa Valley established its first commercial winery, the British Royal Society recognized New Jersey wine as the best in the colonies. Of course, the English are not exactly known for their gastronomical achievements, so that bit of braggery could be akin to my brother-in-law’s claim that he is the funniest accountant in his office. Still, the industry has deep roots here. In fact, Renault Winery in Egg Harbor City, began producing wines in 1864, and it remains one of the oldest wineries in America. And at one time there were as many as 60 vineyards in Vineland alone. Extreme Ignorance That was until Prohibition pulled the plug…or the cork, if you will. Rutger’s agricultural agent, Gary Pavlis said, it took generations for the industry to rebound from that setback. Pavlis is a wine expert who is involved in New Jersey wines from root to glass, and he seems to enjoy talking about wine, almost as much as he enjoys drinking it. At a recent visit to Cape May County Winery, in North Cape May, he explained what it took to get the industry moving again. “(Prohibition) was, of course, extreme ignorance,” Pavlis said, taking a waft of the claret liquid swirling in his glass, but even after the law was repealed in 1933, New Jersey law only allowed for one winery per million people. It was a law that continued Prohibition’s ignorance, Pavlis said, in a way that made clear how offended he was that anyone would usurp a New Jerseyan’s right to sip. The Farm Wine Act in 1981 changed all that, however, and allowed more wineries to operate in within the state so long as they used New Jersey fruit. Within a few years, the state went from four to 12 wineries, and over the last two decades the industry has bloomed again. Increased Demand and Location, Location, Location “We have actually 45 wineries in New Jersey now, and about twice a week I have someone come in who wants to start a winery,” he said. There is now an increased demand for New Jersey grapes, and Pavlis said it is a venture that can really work out for farmers, especially since vineyards remain one agricultural crop that they can still make a profit on. According to Pavlis, New Jersey farms and wines are “perfect together” for many reasons, but it can be boiled down to just three—location, location, location. The one factor that impacts a region’s ability to grow grapes more than anything else is temperature, Pavlis said. Different types of grapes need different climates, and for the most part, vineyards in the Northeast produce American grapes like Concord and Niagara. Those varieties can withstand temperature as low as minus 15 degrees, Pavlis said. “But the wine…not so good…Manischewitz, basically,” he said. European grape varieties (Vinus vinifera), like Cabernet, Riesling, Chardonnay and Merlot produce the best wines, Pavlis said, but they need warmer temperatures. And that’s where southern New Jersey’s ocean breezes come in. They provide the mild winters vinifera grapes need to thrive. And of all New Jersey locations, Cape May County, with its microclimate between the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay, is ideally positioned to grow vinifera grapes and more. “In Cape May, it’s not, ‘What can I grow?’ I’m not even sure what they can’t grow here,” Pavlis said. He offered as an example the vines at Turdo Vineyards, in North Cape May, which are producing varieties of grapes never grown here before, including some that thrive in Southern Italy near the Mediterranean Sea. “We are growing all of them and then some,” Pavlis said. “The potential is incredible…The New Jersey wine industry is taking off.” You can taste New Jersey Wines from these three Cape may County wineries. Cape May Winery 711 Town Bank Rd Cape May, NJ 609-884-1169 Natali Vineyards, L.L.C. 221 North Delsea Drive (North Route 47) Cape May Court House, NJ 609-465-0075 Turdo Vineyards 3911 Bayshore Road North Cape May, NJ 609-884-5591 Hawk Haven Vineyard & Winery 600 S. Railroad Avenue Rio Grande, NJ (609) 846-7347

Big Beach, Big Bang in Wildwood

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(Previously published in the Wildwood Leader) Kimmel Schaefer says 22 years in the fireworks industry may have had an effect on his hearing. He can’t hear his wife tell him to take out the trash, but luckily he can still hear the ooh’s and ahh’s of the crowd at a fireworks show. “It still gives me goose bumps,” he said. Fireworks and Family Shaefer’s father, Kim Schaefer Sr. started shooting fireworks in Dunbar, Penna. in1961, and after mastering his skills as a pyrotechnician, he started Schaefer Pyrotechnics in 1977. His son, Kimmel, learned all about fireworks at his father’s knee, but he went onto college and graduate school before returning to the family business. Fireworks get into your blood, Kimmel said. As a boy, he spent summers in Stone Harbor and one of his dreams was to create a fireworks show for Wildwoods’ huge beaches. “This is the show I wanted to have,” he said. He got his wish. Schaefer Pyrotechnics spends a lot of time on Wildwood’s beaches these days. They coordinate a fireworks show there every Friday of the summer, funded by the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority. Plus on July 4th, they are scheduled to put on a show that is the granddaddy of them all. A Really Big Show According to Patrick Rosenello, who manages the Boardwalk Special Improvement District (SID), it costs about $85,000 to put on Wildwoods’ summer fireworks shows—$5,000 for the weekly show and $30,000 for the July 4th show. The weekly program brings as many as 10,000 people to the prime viewing area on the Boardwalk, he said, and the Fourth of July show brings even bigger crowds. “That show is going to be something else,” Kimmel said. With 25-27 minutes of fireworks, it will take tons of planning, lots of explosives, a team of six technicians and two days. And while Wildwood is one of Schaefer’s biggest shows, it is only one of 69 that the company carries out over the holiday weekend. To accommodate the holiday rush, the company, hires some 500 part time employees. Kim Schaefer, Sr. will come back to work for one night to oversee a show in Narberth, Penna., and in Wildwood, Jack Serpico AKA Pyrojack, and his wife, Denise, are working double time this week to coordinate the weekly Friday show, in addition to the Big Bang of a show, scheduled for the Fourth of July. Last Friday, the couple loaded up truck full of equipment at company headquarters in Ronks, Penna. and headed for the Jersey shore—but definitely not for a vacation. First, they set up the weekly program, and then they turned their attention to setting the Fourth of July show. An Ideal Stage in Wildwood Wildwood’s huge beach offers pyrotechnicians an ideal stage. Fireworks are measured in diameter: the bigger the diameter, the bigger the display. But big fireworks, or shells, as they are known in the business, require 70 feet of clearance for each diameter of shell. For towns with smaller beaches, that means they are limited to using 3-inch shells, which create up to a 150-foot display. In Wildwood, Serpico will launch a display using a variety of shell sizes up to 12-inches in diameter, creating up to 1200 feet of light per explosion. Long before the show happens, however, an intricate choreography of colors, sizes and shapes is sketched out by hand with a pencil and paper before being programmed into a computer. Then “cakes,” a configuration of tubes that hold the explosives, are set up on the beach and connected to modules that are fired in sequence, electronically. A typical show can require more than a full day of hard labor on a sun-drenched beach, followed by a late night of fireworks. Plus, once the explosives are in place, someone must be close by at all times to prevent accidents. Fireworks can be a dangerous business. “Nothing good happens when something goes bad with fireworks,” Kimmel said. Jack Serpico agrees there are risks, but like Kimmel, fireworks are in his blood. His grandfather, who started a fireworks company in 1906, was once injured in a fireworks accident and decades ago two of his employees died while putting on a show at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “It’s rare, but it happens,” Serpico said. 14 years ago, Serpico gave up his career as an attorney for the big lights of the Fourth of July sky, and neither the inherent risks nor the hectic summer schedule seem to dampen his enthusiasm. He said his current job doesn’t compare at all to his former one. There are way fewer negatives, and many more positives. Plus, nothing quite moves him like the nostalgic explosion of thunder and lights across a summer sky. It can be stressful, but once the details are worked out and the equipment is in place, Serpico said he becomes a spectator. And then, “I yell and holler like everybody else,” he said. Wildwoods’ July 4th show is launched from around Pine Avenue at 10 p.m. on Friday, and it can be viewed from around the island and beyond. Music is piped in via speakers on the Boardwalk, and 98.7 the Coast broadcasts the musical score, as well. Fireworks can also be viewed at 10:30 p.m. in the Wildwoods every Friday throughout the summer.

Thunder at Collegeville Farmers’ Market? Don’t miss it!

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(Previously published in The Market Beet) Lisa Kerschner of North Star Orchard reported this week that we can expect Thunder at our market this Saturday. But leave your raincoat at home. Big, Dark and Impressive Thunder is a grape variety that is big, dark and impressive in many ways – but don’t expect it to boom. Instead, you can expect a rich, juicy burst of grape flavor. Lisa says some folks think this unique grape variety looks like a Concord, but one taste blows that notion out of the water. “Thunder is a taste explosion!” she says. The fruit does have tiny seeds, but according to Lisa, folks at the farm usually just eat them right along with the grape. Not in Supermarkets Like so many of the varieties of fresh fruit and veggies at North Star Orchard, you can’t get Thunder at a local supermarket. North Star Orchard specializes in growing unique and heritage varieties of tree fruits and a wide variety of vegetables. Last week, I brought home North Star’s beets to share with my family. They were unlike any other I’ve seen or tasted – brilliant orange and red in color, as big as a softball and sweet and meaty. Lisa said they were bred right at North Star Orchard. (I planned to take a picture, but they disappeared too fast!) According to Lisa, Thunder was acquired by the farm many years ago. It was part of a table grape breeding program but faced extinction after the breeder died. Since then, this beauty has had a new home just down the road from us on Lisa and Ike Kerscher’s farm in Chester County, PA. Passing Storm Just like a summer storm, however, Thunder will pass by quickly. It will only be at our market this Saturday, so stop by to see why this grape is destined to take the fruit world by storm. While you are there, talk to the folks from North Star about their work, developing and growing a rainbow of unusually delicious produce on their farm in Cochranville, PA. They plan to “flavor the future” one tree, vine or plant at a time.  

RV Parks Near Water Country USA and Williamsburg, VA

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First Published at Livestrong.org/Demand Media Studios.

Overview

Williamsburg, Virginia, offers something for everyone, from adventures at theme parks like Busch Gardens and Water Country USA. Other visitors enjoy golf, biking and even bowling. RV parks in the area offer basketball and volleyball courts, shuffleboard, horseshoes and other active pursuits.

Wet and Wild

Water Country USA, with its over 30 water rides and attractions, is never far away. But at the end of the day, you can also relax by a pool near your campsite.

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An American Odyssey – A Tale of a Trip and a Missing Tiki

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Previously published in Sun-by-the-Sea It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. That pretty much sums up last summer. A trip of a lifetime, followed by a totaled car, three broken bones, and months of limited mobility. But I can live with that. The cross-country trip had been in the back of our minds for years, something we would do when the kids were old enough (but not too old). There were so many things we wanted to see. My husband, Troy wanted to surf in San Diego, and I wanted to sip wine in Sonoma. It was a someday kind of thing, contingent upon getting time off work and finding the money. In short, it was one of those things we thought we’d talk about a lot, and probably never do. But the stars aligned last spring. Troy’s grandmother, Nen, left us a small nest egg. The kids aged (but not too much), and we were restless, bored. It was time to leave my job with a local newspaper (that shall remain nameless), and Troy needed a new perspective, so when he managed to get one month off from work, I started planning. Westward Bound When the time came, we crammed the minivan from top to bottom with camping gear and a bunch of other stuff we didn’t need, and like many adventurers before us, we set our sites west. Unlike early pioneers, however, we had Google maps, cell phones, reservations and air conditioning. It was a fact, not lost on our children as we crossed the Mojave Desert with the car thermometer, reading 114 degrees. “I’m glad I’m not in a horse and wagon,” my youngest, Katie said. But every day brought something new. We explored underground caves at Luray Caverns in Virginia. We hiked and swam in waterfall pools in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and we strolled among Blue Grass fiddlers on Main Street in Floyd. We rocked it out in Memphis to Elvis and blues bands on Beale Street, and we kicked up our heels in Texas. We marveled at nature’s towering red rock sculptures in Monument Valley, climbed ladders into ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde and gaped into the Grand Canyon. And all that was in the first week. When we set up camp in San Onofre for our first night in California, we were in a fog of road fatigue, but we couldn’t stop smiling. The next week was a Southern California dream of sunning, swimming, surfing, and cold drinks by the campfire, punctuated with visits to San Diego and LA. At night, the Pacific Ocean sang us to sleep with a familiar lullaby. Next, we headed north to hug giant sequoia trees in fairytale forests. In Yosemite, we took chilly dips in mountain springs and had several too-close-for-comfort bear encounters, before arriving in San Francisco, ready for a break from roughing it. My dad’s cousin Jerry played host on a four-day culture and culinary tour of that amazing town. Every day, we looked at each other in awe that it was really happening. And we tried to ignore the ominous feeling that somewhere down the road there would be a karmic price to pay. How could we possibly be so lucky? A Short Trip And then it happened—exactly what I feared, and when we least expected it. In San Francisco’s Mission District, I aimed my camera at Mission Dolores, took one step forward over the curb and crumbled in the gutter with my right foot throbbing. A Jerry encouraged me to see a doctor, but I had better things to do. Instead, I wrapped the foot, took ibuprofen and headed to Sonoma for wine-tasting, cane in hand. It was just sprained, I told myself, it will get better. And it did. Sort of. At least it didn’t hold us back. I limped along the Oregon trail and at Sutters Mill where the Gold Rush began. I viewed bison at a Wyoming ranch and marveled at miles and miles of corn in Nebraska. I posed with Abe Lincoln in Springfield and toured Tom Sawyer’s home in Hannibal. And it wasn’t until we had crossed the North Wildwood bridge that I admitted to myself that maybe I did need to see a doctor. Within a week, I was recovering from foot surgery— a fractured metatarsal. And that’s not all. A Totaled Wagon and a Missing Tiki Four days later, while on the way to lunch we were broadsided in Wildwood Crest by another car. Our “Conestoga” van was totaled, and I was damaged–unable to crutch and stuck in a wheelchair for two months. Four days later, my son Emmett broke his arm. Three weeks later, my daughter Anna broke her finger, and several times during the ordeal, my loving husband almost lost his mind. “Stop saying it could be worse,” my friend, Suzanne warned. But it really could have been. We might not have made it home. We might not have gone at all. My theory on the disastrous finale to our dreamy trip is you have to take the good with the bad, and the very good with the very bad. Another theory is that we mistakenly brought home a Tiki, and like Bobby Brady in Hawaii, we are doomed until it’s returned. For now, however, the curse seems to have subsided. We are all mostly back to normal, though I admit, I am still looking for that Tiki, and if I find it…and if we can get the time off work and the money…I would be glad to return it to wherever it belongs.

Hooked on learning at County Tech

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No desks, no blackboards, and not a textbook in sight. Hans Toft has melted away the walls of his natural sciences classroom at Cape May County Technical School to create a land where the wild things are.

Fresh and saltwater fish, caught by the school’s students, swim in dozens of tanks atop lab tables. Eels twirl along the floor of an indoor pond. Sand sharks dance on the surface of a five-foot pool like dolphins begging treats at Sea World.

Fighting Breast Cancer One Day at a Time

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Among us were breast cancer survivors and those still fighting that battle; people who had lost loved ones and those who feared losing them; and people who wanted to make a difference by spending three days walking in a world that so often rushes by. Together, they retaught me things I knew as a child but so frequently forget — lessons in courage and generosity and kindness.

Lucy Lou’s Baking from the Heart

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The neon heart in the window of Lucy Lou’s pink bake shop tells it all. Baking is Susan Scully’s first love. The former echocardiographer once performed ultrasounds on the hearts of patients, but now she warms the hearts of customers in the retro-style sweetshop she opened on New Jersey Avenue this spring. Scully said she decided to pursue her degree in culinary arts when her youngest daughter began attending school full time. Scully went back to school as well, enrolling in Atlantic Cape Community College’s Culinary Arts Program. She received Gold Medal Culinary Arts Degree from the Academy last spring, she said, but cooking has always been her passion. “I’ve been baking since I was 19,” Scully said. “It’s something that always came very natural to me.” And to see her in a chef’s jacket amid the apple green display cases and tools of the trade, it’s easy to see that’s true. The newly-renovated storefront is decorated with Fifties memorabilia and vintage baking tools and supplies. Black and white photos of Lucy and Ethel from the classic I Love Lucy television show adorn the walls. And behind the counter is a wall of vintage photos of Scully’s family, including her Grandmother Louise and her great-grandmother Lucy for whom the shop is named. “My grandmother was an excellent baker,” Scully said. And she coached Scully through culinary school by critiquing her pies and sharing advice on how to improve a recipe. Scully received a gold medal at graduation for the apple pie she perfected under her grandmother’s tutelage, but Grandmom Louise passed away eight weeks before the ceremony, Scully said. “I wanted her to see the gold medal…to honor her,” Scully said, but since her grandmother couldn’t be there, she named the shop after her instead. Scully is passing down recipes and a love of baking to a new generation, as well. Her daughters, Morgan, 12, and Mackenzie, 9, are important contributors to her new venture. When the shop opened earlier this month, a small section of the one baking case was dedicated to a custom cupcake display. From that case, customers pick from of a selection of cupcakes and then chose which frosting and topping will tickle their taste buds. The build-your-own cupcake display began with a choice of chocolate or vanilla, but it has taken on a life of its own and grown to include varieties like chocolate marshmallow and coconut. There are nearly 20 flavor available now, Scully said and the display occupies a full seven foot case. “It keeps growing,” Scully said, mainly because of the creative influences of her daughters. Morgan “more or less runs the front of the store,” Scully said, and considers the cupcake exhibit to be “her baby.” “I let her do it,” Scully said. “She knows more than me what people would like.” The proof of that is the way the cupcake bar has caught on. “It’s very, very popular,” she said, drawing families from offshore who come in search of sweets. One local mom who tried out the cupcake bar with her t-ball team said it was a great alterative to a trip to the ice cream parlor. “It’s something different,” she said. And for those who crave more sophisticated sweets, Scully is eager to please. She makes and ever-changing selection of pies that includes a traditional ricotta pie, a key lime pie and a variety of fruit pies, including her award winning apple. Mini-pies are also available for those who can’t decide. “Someone can come in and say, ‘I want cherry. I want apple. Oh just give me one of everything,’” Scully said. Customers can also phone-in orders to make sure the pie they want is available. For the month of June, the shop will be open from Thursday through Monday, and Scully expects that after that, they will be open seven days a week throughout the summer. It’s been a lot of hard work for Scully and her husband Paul and their daughters, but it’s worth it, she said. “I’m having a ball,” she said.