Urban CSAs

This is a really interesting take on CSAs (community supported agriculture). Normally, CSAs allow a person to invest in a farming operation and reap the benefits. This company has started retrofitting people's backyards into vegetable gardens and then the CSA operates on a very local level.

Read more about this in The New York Times.

As someone who grew up on an orange grove, but now mainly works with urban gardening, I love this concept. I really think people should be growing more of their own food anyways. It may not be as efficient or economical, but there's something very satisfying (and educational!) in saying I grew this whole salad in my backyard.

Over the years, I've volunteered quite a bit with Ag in the Classroom. The purpose of the organization is to educate youth about where their food comes from and help create well-rounded, critically thinking consumers. Many of the third graders that we would work with often said their food came from grocery stores. If you asked what they had for breakfast (usually orange juice or milk and cereal), and asked where the orange juice came from, it was always grocery stores. Sometimes they could make the connection back to the orange, but almost never could they make the connection back to the tree.

I know most people are now two to five generations removed from a farm, but this is still really sad. I want my kids to be very concerned with where their food comes from and how it's produced. I want them to think critically about production, processing, and marketing of food and make their own decisions. I think it helps when we are able to grow even a little bit in our backyards.

So, I guess what I'm saying is these urban CSA programs are great. If the vegetable garden is right in your neighborhood, you can visit it, ask questions of the homeowner (and the farmer who's helping), and still reap the benefits. It may even inspire you to try a tomato plant or two in your own yard!

So to inspire you, here's a picture that Kim took at the Garden Writers conference in Oklahoma this year. It's okra that was grown locally in a home vegetable garden. And, it's a great picture.

Mammalian Lawnmowers (aka Goats)

So, we did it. We got some goats. Three to be precise. They're Spanish meat goats about six months old. Two does and a buck. Two of them were bottle fed as babies, so they're pretty gentle. They're going to be great for my little kids and for my urban 4-H kids.

The best thing about the goats is that they prefer to eat briars and weeds over feed. That makes them very cheap to feed.

These are the little girls. You can't tell from the picture, but the one in front is black with a white face. They're both very pretty.


This is the little boy. He came with the name "Cinder." His twin sister was "Ella." Get it? Cinderalla? We'll probably change his name. He was bottle fed and quite the baby. And, he really took to Will. He's following him all around. And, he's quite noisy wanting some more attention.


Here he is again. He's a very nice looking tri-colored goat.


Here's the other little girl. She was a single birth, so she's quite a bit bigger than the other two. She was also bottle fed, but is very smart, so she doesn't come up quite as much. She's very good looking.


All of them need names, so I'm taking suggestions. Will wants to name one "Sticky" because they like to eat sticks. If someone comes up with something better, that wouldn't bother me at all.

Gardening in a Minute expansion

Great news! You can now hear Gardening in a Minute in the panhandle and the Tampa area! If you're in Tallahassee or Panama City, listen on Fridays at 7:34 am and 9:34 am to WFSU/WFSW. If you're in the Tampa area, listen weekdays at 10:55 am to WMNF.

Find out more about our stations on the Gardening in a Minute Web site.

Look for us soon in your area or listen to the show online.

Introducing the Duval County Commercial Hort Agent (who happens to be my sister)

So, I thought I'd take a moment and introduce a new UF/IFAS Extension agent. I don't normally do this, but the new agent is my sister, Erin!

Erin graduated from UF with a BS in Environmental Horticulture and an MS in Agricultural Leadership. She's worked at Longwood Gardens and at the Anheuser Busch park, Discovery Cove. For Duval County, Erin's in charge of commercial horticulture. Congratulations, Erin!


So, if you live in the Jacksonville area and need help with commercial horticulture, go see Erin at the extension office.

Sunflower Picture

I love sunflowers and this is a great picture taken by one of our resident UF/IFAS photographers, Tyler Jones. Great shot, Tyler!

Passion Flowers

I love passion flowers! They're native to Florida, butterflies love them, and they have amazing flowers. They're also called maypops. I have a white flowering one in my yard, but I really want one of these purple ones. This picture was taken at the Marion County Extension Office. It had two to three blooms open and about 15 almost ready to bloom. I bet it looks amazing this week.

Sabal Palmetto Disease

Have you heard about this? A new disease is causing a decline of cabbage palms (aka sabal palmettos). Tampabay.com has written a story on it, but UF/IFAS has also sent out an alert.

Here's the alert from one of the UF/IFAS plant pathologists:

"Sabal palmetto (cabbage palm) in Manatee County has been diagnosed with a lethal phytoplasma disease. Preliminary lab reports indicate that the phytoplasma that causes Texas Phoenix palm decline (TPPD) is also causing the decline of the cabbage palms. A pdf has been posted on the FLREC web site.

This is going to be an extremely difficult disease to diagnose early in the disease process. Overtrimmed palms and improperly fertilized palms in the landscape will show many other symptoms that will be unrelated to this disease. Even palms in natural settings have nutritional symptoms that will be unrelated to this disease. In other words, there are various reasons why cabbage palms will not be green all the way to the bottom of the canopy, and those reasons may have nothing to do with being infected with a phytoplasma!"

A great article has been written about the disease.

What a sad way for one of our trademark Florida plants to go. DPI is already working on it, but it's going to be a long process.