Whitesbog Blueberry History

Historic Whitesbog 

We both recently had the pleasure of going on a photography outing to support the New Jersey Pinelands with Richard Lewis, a fine art landscape photographer. After spending a day with him on a fun group photography tour at one of our favorite parts of the NJ Pinelands, Franklin Parker Preserves, I started following Richard on social media. 

Soon after, Richard posted some amazing autumn photographs of sunrise and a red rainbow at a place called Whitesbog. How is it that we've lived in South Jersey all our lives and never visited Whitesbog? Thanks to Richard's post we found our way to Whitesbog with our cameras. The historic 1857 farm and village is located in Browns Mills NJ. Whitesbog is in part of the Brendan T. Byrne state forest.

It was here at Whitesbog that Ms Elizabeth Coleman White showed the world that blueberries could be cultivated. Ms White's very interesting skill set included nursing, agricultural research and hands on experience in both cranberry and blueberry farming.

I was saddened, but not surprised, to read that when Ms White's Father died, in his will, he did not make her President of his company even though she contributed so much to expand the business for their family. The Whitesbog plantation grew from 600 to 3,000 acres.

The legacy of this special area is cared for by the Whitesbog Preservation Trust who is open to the public daily from sunrise to sunset. You can find more information and maps to several walking trails on their website (link below). The landscape is very peaceful and beautiful as you can see from my photos shown. We look forward to visiting again soon!

References and Related Links

Whitesbog

NJ Women's History 

History of Blueberries

Fall at Whitesbog in the NJ Pine Barrens

Blog post and photographs Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@ConserveNJ Sunset last night Franklin Parker Preserve - NJ Pinelands #wetlands #naturephotography

Pinelands Sunset photograph by Diana Wind

The biologically diverse, 9,400 acres of the beautiful Franklin Parker Preserve located in Burlington County, New Jersey is a serene place to visit to find peace, hope and joy.

According to the Preserve's brochure (link below), the land was once a former cranberry farm owned by the Demarco family; they sold it in 2003. The sale was the largest private conservation transaction in NJ state history. The NJ Dept of Environmental Protection purchased 40% interest in the land, which will help to preserve it forever.

The individuals in the NJ Conservation Foundation and all the people involved in the restoration efforts must be really proud. Just listening to the chatter of a colony of Great White Egrets perched in a spot along the 5,000 acres of freshwater wetlands says it all.

The park is named after Franklin E. Parker III who was the first chair of the Pinelands Commission. We're enjoying learning about the wonderful parks and natural beauty right here in the Garden State.

Related Links
Brochure for Franklin Parker Preserve
Take Action for Conservation
Pinelands Preservation Alliance 
Blog post and photograph Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Proud to be in the Photography exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show! #philadelphiaflowershow

Philadelphia Flower Show 

Photography Contest Finalist

I'm proud to announce that one of my photographs got selected as a finalist in the 2020 Philadelphia Flower Show, Riviera Holiday, photography exhibit and competition. My photo shows a sunset that I shot in the South Jersey Wetlands. I'm not going to post it here. You can see it at the Flower Show. My entry is in Class 194 - Cirque du Soleil. The news of my photo being selected for the PHS photo contest could not have come at a better time.

This good news came in the midst of a completely horrible experience with my 88-year old mom going in the hospital for a pain in her leg on New Years Day, which morphed into a recommendation to send her to hospice.

The problem with her leg turned out to be nothing, but her hospital stay was a complete nightmare. Long story short, she nearly died before her God given time, going eight days without being fed food as they tried to find something wrong with her. Horrible, severe malnutrition followed. Actually, I'm still not recovered from the ordeal.

Today marks 37 days from Mom's midnight ride out of the hospital under a full moon to a rehab center. Here we are now celebrating a sunset! Like life itself, we take sunrises and sunsets for granted.

I'm thankful Mom is alive, happy and comfortable and here to share in the joy and happiness of me being in the Flower Show photography exhibit! Every day is a blessing.

Stop by the PHS photography exhibit to check out my photo along with all the other winners. Last years exhibitors were great.

See you at the show!

Diana Wind
Blog post and photo Copyright(C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Nature photography on my Birthday! #gardencuizine where oyster harvesting made history

photo by Diana Wind

Discover Port Norris New Jersey

After the oyster industry crashed and most of the rich moved away, Port Norris, NJ became one of the the poorest areas in the state. But in terms of nature's riches, Port Norris wins the gold for the best sunsets, the best grasses and the best salt marshes.

The more times I visit Port Norris, the more I love it. We went last night to walk along the wetlands and photograph the sunset. We parked the car in the lot at Bayshore Center at Bivalve and walked over to the trails.

There are miles of walkways along parts of the 4,000 acres of restored wetlands. It's peaceful there. Only one other person passed us on our walk; he was riding a bike. 

The grasses were taller than we remembered from our last visit with the Monarch Family Success Center group. We could hardly see the old oyster shack that Harry took a photo of the last time.

We walked along the path to the Maurice River and stopped to watch the birds catching fish. We decided the best area to photograph the sunset was closer to the largest observation platform. We walked back along the crushed shells.

The sky was blue and clear. Almost too clear for interesting photographs. Not a cloud in the sky - just birds, lots of birds. I can see why the area attracts bird enthusiasts. As the sun began to set, a warm glow spread across the entire salt marsh. As you can see, the sunset was breath taking.

Related Links
When Oyster Boats Ruled
Bayshore Center at Bivalve 
Treasures of the Marshland 
Oystering

Blog post and photograph Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.