By Linda McCullough

Celebrating our one-year anniversary this month, Tropics Hydroponics Farm, run and owned by Brian and Linda McCullough, has already found it necessary to expand. We specialize in growing high quality Bib lettuce as well as beefsteak and cluster vine ripened tomatoes. As our name suggests, we grow using hydroponics, which means we use no soil. Our plants receive all of their nutrition through water from our own wells, which has been purified through reverse osmosis, ph balanced and enriched with a special blend of nutrients and micro-nutrients.

Some of the benefits of growing with a hydroponics system include superior taste, quality, appearance, uniformity, and extended shelf life of the product. In addition, growing with hydroponics requires about 1/10th the space and 1/10th the water as compared to traditional farming requirements, so our carbon footprint is actually much smaller than with traditional dirt farming. In addition, we never have to deal with weeds and our crops have very limited exposure to insects.

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Link: Tropics Hydroponics Farm

By Nina York

Coincidentally, two major holidays in the Virgin Island calendar come back to back - Emancipation Day, marking the date in 1848 when the enslaved population of the then Danish West Indies gained their freedom, and the American July 4 Independence Day, celebrating the birth of the United States as a nation in 1776. While both holidays celebrate freedom, Emancipation here became more symbolic than actual, as the large number of enslaved field workers gained little by now being responsible for their own sustenance on very low wages, in part because of failing sugar cane harvests and lower prices for cane sugar, which now competed with beet sugar.

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Part 3 in a series
Excerpts from "Divers Information on The Romantic History of St. Croix" by Florence Lewisohn, 1963, St. Croix Landmarks Society.

"St. Croix, slow to start, became the richest sugar island in the Caribbean for a time. Under the ownership of Denmark, it reached its peak of wealth and opulence about 1796 when it had 114 windmills and 144 animal or ox mills grinding out the golden juice - which by some West Indian magic turned quickly to gold.

Plantation life is usually thought of in the rosy, romanticized terms of the rich sugar planter lolling at his ease in a luxurious mansion, while myriads of Negros toiled his fields and ground his cane in contented bondage. This picture is almost a myth as history proves - but not quite - for in the heyday of sugar and rum, it did look like this from the surface.

Continue reading "The Age of Opulence" »

Link: The Age of Opulence

Award-winning Owner Celebrates 26 years and A Slot in the Women Divers' Hall of Fame!

Michelle Pugh learned to dive in LA in 1970. Her interest in marine life began with a high school class in tide pool biology. Swimming lessons and her first open water dive class at the North Hollywood YMCA followed.

Michelle dived most weekends and holidays and later worked part time with Fish and Wildlife in the summers while attending school in San Diego. In the fall of 1977, she had a chance to go to St. Croix to teach diving for three months at VI Divers Ltd., falling in love with the island and its diving and staying on to start her own business!

One of the most incredible dives she ever made was in 1979 when asked to go to Canada to photograph killer whales for a book, A Whale called Killer, by Erich Hoyt. This experience would serve her well down the road.

Continue reading "Dive Experience - First PADI 5-Star IDC Center on St. Croix" »

Link: Dive Experience - First PADI 5-Star IDC Center on St. Croix

By Pam Kerschner

"The novelty of Caribbean island living inspires my "cartoon" illustrations and oil paintings a lot. When I first came to St. Croix, I was compelled to pursue my art and enjoyed the support and friendship of many wonderful island artists. After twenty years on St. Croix, I am currently living in Colorado to help my 90-year-old aunt and my father during their challenging years. I paint Caribbean life while living "out west," and plan to retire soon, still painting, in the Virgin Islands.

Continue reading "Caribbean Living With a Sense of Humor" »

Link: Caribbean Living With a Sense of Humor

Pictured right, (l to r) Seth Wilcoxon, namesake Polly, and Steven Schawl. "As coffee lovers, we wanted to offer a world-class product, outstanding service, our own micro-brewed beer (Polly's Pale Ale), and convenient computer access for locals and visitors. We've created a clean, sophisticated "Caribbean Funky" environment where everyone is welcome. Grab a coffee or latte on your way to work, enjoy Armstrong's Ice Cream on a Sunday afternoon, or sip a draft beer at sunset. We believe in the growth of Frederiksted and encourage other entrepreneurs to join us out West!"

Link: New Business: POLLY'S AT THE PIER in Frederiksted

By David Hamada

Summertime in St. Croix is mango season, and its abundance will be celebrated at the 13th Annual Mango Melee and Tropical Fruit Festival at the St. George Village Botanical Garden on Sunday, July 5 from noon to 6:30 pm.

Often described as "the Queen of Tropical Fruit," the mango reigns over our summer season. With a supremely distinctive shape, smell, color and taste, no other fruit evokes the warmth, flavors, fragrances and exotic beauty of the Tropics.

A joint effort by the V.I. Department of Tourism, the V.I. Department of Agriculture, UVI Cooperative Extension Service, UVI Agricultural Experiment Station, and the St. George Village Botanical Garden has produced St. Croix's most popular summer festival and teaches us about the agricultural and horticultural potential for this very popular fruit.

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The Wedding

The wedding is one of life's unchanged rites of passage. Nearly all of the customs we observe today are merely echoes of the past.

Up to and during the Middle Ages, weddings were considered family/community affairs. The only thing needed to create a marriage was for both partners to state their consent to take one another as spouses. No witnesses, no clergy.

During the Medieval period, the wedding ceremony moved from the bride's house to the church for vows and Mass followed by a musical feast.

The Wedding Party

During the "marriage by capture" era, close friends of the groom-to-be assisted him when he kidnapped the bride from her family. Bridesmaids and maids of honor became more common when weddings were planned assisting the bride with the flowers, and decorating for the wedding feast.

Bridesmaids and ushers dressed similarly to the bride and groom so if evil spirits or jealous suitors attempted to harm the newlyweds, they would be confused as to which two people were the bride and groom.

Continue reading "Wedding Traditions" »

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Sunday, June 7, at 4:45 pm marks the 25TH Anniversary of the Women's Coalition Women Race where women and girls will run and walk in this downtown Christiansted event.

This fundraiser, which draws over 500 participants, reflects the community's support of their commitment to end violence against women and also reflects women's support for each other. Hundreds of sons, fathers, brothers and friends line the streets to cheer them on.

Continue reading "The Women Race 2009: 25 Years of Running for Peace and Justice" »

Link: The Women Race 2009: 25 Years of Running for Peace and Justice

The Moon and four planets make this time of 2009 an especially interesting period to gaze at the night sky. The Moon is, of course, our closest neighbor in space and the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun. After the Sun sets and the sky begins to grow dark, depending on the date the Moon may be the first object to appear in the night sky. As the sky grows darker, look in the west and the first star-like object to appear will be the planet Saturn. On May 4th, May 31st, and June 27th, you will find the Moon nearby Saturn.

The slowly, the real stars will appear, the brightest ones first. To the west of Saturn will be the bright reddish star Regulus, the heart of Leo, the Lion. To the east of Saturn will be Arcturus and Spica. Arcturus is higher in the sky and Spica more toward the south.

As the Earth continues to turn, the planets and stars will set in the west and new objects will rise in the east. Around 12:30 a.m. the largest of all planets, Jupiter, will rise. Wait an hour or so for Jupiter to climb higher in the sky and you will easily spot this bright planet. Even though Jupiter is the largest of all the planets, it still looks star-like. On May 17th and June 13th you will find that the Moon has joined Jupiter.

Continue reading "Skywatch June & July 2009" »

Link: Skywatch June & July 2009