More Fay Mess

We continue to have lots of standing water. Because of our proximity to Payne's Prairie, I imagine it used to be like this a lot. Kim asked if we've seen a lot of alligators. No, but we have seen lots of water moccasins crossing the road. The rain drives them out and they try crossing to higher ground. John saw four yesterday. One summer when there was a lot of rain on the farm, they saw 35 moccasins. That's a lot of cotton mouths!

Here's the seasonal pond. It quadrupled in size from before Fay and actually takes up most of the horse pasture now.


Here's the tree we lost. I think it's a water oak, but honestly I haven't waded out there to look. You can see it fell away from the fence which is a good thing. Kim also had problems with water oaks. They're actually one of the trees that's not usually recommended by UF because of their susceptibility to wind damage.


Our driveway is a complete muddy mess. I now have almost gotten the truck and the car stuck in it. John's actually forbade me from driving down it - I have to park at the road and he'll move the vehicles in and out for me. This has forced us to think about getting a load of lime delivered. I was hoping to hold off on this for a little while longer, but I have to be able to drive groceries and kids closer to the house. John made me take a picture of how I covered the car in mud yesterday trying to get in the driveway. After this was when he forbade me to drive down. I think you can see why.

Post Fay Mess

We got 7+ inches of rain this last week from Fay and we're really under water at our house. Here's a couple photos to show how the water is standing. There's not normally a pond here. You can't tell from the photos either, but there's a good inch of water standing throughout the rest of the yard - the grass is just covering it up. I almost didn't make it into the driveway yesterday - it was a fish tailin', mud slingin' adventure. I have more photos to show (lost tree, seasonal pond, etc.), but I'll post those tonight hopefully.

Seasonal Pond Pre-Fay

We have a seasonal pond (aka - low spot) behind our house. It rained a little last week, so here's what it looks like before Fay really gets here. It's got some water in it, but mainly looks like standing water in a low spot. When we get a good amount of rain, it could potentially be three feet deep. So, this is what it looks like now.


And, I'll take a picture after Fay passes through.

Here Comes Fay!

It looks like Florida is in for its first hurricane in three years. And, of course, we haven't done much to prepare. We have most things on hand normally (being good seventh generation Floridians makes you wary during any hurricane season), but we've only got about 6 ot 7 gallons of water right now and just a few batteries. And, no charcoal. Because we live in Wacahoota (Payne's Prairie), we're on a well. And, if the power goes out - which it will - we have no water. We're also the last to get power restored usually because so many resources have to be diverted to Gainesville and the university first. So, if the power goes out, we'll camp at my in-laws next door. They have a generator. And, we'll try not to open the fridge and freezer.


My 5-year-old starts kindergarten at the charter school in Micanopy tomorrow, so this storm could really make his first week of school really exciting. I've got to get him prepped tonight - pack his lunch and backpack, pick out his clothes, soothe his worries. And, then it'll be more hurricane prep. Come to think of it, we should probably fill our bathtubs up. If you lose power and water, you can't flush the toilets. But, if your bathtubs are full, you can use this to flush. And, you could always boil the tub water to make it clean if need be. So, I'm off to get the kindergartner ready and batten down the hatches at home. We'll be ready for Fay when she gets here.

PS - sorry for taking so long to post. It's been a crazy couple of weeks at work and trying to get ready for school.

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.