In the Field magazine Hillsborough edition

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INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE

June 2016

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813-752-2379

Mon. - Sat.: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

I T F M I T Jim F M J 2016 3014 S. Redman Pkwy.

(Hwy. 39 S) Plant City, FL • southsidewesternwear.com

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A lot of Good People in Plant City:

By Libby Hopkins

Business Up Front Coventry Assisted Living The world of work is inundated with people who put their noses to the grindstone for the sole purpose of making a few bucks. Many Americans wake up to attend to the 9-5 hoping, desperately, that one day they’ll be able to do what they love. Rarely are we blessed enough to meet people in those “doing what they love” positions. However, that is the case when it comes to Nikki and Fred Pozeznik at Coventry Assisted Living.

Fred directed us to Nikki, his wife, to discuss the story behind Coventry’s beginning. What a pleasure that conversation was. The enthusiasm and devotion in Nikki’s voice was tangible. She told us over and over again that she loves her residents and we believe her. She told us, “We do hospice, and home health will come in and do PT. We do respite care and are starting senior daycare. We’ve been in assisted living for 13 years. We started off in an adult home and then we found this place in Plant City.”

We wanted to know the catalyst for getting into this industry. Nikki explained, “Diane Silliman used to run the Autumn that was out there on Thonotosassa and Branch Forbes. This was probably about 30 years ago. When I trained with her, watching her, and how she cared for the residents and the love and stuff, back then I was saying, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do.’ She was like an idol to me. I watched her and how she did it and that’s the way I wanted to do it.

You just care for the residents and it’s their home and they’re part of your family. So my heart was just in it. I did it exactly the way she did it. Probably not as good though because she could sing like an angel and play the piano and stuff. Of course I can’t play the piano. She was amazing. She’s what got me started.” We should have asked if she could sing like an angel!

She continued, “I started doing it; then she sold it. A guy named Bill Brown bought it and he kept the name Autumn. I was just a worker there, a single mom, never really went to school, but he saw me and saw how I did it and he sent me to school to become an administrator and he paid for everything! He gave me the confidence to do it. I was like, ‘There’s no way I can be an administrator and pass that test. I can’t do it. There’s no way. I don’t have the confidence in myself,’ but he worked with me and gave me the confidence that I could do it and I did. I passed my administrator’s test and everything I needed. I could do it! I worked for him for like 10 years and then he sold it.”

Here is where Nikki’s directions changed. She shared, “I had met my husband and we were married. He would travel all over the world and train these guys on how to sell big trucks. I was going to quit because I just wasn’t happy now. You know, Diane was gone; he was gone.

You know how things change when they sell? So I said I was gonna quit and just start over. My husband said, ‘No, why don’t we do it ourselves? Why don’t we start our own?’ With my husband’s experience in the office and dealing with people, he handled dealing with the state and getting a license. And I’m telling you, that as soon as we opened Coventry it was full. I mean God blessed us! People knew me because I was born and raised in Plant City and it was full! We’ve been doing it for 13 years and we stay full. I mean it’s a miracle! It’s just been a blessing.” Her excitement was authentic and we smiled.

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Then she opened up a little more, “I started out as a single mom and somebody believed in me and that’s how I got started. I care for the residents and anybody that you talk to about our facility will tell you that we really care for our residents. I mean, if they come in here and they don’t have anything, sometimes you get them from a rehab nursing home or something, I’ll go and spend a couple hundred dollars to get them clothes or whatever to make sure they have what they need.

We assist them with everything, meals and activities. We want it to be like a home environment.” No doubt it is.

She continued, “I’ve got it decorated in strawberry stuff because we’re right across from the strawberry water tower. I went to Southern Hospitality and bought a bunch of strawberry stuff and so now that’s my theme. When people come in they love it. We just got our inspection from Ombudsman and they even posted that it was very nice, and very nicely decorated, and that the residents were happy and seemed to really like it here. We got a good report from them.”

Since she’d opened up about being a single mom, we decided to delve a little deeper and she had no problem elaborating. She told us, “I’m born and raised here in Plant City. I lived out there on Hawk Griffin Road. I had nine brothers and sisters. My mom and dad moved here from Alabama because they were going to pick oranges. They thought if they picked oranges they were gonna get rich. But when they got down here they started picking oranges and stuff and said, ‘Nope, this is not for us,’ so all my brothers and sisters got their own jobs. My oldest brother, Larry, bought all that land out there on Hawk Griffin and we farmed and did stuff like that. I used to help the neighbors pick peas for like a dollar a hamper. I was little.”

In conclusion, she reiterated some things, “I never thought I could do something like this, you know, become a director? Ya know, coming from a large family and being poor, I never thought that I could do it but these two people, Diane Silliman and Bill Brown, they believed in me and gave me the confidence that I needed that I can do it! That’s what I try to tell these young girls that come in, that they can do it too. You just have to find something that you really like and you can do it. You might not be the smartest person in the world but there are still things you can do. You just have to believe in it and that’s what I did. I had a lot of people that just backed me up, or I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for a lot of people in Plant City. There’s a lot of good people in Plant City.” We definitely agree with that statement!

We asked her if there was anything else she’d like the readers to know and she said, “We couldn’t do this without our staff because their hearts have got to be in it, too. Jessica is my assistant administrator, she’s been here about three years and she’s great. We love our residents. We love each and every one of them the same and we take care of all of them the same. We do the best that we can to make them happy while they’re here. I have a lot of the old timers from Plant City. It’s really good that they can come here and we can take care of them until the end so they don’t have to go to a nursing home or anything. We definitely love our residents.” Like we said before, we believe her!

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Zimmermann Family Pony of the Americas Legacy Page 66

VOL. 11 • ISSUE 8

Hillsborough County Farm Bureau 100 S. Mulrennan Rd. Valrico, Fl. Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Insurance Services: 813.685.5673 Member Services: 813.685.9121 OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Contents JUNE 2016

Cover Photo by: Berry Sweet Memories by Dee Dee

Business Up Front

Page 3

Ag-Abilities

FDOT

Florida Jaboticaba

Page 32

Page 14

Page 35

Recipes

Page 52 Literary Time Machine

Page 54

Fishing Hot Spots

Get Thee to Market

Page 38

Owl’s Nest

Rocking Chair Chatter

Pollinators & Neonicotinoids

Meet the Minks

Agriculture Awards

Jack Payne

Market Watch

Agribusiness & Food Industies

John Dicks

Activity

Creeping Indigo

A Closer Look

Page 18 Page 22

Page 40

Page 24 Page 26

Endangered Species

Page 28

Page 42 Page 46 Page 48

Page 56 Page 74 Page 76 Page 78 Page 79 Growums

Page 82 The cover and cover photos from the May 2016 issue were incorrectly credited. The photographer was Pat Bonish, Bonish Photography

Kenneth Parker....................President Will Womack................Vice President James Tew..........................Treasurer Buddy Coleman..................Secretary DIRECTORS FOR 2015 - 2016 Jake Cremer, Tiffany Dale, Bradley Ferguson, Carson Futch, Jim Frankowiak, Chip Hinton, John Joyner, Tony Lopez, Lawrence McClure, Rep. Jake Raburn, Emeritus, Sambahv Sambahv, Marty Tanner, Vincent Tort, Ron Wetherington

Judi Whitson, Executive Director 813.685.9121 Farm Bureau Insurance Special Agents Valrico Office 813.685.5673

100 S. Mulrennan Rd., Valrico, FL. 33594 Tommy Hale, CLU, ChFC, CASL, CPCU Agency Mgr. Juile Carlson, John McGuire

Plant City Office 813.752.5577

1302 S. Collins St., Plant City, FL 33563 Jeff Summer Bill Williams

Tampa Office 813.933.5440

13103 W. Linebaugh Ave. Tampa, FL.33626 Greg Harrell, William Clarke

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AGENCY MANAGER Tommy Hale INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE

June 2016

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IN NTHEFIELD IELD MAGAZINE

June une 2016

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Letter from the Editor

STAFF

Publisher/Photography Karen Berry Senior Managing Editor/ Associate Publisher Sarah Holt Editor-In-Chief Al Berry Editor Patsy Berry

Summer is here! Okay, I realize we live in a state blessed with “cookout” type weather almost every day, but with June 20 as the first day of summer, I felt some tips for food safety were in order.

Food related illnesses can be easily avoided by following a few tips found on the Florida Department of Agriculture’s web site.

• When cooking, use a meat thermometer or follow these tips: • Poultry: Cook it until the meat is white. Don’t eat it if you see blood or pink meat.

• Hamburger: Cook it until there are no traces of pink in the center or blood in the juices.

• Steaks: can be safely cooked medium. That’s because harmful bacteria in beef are found on the surface of the steak, not in the interior like in ground meats.

• Fish: Cook until it flakes easily and is no longer translucent in the center.

• Eggs: Cook eggs and egg dishes thoroughly. Don’t even sample anything containing raw eggs such as uncooked dough and cake batter.

• Keep foods cold, below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or hot, above 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Foods left out between those temperatures for more than two hours should be discarded.

• Keep cooked foods separate from raw foods. Cross-contamination of foods could occur if bacteria-harboring raw food comes in contact with cooked foods. Wash hands, utensils, cutting boards and countertops after preparing or handling raw meats • Avoid interrupted cooking. If you are partially cooking foods indoors to finish cooking on the grill, make sure the food goes directly from the oven to the hot grill. Don’t let the food stand partially cooked for any period of time.

And of course, remember to buy food that is Fresh From Florida for your cookout and every day!

Sales Manager Danny Crampton Sales Al Berry Tina Richmond Danny Crampton Melissa Nichols Creative Director/Illustrator Juan Alvarez Photography Karen Berry Al Berry Stephanie Humphrey Staff Writers Al Berry Sandy Kaster James Frankowiak Sean Green Ginny Mink Libby Hopkins Nick Chapman Vanessa Caceres Contributing Writers Woody Gore Les McDowell John Dicks

Until Next Month

Sarah The LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. - Numbers 6:25

Hey Readers!

Hidden somewhere in the magazine is a No Farmers, No Food logo. Hunt for the logo and once you find the hidden logo you will be eligible for a drawing to win a FREE No Farmers No Food Sticker and a FREE In The Field T-Shirt. Send us your business card or an index card with your name and telephone number, the number of the page which you found the logo and where on the page you located the logo to the address below

InTheField® Magazine P.O. Box 5377 • Plant City, Fl. 33566-0042 *Winners will be notified by phone. You Too Can Be A Winner!

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In The Field Magazine is published monthly and is available through local Hillsborough County businesses, restaurants, and many local venues. It is also distributed by U.S. mail to a target market, which includes all of the Greenbelt Property owners, members of the Hillsborough County Farm Bureau and Strawberry Grower’s Association.

Letters, comments and questions can be sent to P.O. Box 5377, Plant City, Florida 335630042 or you are welcome to email them to: info@inthefieldmagazine.com or call 813759-6909 Advertisers warrant & represent the descriptions of their products advertised are true in all respects. In The Field Magazine assumes no responsibility for claims made by advertisers. All views expressed in all articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Berry Publications, Inc. Any use or duplication of material used in In the Field magazine is prohibited without written consent from Berry Publications, Inc. Published by Berry Publications, Inc. WWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

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100 South Mulrennan Road • Valrico, FL 33594 • 813-685-9121

Would You Give Us A Hand?

Dear Readers: There’s an article in this edition of IN THE FIELD about a program that our Executive Director Judi Whitson helped create in 2001. It’s the Ag-Abilities gathering that takes place every year at the Florida State Fairgrounds. It is an opportunity for agricultural interests in the county to tell their story to a group of students from Hillsborough County schools. It is also a chance for these young men and women with special needs to become involved in some hands-on activities to help them learn about agriculture and its importance to all of us. I encourage you to read the article and find out why volunteer participation by some of our tough and hardened farmers and ranchers often brings tears to their eyes.

What makes this program work, just like so many of our Hillsborough County Farm Bureau initiatives, is the volunteer involvement from many of you. While we are most appreciative of the efforts that have been put forth, it would be even better if more of you became involved. As the “Voice of Agriculture in Hillsborough County” we have many opportunities as we undertake that far-reaching responsibility. Yes, it is a broad effort directed to consumers, lawmakers, regulators and others in a position to influence policy at the local, state and national levels.

But it also requires active involvement in programs such as Ag-Abilities and Ag Venture, where our volunteers share stories about our industry in classrooms across the county. This is a never-ending task, beginning with young children as we strive to teach them where their food comes from and progresses to engage

consumers of all ages. We want all county residents to understand the vital role of our industry and why it must be treated fairly and responsibly.

Membership in Farm Bureau helps assure farmers and ranchers will be able to continue to produce the food we all eat. While family memberships are not that costly, collectively from more than 140,000 families in Florida those funds help assure the “Voice of Agriculture” is loud and clear in the Sunshine State.

We genuinely appreciate your membership, and we encourage you to become involved in the programs that appeal to you. Those opportunities run the gamut from helping to reach the youngest residents of the county all the way to those considered most influential and everyone in between.

If your family does not belong to Farm Bureau, please consider joining so our “Voice” continues to be loud and clear. If your family is already part of our Farm Bureau family, how about suggesting membership to your friends and please don’t hesitate to get involved in the many different things we do on behalf of our industry. It would be great if you could give us a hand!

To learn more, please visit: http://hcfarmbureau.org or call 813/685-9121 for more information.

Thank you.

Kenneth Parker Kenneth Parker - President

Board of Directors

Kenneth Parker, President; Will Womack, Vice-President; James Tew, Treasurer; Buddy Coleman, Secretary; Member-at-large; Glenn Harrell; Board members: Jake Cremer, Tiffany Dale, Bradley Ferguson, Carson Futch, Jim Frankowiak, Chip Hinton, John Joyner, Tony Lopez, Lawrence McClure, Rep. Jake Raburn, Emeritus, Sambahv, Marty Tanner, Vincent Tort, Ron Wetherington Judi Whitson, Executive Director 8 8

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The Care You Need, When You Need It.

The ER You’ve Always Depended On No matter how serious your emergency, you want an ER you can trust. From minor injuries like broken bones, cuts or scrapes to more serious issues such as heart attacks or stroke, the Redman Emergency Center at South Florida Baptist Hospital delivers health care for adults and children. Also, because our Emergency Center is attached to a hospital, we can take patients into surgery or provide additional medical care right away if needed.

For all of life’s minor and major emergencies, choose the Redman Emergency Center at South Florida Baptist Hospital.

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Hear ER stories from real patients and physicians: PlantCityEmergency.org

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Can you identify the people in this historic photo?

Retired Hillsborough County Deputy, Gary Turner, brought this historic photo to the Plant City Photo Archives, looking for assistance in identifying the people shown in the photo. It is a photo from his family, farming in Springhead.

If you know who is pictured, please email info@inthefieldmagazine.com.

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HAVE

TRANSPORTATION ISSUES? THE FDOT

WANTS TO HEAR

FROM YOU

By Jim Frankowiak

If you are a freight hauler in the Tampa Bay area and have operational issues – from small to large – on the area’s roadways, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) would like to hear from you, said the department’s District Freight Coordinator Brian Hunter.

“These can include minor issues such as inadequate turn radii, improper signal timing for trucks, inadequate turn lane length, etc., or larger issues like daily congestion, narrow lanes or non-connectivity of truck routes,” said Hunter.

“These issues can be reported to the Department through www.tampabayfreight.com/issues. We will try to address these issues when we are repaving or reconstructing roadways,” said Hunter, who also encouraged direct contact with him via email: Brian.Hunter@dot.state.fl.us or by phone: 813975-6436 “for any other transportation issues that I may be able to help with.” Hunter is based at the FDOT District 7 office in Tampa.

FDOT has developed and continually updates its Tampa Bay Regional Strategic Freight Plan – Freight Moves Tampa Bay -- which is a “comprehensive vision of the context, needs, strategies and implementation of short- and long-term improvements to the region’s freight infrastructure.” The plan is updated as land use and travel conditions evolve and new freight mobility and accessibility challenges arise.

Subsections of the plan, all of which are accessible at http:// tampabayfreight.com, include Regional Goods Movement: Links to our Past and Future, which describes the intent of the study and its study area, national policies that impact freight, the significant role that freight mobility has on Florida’s economic prosperity, as well as various challenges to efficient goods movement.

The plan’s Regional Freight Infrastructure and Modal Assets details the freight transportation network, regional freight 14

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activity centers (FACs), as well as the types of commodities shipped in the Tampa Bay regional and their diverse modes of transport.

Within the Assessment of Freight Needs section detail is provided on the objectives of the Strategic Freight Plan, the types of freight mobility needs, freight performance measures and regional priority needs. This section also describes the policy framework for freight strategies development, the different facility functions, the compatibility between different land use types and freight activity and the priority freight investment strategies.

The Implementation section of the plan outlines the process for identifying, emphasizing and applying freight-supportive transportation strategies, facility design guidelines and policies within freight corridors and subareas in the Tampa Bay region.

Another comprehensive resource that is dedicated to telling Florida’s Freight Story is on the web at www.FreightMovesFlroida.com. The key messages found on the website, according to Hunter, are designed to reach a variety of audiences: • State and Local Government – support for freight initiatives will help communities grow • Florida Youth – a career in the freight/logistics industry is a WWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

good choice with opportunities for advancement • General Public – freight impacts your everyday life • Business – Florida is ready to support your supply chain “This website is part of FDOT’s coordinated effort to enhance freight mobility through the implementation of Florida’s Freight Mobility and Trade Plan (FMTP),” he said. “The Policy Element of the FMTP laid the foundation by developing objectives and strategies through a collaboration with the private sector and regional partners. The Investment Element took the next step and developed a prioritization process to match freight needs with statewide freight objectives. Together the Policy and Investment Elements of the FMTP form a dynamic document that focuses freight initiatives statewide, and will continue to drive Florida forward as the nation’s freight leader.”

For more information, visit: www.tampabayfreight.com and/or www.freightmovesflorida.com or contact Hunter directly via phone or email.

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QUALITYProducers Trust AgroLiquid

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Karen Fishing Report Tampa Bay June 2016

Capt. Woody Gore (www.captainwoodygore.com)

It is already June and it’s hot. If you’re fishing low water flats before an incoming tide and your live bait starts dying, keep in mind the low water may be depleted of oxygen as it comes out of the shallow backcountry areas. Wherever low tides last through late afternoon and night, especially as water temperatures have climbed through the mid and afternoon heat, the shallow water back country tends to lose its ability to hold oxygen. Therefore, some backcountry flats and pools containing oxygen-depleted water are carried out to your favorite fishing areas during outgoing tides.

As usual, June remains hot without any degree of relief at least for another couple of months. In spite of the heat, anglers willing to endure high temperatures and humidity can look forward to catching plenty of fish. Everything will be cooperating, from tarpon to snapper they will be eating just about anything tossed in their direction.

Snook have remained strong and seem to be everywhere, especially around the flats and mangrove shorelines and are willing to take greenbacks and cut baits tossed in their direction.

Speaking of greenbacks, they’re everywhere and we should start to see the young fry starting to appear.

Trout As the smaller greenies show up, so do the trout. Check the deeper grass flats by free-lining live bait or bouncing an artificial jig along the bottom. Many anglers like using a popping cork with a small split shot to keep the bait down in the current while fishing the grass flats on a moving tide.

Redfish action throughout the bay seems consistent, with plenty of slot fish waiting to tug on your line. Trout, snook and redfish usually haunt the same areas often cruising open flats and sandy patches early then moving into the mangrove shade during the day. However, the trout will usually stay on the open grass flats hanging around sandy potholes.

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Anglers favoring artificial lures should try topwater action with lures like the MirrOLure Series III S7MR or the Top Dog 74MR, Top Dog Jr. 84MR. Later in the day, soft plastic jerkbaits baits rigged using a 1/16 or 1/8 oz. jig head.

Cobia Check markers and grass flats especially those holding bait. They also cruise the miles of open grass flats following rays and manatees on the lookout for a quick snack. When fishing open water flats, it’s always a good idea to have a rod and reel rigged for something larger, because you never know when one might slide by.

Tarpon fishing should continue this month with many moving into the bay. Threadfins, crabs, and larger greenbacks are all over Tampa Bay and work very well for tarpon. The Skyway Bridge, Anna Maria, St. Pete Beach, and Egmont Key should be holding plenty of fish this month.

Snapper The snapper bite in Tampa Bay can be great during the summer. Especially when the small greenies show up.

Just find a rock pile or bridge and knocker rig a few down on a slower current then get ready. You’ve got to be quick, these fish are quicker than sheepshead and if you feel the bite it’s usually too late. So, keep your line tight and be ready to set the hook for a great dinner.

Mackerel…Tampa Bay is loaded with threadfins and June mackerel fishing should be no exception. Just find schools of threadfins or greenbacks, net a few, put out a chum bag, and hold onto your rod and reel. Mackerel fishing means some real excitement on spinning tackle using 50 to 60 pound Seaguar leader and 2/0 long shank hooks.

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Trout

Chris

Smoked Mackerel

Karen and Chris both finished the day with several good snook when they fished upper Tampa Bay with Captain Woody Gore www. captainwoodygore.com in mid-May. We got on some nice Spanish mackerel first, then a few trout and finished on some decent snook.

Maureen, Karen’s sister, caught her first snook and finished strong with several others before the trip ended. Great bunch of ladies and good anglers.

“Give Me a Call & Let’s Go Fishing” 813-477-3814

Captain Woody Gore is the area’s top outdoor fishing guide.

Guiding and fishing the west central Florida areas for over fifty years; he offers world class fishing adventures and a lifetime of memories.

Multi-boat Group Charters With years of organizational experience and access to the areas most experienced captains, Captain Woody can arrange and coordinate any outing or tournament. Just tell him what you need and it’s done.

Visit his website at: WWW.CAPTAINWOODYGORE.COM send an email to wgore@ix.netcom.com or give me a call at 813-477-3814 WWW.IN NTHE HEFIELD IELDMAGAZINE.COM AGAZINE.COM WWW.

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• The foundation stallion of the breed Pony of the Americas was Black Hand #1.

• Black Hand was sired by a Shetland Pony, out of an Appaloosa mare.

• In 1970, fifteen years after its founding, the POA registry carried over 12,000 registered horses. Today that number exceeds 40,000.

• The POA is a strong, fast and durable pony capable of performing a wide variety of tasks.

• This breed appears in one of the so-called Appaloosa colors.

• The current height requirement is between 46 and 56 inches.

• The POA should generally have the head shape of the Arabian and the muscular body of the Quarter Horse.

• POAs have mottled skin (pigmented and un-pigmented patches) in the areas where skin shows.

• POAs have bold and clearly defined vertical stripes on their hooves.

• A registered POA must have white sclera in at least one eye. The sclera is the visible part of the eye outside the iris (the colored part of the eye).

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My mother never made it to college, but she sure was smart.

She had what a lot of people lack today, common sense. She was a great teacher, too. Bless her heart she taught me logic.

I would ask why, and she would say, “Because I said so, that’s why.” She taught me stamina. “You’ll sit there ‘til you finish eating everything on your plate.” She taught me to pray. “You had better pray that will come out of the carpet.” She knew a lot about the weather. I remember one time she stuck her head in the door of my room and said, “Son, it looks like a tornado swept through here.” I never heard her say anything negative about anybody. All of my sisters and father agreed many years ago that she was the best cook in the world. She could take leftovers and create and a new meal that we all would savor.

Yes, mom was a real southern lady.

Speaking of the south, I read an article the other day by the Southern Tourism Bureau addressing northerners visiting the south. It stressed the “do’s and don’ts” when south of the Mason Dixon line. Don’t order toast at Cracker Barrel! Everyone will instantly know that you’re from Michigan. Eat your biscuits like God intended, and never put sugar on your grits.

Never fake a southern accent. This could incite a riot. Never order filet mignon or pasta primavera at Waffle House. It is just dinner. They serve breakfast 24 hours a day. Just order off the menu, and let them cook something they know. If you confuse them, the may kick you out. Yes, we know how to speak proper English. We talk this way because we don’t want to sound like a Yankee. We don’t care if you don’t understand what we are saying. All Southerners understand what we are saying, and that’s all that matters. Never ridicule our Southern manners. We say “sir” and “ma’am,” hold doors open for others, and offer our seats to old folks because such things are expected out of civilized people. Behave yourself around your sweet little grey-haired grandmother or she’ll kick some manners in your rear like ours did.

Notherner’s have their way of saying things too. Like, “For Cripes Sakes” and “Holy Moly!” Now who is “Holy Moly?”

And last but not least, do not come down here and try to tell us how to cook barbeque. If you do, they’ll tell my neighbor, Mark Poppell, and he’ll give you a whuppin!

Mark is an interesting person, and the best cook in our neigh22

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borhood. He is full of wisdom. He said to me the other day, “Al, I am sure glad I am a man.” I asked why he would make a statement like that. “Well now, there are many reasons,” he said. “We have one wallet and one pair of shoes, the same color all year long. You can buy a three pack of underwear for about ten bucks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. A wedding dress is $2000, and a Tux rental is $150.00. You can do your nails with a pocketknife. And Christmas shopping can be accomplished for 25 relatives, on December 24th, in one hour.”

Let’s close out remembering words we seldom hear anymore.

“Percolator.” A fun word to say, but replaced with “Coffee Maker.” Remember “Picture Show?” Now it’s a “Movie.”

When was the last time you head the phrase “in a family way?”

It’s hard to imagine that the word “pregnant” was once considered a little to graphic. Then we had all that talk about the stork visiting, or “being in a family way,” or simply “expecting.” Did you ever wait at the street for you daddy to come home, so you could ride on the “running board” up to the house? When did we quit calling them “emergency brakes?”

Some where along the way we started using the term “parking brake!” Frankly, the name “emergency brake” sounds more exciting. Remember, “store bought” or, a “store-bought bag of candy?”

I think, just maybe at one time was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? I never hear anyone complaining of that anymore. Maybe that’s what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening kids with castor oil anymore.

I leave you with my exhaustive review of information on the final word on nutrition and health. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than we do.

Mexicans eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than us. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. Germans drink beer and eat tons of sausage and fats and suffer a much lower heart attack than us. MY CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you. But don’t worry the Government is trying to correct this problem.

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Agriculture AWARDS ANNOUNCED FOR

2016

The Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce Agri-Business Committee is pleased to announce this year’s agriculture award winners. The awards will be presented at the Salute to Agriculture Contact Breakfast to be held in the HCC Trinkle Center, Wednesday, August 10th, at 7:30 a.m. The cost is $15 a person, and you may call the Chamber at (813) 754-3707 for reservations.

RSVP is required by Friday, August 5th at 4:30 pm.

The awards are as follows:

Agriculturist of the Year

Anthony & Debbie Gill

Ag Educator of the Year Melissa Sampson

Agri-Business of the Year BBI Produce Inc.

Supporter of Youth in Agriculture Bill Morrow

Committee Chair Debbie Simpson said, “We are pleased to be able to recognize these outstanding individuals and businesses.

Their contributions make a significant difference to the agriculture industry in Plant City and Hillsborough County.”

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NEW STUDY DETAILS CONTRIBUTIONS OF AGRIBUSUNESS AND FOOD INDUSTRIES AND CHALLENGE OF BALANCING AGRICULTURE, DEVELOPMENT WITH CONTINUED POPULATION GROWTH By Jim Frankowiak

In 1974, when Hillsborough County completed its first comprehensive plan, it was forecast that the county’s population would reach one million by the year 2000 and agriculture would cease to be an industry of significance. The county’s population grew to that level, but agriculture continued to thrive and is a major contributor to the area economy. The industry includes production of fruits and berries, nursery and greenhouse products, vegetables and ornamental fish.

The economy of Hillsborough County is closely tied to the national and global economies through its transportation infrastructure and trade, tourism and finance sectors. Consequently, the impact of the global recession in 2006-2007 saw employment declines locally due to reduced domestic and international exports, but has recovered strongly in 2012-2013 to nearly pre-recession levels.

It is important to note that while the county’s population has grown from 490,000 in 1970 to 1.23 million in 2010, farmland in the county has declined from 285,000-acres in 2002 to just under 215,000-acres in 2012. This trend of population growth and decline in farmlands is expected to continue. The report also noted that in 2012, there were 2,466 farms in the county, which was down 16.9-percent from 2,969 farms in 2002.

The specific contributions of agribusiness and food industries in the county were the focus of an assessment commissioned by the Hillsborough County Economic Development Department and conducted by Alan W. Hodges, Extension Scientist, and Thomas J. Stevens, Research Associate, with the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Food and Resource Economics Department. The assessment “provides an up-to-date profile on how agriculture, natural resources and food industries continue to fit into the Hillsborough County economy, in support of informed choices for public policy,” the report said.

Economic contributions of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food (ANRF) industries were evaluated using the IMPLAN regional economic impact modeling software and associated data from Implan Group, LLC, which allows estimation of the indirect and induced multiplier effects of economic activity.

Industries within the ANRF designation consisted of seven groups: Agricultural Inputs and Services; Crop, Livestock, Forestry and Fisheries Production; Food and Kindred Products Manufacturing; Forest Products Manufacturing; Food and Kindred Products Distribution; Mining; and, Nature-based Recreation. Food and Kindred Products Distribution (Restaurants) represented more than 50 percent of the ANRF economic contributions, followed by Food and Kindred Products Manufacturing and Agricultural Inputs and Services.

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“We include food services (restaurants) and other food distribution industry sectors in our typical economic contribution studies for ANRF,” said Hodges. “The rational is that the food chain is integrated from producer to consumer.”

The study estimated the employment contributions of ANRF industries at 164,654 full-time and part-time jobs in the county, representing 20.7-percent of the county’s workforce in 2013.

Industry output or revenue contributions were estimated at $22.46 billion, while value-added contributions were estimated at $11.28 billion, which represented 16.0 percent of the county’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Labor income contributions (employee wages, salaries, benefits and proprietor income) were $7.11 billion and contributions to local, state and federal taxes on production and imports were $1.05 billion.

This study of ANRF industries in the county indicates the main drivers of the economy are the cycle of the national economy; population growth, real estate prices, growth in value-added services and economies of scale in the food manufacturing and food distribution industry sectors.

The economy of Hillsborough County “is closely tied to that of the nation and world. Therefore, it will continue to be subject to cycles in the wider economy,” the study said. “Diversification of the local economy offers some protection from these broader forces, and agriculture and related industries serve this purpose well.

“The county’s rapid population growth is expected to continue into the foreseeable future, with population projected to reach nearly 1.8-million by 2035, a 35-percent increase from today. While this trend will simulate further growth in local demand for food and kindred products, it poses a threat to the county’s production agriculture, especially land extensive types such as row crops, fruit groves and cattle ranching. Protecting farmland areas is vitally important to preserving these types of agriculture, and maintaining a distinctive identity for the agricultural community.

“For Hillsborough County to retain its basic agricultural industries and accompanying open spaces, it must enact measures to protect these lands from the pressures of residential and commercial development. Such measures can result in a loss of potential development value for some agricultural landowners. Policy makers will have to devise programs to compensate stakeholders who are adversely affected,” the study concluded.

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“They Find Their Way Back to the Big Ol’ Blue”

By Ginny Mink With the upcoming release of Finding Dory (part 2 of the Finding Nemo franchise) it seemed like a good idea to talk about sea turtles.

If you are familiar with the Finding Nemo movie then perhaps you recall the sea turtles who rode the EAC (East Australian Current).

Marlin wakes up on the back of one such turtle, Crush, who claims to still be young at 150 years old. So, what’s the truth about sea turtles and what can we do to help them? Let’s find out!

Florida lists four sea turtles as federally endangered (there’s another one on the federally threatened list). For the sake of this article, we’ll focus on the four endangered species: green sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, and the leatherback sea turtle. Sea turtles, when clumped in a group, are said to live up to 152 years. So, Crush may have been exaggerating his youth to accentuate his young at heart attitude. In case you were wondering.

Obviously we don’t want to put all these turtles in one lump sum though, and therefore let’s make a point of being able to tell the difference. Green sea turtles (like Crush) get their name from the green tint of their skin. There are actually two types of green sea turtle and scientists are fighting about whether or not to separate the two. They can reach weights of 700 lbs.! As adults they are herbivores but have been known to eat crab, jellyfish, and sponges in their youth. They mate every two to four years laying a clutch of 100-200 eggs. Even though they are listed as endangered, people are still killing them for their meat and eggs.¹ Hawksbill sea turtles have a distinctive hawk shaped beak that gives them their names. They are considerably smaller than the green sea turtle, only weighing in at a maximum of 300 lbs (though most don’t pass 176 lbs.) and are considered a medium sized sea turtle. They like to live in rocky areas and are deeply devoted to the coral reef but don’t go too far out, they’re rarely seen in areas past 65 foot deep.

Although they only breed every two to three years, they are capable of doing so four and a half times during the breeding season. Their clutches are generally 140 eggs or so and they feast, primarily, on sponges.² This brings us to the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, which is the smallest of the sea turtles worldwide. The adults only tip the scale at 75-100 lbs.

Richard Kemp, a Florida fisherman, discovered this species in 1880.

They have an oval to heart shaped shell with a white bottom shell and creamy toned skin. They love crabs and usually live in lagoons and other shallow water locales. While they may lay up to 100 eggs, they are the smallest eggs of all sea turtles, about the size of a ping pong 28

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ball. Interestingly enough, the temperature in the nest will determine the gender of the turtle babies, the colder it is, the more males there will be! By the way, these are the only sea turtles that nest during the day.³ We’ve saved the most well-known for last, the leatherback sea turtle.

In case you were unaware, they get their names from the fact that they have leather like shells as opposed to the hard shells the other sea turtles are known for. Additionally, they are the largest of all sea turtles and the ones that travel the furthest. They really enjoy eating jellyfish and can indulge until they reach weights of 600-1500 lbs.!

They nest year round, unlike other sea turtles, but egg collection in nesting grounds is a very serious threat. This is not to mention the threat caused by mistaken identity. That is to say that because they survive almost solely on jellyfish, it is easy for them to accidentally ingest plastic bags.⁴ To pull it all back together, the overdevelopment of beaches is one of the greatest threats to the survival of sea turtles worldwide. Mankind has encroached on their nesting grounds to the point of nearly driving these majestic ocean creatures to extinction. Unfortunately, efforts to rectify the usage of them in soups and other delicacies have not eliminated the proclivity of some to steal eggs and kill these turtles for their meat. Those seeking to help these beautiful entities should stand firm on protecting their habitats and volunteer to keep watch during nesting seasons. The more babies we protect, the better chance God’s great, silent, giants have of surviving.

There are additional methods that you can use to assist in the protection of Florida’s sea turtles. The World Wildlife Fund offers an “adopt a turtle” option on their website (which you can find in our resources section). Or, you can join the Sea Turtle Conservancy based out of Gainesville. They’ve been saving sea turtles since 1959.⁵ There’s a link in the resources for that option as well. Whatever you do, remember that this earth is under your stewardship. Take care of it.

Resources: ¹National Geographic- http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/green-turtle/ ²U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service- http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/seaturtles/turtle%20factsheets/hawksbill-sea-turtle.htm ³Sea Turtle Inc.- http://www.seaturtleinc.org/education/about-seaturtles/kemps-ridley/ ⁴World Wildlife Fund- http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/leatherback-turtle ⁵Sea Turtle Conservancy- http://www.conserveturtles.org/involved. php WWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

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AG-ABILILTIES: A Win-Win for Students and Volunteers

By Jim Frankowiak

Big smiles and “high fives” were once again the order of the day as more than 100 students from several Hillsborough County schools participated in the annual Ag-Abilities competition at the Florida State Fairgrounds. Begun in 2001 to provide Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students with an opportunity to compete in various ag-related competitions, the annual event has grown thanks to industry and volunteer support.

The 106 student competitors came from Caminiti Exceptional Center, Greco and Turkey Creek middle schools and Durant and Middleton high schools. The half-day event, which concluded with lunch and the presentation of ribbons to successful participants, included Plant Identification, Food We Eat, Animal Breed Identification and Tractor Driving. Ag-Abilities volunteers included board members of Hillsborough County Farm Bureau and an employee team from Rabo AgriFinance led by Farm Bureau board member and Rabo Senior Relationship Manager Tony Lopez.

The Rabo AgriFinance Helping Hands program offers employees paid time off to volunteer for charitable organizations within their local communities. This program is part of the Rabo AgriFinance goal of supporting agriculture in the communities where employees work and live. In addition to providing team members with paid time off to volunteer, Rabo AgriFinance also makes a donation to the charitable organization where the employees volunteered.

“We look forward to participating in the Helping Hands program because it allows us to support the important work Ag-Abilities is doing,” said Lopez. “The time we spent with Ag-Abilities is fun and rewarding, and it allows us to share our passion for agriculture in a new way.”

Rabo AgriFinance’s donation helped to underwrite the cost of luncheon hot dogs, chips and beverages that were provided to all attendees. Dessert once again featured strawberry shortcake presented and 32

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served by John Lawson of Hydro Harvest Farms as his way of saying “Thanks” for ESE programs that benefited his son.

“Students learn in a hands-on and interactive manner,” said Ondinia Garrett, an educator at Greco Middle School who attended the event.

“Students have an opportunity to engage in a different learning environment. Learning in assorted ways can appeal to varied learning styles, helping students succeed whether they are visual, auditory or kinetic learners. They learned about the different fruits and vegetables which grow in Florida.”

Garrett also noted the reaction of a parent-chaperone at the event. “He was almost in tears watching his son ride the tractor. My student was smiling from ear to ear. All of the students were able to ride a tractor,” she said. “Along with the engagement with concepts that is required by these experiences, the student bonding that occurs on field trips enhances the learning experience and creates a learning community,” said Garrett. “They also enjoyed receiving ribbons, lunch and strawberry shortcake dessert.”

Hillsborough County Farm Bureau’s participation in this event “is part of our ongoing commitment to agricultural education and raising awareness of the important role farmers and ranchers play in the production of the food and fiber that we all need to survive,” said Hillsborough County Farm Bureau President Kenneth Parker who was a participating Ag-Abilities volunteer. “Our Executive Director Judi Whitson has made educating the general public about agriculture a top priority. She has garnered an amazing amount of support from our board of directors and other valued volunteers. Ag-Abilities is one of the highlights of her successful campaign.

“I certainly hope the students gain knowledge about the food they eat, however, nothing can compare to the smiles on their faces when they are driving the tractors. If that big smile is all they remember, mission accomplished. I know I will never forget it,” said Parker.

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Florida

Jaboticaba

By Sandy Kaster, M.S. Clinical Medicines, B.S. Nutrition Science

ing total and LDL cholesterol levels, decrease inflammation, and decrease clumping of platelets (which may help prevent blood clots).

Jaboticaba is an exotic fruit that resembles a grape and is eaten fresh out-of-hand or made into wine, jam, or jellies. Other names for this fruit are jabuticaba or Brazilian grapetree. Native to Brazil, this fruit is also grown in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, California, and South Florida. The tree is known for its uniquely beautiful multicolored bark. Flowering and fruiting occur throughout the year in with the largest harvest between April and June. The flowers and fruit grow directly on the bark of the trunk and branches. Covered with a thick, purple skin, the fruit under the skin is a whitish pulp with one to four seeds. It has a pleasant sweet flavor and its flavor and texture is like that of a grape.

This grape-like fruit is also high in phosphorus and calcium, the two main minerals involved in maintaining healthy bones and teeth.

Phosphorus plays an important role in how the body uses carbohydrates and fats for fuel. Phosphorus also helps the body store energy for future use and is needed for the body to make protein for the growth, maintenance, and repair of cells and tissues.

NUTRITIONAL PROFILE

HOW TO SELECT AND STORE

This sweet, juicy fruit is a great source of vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, iron, thiamin, and niacin. The outer peel is entirely edible and contains most of the fiber in the fruit. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, one serving of fresh jaboticaba (100 g) contains 46 calories, 0.1 g of protein, 0 g of fat, 12.6 g of carbohydrate, and 1 g of fiber.

Choose deeply colored, slightly softened fruit that feel heavy for their size. Look for richly colored skin that is free of blemishes. Store in a shallow container in the refrigerator for up to several days. Rinse under cool running water before eating or preparing.

FULL OF DISEASE-FIGHTING ANTIOXIDANTS Fresh Florida jaboticaba are bursting with antioxidants including vitamin C, manganese, carotenoids, and other phytonutrients. The highest concentration of these beneficial compounds are found in the skin and seeds. Antioxidants help protect the body’s cell membranes from harmful free radical damage and lower markers of oxidative stress. Very importantly, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of jaboticaba offer protection against cancer.

Antioxidants protect cell membranes from potential oxygen damage and inflammation. This decreases the risk for atherosclerosis and heart disease. Jaboticaba, as well as grape juice, and red wine have been shown to play a role in reducing high blood pressure, reducWWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

GOOD FOR YOUR BONES

HOW TO ENJOY Jaboticaba are delicious and juicy eaten out of hand. They can be juiced or cooked into jelly or jam. Add to cereal, yogurt, or salad or use them to garnish and top cakes and desserts. Thanks to its sweet flavor, this fruit is commonly used in baking, such as in cheesecake, dessert sauce, pudding, ice cream, or cake.

Enjoy Florida’s fresh jaboticaba today and enjoy a nutrition boost in every bite of sweetness.

SELECTED REFERENCES http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/GardenPubsAZ/Jaboticaba.pdf https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/jaboticabas.html http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-20.pdf INTHEFIELD MAGAZINE

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Get Thee To Market

By Libby Hopkins

Farmers’ markets and fresh markets are great because they build a community around food. These markets give their customers the opportunity to meet the farmers and vendors who grow and create the products they sell at the markets. Vendors and customers can have one on one conversations about how their food is grown, what goes into the products the vendors are selling and not to mention, it builds relationships between the vendors and customers. “The farmers that work with us at the market weekly/monthly have been with us for several years,” said Tiffany Ferrecchia, Director of Operations for Tampa Bay Markets. “They see the benefit in coming to the market and have built relationships with hundreds of loyal customers. We consistently receive feedback from customers because the markets are creating the opportunity to connect local.”

Even though fresh markets and farmers’ markets are a great opportunity for everyone involved, Ferrecchia has had some challenges getting farmers to be vendors at her fresh markets. “We feel that there is a lack of awareness that the markets are out there and the opportunities available for them to sell to the public,” Ferrecchia said. “Our goal is to strengthen our ‘Farm to Fresh Market’ campaign and raise more awareness on what the market locations can provide farmers.

By continued outreach and conversations with current participating farmers/growers, we hope to raise awareness of the benefits that the markets may provide for selling in their areas.”

Tampa Bay Markets’ “Farm to Fresh Market” campaign supports local farmers and growers. Each of their market locations has space available for those who want to sell the food themselves and their families grow. “Our ‘Farm to Fresh Market’ campaign offers free space to any local grower whose offerings at the market are 80 percent of what they grow locally,” Ferrecchia said. “Our thought is that some farmers think they may not have enough product on a consistent basis to have a presence at the markets. Our answer to the farmers on this subject is that we understand the issues with weather and growing seasons. While a consistent presence is beneficial for all involved, we will work with them during the growing season and also to expand their customer base in addition to potential product range 38

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for the markets.” Ferrecchia and her team will work with the farmers/growers to improve the opportunities available and provide their support for their presence at the markets.

Since Tampa Bay Markets’ start in 2010, they have been working to offer their customers a mix of agricultural options to choose from and book market vendors who supply not only locally farmed products, but a mixture of conventional, hydroponic, aquaponic, nongmo and certified organic options. “These additional produce options are needed as there as has always been a struggle to find local growers/farmers who want to participate,” Ferrecchia said. “In the Tampa Bay area a combination of factors impact the availability of locally grown produce for the markets, such as the on-going urban and suburban growth, the availability of water for growing and the distance of farms from market locations. We have also found that most of the growers looking to sell at markets on both this side of the state are north and south of us where other open-air markets also exist. They can sell their product easier and without the time and expense to drive to the Tampa region.”

This doesn’t mean Ferrecchia and her team can’t get farmers and growers to their markets. “We are constantly working to source farmers and promote our ‘Farm to Fresh Market’ opportunities,” Ferrecchia said. “The search is always a challenge and is something we constantly deal with, but our markets do offer the guarantee of local products. Most importantly we take pride in presenting the opportunity for ‘mom and pop and sisters and cousins’ to vend to the community where they live. Each market we operate is an economic booster for our community as it supports local vendors who are entrepreneurs and who may not be able to afford a store front.”

Tampa Bay Markets brings the community together to socialize, to enjoy the beautiful Florida weather, but most importantly to support local. If you are a local farmer or grower who is interested in being a vendor at one of the Tampa Bay Markets fresh markets, you can fill out a vendor application on their website at www.tampabaymarkets. com or you can contact Ferrecchia at 813-481-8805.

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What’s the Buzz about Pollinators and Neonicotinoids?

By Susan Haddock, Commercial Landscape/IPM/Small/ Farms Agent, UF/IFAS Extension Hillsborough County Pollinators include insects, birds, bats and other animals that carry pollen from the male to the female parts of flowers for plant reproduction. Pollinators are an essential part of natural and agricultural ecosystems throughout the world as over 75% of flowering plants require pollination to produce flowers, fruit or vegetables. Considering the main crops that humans eat, 87 of 124 depend on pollinators. Bees alone pollinate more than $15 million worth of U.S. crops annually. Honey bees pollinate at least 13 major crops in Florida, but more than 315 other species of bees play a role in plant and crop pollination in Florida.

What is pollination?

Flowers can be male, female or both. Male flowers produce pollen.

Perfect flowers have both male and female parts in a single flower.

Imperfect flowers have either male or female parts. Plants may have male, female or a combination of both types of flowers on the same plant. Pollination requires the male pollen to enter the pollen tube of the female flower. Many garden vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers and beans, have perfect flowers. Others such as the cucurbits: watermelon, cucumber, squash and pumpkin, have separate male and female flowers on the same plant.

Judy Biss, Agriculture and Natural Resource Agent in Calhoun County, Florida, cites some taken for granted “did you know” facts about pollination: • In cucurbit plants, (squash, melon, pumpkin) at least 1,000 grains of pollen must be evenly deposited in each bloom to produce a uniform marketable fruit.

• Each watermelon flower must be visited by a honeybee a minimum of 8 times.

• Each silk in a corn flower is connected to one kernel on the ear of corn, and for the kernel to develop properly pollen must travel down the silk through a pollen tube to the waiting kernel.

When you think about the variety of flower types, planting and harvest times, bloom times, weather conditions, and availability of pollinators you can begin to understand how important pollination is for us to be able eat the variety of food available and enjoy ornamental landscape plants.

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What is the difference between honey bees and native bees?

The western honey bee is the most important pollinator in Florida and American agriculture. The honey bee is responsible for pollinating about 85% of food that makes up one-quarter to one-third of our food supply. Other pollinators, especially native bees pollinate the other 15-20% of food crops and pollinate many landscape ornamentals.

Honey bees are eusocial. Eusocial insects have three main characteristics: the mother and others cooperatively care for the young, there is a reproductive division of labor with sterile castes that have characteristics associated with helping behavior and the older generations of offspring help related, younger generations. Honey bees live in a colony made of a wax honeycomb that they construct and they make honey. Honey bees protect and defend their colony with their lives by using their stingers. Honey bees are generalist pollinators, meaning that they pollinate many different flowers and crops.

There are over 3,000 registered bee keepers in Florida that invest in bees, equipment, supplies and gear to manage colonies.

Native bees are primarily solitary, living in nests that are below ground or in wood cavities that are near the ground. Most native bees do not make honey and will only sting if they are handled or threatened. Since they do not live in colonies, there is no active management needed. Native bees often pollinate only specific plants and require these plants for survival. Habitat that attracts native bees and other types of pollinators is easy to create, but also easy to destroy.

What factors affect pollinator health?

Honey bee colony losses began to be identified in 2006 at a rate of about 30% per year. According to Dr. Jamie Ellis, Associate Professor of Entomology at the Honey Bee Extension Research Lab, although individual hives are lost, managed honey bee hive numbers are not declining at that rate due to the process of splitting hives.

A National Research Council report in 2007, Status of Pollinators in North America, documented the decline of pollinators and discussed some of the possible causes. The causes include: WWW.IIN NTTHE HEFFIELD IELDM MAGAZINE.COM AGAZINE.COM WWW.

• Disease, parasites, bacteria and viruses such as the Varroa mite, small hive beetle, Israeli Acute Paralysis virus and the gut parasite Nosema.

• Bee management practices that cause stress, such as transporting honey bees to multiple locations across the county for pollination services for specific crops.

• Agricultural practices that encourage planting of vast monocultures lead to decreased diversity for bee foraging.

• Increased urbanization has changed bee foraging habitat and leads to inadequate forage and poor nutrition.

• Pesticide exposure by direct contact, exposure to residues on flowers and consumption of residue in nectar and pollen or in honey and bee bread in the hive.

• A combination of the above factors may be causing immune-suppressing stress on bees or result in a lack of genetic diversity.

Are there specific pesticides that harm bees?

Pesticides have received a great deal of attention as a factor related to pollinator health and decline in pollinator populations. The class of pesticides called neonicotinoids has been identified as causing problems for pollinators. Scientists are studying whether neonicotinoid pesticides move with the water and sugar in plants and get delivered to various parts of the plant, including the nectar and pollen. They also are studying whether repeated applications build up in plant tissues and pose a greater risk to pollinators.

Neonicotinoids are effective against sucking insects, some chewing insects, soil insects and fleas on domestic animals. Neonicotinoids are systemic insecticides. Systemic means it is taken up by the plant and moves throughout the plants’ vascular system. They are often applied to soil, taken up by plant roots and transported to plant parts including pollen and nectar. They tend to have extended activity, both in plants and in the environment. While neonicotinoids have high toxicity to insects, they have very low toxicity to mammals. The extended activity and low mammalian toxicity is what makes neonicotinoids very effective and efficient to use against insect pests. However, the toxicity to insects also puts our pollinator populations at risk.

What are some neonicotinoid products that people should be familiar with?

Most home owners are familiar with brand names and labels that identify pest problem resolution as they scan products for residential pest control. It is actually the active ingredient in the product that controls pest and it is the active ingredient that we should pay attention to. The active ingredient can be found on the front of the product label. The following active ingredients and common products are neonicotinoids available to home owners: WWW.IIN NTTHE HEFFIELD IELDM MAGAZINE.COM AGAZINE.COM WWW.

• Imidacloprid: Bayer Advanced Fruit, Citrus Vegetable & Insect Control, Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer for Lawns, Bayer Advanced All in One Rose and Flower Care, Bonide Systemic Granules Insect Control, Fertilome Tree & Shrub Systemic Insect Drench, Hi-Yield Systemic Insect Granules, Ortho Rose and Flower Insect Control • Dinotefuron: Ortho Tree and Shrub Insect Control • Clothianidin: Bayer Advanced Tree and Shrub Protection and Feed, Green Light Grub Control Are these products going away?

The Environmental Protection Agency has mandated label changes for how and when neonicotinoid products can be used (EPA Bee Advisory Box) and has begun to review neonicotinoid product registration. Some states and other countries have banned or restricted use of these products. Home Depot has removed use of neonicotinoids from about 80% of flowering plants and is requiring all plants that have been treated with neonicotinoids to bear a special tag informing customers that the plant has been exposed. Lowes will stop selling the products containing neonicotinoids by spring 2019.

How can you minimize the hazard to pollinators?

Use integrated pest management control methods: cultural, physical, mechanical and biological. Know which pesticides contain active ingredients that are neonicotinoids and seek out other options.

Read the pesticide label, follow all label instructions and be aware that any application contrary to label instructions is a violation of law. Use less toxic pesticides such as horticultural oil, insecticidal soap and bacillus thuringiensis. Live without pest susceptible plants. Accept imperfections in the landscape. If you or your lawn care professional uses neonicotinoids: • Do not make preventative applications; identify the harmful pest and seek out other control options • Do not apply neonicotinoid insecticides before or during bloom because they may travel to the pollen and nectar • Remove flowers before application • For trees and shrubs wait until petal fall to address insect problems Mow before applications to remove flowers from weeds • Use preemergent weed controls to reduce flowering weeds Leave a buffer strip between treated areas of turf and ornamental beds to minimize flowering plant uptake • Make applications early morning or late evening as bees actively forage in the middle of the day For more information contact the UF/IFAS Extension Hillsborough County Service at (813)744-5519, or on the internet go to http:// hillsborough.ifas.ufl.edu/.

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Seeing the Choice

By Jack Payne

I recently bought a $30,000 pair of glasses for one of my scientists. They help him read minds.

Actually, what they do is track eye movements. Hayk Khachatryan downloads data from the glasses, and it tells him where the wearer looked, for how long, whether she returned to a spot repeatedly, and what she was looking at when she expressed a thought.

The data even tell him where she was looking when she said she’d buy.

The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences has long addressed the human dimensions aspect of science. Khachatryan is an agricultural economist, so he studies how people make choices.

There was a time when producers drove the agriculture business. I scarcely need to tell you how consumers have grabbed the wheel. Access to information has put them there. Lamentably, so has access to misinformation.

So economists like Khachatryan have abandoned the classical economic assumptions that our decisions are rational and consistent. Perception and emotions rule, informed or not.

The glasses are a way to get a better handle on linking cognitive building blocks to economic behaviors.

Tracking eye movements helps us get past what consumers say they want and closer to what they actually do. In his experimental economics lab at the Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka, Khachatryan teases out what information on a label is most compelling to the beholder, for example.

And with a wall of eight 75” screens, he can put a subject with the expensive glasses at the curb in front of a virtual yard.

Then, by changing the composition of the landscaping – playing with the traditional turfgrass lawn vs. native plants mix -- he can detect at what point a consumer decides a landscape looks like too much work, a critical consideration in homeowners’ decisions.

Khachatryan is one of the few scientists in Florida with these kinds of tools and the know-how to use them. His cuttingedge investigation exemplifies how IFAS can sometimes best help producers by focusing on consumers.

He’s scarcely got his screens and glasses out of the box, but he’s already talking about big ideas for the future. He has aspirations to work with UF’s brain institute to measure brain activity and link it with eye movement to study shopping behavior.

He even talks about the prospect of exploring neuroeconomics as a way to better understand why and when people’s decisions are driven by something more than logic. By figuring out which areas of the brain are active as people make certain choices, economists can begin to account for the role that things like emotion and social factors play.

That’s the kind of aspiration our faculty bring to their work. I’m not paying for his use of a functional MRI, though, until I’ve seen more of what the glasses can show us!

In the nursery business, Khachatryan can tie visual attention measures to whether consumers will pay more for certain designations on a label, such as locally grown, certified organic, or pollinator-friendly.

Jack Payne is the senior vice president of agriculture and natural resources at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. jackpayne@ufl.edu • @JackPayneIFAS 42

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Reclaiming the land for future generations is

As a reclamation field coordinator, I oversee the reclamation of Mosaic’s mined lands in Hardee County. Before phosphate operations begin, I work with a dedicated team of scientists, engineers and environmental specialists to carefully plan for reclaimed land uses. Last year, those plans included planting more than 2 million trees — and reclaiming land for wildlife habitats, parks, agriculture and other productive uses. There’s a reason Mosaic is so passionate about reclamation: we know our kids and grandkids will enjoy these lands for generations to come.

We help the world grow the food it needs.

®

mosaicco.com/florida Russell Pierce, Reclamation Field Coordinator South Pasture Mine, Hardee County

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Weather The Weather With New Technology!

by John Dicks

The month of June marks the beginning of hurricane season. Most of us will keep a wary eye on the weather through the season, which ends in November.

Officially, NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is predicting a “near-normal” hurricane season with a 70% likelihood of 10 to 16 named storms. Of course if one comes our way, there’s a 100% chance that it won’t be fun.

The two weather patterns we’ve been hearing about for the last several years still predominate the concerns of hurricane watchers.

First there is El Niño, which seems to have dominated recent headlines. An El Niño tends to deter the development of hurricanes through a powerful wind shear over the tropical Atlantic. Unfortunately, its reverse twin, the La Niña works in opposite fashion and is apt to make some more favorable conditions for storms.

While we have been sailing most recently with El Niño, experts are suggesting that the period is rapidly weakening with La Niña quickly arriving. Let’s hope they are wrong!

The good news is that NOAA announced it is on target to reach its goal of improving its intensity forecasts by 20% and reduce the average errors of its hurricane tracking. This should inspire a bit more confidence in those TV weather reports that we stay glued to as a storm approaches.

Frankly, I’ve always found it more than frustrating to watch the graphic “Cone of Probability” that NOAA releases to the public. It seems like last year the weather reporters were taking to calling it the “Cone of Uncertainty!” It wobbles, it moves, it slides, it widens, it shrinks and it never seems to head where it’s supposed to go.

So this year, things are supposed to better. The improvements include both supercomputers and sophisticated satellites.

NOAA officially uses what it calls the U.S. Global Forecast System.

It creates forecasting models used by the National Hurricane Center in Miami after compiling data from a variety of sources including satellites, weather balloons and buoys.

A major upgrade was installed the first of this year when NOAA activated two new supercomputers. Much faster and more powerful than the ones they replaced, this new addition should provide a more precise prediction of the storms intensity, formation and potential tracks.

Later this year new geostationary satellites will be launched to provide a better view of the western hemisphere, resulting in more accurate forecasts.

and get a close-up view of conditions.

The military’s version is operated by the Air Force Reserve 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. It is based at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. They are proud to call themselves the “Hurricane Hunters,” which is a moniker adopted for its missions in 1946. They cover an area midway through the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Hawaiian Islands.

The Hurricane Hunters operate by flying directly into the storm and typically penetrate its eye several times each flight at altitudes ranging between 500 (yes, 500!) to 10,000 feet.

Closer to home we have NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters. While they are civilians rather than military, still they operate out of MacDill AFB in Tampa. They, too, fly into the eye of the storm and now are actually transmitting Doppler weather data in real time to help forecasters more accurately analyze conditions leading to quicker and more precise weather updates.

Certainly to no one’s surprise is that we also now have some rather sophisticated tools resting in our pocket through the disguise of smartphone apps. One that gets rave reviews (and is free) comes from the American Red Cross. Simply named “Hurricane,” it monitors conditions, including a storm tracker, and even provides a system to let others know you are OK through customizable “I’m Safe” alerts for Facebook, Twitter, email and texts.

Not to be outdone, the government has also gotten into the act with its own app published by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). It’s described as a “one-stop-shop with tools and tips to keep you safe before, during, and after disasters.” In addition to alerts, which you would expect, it is a good source and guide for preparing emergency kits and finding shelter locations.

Here’s to hoping that none of these technological advances will actually be needed. Have a happy and safe summer!

John Dicks is both a lawyer and a farmer. He and his family own a blueberry farm and have agricultural lands which they lease for cattle operations, as John says, “to someone who knows and handles cattle much better than I do!” John is both a Gator, having received his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida, and a Seminole, with his Law Degree from Florida State University. He and his wife, Sharon, live in Plant City, where he served nine years as City Commissioner, including three years as Mayor.

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DEALING WITH CREEPING INDIGO IN HORSE PASTURES

By Jim Frankowiak

The consumption of the creeping indigo weed has resulted in illness and even death for some exposed horses in Florida.

The University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is conducting outreach classes statewide to help equine enthusiast participants learn how to properly identify the weed, symptoms associated with consumption and how to effectively rid pastures of creeping indigo.

First reported in south Florida in the 1970s as a mysterious and often fatal condition of adult horses and livestock, the affected animals were dull, apathetic and uncoordinated, some had convulsions, ulcers of the tongue and whitening or streaking of the corneas of the eyes. Most of them died within weeks. This occurred most commonly in the late summer or early fall. It was not until the early 1990s that it became generally accepted that creeping indigo was the cause of this neurologic syndrome.

Non-neurologic signs of creeping indigo toxicity may include weight loss, lack of appetite, high heart and respiratory rates, high temperature, hyper salivation or foaming from the mouth, dehydration, watery discharge from the eyes, squinting, light sensitivity, corneal opacity, corneal ulceration and neovascularization and severe ulceration of the tongue and gums.

Neurologic signs include a change in personality, often af48

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fected horses are quieter and less energetic than usual; varying degrees of depression, low head carriage and sometimes sleeplike activity; head-pressing into corners or compulsive walking around the inside of a stall or paddock; blinking and jerking eye movements; abnormal gait, incoordination; crossing of limbs and abnormal posture at rest. Some affected horses have developed a goose-step-type gait in their front legs and others have become cast on their sides unable to rise, developing convulsions which may become more generalized and severe before death.

If any of these signs appear, the affected horses should be removed from their pastures and professional assistance sought. Quick removal from access to creeping indigo plants has often resulted in complete recovery. Affected horses should also be confined, if neurologic deficits are present, to prevent any injuries and supportive therapy may be administered, depending on the signs.

Over the last decade, similar outbreaks as those reported in south Florida have occurred among hoses and donkeys in central and north-central parts of the state, especially in areas around Tampa Bay as far north as Brooksville. The extension in geographic range of this syndrome corresponds to the increasing abundance of creeping indigo in those same areas of Florida.

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Creeping indigo is a prostrate plant with a very shallow or submerged crown. Leaves are alternate compound and contain five to seven leaflets. Stems grow to six-feet long and root at the nodes. Flowers arise from the base of the leaves and contain numerous pink blooms. The plant reproduces by seed, which is the main cause of spread. Seed pods are needlelike, stiff, approximately one-inch long and borne in dense, downward-pointing clusters, and each containing four to eight seeds. Leaflets, stems and seed pods contain numerous appressed hairs. The perennial root is a taproot, which is capable of growing at least two-feet deep.

Creeping indigo has several “look alike” plants and they include hairy indigo, creeping beggarweed, and three-flowered/ sagotia beggarweed. Creeping indigo grows in pastures, at roadsides, in medians, lawns and parking lots. There are two closely related species of creeping indigo in Florida, Indigo hendecaphylla and Indigo spicata.

held sprayer to broadcast units. Users are advised to follow herbicide label instructions and assure that the sprayer used has been properly calibrated. Herbicides referenced must be diluted in water. Also, all recommended herbicides have no grazing restrictions for horses. Added detail on the proper use of herbicides, images of creeping indigo, the development of spraying protocols and other information is available online at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ag399.

In addition to the steps detailed previously, UF/IFAS also recommends rotational grazing, manure removal or dragging and the prevention of bare spots within pastures.

Management of creeping indigo involves limiting or eliminating seed production, recognizing the plant flowers nearly all year long and its seeds are hard and persistent. Plants may be removed and should include the seed pods. It is also helpful to locate and remove remnants of last year’s seeds, as well.

Pasture management is also recommended for creeping indigo control and that includes periodic soil pH checks and checks for fertility to enhance growth of either Bahia grass or Bermuda grass. Several herbicides such as GrazonNext HL, Banvel, Remedy Ultra, PastureGard HL and Metsulfuron are recommended with application via a variety of options from hand-

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Recipes

Courtesy of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Chef Justin Timineri

Florida Sweet Corn and Ingredients 2 ears fresh Florida sweet corn, kernels cut cob Jack Cheese Quesadilla off1 cupthecooked black beans, drained and

rinsed 1 cup Florida bell peppers (assorted colors), diced small

DIRECTIONS

Preheat a medium-sized sautĂŠ pan over medium heat.

Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to the preheated pan.

Add the corn kernels and diced peppers to the pan, and lightly season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cook the corn mixture until the peppers and corn start to get slightly golden brown.

Add the black beans and cumin to the corn mixture, stir ingredients to combine, and remove from heat.

Place the corn mixture into a bowl. Let cool to room temperature or in a refrigerator until next step.

To assemble quesadilla, lay out 4 tortillas on a flat, clean surface.

Evenly distribute 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese on each tortilla.

Next, evenly distribute the corn mixture on top of the

8 soft corn tortillas (6 inch) 2 cups jack cheese, shredded 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 1 teaspoon cumin sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste vegetable oil for cooking cheese, and add even amounts of the fresh cilantro.

Add the last 1/4 cup of cheese on top of the cilantro, and top each one with a tortilla.

Lightly press each stuffed tortilla to make it flat.

Preheat a medium-sized sautĂŠ pan over medium heat.

Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to the preheated pan.

Cook each quesadilla for 2 to 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Remove the cooked quesadilla from the pan and repeat cooking process.

Hold cooked quesadillas in a 300-degree oven until all are cooked.

Slice the quesadillas like a pie and serve warm with fresh Florida salsa and guacamole.

Tomato and Parmesan Florida Sweet Corn INGREDIENTS 4 ears fresh Florida corn 2 Florida tomatoes, diced Parmesan Basil

DIRECTIONS Place shucked corn directly on a hot grill.

Rotate and cook corn until charred and cooked, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Let cool for 5 minutes and add diced tomatoes, Parmesan and basil.

Portions of toppings based on preference.

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Ornamental Gardening in Florida

By Ginny Mink

So, you like shrubs, but you want to make sure you are planting the kind that are meant to be here and not designed to take over your whole lawn? Well, we’ve got some great answers for you here in this edition of the Literary Time Machine with Mr. Charles Torrey Simpson and his 90 year old advice (from his book published in 1926).

If you’ve the luxury of a North Florida home you might want to check out the Calycanthus floridus a “Sweet scented shrub…with brownish red, very fragrant flowers…”¹ However, if you’re reading this you probably live in Central Florida and therefore the Calycanthus might not be the best option for you. Which moves us on to the Cassia group. According to Mr. Simpson, they are, “A large, mostly tropical genus of four hundred species, containing trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants with about a half dozen that are native to Florida.”¹ All we know about Cassia is that its essential oil smells a lot like cinnamon and we like cinnamon.

But maybe cinnamon scented herbaceous plants aren’t your cup of tea. That’s not a problem because there’s always: Cestrum diurnum. Mr. Simpson explains, “Day jessamine is a straggling shrub with white very fragrant flowers which is much cultivated and has run wild in Lower Florida.”¹ We wondered if jessamine was the same as jasmine. According to Marjan Kluepfel and Bob Polomski of Clemson University, “Jasmine should not be confused with jessamine.”² Guess that answers our question!

Continuing on our shrub search, we skipped through some less than interesting descriptions until we arrived at: Hamamelis virginiana. Imagine our shock when we read its common name: Witch Hazel. Our experience with witch hazel has been limited, but it’s always been in bottle form.

So, seeing Mr. Simpson’s description was enlightening. He wrote, “Witch hazel is an attractive large shrub found here and there throughout most of the eastern United States and ranging south into Florida.”¹ Unfortunately, he didn’t tell 54

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us what it looked like so we had to do a little digging. All we can say is wow because the flowers are so unique they’d be difficult to describe here (no wonder Mr. Simpson didn’t attempt it).

Another shocker hit us with the Hamelia patens. This is, “A beautiful large shrub, a member of the coffee family, growing in South Florida and bearing clusters of long, tubular, orange scarlet flowers throughout the year. Although it grows in hammock land in a wild state it does well in pineland cultivation.”¹ As big coffee fans, we thought it might be interesting to see if this shrub was an option for our own yards. That’s when we discovered that this “coffee relative” is commonly known as the firebush, or hummingbird bush.³ What?! Wait, there’s more!

So, the firebush, which a lot of us have already planted in our yards to draw the attention of butterflies and hummingbirds, actually has edible fruit! From what we read, it’s sweet at first but then leaves a bitter taste in the back of your mouth. So it’s advised that you try one first just to make sure you like it, rather than eating a handful.⁴ On top of that, this plant has a history of medicinal uses!

It’s said to have antifungal and antibacterial properties and has even been used in the treatment of menstrual cramps, dysentery, rheumatism, fever and headaches.³ It can be used topically or as a tea.⁴ Really, there’s way more information on the sites included at the end of this article and we advise that you read them if you’re truly interested in putting this bush to use. We wonder if Mr. Simpson had any idea of the value of this particular shrub.

Some further reading in Ornamental Gardening reveals that Hydrangea arborescens and Lantana are good options.

The hydrangea is valued for its attractive flowers while the lantana finds its worth in its strongly scented “deep yellow flowers.”¹ Herein we arrived at the Pinckneya pubens or FeWWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

ver tree. Fever tree? Does that mean it causes fever, or it helps with fever? Or was that just the last name of the person who discovered it? We had to know. Interestingly enough, our first search revealed that Fever-Tree is a company that makes mixers for alcoholic drinks. Is there a connection? Hmmm….

A University of Florida site revealed that the fever tree got its name from the fact that, “In earlier days, malaria and other fevers were treated at home with a medicine made from the inner bark of this deciduous, 30-foot-tall, North American native tree.”⁵ And yes, there is a connection to the UK based company. According to their About Us page, “Fever-Tree Indian Tonic Water launched in the UK in early 2005, the brand name chosen due to fever tree being the colloquial name for the cinchona tree in which quinine, a key ingredient for tonic, is found.”⁶ Learning is fun!

We hope you will walk away from this article with some new shrub planting ideas. But, more importantly, we hope that you’ll put this down and smile because you learned something new today. We are firm believers in the concept that if you don’t learn something new every day why are you still here? Make it a goal to discover, question, and seek. There’s lots you still don’t know!

Resources:

¹ Simpson, Charles T. (1926). Ornamental Gardening in Florida.

Published by the Author; Little River, FL. Printed by J.J. Little and Ives Company, New York. (p. 106-107). ²Kluepfel, M. & Polomski, B. (1999). Jasmine. Clemson University. http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/groundcovers/hgic1106.html ³ Christman, S. (1999). Hamelia Patens. Floridata. http://floridata. com/Plants/Rubiaceae/Hamelia%20patens/174 ⁴ Greene Deane (2013) Firebush, Scarletbush. Eat the Weeds. http:// www.eattheweeds.com/hamelia-patens-edible-pharmaceutical-2/ ⁵ Gillman, E.F. & Watson, D.G. (1994). Pinckneya Pubens. Forest Service Department of Agriculture. Environmental Horticulture.

University of Florida. http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/ tree_fact_sheets/pinpuba.pdf ⁶Fever-Tree. About Us. http://www.fever-tree.com/about-us WWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

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A Passion For the Wild

By Libby Hopkins

Television personality and animal advocate Steve Irwin once said, “My job, my mission, the reason I’ve been put onto this planet is to save wildlife.” Kris Porter can relate to Irwin’s feelings when it comes to saving wildlife. She has been raising and helping animals since she was 8 years old. “It started with baby birds and rabbits that people found in my neighborhood,” Porter said. “I had also read and watched everything I could about wildlife and nature. I knew when I grew up that one day I would work with animals.”

All through high school Porter worked in various capacities with animals. After graduating high school in Allentown, Pa., she moved to Gainesville where she attended the University of Florida and majored in zoology. “I then landed an internship at Busch Gardens where I became a full-time zoo keeper caring for a wide variety of animals and ran their nursery for many years,” Porter said. She retired early after the birth of her daughter but her passion for helping animals got the best of her. “I began assisting in wildlife cases and now carry both a state and federal permit to rehabilitate wildlife,” Porter said.

Porter established The Owl’s Nest Sanctuary for Wildlife in December of 2014. It consisted of Porter and two transporters. “During our first year, our team grew to include a network of over 50 volunteers, which allowed us to serve Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and parts of Polk and Hernando Counties,” Porter said. “In our first year we worked over 1,000 cases including more than 200 different species of 56

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native and migratory wildlife. We also were able to start an education team that works in our local community doing outreach programs and events in order to educate the public about wildlife.”

The Owl’s Nest Sanctuary for Wildlife is a completely volunteer run non-profit organization that is state and federally permitted to rescue, rehabilitate and release sick, injured, and orphaned native wildlife. They work with all native Florida wildlife including birds, mammals, tortoises, and turtles.

The mission and vision of the organization is to protect and conserve native Florida wildlife, inspiring others to care and appreciate it, while reducing human impact on Florida’s native wildlife through rehabilitation, education, and teamwork.

“Our hope is to reintroduce as many animals as possible to the wild once they are healed so that they can continue their species’ native population,” Porter said. “We do occasionally have animals that do require special care for the duration of their lives and we try to find those animals a suitable education facility.” They currently have one educational animal that is a permanent resident with the organization. “Our current ambassador is an Eastern Screech Owl named Noel that came in around Christmas time and suffered from impact trauma that resulted in brain damaged,” Porter said. “One of our other recent non-released cases is Oliver the North American River Otter who came to us completely habituated to humans and is now an ambassador at the Denver Aquarium.”

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The Owl’s Nest Sanctuary receives no financial support from the government. The organization is always looking at innovative ways to raise funds so they can provide all their animals with the care and attention they need. “We seem to always have a need for more transporters to help in picking up and transporting wildlife,” Porter said. “As we grow and more people in the community call us for help, we need additional help in answering those calls.”

The major challenge the organization faces is getting their information in the hands of those who need it. “Frequently we receive calls from frustrated good Samaritans who have spent hours or even days trying to find help for an animal that is now in critical condition,” Porter said.

Donating to The Owl’s Nest Sanctuary for Wildlife is one way people can help the organization, but people taking an active part in their conservation mission is another. “We have volunteer opportunities for high school and older on our education team and for adults on our animal transport/care team,” Porter said. “People can also help by being responsible citizens in order to decrease the number of injured wildlife.” Some of the major preventable injuries the organization sees are the result of rat poisons, litter, dangerous fencing and babies becoming forced orphans by those who find them while their parents are out hunting or foraging. “It is also important that our information gets out to as many people as possible,” Porter said. “We not only have a website with a blog that people can subscribe to but we also have a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Periscope. All of our media outlets not only include our contact information but also allow people to see case updates, educational information and upcoming event details.”

If you would like to learn more about The Owl’s Nest Sanctuary for Wildlife or if you would like to make a donation to the organization, you can visit them on the web at www.owlsnestsanctuaryforwildlife. com or contact Porter at 813-920-5495 or 813-598-5926.

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Taking care of each other is what

community

is all about. our community with personal, compassionate care. As your Dignity Memorial professionals, we’re W E ’R E P R O U D TO S E RV E ®

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Farm Credit Testifies Before Senate Ag Committee Agriculture and Rural Communities’ Need for Reliable and Consistent Credit Highlighted in Testimony Farm Credit participated in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry’s full committee hearing titled, “The Farm Credit System: Oversight and Outlook of the Current Economic Climate.”

Farm Credit Services of America CEO Doug Stark testified about the importance of Farm Credit’s broad mission to serve rural communities and agriculture and how Farm Credit is working with customers during the current downturn in the agricultural economy. The Committee also heard from Michigan farmer and U.S. Army veteran Jed Welder, Farm Credit Administration board members Kenneth Spearman, Dallas Tonsager and Jeffery Hall, along with representatives of the commercial banking industry.

In addition to those testifying in-person today, nearly 80 groups representing farmers, ranchers, farmer-owned cooperatives and other agribusinesses, rural infrastructure providers and rural communities submitted statements for consideration by the committee.

“Farm Credit exists to serve agricultural and rural communities in good times and bad. Unfortunately, there are challenging economic indicators ahead,” said Stark. “It’s times like these that highlight the importance of Farm Credit—to remain that financial partner to producers and rural communities when the times get tough. We’ve been in our rural communities preparing our borrowers to weather the storm, and we’ll be here to see them through to the other side.”

Welder explained how he relied on Farm Credit, saying “They understood what I wanted to do and what I needed to run my operation, they made good, solid recommendations and over time became a trusted partner.”

Farm Credit is well known for its mission providing financing to all types of U.S. farmers and ranchers. In addition, Farm Credit’s agricultural mission includes financing aquatic producers, many farmerowned cooperatives and other agribusinesses, and U.S. agricultural exports. A constant supply of credit to these areas has helped make agriculture one of the driving engines for the U.S. economy and allows U.S. agricultural producers to feed the world.

Farm Credit’s mission beyond agriculture is just as important. Rural homebuyers face obstacles unknown in more urban settings and Farm Credit provides loans tailored to these unique circumstances.

Farm Credit also provides financing for companies that provide vital infrastructure to rural communities, helping bring clean water to rural families, reliable energy to farms and rural towns, and modern, high-speed telecommunications that connect rural America to the rest of the world. Modern infrastructure makes rural communities competitive, provides jobs, and helps improve the quality of life for rural families.

The complete hearing can be viewed at http://www.agriculture.senate.gov/hearings.

Similar to the producers Farm Credit serves, the System has built financial strength in anticipation of the economic cycle through diversification in loan geography, industry and size.

“Farm Credit’s mission is to support rural communities and agriculture, irrespective of the economic climate,” said Stark. “We saw this downturn in commodity prices coming and have been building financial strength to make sure we can continue to fulfill our mission and support our customers.”

Low commodity prices coupled with high input costs are putting pressure on farmers and ranchers. Farm Credit has been working to make sure its customers have accurate information about the situation and are able to make good business decisions. Helping to somewhat offset the current price squeeze, debt-to-asset ratios on U.S. farmers are below the 30-year average and well below the levels seen in the mid1980s. Also in contrast to the devastating downturn agriculture experienced 30 years ago, interest rates—and therefore debt costs—remain low.

“Farm Credit’s philosophy on credit today is this: we know our customers well, understand and respond to their needs and work cooperatively with them to analyze and structure our transactions to give them the best chance to succeed,” said Stark.

Michigan farmer and U.S. Army veteran Jed Welder also weighed in on the current economic conditions in agriculture and the value of Farm Credit. “This is a challenging time for farmers like me across the country. Right now, we are planting corn and soybeans with prices very near breakeven,” said Welder. “Having a lender that works with me, that knows my farm and the challenges I face, is more important than ever.”

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WE BUY FARMS Gladstone Land is actively acquiring farms in Florida.

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Please contact Bill Frisbie at Gladstone Land: (703) 287-5839 bill.f@gladstoneland.com | www.GladstoneFarms.com

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“Farm Credit is easy to work and meets “Farmwith Credit is easyour toneeds.” work — Shad and Billy Simmons

with and meets our needs.”

— Shad and Billy Simmons

“Farm Credit is easy to work with and meets our needs.”

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Shad and Billy Simmons grow strawberries on land Billy’s grandfather bought in 1920 — both are past presidents of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association.

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Farm Credit is the nation’s leading provider of Shad andcredit Billyto Simmons grow strawberries on land agriculture andgrow Shad and Billy Simmons strawberries land Billy’s grandfather bought in 1920 — both areon past rural America.

Billy’s grandfather bought in 1920 —813.719.7341 both are past presidents of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association.

FarmCreditCFL.com presidents of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association.

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Photos: Berry Sweet Memories by Dee Dee

CONTINUING THE ZIMMERMANN FAMILY PONY OF THE AMERICAS LEGACY

By Jim Frankowiak

Some family names are synonymous with success and achievement whether it is sports, business or other endeavors at the local, national or international level. The Zimmermann family in Lithia enjoys such recognition within the Pony of the Americas (POA) breed of ponies across the country. That has come from hard work and an untiring commitment both as breeders as competitors.

Originally from New York State, the family located to the area in the early 1980s and acquired their first POA in 1988 and Rick (Eric, Jr.) began competing on a white mare. He is now 31, married to Brittany in 2006 and they are the parents of five children, as well as proprietors of ZNZ Ranch in Lithia. Rick’s sister Erin followed and the family’s achievements in competitions and breeders took off. She is married, living in Oklahoma and an Extension agent in Appaloosa County.

The Zimmermann family includes Eric III, who is 9; Emma, 2; and recently adopted brothers and sisters: Brian, 15; Jordan, 10 and 8-year-old Alexis. Rick and Brittany, who is from the St. Cloud area, met while students at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “Rick’s family has been involved with POA’s for over 20 years,” 66

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noted Brittany. “Before marrying Rick my only involvement with horses was on our family’s farm in St. Cloud where they helped with cattle.”

The POA breed was developed in Iowa and the foundation stallion was an Arabian/Appaloosa/Shetland pony cross. A breed registry was founded in 1954, and within 15-years had registered 12,500 ponies. Today, the POA Club is one of the largest and most active youth-oriented horse breed registries in the U.S. with more than 60,000 ponies, over 2,000 members and in excess of 40 affiliated chapters across the U.S. Although called ponies, POAs have the characteristics of a small horse, combining mainly Arabian and American Quarter Horse attributes. The registry is open allowing blood from many other breeds, but has strict criteria for entry, including Appaloosa coloration, specified height and other physical characteristics. Although mainly bred for Western riding, the breed has been used for many other disciplines, including driving, endurance riding and some English disciplines.

POA competitions are open to all family members and include both timed and non-timed events. “The shows WWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

that we attend often have more than 150 events,” said Brittany. “Our ponies born on the ranch are imprinted at birth by the kids. Babies are led by the children with ease; the stallion lowers his head for them to halter him to take him to munch on grass. Above conformation and movement, disposition is most important for the success of these ponies,” she said. “Our goal as breeders is to produce performers with class and brains. Gentle mounts for the tiniest riders and stout for the adult to create the ultimate all-around family mount.”

Eric has won many awards since he began competing, he was POA Congress High Point Champion for boys 9 and under in both 2014 and 2015. Congress is the Super Bowl equivalent in POA competitions and both championships netted Eric custom Dale Chavez saddles. “Eric is a humble young man, not taken up by his awards or recognition,” said Brittany. “One of the first things he did after winning his second saddle was to offer his first saddle to his sister.”

Winning a national championship two consecutive years is a major achievement for a competitor at any age in any WWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

competition, but it is even more so for Eric. “Eric was born in 2007 with a genetic disorder called ocular albinism,” said Brittany. “After years of examinations by specialists, we discovered that he is legally blind. However, his first POA show was two months before his first birthday. Eric did not take his first steps until he was a year old. His low depth perception, nystagmus and limited vision have proven unimportant for a determined little boy and a willing and gentle breed.

His ponies have given him freedoms most with his condition are told would not happen. Where his vision ends his pony’s vision steps up. They guide him patiently over jumps, around the dressage ring and through the most difficult trail course or a hunter pace. His relationships with his ponies have inspired many other riders of all ages and limitation to come meet the ponies and build confidence in life.”

Breeding activities at ZNZ Ranch are handled primarily

by Rick, who in addition to his work at Mosaic is also a farrier with some 200 horses under his care every six weeks. Rick and Brittany also compete at POA events, attesting to the breed’s strong all-around family mount Continues on Pg. 70

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provides a full line of

Organic Products and Systemic Nutritionals for the Strawberry Industry.

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Continued from Pg. 67

characterization.

Eric to both championship high point titles and numerous Congress titles, national point standings, rankings in both youth and adult events and has earned enough points for the most prestigious award of Supreme Champion by age 7.

Training at ZNZ Ranch is under Brittany’s aegis and includes family members and clients of all ages. “Some of our clients show with us and others take lessons to learn horsemanship from beginners to advanced riders,” said Brittany. “We have a number of special needs children and adult riders. A number of our adult riders have had traumatic experiences and we help them overcome and advance from basic skills to those needed to successfully compete.”

ZNZ Ranch is located next door to Rugged Cross Youth Ranch, a faith-based ministry. Rick and Brittany are involved in the ranch and ministry, serving as board members and providing assistance with training and farrier services, plus whatever else may be needed.

Rugged Cross is also where they met the newest members of their family. “We had been thinking about adopting,” said Rick. “We met Brian, Jordan and Alexis and made the decision to adopt them and keep them all together.”

Not surprisingly the three newest members of Team Zimmermann quickly became involved in POAs and competitions. That also holds true for showing Southdown Sheep and helping with their care and that of the chickens and guineas that also reside at ZNZ Ranch.

“Our most loved and accomplished baby that we have raised by our stallion RY Diamond Equity is ZNZ Spectacular Equity,” said Brittany. “’Beau is an amazing 3-year- old that has wins across all aspects of showing.

He has just begun showing under saddle, but his accomplishments so far are extensive. He has achieved his Register of Merit in halter by age 2.”

Some of Beau’s other accomplishments: • 2013 Congress Top 10, National Point Standing Top 6, 3rd Weanling Free For All • 2014 SE Regional Longeline and Halter Champion, Congress halter top 10, Futurity halter top 10, National Point Standing Top 6 • 2015 Futurity Champion 2- year- old geldings, 3rd Hunter in hand National Point Standing Top 5 Hunter In Hand, and many state wins.

Competing means trips as far away as Tulsa, Oklahoma where the POA Congress has been held the last two years and Des Moines, Iowa where the POA Futurity takes place annually. It’s not unusual for the ZNZ convoy to include several vehicles and trailers, especially now that the team has grown and now numbers seven.

If you have an interest in learning about horses regardless of your age or level of experience, you may want to consider ZNZ Ranch and POA ponies, “the ultimate all-around family mount.” You can visit ZNZ Ranch on Facebook.

“Our most accomplished youth pony is Too Blonde To Boogie,” said Rick. “We bought her as a baby, showed her at the futurity and adult events very successfully then passed her on to Eric at a very young age. She carried 70

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Third Annual Blueberry Pickin’ Birthday Bash

By Ginny Mink

“Is this party more for me or Zeke?” Hazel was fresh out of the gate with her five year old selfish attitude. Zeke didn’t miss a lick though, “It’s my birthday party because you already had your birthday!” Which, was indeed true. Hazel turned five on April 26th and Zeke was set to turn three the day after the party, Mother’s Day. “It’s for both of you.” I told them, knowing full well that the majority of the people who would be there would be there for Hazel. Three year olds who stay home with Mommy all the time rarely have large amounts of friends.

Amazingly, of the 15 or so kids in Hazel’s class, only three of them showed up for her party: River, Jayden and Gabe. You’d think more people would be thrilled about picking blueberries. Too bad for them though because it was a beautiful day.

We set up shop, as we have the last few times we’ve been blessed to celebrate on the gorgeous property known as Shady Oak Farms which is run by the unforgettable, Retta Baucom. I’m not gonna lie, I look forward to time spent in Retta’s presence every year.

There’s just such a sweetness about her that makes you want to smile. If you’ve never been out there, you should definitely give it a try. I wouldn’t steer you wrong!

Anyway, we got the kids gathered around Retta’s table and she taught them how to plant blueberries (which they got to keep) and cucumbers (which they also got to keep). Then she told the mom’s to step away from the children and she talked to them for a little while and when we heard them all cheer we knew it was time to return to the rambunctious group.

Everyone got their blueberry pickin’ buckets and off we went.

The kids spread out like a kicked over ant pile. They were running around everywhere. “Is this a good one?” Hazel 74

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asked me as I attempted to take pictures of everyone. She was holding a nickel sized blueberry. “Yeah, that looks like a great one!” I said, “Put it in your bucket.” She smiled slyly and said, “Nope!” and shoved it in her mouth, a grin a mile wide.

I went off to find Zeke. He was bouncing along grabbing the darkest ones he could see. When he saw me trying to take his picture he held up his bucket, “Look how many I got!” He squealed. He was a pickin’ fiend. So I reminded him that he needed to keep it under the line drawn on the inside. I didn’t need to spend $10 on his blueberry bucket (after all, I had three kids picking blueberries in the field, that’s a lot of berries).

Jaidyn was off with his friend Caleb. They were the only kids you could see from a distance since they’re both really tall. I was surprised that they weren’t eating more than they were picking. Jaidyn revealed, later, that he’s not a big fan of blueberries. Though I guess he’s ok with picking them because his bucket was definitely well filled, and with big berries too.

When I called everyone back in, Retta revealed a secret Mother’s Day gift for us all. I won’t tell you what she did, but suffice it to say, it was above and beyond the call of duty and touched the hearts of every mom present that day. Of course, the dads were more moved by the delivery of Retta’s super yummy homemade blueberry muffins.

You should have seen their faces! Some of the parents, who are regulars at these birthday bashes, refrained from eating my cake because they remembered how scrumptious Retta’s muffins were. I wasn’t offended though; I know they’re phenomenal, too.

Before we ate cake and opened presents though, Retta made the event all the more special by releasing the ducks into the WWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

pond. She’d been raising them in a pen and they were now ready for release. She saved that moment for Hazel and Zeke’s birthday party. The kids loved watching the white ducks reluctantly make their way into the ponds. Later they enjoyed feeding them blueberries they’d dropped along the way. The ducks liked it, too!

Of course the highlight of the party, in the minds of my lovely wee-ones, was the opening of presents. My friend, Natali’s son, Zane, made a point of reading his card to Zeke and it was both cute and unbelievably sweet. He’d made the card himself and read it with enthusiasm. I’ve a special place in my heart for that young one (and his wee brother, Henry) but that moment solidified it all the more.

We handed out our party favors and watched the kids run around blowing bubbles, wearing fake nose and glasses combinations while looking through kaliedoscopes and throwing bouncy balls around. It seemed a great time was had by all. Newly invited parents thanked me for the opportunity to come blueberry picking while those who regularly appear chatted it up with Retta and each other.

It was great!

I pray that this farm will remain in business for many years to come. At least long enough to reach the point in which Hazel and Zeke don’t want to share their birthday parties.

Jaidyn had a good time with his friend. The only negative was a little bit of misbehavior with some of the boys choosing to use blueberries as bullets. I had to tell ‘em to stop throwing the blueberries. Of course, all the bunnies that come out at night out there probably loved that. The bottom line is Retta and Shady Oak Farms, make me smile and my kids love it. Yours will, too!

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Market Watch: Glenn Family Bakery

By Libby Hopkins

A family that bakes together stays together. This is definitely the case with the Glen Family Bakery. Lisa Glen has been a professional baker for 25 years. She started Cheesecake Me Desserts a few years ago and as her business grew, her husband, John, who is ex-executive chef and classically trained pastry chef as well as a master bread baker, joined her baking business. “We have continued to grow and expand both our sweets and bread product line as well as our presence in farmers’ markets and wholesale accounts,” Glenn said. “As a result, we have expanded our staff to include our two sons, Paul our bread apprentice and Ian our youngest and farmers’ markets salesperson extraordinaire.” They are truly a family run bakery encompassing breads and pastries under one umbrella that is the Glenn Family Bakery.

to make sprouted grain bread,” Glenn said. “John tried a lot of different recipes all using sprouted grain flour. While this flour is good, it always produced a drier bread and also didn’t retain the shelf life or quality we wanted.” She said her husband is a perfectionist and did a lot of research. “Using tried and true recipes he had developed over the years, he started sprouting grains and legumes,” Glenn said.

“At just the right time in the sprouting process, he grinds it into paste instead of dehydrating into flour, blending the two worlds together.”

Her husband uses organic grains, legumes and flour in his sprouted breads and continues to develop more recipes to expand his bread line. “Needless to say, our bread customer loves the bread and now has bread for life,” Glenn said.

When the Glenn’s decided to open their own bakery, they didn’t want a store front as both Lisa and John had been in the restaurant industry for years. So, they started an online and local delivery bakery in Sarasota. They later expanded into the wholesale and farmers’ markets. “We are true artisan small batch bakers,” Glenn said. “We use newly developed recipes and also bygone and family recipes that have been passed down to us. Our sweets are classic and family comfort favorites as well as trending flavors.”

There are many health benefits in using sprouted grains for baking.

They increase your body’s digestion ability. You get increased absorption of minerals. They are high in antioxidants as well as vitamins A, B, C and Niacin. The also are high in protein, iron, potassium and calcium. Sprouted grains bread has no preservatives or additives and contains no processed sugar, in addition to being low fat and gluten free. “Living sprouts produce enzymes when sprouting that help break down protein and carbohydrates,” Glenn said. “It also tastes great.”

Their bakery also has a good mix of health conscious to decadent sweets and breads. “We single source and use organic, natural ingredients whenever possible,” Glenn said. They also use sprouted grains to make some of their breads.

So what exactly are sprouted grains and why do they use them in baking? “We had a bread customer at one of one of the farmers’ markets that had been asking Chef John, ‘the master bread maker’ 76

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The Glenn’s got involved with the farmers’ market circuit by chance.

They were driving by a market in Sarasota when they stopped and started a conversion with the owner who told them the market was looking for a baker. “We decided to try it out and fell in love with it,” Glenn said. They got involved with other markets in Sarasota and then decided to expand to the Tampa and St. Pete farmers’ market scene. “We love the exposure to literally thousands of people in WWW.INTHEFIELDMAGAZINE.COM

season and being able to build a repeat local customer base in addition to a repeat seasonal customer base,” Glenn said. “It also gives us the opportunity to have one on one customer contact and develop personal relationships” The Glenn’s also feel the markets give their customers the ability to shop for their weekly groceries. “We love being a part of that environment,” Glenn said. “I think people appreciate meeting the bakers in person, knowing they can discuss ingredients or allergy issues directly with us.” They have created many custom desserts for their customers at the markets.

The Glenn Family Bakery believes strongly in supporting and shopping local. “We use as many local and fresh ingredients as possible,” Glenn said. “These partnerships help support the local community, economy and help bring local artisan goods along with fresh food to the customers.” The Glenn’s also donate all their leftover goods to All Children’s Hospital Cancer Center Parent Program in St. Petersburg and other local community organizations. “We love to give back to the communities we do business in and who support us,” Glenn said.

If you would like to learn more about the Glenn Family Bakery and the different products they sell or if you would like to know what farmers’ markets they will be at in the Tampa, St. Petersburg or Sarasota area, you can visit their webpage at www.glennfamilybakery.com.

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Naturally A Closer Look Amazing Activities

by Sean Green

Vertical Garden Having a personal garden with which to grow your own healthy, wholesome, native and all natural food is a blessing many Americans cherish. There are some Americans, however, that either by choice or circumstance, do not have the resources for a garden space.

The soil may be polluted with commercial (or residential) inputs. There may be regulations in the works (or existing) that prohibit backyard gardening, or it may be that there simply is not enough land space for a traditional garden. In this month’s project we will repurpose some household items you may already have laying around to create a simple modular vertical garden that can be established either indoors or outdoors.

Saw Materials: Scraps of wood Potting soil (used wooden pallets work great) Plant sprouts or seeds Permanent Waterproof Glue 2 Liter Soda Bottles (at least 4) (superglue, gorilla glue, etc..)

Sponge Material (used is fine) Drill and drill bit

1

2

Cut a hole on both sides of a 2 liter bottle, this will be the exit the plant will grow out of and should be large enough that you can get your hands in there for harvesting or pruning.

5

Drill a single large hole in the cap of the Reservoir Bottle and glue the cap top to top to the cap of the lowest Plant Bottle.

The bottles will then stack within each other to whatever height is desired. Four bottles fit nicely in a standard size window The bottom bottle is a Reservoir Bottle that will collect water that has filtered through all of the plant bottles above it. Do

4

Cut sponge material to fit inside the mouth of the Plant Bottle. The sponge will help keep the soil in the bottle and help keep the flow of water to the Plant Bottle below it to a slow trickle that will not wash away soil.

not cut a water hole on the bottom of the Reservoir Bottle.

6

The top bottle is a Filling Bottle and includes a sponge in the mouth, but the top is cut completely off for easy filling. The filling bottle will fit into the watering hole of the first Plant Bottle

3

Cut a hole on the bottom of ONLY the bottles that will hold plants (Plant Bottles), in our example, we have TWO Plant Bottles. This hole will allow bottles with plants in them to stack upside down with the mouth of the subsequent bottles fitting inside this watering hole.

7

When the project is finished the vertical garden system can be hung on a sunny wall or fastened into the window sill. Water is added to the top Filling Bottle and trickles down through the Plant Bottles and into the bottom Reservoir Bottle, the water of which can be recycled to water again.

When the Reservoir Bottle needs to be emptied or cleaned, you will need enough room to unscrew the Reservoir Bottle from the lowest Plant Bottle.

8

Drill holes in the cap of the Plant Bottle large enough for water to trickle through both the sponge and the cap itself. This may take some experimenting, start with small holes 1/16” and test the flow work your way up to larger holes when the flow becomes a nice steady drip.

Construct shelving in a manner that will support the bottles like a wine rack supports wine glasses. Each shelf is 5 ½” square and made by drilling a large hole in the center for the bottle neck to fit into. 2 Liter Bottle sizes vary a little but the hole should be 1 “ - 1 diameter. to allow the bottle neck to fit into the hole. With a saw, cut a channel into the shelf hole so the bottle can easily slide in and out for maintenance.

It’s important to

813-767-4703 301 South Collins Street, Suite 101, Plant City, Florida 33563

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A Closer Look

by Sean Green

Vertical Gardening

Growing your own fresh vegetables or ornamentals is a pleasure many of us are familiar with, but fewer Americans have the yard space to do so. A trend that has been gaining popularity is vertical gardening and is characterized by growing vegetables or other plants vertically rather than horizontally. Also known as green walls, vertical gardening is an ideal solution for people that want to enjoy gardening but have limited or no yard space in which to do it. In addition to the obvious benefit of growing your own food, there has been a resurgence in the acknowledgement of the emotional and physical health benefits of augmenting your living environment with plants. Furthermore plants have a cooling effect on the environment in which they exist and that includes your home, which could reduce energy costs during our hot Florida summers. A closer look at vertical gardening will reveal that the new interest in green walls is not a new concept, in fact; it was a necessary innovation that predates electricity and other modern approaches to subsistence.

The earliest surviving documentation that describes the concept of vertical gardening is found in the ancient writings of Josephus (ca.

37-100AD), quoting Berossus (ca. 290 BC) in the descriptions of the mythical Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Though no archeological evidence of trellises or vertical garden structures survive, it is well known that the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians cultivated grapes for wine and may have discovered along the way that crop yields were more abundant when the vines had a structure to climb. First century Roman writers such as Columella describe training vines to climb chestnut stakes and Pliny the Younger describes lattice structures called pergolas that vines could climb, doubling as shaded walkways and sitting areas. In the late 19th century, urban planner, Sir Ebenezer Howard of the United Kingdom founded the garden city movement, an initiative that sought to create self-contained, self sufficient communities comprised of residential and industrial regions surrounded by greenbelts of natural and agricultural sectors that featured walkways similar to the pergolas of ancient Rome and small parks to relax in.

In 1937, the first modern vertical garden was invented by Stanley Hart White, a professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois. White describes his vision of creating vertical gardens of “Botanical Bricks” that could be stacked to any height. Each botanical brick unit consisted of a steel cage filled with a substrate of cubed mineral wool and long grained sphagnum moss from which vegetation could grow to cover the vertical surfaces of an entire wall or artistic structure. White called his invention a “Vegetation–Bearing Architectonic Structure and System” and envisioned it’s use at world fairs, city yards and indoor gardens. Professor White’s visions were soon divided by preoccupation with the wartime efforts of World War II and the wars influence on architecture and design. Although his inventions never fully materialized, they did establish the historical foundation of the innovative vertical garden topology we now call “Green Walls.”

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There are two structural methods of vertical gardening. Green Façades, are plants that are rooted in the ground and trained to climb up the side of a building, a lattice, wall, trellis, or other structure.

Examples are grape vines, espaliers, gazeboes, and vine covered buildings. Green Walls or Living Walls are plants that are rooted in modular containers filled with soil or a rooting substrate that is fed by an irrigation system. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the contemporary Bosco Verticale, residential skyscrapers in Milan Italy are two examples of Living Walls used in architecture to create living space. The significance of vertical gardens goes far beyond a movement in architecture aesthetics. In 1987 German researcher Dr. Manfred Köhler of the Technical University of Berlin published “Ecological effects of living wall systems”, a thesis on the thermal properties of vertical gardens to demonstrate how the insulative properties of a living wall system cool buildings in the summer and retain heat in the winter. By the 1990s, research funded by NASA tested hydroponic living wall systems that could double as air filters.

Because living walls are characterized by modular containers they are easily adapted for small spaces such as an indoor kitchen garden, a peaceful hallway passage, or a fragrant bathroom decor. The growing popularity of Vertical gardening has resulted in numerous projects in the DIY community that repurpose materials such as plastic soda bottles, shipping pallets, and rain gutters for small scale vertical gardens. Substrate is an important consideration for anyone that plans to build a vertical gardening system. Loose medium walls have soil packed into a container or shelf and then secured to the wall, repairs to such systems involve removing the container to replace the soil, which should be done once per year for outdoor systems and every two years for indoor systems. Loose medium walls are however ideal for the vegetables or plants that will be replanted from season to season anyway. Mat wall systems consist of thin substrate made of felt or coconut fiber. This substrate does not typically support a vigorous root system as well as soil and are notoriously inefficient in water retention. For these reasons, a water re-circulation and filtering system are recommended for optimal results and the choice of plants will be limited. Structural medium blocks are a hybrid system with the best qualities of both loose medium and mat medium systems. The modular blocks can be manufactured to custom specifications that include specifying the water holding capacity, the pH and the electrical conductivity of the substrate and can be as easy to remove and service as pulling out a shelf. The down side to the modular systems are that they tend to be prohibitively expensive for a small kitchen garden, however, are ideal for large corporate spaces, outside walls, convention centers and other large public spaces. Structural medium blocks done properly will last for 10 to 15 years. The next time you look for an interesting home project, consider taking a closer look at a vertical gardening system. With the right lighting and a bit of creativity, even a simple system will drastically change the living space in your home.

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By: Ginny Mink

They STILL Ain’t Dead Yet! We haven’t managed to kill them all. I guess I can at least say that! There are a couple of stragglers that just keep fighting the burn and thirst. Sometimes I am amazed at the perseverance of God’s foliage. I mean really, most of us would have laid down and died by now. Long forgotten by the now three and five year olds who dug your supposed holes of life and left you to wither in them like graves.

know, but somewhere in Plant Cityfinally!).

Hopefully that yard will not be as unforgiving in its excess sunlight exposure.

I have to really needle Jaidyn, the eldest, to go out there and at least sprinkle them. He seems wholly disinterested in the process. Though I suspect it’s more the fact that there is work involved than anything else. The tomato plant (I think that’s what it is) that he planted in a separate pot actually seems to be doing better than those in the “self-watering” version of the grow-ums garden.

I’m still getting the three emails at a time, but the kids are so preoccupied with painting rocks and making bracelets (projects they received for their birthdays) that it’s hard to get them settled down enough to watch the videos. Besides, their plants aren’t doing half as well (who am I fooling, a tenth as well) as those in the animated versions of the gardens.

Sadly, I spoke to soon after writing that sentence because two days later I’m looking at a crunchy withered brown thing.

Thankfully, we’ll be given another chance at this endeavor as soon as I get back in touch with Judi Whitson to pick up the other set she’s decided to donate to our project. Plus, we’re moving (Where to? I don’t

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We’re not giving up hope though. We have actually had success with plants in the past: strawberries, corn, sweet potatoes and pineapple. So, I’m confident that setting up the replacement grow-ums self-watering container will be a far more successful project.

I guess I’ll let you know what happens next month.

Keep your fingers crossed for our wee stragglers, they might make it yet!

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