Night-blooming cereus is a St Croix native plant and its brief, nocturnal bloom cycle earns the nickname “Queen of the Night.” This cactus beauty opens its flowers after dark—and they only last for the night as they wilt in the light of day. See St Croix writer Elisa McKay’s photos and her article here from the St. Croix Source.
Here is a clip we took recently:
All baobab trees have flowers that open at night and fall within 24 hours. This species has large, white flowers that can reach 5 inches in diameter. Photographing and documenting these elusive flowers’ bloom, Gail Karlsson, an environmental lawyer, photographer, and author has been journeying to L’Esperance trail on St. John to monitor for flowers on the island’s only mature baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) in this article on St. Croix Source.
Congratulations to VI businesses who received the World Central Kitchen Awards ‘Plow to Plate’ grants! The grantees include My Neighbor’s Garden, New Breed Farm, Ridge to Reef Farm, Sejah Farm of the Virgin Islands, St. George Village Botanical Gardens, Tropics Hydroponics Farm and fisher Julian Magras.
The World Central Kitchen organization has food security and resilience program that offers direct financial support to small farmers, fishers and agribusinesses. According to the St. Croix Source, in the short-term, the grants awarded will help food-related small businesses, which saw their operations paralyzed by hurricanes Irma and María, and to revitalize and regenerate their long-term capacity for the production, distribution and sale of food. In the long-term, Plow to Plate aims to decrease the high rate of food imports into the USVI by supporting local food production. Read the full article here.
Estimated to creating 125 construction jobs and 300 permanent agricultural jobs, RTPark, the 30-acre Tech Village project being undertaken by the University of the Virgin Islands Research & Technology Park is slated to be built on agricultural land across from the St. Croix campus. RT Park announced that the Tech Village will feature 60 units of residential housing, a building designated for commercial space, a 120-room “teaching hotel,” a conference room, a solar micro-grid and 16 acres of designated farming space. In total, 60 percent of the site will be strictly dedicated to farming and agriculture. To read the full article on the St. Croix Source, click here.
With the decrease in activities and summer classes due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Southgate Coastal Reserve has used the time to enhance the preserve that includes three trails that now sport signs and benches, and at the end of one trail, an elevated bird hide stands on the edge of the 25-acre salt pond. Read the full article here from the St. Croix Source.
On August 8, the Sea Turtle Research Project — an ongoing sea turtle tagging project — at the University of the Virgin Islands was featured on the Science Saturday virtual event hosted by UVI, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and VI-EPSCoR – the Virgin Islands Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. Science Saturday is a series aimed at children and families. To read the full article about the project feature, go to St. Croix Source.