In The Field magazine Polk edition

Cover

Hey Readers!

Polk County Cattlemen’s Association

P.O. Box 9005 • Drawer HS03 Bartow, FL. 33831-9005

President – Kevin Fussell 4523 Fussell Rd

Polk City, FL 33868-9676 (863) 412-5876

Vice President – Dr. Lujean Waters 8750 Shreck Rd Bartow, FL 33830 (863) 537-1495 Lujean.waters@gmail.com

Secretary/Treasurer - Justin Bunch PO Box 849 Highland City, FL 33846-0849 (863) 425-1121 justin.bunch@cpsagu.com

State Director – David Hunt 9699 Alt Bab Pk Cut-Off Rd Bartow, FL 33830 (863) 287-1835 Dhunt285@aol.com

Alternate SD – Orrin Webb PO Box 202 Bartow, FL 33831 (941) 916-5093 cwebbowebb@aol.com

Ray Clark

4484 Swindell Road Lakeland, FL 33810 (863) 640-0719 rclark@tampabay.rr.com

Donald Conroy 3882 Wolfolk Rd Fort Meade, FL 33841 (863) 412-0790

Stuart Fitzgerald PO Box 1437 Lake Wales, FL 33859 (863) 206-5021 stuartcattlellc@yahoo.com

Ken Sherrouse 13475 Moore Rd Lakeland, FL 33809-9755 (863) 698-1834 kensherrouse@yahoo.com

Scott Shoupe 6130 Allen Lane Lakeland, FL 33811 (863) 581-7593 Scott_shoupe@hotmail.com

James Stice

PO Box 460

Highland City, FL 33846 (813) 714-2333 jstice@verizon.net

Dave Tomkow

3305 US Highway 92 E Lakeland, FL 33801-9623 (863) 665-5088 dave@cattlemens1.com

Alternate Standing Committee Chairs: Membership Events

Trade Show- Bridget Stice

Rodeo- Fred Waters PO Box 463 Alturas, FL 33820-0463 (863) 559-7808

Website

Cattlewomen – President, Leslie Buchanon 8444 Tom Costine Rd Lakeland, FL 33809 (863) 581-2711 Buckld96@gmail.com

Extension – Bridget Stice

PO Box 9005, Drawer HS03 Bartow, FL 33831 (863) 519-1048 bccarlis@ufl.edu

Sheriff’s Dept. – Lt. Paul Wright 1891 Jim Keen Blvd. Winter Haven, FL 33880 (863) 557-1741 pw5281@polksheriff.org

Sgt. Tim Sanders

1891 Jim Keen Blvd. Winter Haven, FL 33880 (863) 656-6119 brusso@polksheriff.org

Warner University –

Abby Crawford 13895 Highway 27 Lake Wales, FL 33859 (863) 638-7248 Abby.crawford@warner.edu

Letter from the Editor

STAFF

Publisher/Photography Karen Berry

Senior Managing Editor/ Associate Publisher Sarah Holt

Editor

September certainly went out with a roar. Hurricane Ian hit Florida as a Category 4 storm, the most powerful storm to hit Florida since Charley in 2004, which made landfall in the same area, and did massive damage south of us. Homes and business were destroyed, and lives lost. Some are committed to rebuild ing, some aren’t, but none of that will happen soon. It will take years before that area is rebuilt and its business as usual.

There was damage done in our area as well, but not to the ex tent of our southern neighbors. Trees were down, some homes were damaged, areas were flooded, and power was out for some time. According to weatherchannel.com damage from Hurricane Ian is being estimated at $67 billion.

Cleanup will be ongoing for some time as well. You can’t drive anywhere without seeing piles of debris next to roads waiting for pick up.

It’s a great time to help friends and neighbors. If you see some one is having trouble with cleanup or repairs, if you can help, jump in. I am sure it will be appreciated.

Next Month

Sarah Holt

Patsy Berry Sales Karen Berry Sarah Holt Melissa Nichols George Domedion

Creative Director/Illustrator

Juan Alvarez Photography Karen Berry Melissa Nichols

Staff Writers

Al Berry Sandy Kaster James Frankowiak

Sean Green Ginny Mink

Contributing Writers Woody Gore John Dicks

Social Media

Victoria Saunders

In The Field Magazine is published monthly and is avail able through local Polk 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 Polk County Catlle men’s Association.

Letters, comments and questions can be sent to P.O. Box 5377, Plant City, Florida 33563-0042 or you are welcome to email them to: info@inthefieldmagazine.com or call 813-759-6909

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 Publica tions, 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.

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Hello to all. Hope you all are recovered and getting cleaned up from the hurricane. Many areas saw a lot of wind and water in Polk County, but we were very fortunate com pared to the devastation that it caused to the south. Polk County would have had a much different impact had the storm came in nearer to us as the forecast once predicted. So many people were complaining about no power af ter the storm, when we all should have been counting our blessings for being spared the brunt of the storm.

We held the drawing for the commercial heifer for the youth fair show, and it was won by Hunter Harris. We wish him luck with this fine Brangus cross heifer raised by Danny and Leslie Buchanan.

As we start to feel a touch of fall in the air, maybe it’ll bring some dryer weather so we all can get a little hay up. We look forward to seeing all of y’all in November.

Until next time,

Kevin Fussell

Polk County Cattlemen’s Association

FROM THE SCIENTIFIC FIELD

By J. Scott Angle

Foundation grant to recruit students from low-income areas that have traditionally not been aware of the opportunities that await them in geomatics.

Of course, he’s doing it with geomatics itself. That’s right, he wants to map the teaching and learning of mapping. He can then target recruitment efforts accordingly.

I’ve owed Jack, John, Pam and Russ and the industry a thanks for their support for a long time. One of the best ways I know how is by keeping people like Abd-Elrahman.

That’s part of why we have a tenure and promotion system. We told Amr eight years ago that UF/IFAS wanted him here for his whole career and granted him tenure. It’s a pledge to support him for trying new things and not to penalize him when new ideas don’t turn out as envisioned. And that can happen a lot on the cutting edge where Amr lives. Drones can crash, data collection can be garbled and a map can misrepresent. With out the leeway to make mistakes from which we learn, scien tists would stick to more sure bets, which wouldn’t do much to expand knowledge.

To get a good look at how water on the beds affects strawber ries’ growth, Amr Abd-Elrahman looks from the sky. His drones collect images that he converts into a map to reveal how small changes in irrigation look across an entire field.

He can make a map of weeds for scientists developing smart sprayers that hit only weeds, not crops. Or how about monitor ing the spread of invasive species like cogon grass that render land unusable for agriculture or recreation? Some day there could be a map for that.

We don’t have enough people like Abd-Elrahman, in academia or industry. Geomatics has broad applications in agriculture, land surveying, infrastructure, documenting damage for relief funding and more.

Thanks in part to Jack Breed, John Clyatt, and Pam and Russ Hyatt and other active board members of the Florida Survey ing and Mapping Society (FSMS), we’re fixing the academia part. Their advocacy for expansion of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences geomatics program was influential in the legislature’s decision to fund three more faculty positions.

That in turn, will help us fix the industry part. With more faculty, we’ll be able to prepare more graduates equipped with the skills and certifications to define land boundaries, improve ve hicle navigation systems, predict the spread of wildfires, moni tor landscape-level effects of drought or detect flood-prone areas.

More than 50% of geomatics graduates from the UF/IFAS Col lege of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) School of Forest, Fisheries, & Geomatics Sciences own or are partners in their own companies, and 65% supervise a surveying and mapping department. Three-fourths of the graduates are registered in Florida. Masters or Ph.D. graduates move into academic ca reers or key leadership positions in government or industry.

Abd-Elrahman doesn’t just teach the students. He finds them. He knows he’ll have to look harder to catch up with the de mand for graduates. So he has secured a National Science

We cemented his relationship with UF/IFAS even more this year when we promoted Amr to full professor. Professors, like Amr, have achieved a national reputation, and the title comes with the expectation that they will take on a greater role in mentoring faculty and students and serve the professional as sociations that serve the industry.

In addition to his promotion, he was recognized in April by CALS as its graduate student teacher/advisor of the year He also picked up awards this year from the North American Col leges and Teachers of Agriculture and FSMS.

When I visited him in his CALS Plant City office this summer, his gadgetry spilled into the hallways. We talked about how to source American-made drones and how we can put imagery to work for farmers and ranchers.

No one else in Florida does this the way UF/IFAS does. Under the leadership of longtime geomatics program leader Bon De witt, Amr and his colleagues have put us on the map—in Plant City, in Gainesville, and in Fort Lauderdale.

The program’s expansion and Amr’s growing role as a mentor and leader is good news for Hillsborough, Polk and Florida. The better we are at making sense of spatial relationships, the more informed our decisions will be on how to grow our food and how to grow our communities.

Scott Angle is the University of Florida’s Vice President for Agriculture and Natu ral Resources and leader of the UF Insti tute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).

Vote

Not Rooftops

by: Adam Strang Bass

By Marisol Tarango

THOUGHTS FROM THE HEIFER PEN

One of the questions that my parents probably heard the most from me as a child was, “Can you tell me a story?” I didn’t re ally care if it was real or made up (some stories I am sure were a mix), as long as it was interesting. There were stories of my parents and aunts and uncles when they were kids, stories of how grandparents and great-grandparents met and got mar ried, and all of the family adventures and mishaps. Of course, there were the fairy tales and made-up adventures, but just about any type of story was captivating no matter if it was told by word of mouth, written on pages, or acted out on a screen or stage.

Like most little girls I loved stories about princesses, fairies, and girls making friends with animals. I loved that the girls al ways wore pretty dresses and aspired to do so myself, which clashed with my dad’s rule that if we were working at the barn or riding horses, we had to wear pants. When I got older, I still liked the ideas of princesses and fairytales, but with a bigger aspect of adventure and sword fighting, so the pants weren’t that big of a problem. (Plus, I had learned by now that a true princess adapts to her situations with the appropriate outfit.) But why was I drawn to a fantastical world where things could happen with magic and evil could be overcome with wit, will, and a little bit of luck? The characters had to be brave and noble to face whatever evil they were fighting, often with little hope of survival and usually no magic in the hero’s pocket.

There were also real stories that I liked or made-up stories set in the real world that we inhabit. I loved to hear the stories of girls who were pioneers on the new frontier with their fami lies. Girls who were brave and faced new experiences, but still had to feed the animals, do the dishes, and worried about how they looked when they went to parties, just like me. I loved sto ries that were based on real events but were stretched a little bit for a good story, like Robinhood, King Arthur, and Beowulf. These men did the right thing, even when society said they were wasting their time or that they had a right to more power than they took for themselves. I enjoyed stories like Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” where a young woman has to navigate newfound love and doing what is right even though it breaks her heart.

When I was younger with my sisters and cousins, we always liked to play pretend. Some of fantastical adventures were based on stories we had read or heard, and some were made up in our own worlds. We were princesses and we were or phans (sometimes we were orphaned princesses), we were revolutionary fighters and we were Jews hiding from the Nazis. Our games always had some sort of struggle to them because how could a game be fun without some act of bravery to be accomplished? We had to rescue our princess sisters who had gotten kidnapped during a war, and we had to figure out how to survive without our parents. We had to outsmart the British soldiers so we could deliver the secret message, and we had to be quiet so the Nazis wouldn’t find us in our hidden room. Sometimes I look back and wonder what were we trying to get out of our over dramatized struggles?

Often the stories that we like take place once upon a time in a land far away. Where there is no modern inventions to help make things easier, where people not only having to fight evil, but the weather, sickness, and the literal darkness itself. We fall in love with the heroes who only have the noblest of intentions and will sacrifice everything for what is right. We empathize with the characters who have done wrong in the past and are trying to make amends. And we find ourselves rooting for the villain who has a last-minute change of heart. The two friends with witty banter find their way into our hearts, and the char acter who is a little rough around the edges often leaves the biggest hole in our hearts if something happens to him.

So, why do we as humans have this innate desire for stories? Even the youngest of children want to hear stories. At a Bible study recently, we were discussing suffering for Christ and talking about different martyrs throughout church history. Dur ing the discussion the pastor brought up the fact that these stories inspire us to be noble. When we hear stories real or fic tion, we can see the parallels in our lives and the character’s stories. We see their failures and realize that if they failed that bad but still overcame, maybe I can. If they were that scared but still did it, then maybe I have a shot.

October 2022 - Let's Go Fishing in Tampa Bay

Capt. Woody Gore

It's the time of year when the fish begin eating, and we catch more than just fish ing. So, this is a great time to fish as late summer temperatures begin to drop. If you want to catch tarpon, snook, redfish, trout, snapper, mackerel, grouper, or sharks, now is the time to do it. "Give Us a Call and Let's Go Fishing" For charters or articles on catching fish, visit my web site www.captainwoodygore.com.

Tarpons are still around and biting. I've caught plenty over the past month. On an early scouting morning trip, I decided to do some artificial lure fishing. So, I tied on my favorite topwater, a MirrOlure Top Dog Jr., and decided on a little topwater

tarpon fishing. After scouting around the smooth south Tampa Bay waters. I came upon a large school of rolling tarpon. The fun began. I never landed one but hooked several and had fun until they broke me off.

The snook and redfish bite was strong, so I looked around the outer mangrove shoreline catching a few snook and red fish on the MirrOlure Top Dog Jr. Redfish and snook are all over the area hang ing around the many lush grass flats and mangrove shorelines. When fish ing, look for points and eddies. Snook and reds seem to stage ambush sites in these areas.

Capt. Woody Gore

Next, I moved to a middle Tampa Bay rock ledge to check the snap per bite. I switched over tying on a #1 Daiichi circle hook and a #3 split shot weight. I grabbed a big shrimp from the live well, broke it into two pieces, and threaded the back section onto the circle hook. I tossed it overboard in approxi mately 28 feet of water. It never got to the bottom before a nice-sized snapper grabbed it. After a few minutes, I limited out and decided that would make a nice supper.

Mackerel, bluefish, jacks, and la dyfish are feeding on bait schools everywhere. If it's glass minnows they're after, remember to try to match the hatch.

Never turn your fishing nose up at ladyfish or jacks, especially when youngsters are involved; they can certainly make or break a trip. Most young folks are not interested in fishing. However, they are inter ested in catching something, and they don't care what it is. When you take kids fishing, make sure it's all about them. You'll get your turn when you and your buds get out.

If you want to catch fish, have a memorable adventure, or perhaps learn some new fishing tips, give me a call. I also specialize in group or multi-boat charters. Tell me what you need and leave the rest to me. Fishing Florida for over 50 years, I offer professionally guid ed fishing and teaching charters around Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Tarpon Springs.

To Book Fishing Charters, please visit my website, CaptainWood yGore.Com, click Book Online Now and fill out the form or give me a call: at 813-477-3814.

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

Captain Woody Gore owns and operates the area’s Number One Outdoor-Fishing and Environmental Guide Service. Capt. Woody’s associate captains have guided and fished the Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and Tarpon Springs areas for over fifty years.

He offers world-class fishing and adventures with a lifetime of memories.

Single or Group Charters are all the same. Just tell him what you need, and he will make it happen. Visit his website at www.captainwoodygore.com, send an email to fishing@captainwoodygore. com, or give him a call at 813-477-3814

Professional Fishing Guide and Environmen talist, Outdoor Writer, Speaker, and Photo, Journalist. Capt. Woody Gore

Reclamation ecologists like Ashlee work to return mined lands to productive use as wildlife habitats, public parks and more—so future generations can enjoy these lands for years to come.

By Libby Hopkins

E ndang E r E d S p E ci ES Endangered Florida: Britton’s Beargrass

Nolina brittoniana or Britton’s Beargrass is a rare species of flowering plant in the asparagus family known by the com mon name Britton’s beargrass. It is endemic to Florida where there are 72 known populations, only a few of which are large enough to be considered viable. It is federally listed as an en dangered species of the United States.

Britton’s beargrass is a perennial that grows from a short, thick, fleshy, bulblike rootstock. The leaves are three - six feet long and 0.2-0.5 in. wide, forming a rosette with the youngest leaves upright and the oldest lying nearly flat on the ground. The flowering stem, usually solitary, grows at least 6 feet high from the rosette in April. The inflorescence is a panicle with about six branches; when in bloom, the branches are covered with small white six-parted flowers, making the plant very conspicuous. Individual plants usually appear to have all male or all female flowers.

The many small flowers have tepals measuring only one or two millimeters long. While the flowers are bisexual, they are functionally unisexual, with either the male or female part re duced and not functional. Most plants have either function ally male or female flowers, but some have both.

Blooming occurs in March through May. The flowers give rise to winged capsules roughly a centimeter long by a centime ter wide. The plant reproduces sexually via seed and vegeta tively by cloning.

The plant is limited to seven counties in Central Florida where it grows in a number of habitat types. It is known from various kinds of Florida scrub habitat, hammocks and sand hills. The habitat types are different in many ways but they all have dry, well-drained, low-nutrient sandy soils and they are all main tained by wildfire.

The plant is present on Lake Wales Ridge, home to many rare Central Florida endemic plants. It grows alongside Polygala lewtonii, Polygonum dentoceras, Polygonum basiramia, Paro nychia chartacea, Persea humilis, Liatris ohlingerae, Hyperi cum cumulicola, Conradina brevifolia, Calamintha ashei, and Bonamia grandiflora. The plant is relatively widespread when compared with other rare local plants, but most of the popu lations are small and some are made up of only female indi viduals.

The Britton’s beargrass is a member of plant communities that are maintained by a natural fire regime. Periodic wildfire halts the encroachment of large and woody vegetation, pre venting ecological succession and keeping the canopy thin to allow sunlight to the herb layer below. These fire-maintained habitat types in Florida are largely degraded now because of a long-standing policy of fire suppression. They are over grown, with thick canopies and a large amount of flammable organic buildup.

Without fire, the Britton’s beargrass does not grow well, its reproduction is inefficient, and its populations experience low recruitment. The Britton’s beargrass flowers most profusely in the year following a fire. Many populations are located on privately owned land, and it is up to the landowner to decide whether or not to initiate controlled burns.

Habitat is also being lost to development. Habitat fragmen tation has occurred. However, the species has likely always been sparse in widespread populations, even before human interference in the habitat, and conservation of remaining habitat fragments will probably be enough to maintain it. Pre scribed burns should be part of this conservation plan. While it is rare in the wild, the Britton’s beargrass is cultivated in plant nurseries

Farming is stressful

Working on a farm can be physically and emotionally demanding. If you are feeling anxious or depressed, you’re not alone.

Nine in ten farmers cite financial issues, farm business concerns and fear of losing their farms as mental health stressors.

Call 211 to speak to someone who will listen and provide the resources you need to get through tough times. Calls are confidential and can be anonymous.

Business Up Front

BROKE AND POOR

By Jim Frankowiak

SERVING CUSTOMERS SINCE 1985

Don’t let the name mislead you! The full name is Broke and Poor Surplus Building Materials of Plant City, known commonly as “Broke and Poor.” Locat ed on U.S. Highway 92 east of Plant City, Broke and Poor was founded by Donald and Sandra Brock and the late Layton Price in 1985. It is a familyowned company approaching its 38th anniversary.

“My dad and Layton came up with the name as a derivative of their last names - Brock and Price,” said Ted Brock, Donald’s son and the current chief executive of the company. The company sells mo bile home supplies and materials, windows and doors and cabinets and awnings – plus a little bit of everything else, including antiques.

“All of our materials are competitively priced,” said Brock. “Many of our products are simply not avail able at the big box stores. Products for mobile homes are not the same as those used to maintain and repair the majority of residential dwellings.”

The senior Brock and Layton were both Plant City natives with finance industry backgrounds. “As

they retired from the finance industry, they also decided to sell the rental units each owned and this led to a substantial amount of unused building material. That was the basis for the beginning of Broke and Poor,” said Brock. Initially, the company had locations in Auburndale, Plant City and Lake Wales, but after the passing of Layton Price, Brock senior sold his interest in the Auburndale and Lake Wales stores to the Price family.

“Our customer base is made up of do-it-yourself ers, contractors and handymen,” said Brock. “We are now in our busiest time of the year as visitors from the north and Canada are or will be soon down here for the winter and many of them are residents of mobile homes.” In addition to selling items for mobile homes, Brock noted his staff “is highly customer service oriented and knowledge able about construction, plumbing and remodel ing. We are also happy to provide the names of local contractors that we know and trust and are certain will take good care of our customers,” he said.

Cesar, Chris, David and TonyOwners Donald Brock & Ted Brock

The Broke and Poor staff also includes bi-lingual members “who can well serve our Spanish-speak ing customers,” said Brock. Long time Broke and Poor managers include Chris Brown and Blake Register with David Martinez, a veteran, bi-lingual member of the team. Ted’s daughter, Jennifer Brennan, oversees Broke and Poor accounting and payroll.

While Broke and Poor’s primary focus has and continues to be the mobile home market, it also carries a broad listing of high end kitchen cabinets along with aluminum carports and screen rooms. “We also offer the names of honest and trusted contractors and handymen able to help with in stallation,” noted Brock.

Product installation is an area under consideration for Broke and Poor’s future. “While we will con tinue to offer the same mix of products we always have, we are carefully considering the establish ment of our own installation team,” he said. “That is a major step, and one we are looking at very closely.”

As part of its commitment to mobile home cus tomers, Broke and Poor has contributed products to retired military mobile home residents in need. “That is our way of paying back for their service to

each of us and acknowledging that market’s im portance to our business,” said Brock.

For more information about Broke and Poor Sur plus Building Materials of Plant City, stop by the store at 2670 U.S. Highway 92, Plant City, FL 33564. Hours of operation are Monday – Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Call: 813/752-3378 or visit: brokeandpoorpc@aol.com.

Pepsi’s red, white and blue logo was made in the 1940s to support America’s war effort.

In colonial America lobster was anything but a delicacy, so cheap and plentiful that it was often served to prisoners.

In a Sesame Street episode, Cookie Monster said that before he started eating cookies, his name was Sid.

English muffins were first made in America, Venetian blinds were invented by the Chinese and Belgians were the first to make French fries.

Guinness says the world’s hardest tongue twister is this: “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.

Augie, a golden retriever from Dallas, Texas, owns the doggie world record for holding tennis balls in the mouth, with five.

There was no toilet in the kid’s bathroom on “The Brady Bunch” sitcom.

Figures of Speech

Have you ever wondered about the phrase, “figure of speech?” I went to Google on my computer and looked it up, and this is what I found:

fig·ure of speech noun plural noun: figures of speech

An expression that uses language in a nonliteral way, such as a metaphor or synecdoche, or in a structured or unusual way, such as anaphora or chiasmus, or that employs sounds, such as alliteration or assonance, to achieve a rhetorical effect.

Huh? No kidding. I asked around to see if I could get an answer. Nobody seemed to know. I’ll bet if my English teacher, Mrs. Smith was alive she would have an an swer I could understand.

As a last resort I went back to Google for the answer. I did not get an answer I could understand, but I found some examples of “Figure of Speech.” You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

The evening news is where they begin with “Good Eve ning,” and then proceed to tell you why it isn’t. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people ap pear bright until you hear them speak.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. If I agreed with you, we’d both

Editor’s Note: This Rocking Chair Chatter was originally printed in the October 2018 issue

be wrong. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on my list. Change is inevitable, except from a vend ing machine. Where there’s a will, there are relatives. And lastly the one most everyone can understand, well, his goose is cooked! There you have it. Now you know a figure of speech when you hear it or read it.

As a kid I remember we would have fun seeing who could come up with the most tongue twisters. The one most people remember is: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

See if you can read this one without making a mistake. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood? As much wood as a wood chuck could chuck, If a woodchuck could chuck wood. Try these two: But the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn’t have thought so much. A skunk sat on a stump. The stump thought the skunk stunk. The skunk thought the stump stunk. What stunk the skunk or the stump?

I have always thought the dictionary is filled with words that are seldom used. Open any page and you’re likely to find a word you have never heard, whether it’s gon goozle (means to stare idly at a waterway and do noth ing) or zwodder (a feeling of drowsiness). We see it, and think to ourselves that we absolutely must use it in con versation.

Sometimes people never understand what you’re say ing. They hear what they want to hear. Case in point. About a week before this last Christmas I was at the checkout stand at a local grocery store. The lady in front of me wanted to buy some postage stamps to mail some Christmas cards. Here’s the way the conver sation went; “Ma’am, I got these Christmas cards I need to mail today. I need 14 stamps, please.” The clerk said, “O.K., I have books of 6 first class or 12 second-class stamps.”

“OK,” she said, “I’ll take 14 second-class stamps.”

“I’m sorry,” the clerk said. “We only sell the stamps in books of 12.”

“Yes. I need 14 stamps, please.”

The clerk replied, “Okay. So two books will be $11.04.”

The customer replies, “What! That seems like a lot of money for 14 stamps.” Clerk: “No, madam. That is for 24 stamps. We only sell them in books of 12.” Customer: “But I only want 14.”

The clerk remained calm and said. “Lady, we are not a post-office, we only sell stamps in books of 12. In order to get 14 stamps you will have to buy two books. I am sure you can use the rest of the stamps later. Now, if it’s a real problem there’s a post office just around the corner past the fire station, which will be open in the morning.”

Very loudly she says, “Don’t you understand I only need 14 stamps.”

The clerk at the cash register politely said, “Sorry, I can not help you.”

With that the lady said, “Well give me one book!” She turned and looked at me and said, “I’ll hand deliver the other two cards tomorrow.”

People not only hear what they want to hear, but have trouble writing what they want to say. As an example, here are some notes a schoolteacher friend of mine collected over the years.

“My son is under a doctor’s care and should not take P.E. today. Please execute him.”

“Please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick, and I had her shot.”

“Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday.”

“Please excuse Jason for being absent yesterday. He had a cold and could not breed well.”

And I leave you with this, which has nothing to do with anything written in this column. “If you can’t have a mid night snack why do we have a light in the fridge?

A Closer Look by Sean Green Death Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia)

The 1991 American thriller “Silence of the Lambs” brought attention to a unique moth when it was used in promotion al poster for the movie. A representation of the Death Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia) rests on the lips of Clarice Starling (played by Jodie Foster), top student at the FBI’s training academy in the promotional poster. The moth represents hid den meanings that relate to the sub plot of the movie and the deeper intricacies of the character Buffalo Bill (played by Ted Levine). Much of the moth’s ominous fame is attributed to a unique, skull like pattern on its thorax, a characteristic that even led entomologists to erroneously charge this moth with unearthly origin and supernatural powers, extinguishing the light as it enters buildings bringing omens of death, war, pes tilence with it. Although this moth is not found in the United States, it is member of the hawk moth family (Sphingidae) which are abundant in tropical regions. This month, we will welcome the Hallow een season with a closer look at the Death Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia), a fascinating moth with a macabre reputation.

The moth illustrated for the “Silence of the Lambs” poster is actually a fictitious creation that includes the 1951 photographic com position In Voluptas Mors (Voluptuous Death), by the surrealistic Spanish artist Salvador Dalí and Latvianborn American portrait photographer Philippe Halsman. The moth represented is a real species commonly known as the Death Head Hawkmoth. Acherontiini is a tribe of moths of the family Sphingidae. With in the tribe Acherontiini is the genus Acherontia. There are three moth species in the genus Acherontia, all of which have a sinister reputation. The taxonomic name of all three species; are associated with the concept of death in ancient Greek mythology. The genus part of the taxonomic name (Acheron tia) is named for the river Acheron (the river of woe), one of the five rivers of the underworld in Greek mythology. The species portion of the taxonomic names for these moths is equally ominous. The “Moirai,” are the Greek equivalent of the Roman “Parcae.” In both Greek and Roman mythology, these are the female personifications of destiny and direct not only the lives of humans, but also the Greek and Roman gods themselves. Acherontia styx, the Asian species, is named after the deity and river (Styx) that define the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (Hades). Acherontia Lachesis, found primarily in India, is named after (Lachesis) the “appointer” that mea sures the length of the thread of life allowed for each person or being. Acherontia Atropos, is the most abundant, ranging from Great Britain to South Africa, its name is derived from the Greek (Atropos), the fate that cuts the thread of life.

The Death Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia) hatches from an egg in the form of a caterpillar and begins feeding on a host plant. Historically, the potato plant was the preferred host, however, mechanical harvesting and the increased used of pesticides forced the species to feed on a larger variety of plants that include deadly nightshade, and many plants in the verbena family. The caterpillars grow through five instars and can reach lengths of over five inches before pupating. These caterpillars have a large tail horn but are not venom ous. When threatened, the caterpillar will thrash its head and horned tail from side to side and make a click ing noise with its sizable mandibles. When the caterpillar is ready to pu pate, it coats itself with a slimy salivary secretion, digs 5 to 15 inches into the ground, molts for the last time and pupates for about 20 days. The adult moth that emerges is large, typically with body length of about two inches and a wingspan that can approach five inches.

Most moths drink nec tar from flowers, but the Death Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia) has a taste for honey and is consid ered a bee pest. Ache rontia Atropos invades the nests of the Western honey bee, (Apis mel lifera). The moth must make its way into the nest alive to plunder the honey and entomolo gists are at odds over the secret to the moth’s success. The skull pattern on the thorax of the moth is thought to mimic the head of a worker bee, but more importantly, the moth smells like a bee. The moth produces four fatty acids that are common to honeybees. These fatty acids provide a “chemi cal camouflage” for the moth allowing it to roam freely within the nest undetected. The moth has a specialized proboscis that serves two functions. When the moth exhales air through the proboscis, a chirping sound is produced from a structure within the proboscis that acts like the reed of a woodwind instrument. Many entomologists believe the chirping sound mimics a queen bee. The proboscis is also short and thick, enabling the moth to puncture the wax cells within in the hive to have their fill of honey. Ironically, once the moth has its fill of honey, it loses its ability to produce the chirping sound from its proboscis for about five hours. The Death Head Hawkmoth is the world’s fastest moth, flying at speeds of nearly 30 miles per hour and can hover like a hummingbird. Although we are not likely to see the Death Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia) in Florida, it is not outside the realm of possibilities. With import ed agriculture and produce come the risk of invasive species, and this moth would do well in our tropical environment. If you can work with bees, take a closer look, you may one day find a Death Head Hawkmoth staring you in the face.

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SAND

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

Most of us think of pears as juicy and sweet with its familiar pear-shaped fruit, but did you know there are such things as Florida sand pears? Fresh sand pears are more round than pear shaped and are crispier and grittier inside, which gives them the name of “sand pears.” They more closely resemble Asian pears in their shape and texture than they do the tradi tional pear types such as Bartlett. Like Asian pears, sand pears are sweet, juicy, and crunchy. Sand pears are often used in jams, pies, pear butter, canned or dried, as well as eaten fresh off the tree.

In addition to pears, other members of the Rosaceae family include apples, cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, quinces, strawberries and almonds. In addition to sand pears, other types of pears that grown in Florida include Hood, Pineapple, and Flordahome pears, and all are delicious for eating. Pear trees are more often grown in the northern parts of Florida because they require a period of dormancy and an accompa nied chilling at 45 degrees or less to bear fruit. Hood pears are good for eating out-of-hand as well as for cooking. They are golden yellow with a soft, buttery flesh and a slightly tangy flavor, much like Bartlett pears. Pineapple pears are hard and used mostly for canning. Flordahome pears are sweet, juicy, and savory and good for eating raw.

Nutritional Profile

Fresh Florida sand pears are a fantastic source of vitamin C, vitamin K, dietary fiber, riboflavin, and potassium. The outer peel of sand pears is thicker than that of other types of pears and 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 medium pear (178 g) contains 101 calories, 0.6 g of pro tein, 0.2 g of fat, 27 g of carbohydrate, and 5.5 g of fiber. It also provides 22% of the Daily Recommended Value (% DV) for dietary fiber, 17% for copper, 10% for vitamin C, and 9% for vi tamin K. Pears also contain significant amounts of potassium, manganese, phosphorus, calcium, iron, manganese, zinc, and many of the B vitamins.

Fiber

Research has shown that dietary fiber has a protective effect against cardiovascular diseases, by lowering blood choles terol levels and slowing the progression of heart disease in high-risk individuals. Fiber binds to the cholesterol-containing bile salts and helps to excrete them out of the body. It also promotes bowel regularity and increases satiety levels, which can aid in weight control.

In addition to the effects of fiber on regularity, other com pounds in sand pears promote healthy digestive functioning and offer protection from colon cancer. Pears are one of the top foods for high fiber.

Antioxidants

Florida sand pears are full of disease-fighting antioxidants, which neutralize destructive free radicals in the body. The vi tamin C and vitamin A in pears, as well as other compounds,

have antioxidant qualities. Copper also supports the func tion of antioxidants, sweeping up free radicals. When healthy cells are damaged, they are more susceptible to disease and certain types of cancer, and antioxidants may help slow the progression of conditions like asthma, arthritis, and colon cancer. Diets that contain fruits high in antioxidants are linked to a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and multiple types of cancer. Pears also contain flavonoids that improve insulin sensitivity, a key factor that can help lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Vitamin C

In addition to its antioxidant properties, vitamin C has many important functions in the body. Eating foods like pears that are high in vitamin C significantly raises the amount of iron your body absorbs, which helps prevent anemia. In its most famous role, vitamin C supports the body’s immune system in its ability to fight infections and viruses, and may possi bly shorten the duration and intensity of a cold. Additionally, this vitamin is involved in keeping capillaries, gums, and skin healthy and supple.

How to select and store

When sand pears begin to turn yellow and either fall off, or can be easily pulled off the tree then they are ready to harvest and eat. The texture is smoother and less gritty the earlier they are picked but will not ripen further once off the tree. Choose pears that are free of blemishes or bruises and feel heavy and firm for their size. Ripe sand pears can be stored in the refrig erator for up to a week. Rinse under cool running water before eating or preparing.

How to enjoy

Ripe, juicy, sand pears are delicious eaten out-of-hand. Pears can also be cooked, poached, made into jam or jelly, or incor porated into salads and desserts. Other ways to enjoy fresh sand pears include:

• Slice pears and toss with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and walnuts for a delicious salad.

• Dice pears and mix with other fruits in a fruit salad

• Serve pears with blue cheese for a simple appetizer or dessert.

• Add chopped pears, ginger and honey to oatmeal for a breakfast treat.

• Core pears and poach in apple juice or wine.

• Thinly slice pears and top a freshly baked cake

• Add thin slices of pear to peanut butter or grilled cheese sandwiches

sweet and juicy Florida sand pears today. It’s a delicious way to get plenty of fiber and other nutrients.

FA CATTLE

AND BETH FLETCHER

By Melissa Nicoles

FA Cattle stands for Florida Agriculture Cattle in its ab breviated form but the true meaning behind the name goes back five generations and in to much more history than a simple name can show. FA Cattle is owned and operated by Jason Stokes and Beth Fletcher of Lake Wales. A few years ago, Jason realized that he was missing something in his life, a part of his upbringing, his heritage and the Stokes legacy of cattle ranching. Jason recalls being a young boy and working cattle on the weekends and when he wasn’t in school. “Our fam ily was a little different, there were times 40 of us gath ered around a table at lunchtime, all related, hearing stories about the past and learning all about the indus try they were in,” said Stokes.

Jason is the son of Julius and Mary Stokes of Lake Wales. He looked up to and admired his uncle Glenn Stokes who was the backbone of Albritton-Stokes Cattle Company. At that time, Albritton-Stokes was one of the largest ranches in Central Florida. Jason said he looks back and recalls you didn’t get asked to go help after school or on the weekends, it’s what you were ex pected to do, and he is grateful for the work ethics and values those days taught him. And, as far back as he can remember, that was what his time was spent do ing, either working at the cattle ranch or helping his dad with the family business.

In his later teenage years, Jason wanted to do ranch work full time, so he was hired by Bill Atkinson at Oak Knoll Ranch where he worked for five years. Jason has fond memories of the years he spent at Oak Knoll and those he worked with. His passion for the Brangus breed started by learning from Bill, who was a success ful Brangus breeder.

As the patriarch of the family passed away, the ranch was sold off and Albritton-Stokes was no longer. Jason went on to have a career outside of the ranching indus try and it wasn’t until about eight years ago, when he took a job with Kelley Buick GMC, that things changed. “It was the Kelley family’s love of agriculture that almost forced me to realize I was missing it, albeit 20 years lat er. I wished I could have the land back, the cattle back and the life back that I grew up knowing,” he said.

Jason talked to Beth about the idea of buying out an other local rancher and leasing land, a goal they ac complished that year with the purchase of a hundred head of commercial cattle. Beth, unlike Jason, didn’t grow up on a ranch, but her love of animals made her immediately drawn to the cattle. She loved them, want ed to name them all and soaked up every second of the life they had created. Beth puts so much emotion and love into the cattle operation that everyone can see how much her heart is in this, and that is something you don’t see in the industry very often anymore. For her it isn’t the return on investment, it’s the animals.

This couple went from having a boat and spending lots of time on the water on the weekends, with their children grown and moved out, to spending week ends making sure cattle were good, fences were good, weeds were under control and the stuff ranchers do, all while working their normal jobs. Last year he weaned and brought home a few com mercial calves. He has been at the Polk County Youth Fair buying pigs and steers for the last five years for Kelley Buick GMC. He saw first-hand how responsible, businesslike, and mature the kids who raised market

animals were. One afternoon he asked his niece Madi son if she would like to show one of the calves. Imme diately she got to work, knowing nothing about it but putting 100% effort into it. Jason later went on to decide the future of the business was not commercial cattle, but rather registered cattle and, of course, Brangus was his first choice. They purchased some private trea ty heifers, bred cows, and some from online sales and quickly grew to have over 15 registered Brangus cattle. Jason and Beth now focus on having the venture pay for itself one day by putting embryos out of the regis tered stock into the commercial herd allowing them to be recipients. This will allow their numbers and quality to grow quickly.

Not only was his herd growing ,but the number of kids who wanted to show began to grow also. Added to the show team was Rilee Bennett and Hannah Ste gall. “These girls aren’t ours, but they are extensions to our hearts and might as well be ours because we love them like our own,” said Beth. So much like their own, they affectionately call Jason and Beth “Show Dad and Show Mom.”

The newest member they are very excited about is their other niece, Emily Stokes. Emily has WIlliams Syn drome, and they weren’t sure that she would want to show, but after a little while of watching Emily and “her” heifer, she is thrilled to be able to show. These girls are grateful for the opportunity to show for Jason and Beth, but the reality is they are why Jason and Beth are doing it. Every day the girls are there tak ing care of, feeding, washing and responsible for their cattle they show. They put the time in, they put the work in.

“Showing has been a big part of my life. There are so many things I have learned and still need to learn about the livestock industry. Through showing I have met so many amazing people and have had once in a lifetime opportunities,” said Madison Stokes. “One of these opportunities was to show at The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on the green shavings. I think I will always remember that show. That show taught me how to work hard, have fun, and dream big.”

“Beth and Jason have given me opportunities and push me beyond my limits that I thought I could never achieve,” said Hannah Stegall. “Because of them and FA Cattle, I was able to pursue my career in showing and what I truly love to do. I will be forever thankful for these amazing people in this company.”

“Showing is my life. I didn’t start showing when I was really little, but I started with pigs when I was 8, and moved onto cattle when I was 12,” said Rilee Ben nett. “Showing has given me so many opportunities and opened my eyes to so many different things that I could have never imagined. I have met so many fan tastic new people through showing, including Jason and Beth. They have given me so many opportunities such as showing from the little jackpot shows to the big national shows. People like Jason and Beth make me want to keep going and give it my all. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that we give it our best.” It is clear to see that the girls’ hearts are in it as much as Jason and Beth’s.

NEW UF/IFAS ONLINE TOOL HELPS HORSE OWNERS PROTECT WATER QUALITY

By Jim Frankowiak

Managing manure can be a challenge for horse owners. One horse can produce an average of 50 pounds of waste per day and with an estimated 385,000 horses in Florida, that waste piles up. A new University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) online tool can help horse owners identify ways to improve how they handle waste to benefit the health of horses, humans and Florida waterways. Horse manure contains nitrogen and when significant amounts are introduced to water via leaching into groundwater or di rectly into a waterway, it has negative effects on water qual ity. Best management practices (BMPs) guide horse owners on how to reduce these potential impacts to Florida’s water quality.

The new, free tool allows horse owners to self-assess their waste management plan. The website also serves as a reposi tory for resources and information on proper manure manage ment.

“Manure management can become an unwieldy and frus trating part of horse ownership,” said Carissa Wickens, UF/ IFAS Extension specialist. “Responsible horse ownership and equine property management includes being good stewards of the land and making sure we are properly handling the ma nure the horses produce.”

The goal is not perfect execution of every best management practice but instead have a plan and make incremental chang es. Over time, that will make a significant difference and re duce negative impacts to water supply.

“There is not a one size fits all solution,” said Wickens. “We hope to help as many horse owners implement as many BMPs as possible, but we know there are some practices that will be difficult to adopt. It can be challenging and sometimes you have to get creative.”

Each farm will have their own unique needs and challenges when implementing BMPs. One simple way to get started is to understand where any sinkholes or water features are located on or around your farm and consider where manure is stored or disposed of. If your farm is near one of these areas, evalu ate the available space on your farm and consider moving the manure. How and where manure is stored can go a long way to protect water quality, control odor and flies, improve health and support positive relationships with neighbors.

Composting manure can be another key strategy. Properly composting manure and reapplying it not only minimizes leaching of nutrients into waterways, but it protects horse and

human health as well. Proper manure management reduces pathogens, improves pasture health and more.

“Implementing these practices helps protect water resources for many generations,” said Wickens. “It’s important for drink ing water as well as the recreational aspect water resources contribute to the economic impact in our state.”

This project was made possible by funding from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Office of Agricultural Water Policy. The entire best management practices manual for Florida equine operations is available at: https://www.fdacs.gov/content/download/30687/file/ equineBMP-lores.pdf .

ANNOUNCES FISCAL YEAR 2023 BUDGET

By Jim Frankowiak

The Southwest Florida Water Management District has adopt ed a $211.7 million budget for fiscal year (FY) 2023, including approximately $90.6 million for the Cooperative Funding Initia tive and District grants for water resources projects.

Some of the key initiatives in the budget include:

• $41.5 million for development of alternative water supplies to ensure an adequate supply of water resources for all existing and future reasonable and beneficial uses.

• z$18.7 million for initiatives to improve springs and spring-fed rivers and to improve water quality and clarity as well as restore natural habitats.

• $18.3 million for Watershed Management Program plans to support floodplain management decisions and initia tives, and address potential and existing flooding problems.

Through cooperative funding partnerships, District funds are typically matched up to 50% and will result in a total regional investment of more than $165 million for sustainable alterna tive water supply development, water quality improvements and other water resource management projects.

For the 11th year in a row, the District’s Governing Board has adopted a millage rate equal to or less than the rolled-back millage rate, for a cumulative rate reduction of 42.5%. The ad opted FY2023 millage rate is 0.2260 mill, 10.8% lower than the current fiscal year which will help lessen the tax burden for Florida residents by saving taxpayers approximately $15.5 mil lion in property taxes.

For the owner of a $150,000 home with a $50,000 homestead exemption, the District tax would be $22.60 a year, or about $1.88 per month. The fiscal year runs from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MOSQUITOES AND HURRICANE RECOVERY

By Lourdes Mederos

After a hurricane, flooding and scattered debris that hold wa ter are breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

“An increase in mosquito numbers can most likely be ex pected in the weeks following a hurricane,” said Eva Buckner, an assistant professor and medical entomologist at the Uni versity of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).

Buckner, an Extension specialist at UF/IFAS Florida Medi cal Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, remains in close contact with Florida’s more than 65 mosquito control districts providing training, solutions and information on topics includ ing mosquito identification, mosquito-borne diseases, inte grated mosquito management and more.

Buckner offers the following facts and tips to keep consum ers from getting bitten, eliminate those breeding grounds during hurricane recovery and dispel myths about mosquitoborne diseases.

Q: Can hurricanes promote mosquito breeding?

A: The flooding from hurricanes can cause mosquito eggs laid in the soil by floodwater mosquitoes during previous floods to hatch. This can result in very large populations of floodwater mosquitoes. Most of these mosquitoes are considered nui sance mosquitoes because they can be annoying biters that do not transmit any viruses to humans. Additionally, if flood waters do not recede, standing water mosquitoes may start laying eggs on the standing water.

Q: Do these mosquitos carry illnesses like Zika and West Nile Virus?

A: In general floodwater mosquitoes are just considered nui sance mosquitoes, except for Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito. This species can transmit chikungunya, Zika and dengue virus.

In Florida, this species can be found in some suburban and ur ban areas in the state. In areas with Aedes aegypti, increased rainfall may result in increased hatching of Aedes aegypti eggs from water-holding containers.

We’ve had no travel-related cases of chikungunya or Zika this

year, so no transmission of these viruses is expected in Flori da post-Ian. However, the risk of getting infected with dengue virus from Aedes aegypti may be slightly increased.

Also, some species of standing water mosquitoes can trans mit West Nile virus, so steps should be taken to protect from mosquito bites.

Q: What steps can residents take to protect themselves from mosquito bites?

A: Most important tip to remember is to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Use En vironmental Protection Agency (EPA)-regis tered insect repellents with one of the fol lowing active ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-men thane-diol or 2-undecanone.

Q: What steps can consumers take to control mosquitoes in side and outside of their property?

A: Draining water is recommended for reducing mosquito habitats in water-holding containers that individual home owners have control over, such as pet dishes, vases, bird baths, buckets, toys, flowerpot saucers and cans. You can help reduce your risk of diseases just by dumping containers.

To kill immature mosquitoes in pools at homes without elec tricity to run pumps, use mosquito bits or dunks. These micro bial insecticides can be purchased at hardware or box stores. For vast water sources, it is best to leave the source reduction and treatment to the mosquito control agencies. Contact your local mosquito control program to ask for treatment request.

WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT HOLDING HOG HUNTS; PERMITS AVAILABLE ONLINE

By Jim Frankowiak

Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) land managers will hold a series of hog hunts on District lands throughout the year to help reduce the feral hog population.

Feral hogs, which are not native to Florida, can cause damage with their broad snouts and can leave an area looking like a plowed field. They also prey on native wildlife, compete with native species for food and transmit diseases to other wildlife, livestock and humans. Additionally, hogs may facilitate the spread of exotic plant species by transporting seeds and/or providing germination sites through rooting.

The District has a three-phased hunting system. The first two phases of hunts will have separate registration processes. The single top producer from each Phase 1 and Phase 2 hunt will be asked to participate in hog management activities for Phase 3.

All hunts will adhere to the hog-dog format. No still hunts will be available. The program works like this:

PHASE 1 HUNTS

• Registration now under.

• Includes five hunts that occur November through December 2022.

• A $75 nonrefundable fee must be paid for each permit.

• Permits are transferable.

• The top producer of each Phase 1 hunt with no rule violations will be placed on the District’s “top producer” list and will be awarded participation in the District’s Phase 3 hunts, free of charge.

PHASE 2 HUNTS

• Registration will begin at 9 a.m. Dec. 13, 2022.

• Includes five hunts that occur January through February 2023.

• A $75 nonrefundable fee must be paid for each permit.

• Permits are transferable.

• The single top producer of each Phase 2 hunt with no rule violations will be placed on the District’s “top produc er” list and will be awarded participation in the District’s Phase 3 hunts, free of charge.

PHASE 3 “AS-NEEDED” MANAGEMENT HUNTS

• Includes management hunts that may occur March through October 2023.

• Only those registrants that qualify as “top produc ers” following the Phase 1 and 2 hunts will be contacted to take part in management hunts during this period.

• Management hunts offered to “top producers” will be free of charge and nontransferable.

• All Phase 1 and Phase 2 top producers, without rule violations, will be offered participation on a minimum of four management hunts occurring March through October 2023.

The District-managed properties will be temporarily closed to the public during the hog hunts. Only permitted hunters will be allowed access.

Prospective hunters can purchase permits for Phase I on the District’s WaterMatters.org/HogHunts. Permits will be avail able on a first come, first serve basis until they are sold out. The cost is $75 for each permit. A complete list of hunts with locations and dates is also available online.

This is the 14th consecutive year for the hunts. Last year’s hunts removed 656 hogs on nine different tracts of land throughout the District.

BRIEFS

Compiled by Jim Frankowiak

FLORIDA AG EXPO – NOVEMBER 2

The 2022 Florida Ag Expo is scheduled for Wednesday, No vember 2, at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) at Balm, FL. Register at: www.flori daagexpo.net.

NEW EXTENSION WEBSITE AIDS SMALL FARMS DEAL WITH MANURE

Dr. Mary Lusk, Assistant Professor of Soil and Water at the UF/ IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC), has announced a new Extension website for small farms provides environmentally-friendly practices for dealing with manure. The site – https://animal.ifas.ufl.edu/equinebmps/ - offers a “virtual assessment tool” to permit users to see how their farm scores in terms of protecting Florida water quality, and recom mendations for ways to improve manure management.

USDA-NRCS LOCAL WORKING GROUP MEETING SET FOR NOVEMBER 29

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service ((NRCS) and Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District will hold the next Local Working Group (LWG) meeting November 29 at 13138 Lewis Gallagher Road, Dover, FL 33527 (Location of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association) at 3 p.m. Interest parties can contact Betty Jo Tompkins for a Zoom Link via email: bjt6890@yahoo.com. The LWGs provide recommendations to the USDA on criteria for conservation activities and programs, and they focus on agricultural interests and natural resource issues in their local community.

FFVA NAMES GCREC’S NATHAN BOYD “RESEARCHER OF THE YEAR”

The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (FFVA) has named Nathan Boyd its 2022 “Researcher of the Year.” The award is presented annually to deserving individuals who strive to im prove Florida agriculture.

Boyd is a professor and associated director at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) at Balm where he focuses on the development of integrated weed management programs for small fruits and vegetables, as well as improving the agriculture industry’s understanding of weed biology. The FFVA is an agricultural association whose mem bership represents the majority of Florida fruit and vegetable production.

TWO HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY RESIDENTS IN FFVA EMERGING LEADERSHIP CLASS

The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (FFVA) has an nounced the 14 members of Class 12 of its Emerging Leader Development Program. Among the class are Jeremy Nipper of Everglades Equipment Group in Tampa and Erin Parke Wat son of Parkesdale Farms in Dover. Administered by the Florida Specialty Crop Foundation, the Emerging Leader Develop ment Program provides young leaders with an immersive ex perience on the issues facing the industry and how to be lead ers within the FFVA,

Hurricane Hindsight!

by John Dicks | Photo by iStock

Surely you’ve heard of the old phrase “hindsight is 20/20.” It suggests that while standing in the present, looking back into the past, things were so obvious.

It’s only after everything has passed that we can mentally slip back to the past and accurately predict the future! It’s easier to analyze and evaluate things once they’ve already hap pened.

Certainly there’s no better example of this reverse logic than in predicting the terror and destructive damage of hurricanes. The case in point here is the one most recently to have blown through central Florida, the infamous Hurricane Ian.

All of us suffered from some sort of destruction, or at least disruption, caused by the weather monster. I sincerely hope yours was slight in all respects.

Mine was minor, just a few downed tree limbs and debris strewn around the place. It made me imagine that God simply grabbed my trees and shook them hard to get rid of all the dead stuff up high in the limbs.

By comparison, especially to that of what we all saw in pic tures online and on tv, we have so much to be thankful for. Probably like you, I have friends who lost lots. One friend described the loss of his family’s vacation home was as if it just vanished! Built of sturdy red cypress logs from the Ever glades back in the 1930’s, his memories are sweet, yet now so painful.

It will be some time before we know the full extent of the damage and costs of destruction. The Ag community went to work immediately to assess the situation.

Florida is home to some 500,000 acres of fresh produce each year, and it generates about $20 billion in sales. There are more than 6,400 fruit and vegetable farms with a total of 139,000 workers. Interruption to even part of this mammoth operation, spread out primarily over the path of hurricane Ian, can have a substantial economic and personal affect throughout our state.

Some of the effects came almost as a surprise. Most all of us dealt with the inconvenience of power outages, but Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried notes that it was a huge emergency for dairy farmers to get generators for daily milking opera tions!

Then there was the concern over the hurt felt by bees throughout Florida. An estimated 400,000 colonies were placed at risk, with many submerged in water while many others were just scattered to who knows where.

It’s not just the honey that was lost, either. Losses of honey bee colonies can lead to a reduction of honey bee pollination. That affects all of the crops depending on them, including blueberries, strawberries, squash, and more.

There’s no question but that all of which was brought by Hur ricane Ian was tough, debilitating, and will have lingering ef fects which will last for years.

Could we have possibly done anything to stop it, to prevent it from happening, to turn it away? Of course not. Silly ques tion, it is.

But what about our plan of how we dealt with things? Where did we go when the storm was approaching? What did we do to prepare? Are there things we can do to improve upon how we get ready?

I’m not talking about our government’s response. Most of that was great; some was not so much. The subject, though, is ob viously too much for our discussion here.

Instead, I’m suggesting that we take a good hard look at our own personal situation. Especially so now that we have the benefit of Hurricane Hindsight.

Some things are obvious. Like, for example, if you’re in a Hur ricane Evacuation Zone A, time to implement your plan is about 7 seconds after you learn that a hurricane is approach ing!

Whether you should stay or go, of course, depends upon your own personal situation. The key is to make a plan now, ahead of time. Racking your brain, deciding what to do, all while ev ery channel on tv is showing the absolute worst situation will seldom lead to logical and best results.

When we live in the hurricane magnet state of Florida, one thing is imperative.

Make a plan. Do it now. Write it down. Share it with your family. Know what you need to buy and where, if anywhere, you’re going to go.

We don’t need a second dose of Hurricane Hindsight!

John Dicks is both a Lawyer and Businessman, including an interest in farming. He and his family have owned a Blue berry 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. John serves as Of Counsel to Trinkle Redman, a law firm in Plant City where he also served nine years as City Commissioner, including three terms as Mayor.

FIREARM SAFETY

By Grady Judd, Polk County Sheriff

Many of you in the agricultural community own firearms, whether it’s for your personal protection, recreation, collect ing, or hunting. You might know that I’m a big supporter of your Second Amendment right to protect yourself with a fire arm as long as you are legally able to own one.

Since November 2021 our agency has responded to 12 dif ferent accidental shootings in our jurisdiction. The most com mon factor in these accidental shootings was that the person handling the weapon was cleaning it and thought it was un loaded, but there was still a round in the chamber.

Of the 12 incidents, the majority of the people involved were not seriously injured – many of them suffered a gunshot wound to their hand or leg and will fully recover. However, the most recent incident involved a fatality. The teenaged sus pect who was charged with manslaughter in that case told detectives that he purchased a handgun from someone he met on Snapchat, and as he was pulling back the slide to see if it was loaded, he accidentally pulled the trigger, killing his friend. The suspect was only 18 years old, and his friend was 19. This was a completely avoidable and tragic case.

Here are some common sense gun safety tips. For most of you, these are simple reminders: If you own a firearm, learn how to use it, be comfortable with it, know the laws regarding it, and make sure you store it properly. Here are a few basic

precautions about firearms:

• Always handle it as if it was loaded

• Never point a gun in the direction where you wouldn’t want to shoot

• Keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to shoot

• Store your firearms in a way that children can’t ac cess them (remember, this is the law)

The reality is, the more you practice firing a gun, the more comfortable you will become in handling one. Seek assis tance from a professional or experienced friends to help you understand not only how to shoot well, but also how to main tain one. There are several businesses here in our county that teach firearm safety and offer proficiency classes.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office frequently offers Concealed Weapons courses for those wishing to get a CCW Permit from the state (check the Events section on our website at www. polksheriff.org for details). The course includes basic firearms safety, and our instructors will also assist you with loading and shooting a handgun until you feel comfortable with it.

The PCSO’s Crime Prevention Unit also offers the Eddie the Eagle Gun Safety Program for children. Details on that are also available on the website, or you can call 863-298-6677. Be safe, everyone.

THE MANY SPLENDORS OF PUMPKINS

By: Maggie Fussell

Most of us have had that moment where we are elbow high in pumpkin pulp as we prepare to carve another Jack-O-Lan tern for the fall season. These bright orange winter squashes find their way into our Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christ mas traditions. They are on our dinner table with a pile of whipped cream, on our porches for decoration or used as a messy craft to keep the kids busy. Pumpkins have so many uses as well as health benefits that make them a popular fall item everywhere.

Pumpkins seem to be most popular around Halloween when we search like Linus for “The Great Pumpkin.” After we find our perfect pumpkin from a local patch, we test our carving skills to create fantastic faces and designs to celebrate the season. Some can create amazing jack-o-lanterns that bring smiles or spooky shivers.

This is a great craft for all ages because of the imagination and creativity the plump pumpkins encourage. According to History.com the meaning of jack-o-lanterns has changed a great deal. Jack-O-Lanterns began in Ireland with large tur nips instead of pumpkins. The carved turnips contained can dles that illuminated the carvings. The turnips were placed inside windows to ward off evil spirits. When the Irish immi grated to the United States, they continued this tradition but used a native fruit known as the pumpkin. Today the jack-olantern is a temporary Halloween decoration.

With the heat and humidity of Florida these masterpieces can turn to mush quickly. The Farmer’s Almanac has a simple treatment that can keep your carved creation fresh longer. Their solution is to mix one tablespoon of bleach per one quart of water in a spray bottle. After mixing the bleach for mula, spray the inside of the pumpkin and the carved surfac es. Let the bleach sink in and dry. According to the Almanac this method will kill the surface bacteria and mold that makes the jack-o-lanterns' face droop and rot.

Pumpkins have many uses as well as health benefits. As you bring out the carving tools for another year you may want to purchase an extra pumpkin for the following reasons:

- Build Immunity

- Strengthen Eyesight

- Lower Blood Pressure - Heart Health - Improve Sleep

According to WedMD pumpkins are rich in vitamin A, po tassium, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron and tryptophan. Vitamin A helps promote healthy eyes and heart health. Just one cup of pumpkin can provide 200% of your recommended daily dose of vitamin A. Pumpkins include vitamin C, vitamin E and iron which build immunity to help your immune system fight off germs. Pumpkins are full of potassium which can help lower blood pressure. Pumpkins contain the amino acid, tryp tophan which makes the chemical serotonin that promotes good sleep.

The pumpkin can be used for so much more than carving. Pumpkin puree can be used to make pies, soups, lattes, breads and face masks. The pumpkin seeds can be roasted to make a savory snack. Pumpkins can be used for fun, dec oration, or health benefits and they will continue to remain popular fall season items for years to come.

The herd grew in breeds, too, because they now have Brangus, Ultrablack (a division of Brangus) and Brah man heifers after Beth fell in love with a Brahma at the Houston Livestock show this year. Jason said some days he loves the Brahmas so much he thinks he could go just to raising Brahmas because “the Brahmas are out grazing while everything else is laid under a shade tree.” But the show team still loves the Brangus and the opportunities that the International Brangus Breeders Association gives them so he has decided he will raise both.

This past month Beth has decided to leave her long time career as a Radiology Tech and go full time taking care of the cattle. She is trading in her SUV for a dually and she is excited to live her dream of having a handson cattle ranch. “My heart is in this, it’s with the cattle, it’s with the girls, I love the days I get to spend watching them accomplish new goals and grow individually,” she said.

Both Jason and Beth have seen all four girls grow, ma ture, and learn things they didn’t know. They’ve given them opportunities to pick out their own heifers so that they had to research genetics, EPD’s and much more. “It’s all about helping them grow and learn, sometimes they will make mistakes and buy something that isn’t what they needed, but when they do they will learn how to navigate through that as well,” said Jason.

I asked them why they decided to give up long summer vacations, weekends on the boat and a life a lot of peo ple would be looking forward to, to have the cattle. “If my family didn’t sell out, we would have been running part of the cattle ranch for the last 20 years. I missed it. I never got to show ,but had someone come to me and given me the opportunity I would have done anything I could to live the life these girls are getting to live,” Jason said. He also said you must start somewhere. I want my family’s legacy to carry on in my nieces and the girls who show with us. In 20 years I want FA Cattle to still be here when these girls are having children of their own so that we can have big family lunches (blood related and extensions of our heart related) and tell sto ries about the things we’ve done. “I can’t take back the time we’ve lost in the industry, but I can start over with the same morals and values Glenn Stokes taught me as a child, and that is the morals, values, work ethics that I teach these girls daily and that is something school can’t teach them,” he said.

The Stokes family legacy is now living on after 20 years of being paused and I have no doubt Jason’s Uncle Glenn is proud of what he is doing.

RESEARCHERS MAKE PROGRESS ON BREEDING CITRUS CANKER-RESISTANT PLANTS; discovery may lead to breeding citrus greening-resistant trees

By Ruth Borger

A promising method to support the development of citrus varieties that are resistant to deadly diseases is the advance ment of gene editing. By “knocking out” genes within the plant that are susceptible to the pathogen that causes the disease, breeders can develop plants that systemically acquire resis tance to the disease.

Zhanao Deng, Fred Gmitter and a team of researchers at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have successfully identified the CsDMR6 gene, which impacts a citrus tree’s reaction to the citrus canker pathogen. By editing the CsDMR6 gene in the plant’s DNA to interfere with its normal functioning, the resulting plants develop a strong resistance to citrus canker.

“Gene editing or genome editing is becoming an effective and efficient precision breeding tool for producing new citrus culti vars that can help Florida citrus growers fight against destruc tive diseases and produce oranges and grapefruits profitably,” said Deng, professor of environmental horticulture at the UF/ IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm, Flori da. “One of the factors that limits the application of gene or ge nome editing is the lack of known genes that can be targeted. Prior to this discovery, there was only one citrus gene (LOB1) whose editing could lead to citrus canker resistance, one dis covered by Nian Wang, also at UF/IFAS.”

Deng, Gmitter, and their team discovered the second citrus gene, whose editing or “knocking out” resulted in strong resis tance to citrus canker. The discovery expanded the list of gene targets for editing to improve citrus canker resistance and may broaden the spectrum of resistance to a larger number of citrus canker pathogen isolates.

In a number of other plants, editing the DMR6 gene also led

to broad resistance, for example, resistance to several other species of bacterial pathogens.

Normal DMR6 gene function inhibits the citrus plant’s ability to defend itself from pathogens that cause citrus canker and possibly Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus which causes Huanglongbing (HLB), or citrus greening, the most devas tating citrus disease.

By editing CsDMR6 within the plant’s DNA, scientists have found that the resulting plants show resistance to citrus canker. Grapefruit and Carrizo mutants with their DMR6 gene knocked out contain more salicylic acid and express plant defense genes at higher levels.

These biochemical changes may suggest that editing the DMR6 gene may lead to increased resistance to HLB. The researchers are now working on experiments to test these plants’ resistance to HLB.

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Ag riculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative Emergency Cit rus Disease Research and Extension Program.

THE CHRISTIAN PUMPKIN

By Maggie Fussell

Jack-o-lanterns are one of the many uses of a pumpkin. Cre ating a jack-o-lantern is fun because you can get very cre ative with the endless carving design opportunities. The tradi tional jack-o-lantern is the smil ing face with two triangle eyes and a square nose. The design I will be sharing has a unique look and significant importance. We call this jack-o-lantern the Christian pumpkin because each part of the pumpkin’s face symbolizes a part of Jesus’ life.

If you struggle with carving, like me, you can use a sharpie and draw a carving stencil on the pumpkin. The eyes of the pumpkins are stars that repre sent the star that the wise men followed to find Jesus. The nose of the pumpkin is a cross that represents Jesus’ sacrifice. The mouth is a fish that represents how our mouths are open to share Christ’s salvation story. For the experienced carvers you can skip the stencil step and go right into cutting the lid and cleaning the inside of the pumpkin.

Once the inside of the pumpkin is clean you can begin carving! There is a poem from an un known author about the Chris tian pumpkin. This poem could be printed or written and tied to the stem of your pumpkin lid. When you show off your fall creation you can share why your pumpkin looks a little dif ferent from the traditional jacko-lantern.

THE CHRISTIAN PUMPKIN POEM:

I am a Jack-O-Lantern

My light will shine so bright

For I am a Christian pumpkin

My symbols tell what’s right.

My nose is like the cross

On which our savior died

To set us free from sin

We need no longer hide.

My mouth is like a fish

The whole wide world to show

That Christians live in this house And love their Savior so!

The story starts at Christmas

My eyes are like the star

That shone on Baby Jesus

And wise men saw from far.

My color it is orange

Just like to big bright sun That rose on Easter Day Along with God’s own Son.

And so on Halloween

Let’s such our pumpkins out And tell the trick or treaters

What God’s love is all about!

This Christian pumpkin poem is simple and sweet but before you can use it you have to get a pumpkin. There are several pumpkin patches in the Polk County area that you can visit that are open throughout the week. Here are a few:

1. First United Methodist Church

Located at 72 Lake Morton Dr., Lakeland, FL 33801. Their pumpkin patch is opening Octo ber 8. You can buy a pumpkin Monday thru Friday 3pm to 7pm or Saturday and Sunday 10am to 7pm.

2. First United Methodist Church Auburndale

Located at 316 Lake Ariana Blvd., Auburndale, FL 33823. The pumpkin patch will open Oc tober 16. To purchase a pumpkin come out Monday thru Friday 11am to 7pm, Saturday 9am to 7pm or Sunday 12pm to 7pm.

3. Produce 863

Located at 6121 US Hwy 98 N., Lakeland, FL 33801. The farmers market will start selling pumpkins on October 7. They will be open Monday thru Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sun day 10am to 5pm.

4. Walkers Produce

Located at 6320 U.S. Hwy 98 S., Bartow, FL 33830. The produce stand will sell pumpkins daily from 8:30am to 6:00pm.

5. Harvest Holler Corn Maze

Located at 950 Tavares Rd., Polk City, FL 33868. The corn maze is open until November 13. You can visit Friday 4pm to 8pm, Saturday 12pm to 8pm or Sunday 12pm to 5pm. The family owned corn maze features a pumpkin patch, slides, barrel rides, hay rides, corn tubs, corn hole, tadpole fishing, miniature golf, tire swings, hay mountain and a country store.

By Libby Hopkins

Florida’s Angus Princess

Florida is home to many kings, queens and princesses, but the most unique princess that calls Florida her home is Raelan Sherouse. She is the 2022-2023 Miss Florida Angus Princess. “I was pretty much born into the beef industry,” Sherouse said. “Growing up we had a pasture of cows and people around us were always showing cattle and I liked go ing to the cattle fairs.”

Seeing the cows and watching contestants show their cattle ignited a fire inside Sherouse. “I told my dad I really wanted to get into showing cattle,” Sherouse said. “One day we went to the pasture and picked out a heifer. She wasn’t the best and it was really hard for me to break her, so in 2018 we bought a baby heifer and from there my interest in cattle grew.”

Sherouse is a member of Florida Junior Angus Association (FJAA). The association is an organization for youth who have an interest in Angus cattle. The association focuses on show ing and breeding Angus cattle, educating youth and consum ers and providing members with the opportunity to network with fellow Angus breeders.

FJAA is also a part of Florida Angus Association, is a group of approximately 100 ranch family members who own, raise and/or show the Angus breed. Membership is made up pri marily of Florida members although they do have several family ranches from Georgia and Alabama.

The goal of the Florida Angus Association is to promote the breed and encourage fellowship among Angus producers in the Southeast. Events throughout the year include board meetings, two field days and an annual meeting. The field days are usually held in the spring and fall and in conjunction with their strong junior program where they host a registered and open Angus show.

FJAA is open to a youth up to 21 years of age. Florida has one of the most dynamic and active junior programs in the coun try and always welcome new members to share in the many learning opportunities of the Angus breed. From cow shows and quiz bowl contests to field days and service projects, members will meet friends to last a lifetime, all while work ing alongside the great Angus breed. “I became involved with FJJA when my daughter started showing cattle at age 15,” said Donna Fenton Blommel, an advisor for JFAA. “We cur rently have 25 active members in FJAA and we are always ready to welcome more members.”

To become an Angus princess or queen, applicants must submit an application and once they are accepted, they go before a panel of judges to give a speech about why they

want to be an Angus queen or princess. “I had to submit a speech on my passion for the Angus Association and what I would do with the title of being Angus Princess,” Sherouse said. “I had to submit pictures as well. The association had to review all the applicants’ speeches. They saw my passion for this industry through my speech and that’s how I won the Angus Princess Title.”

Sherouse and her mom were invited to the Angus Queen’s Brunchin. “I got to meet the queen of the national associa tion and I got to meet the queens and princesses from each state,” Sherouse said.

Sherouse is currently a freshman at Lake Gibson High School. She wants to make agriculture her career path after high school and college. “I would like to continue down the ag riculture path because I’m so passionate about it,” Sherouse said. “I really love public speaking and I compete in a lot of public speaking contest around the state of Florida. I would like to become a member of the beef council because I want more people to be educated about the beef industry.”

Sherouse also loves the challenges being involved with cat tle. “My first heifer was named Queen Beyonce AA and she challenged me daily and she was my first registered heifer,” Sherouse. “She made me not want to give up and she brought so many opportunities into my life and I’m so thankful for that from her.”

If you would like to learn more about FJAA or The Florida An gus Association, you can visit their website at www.floridaan gusassociation.com.

Classifieds

1989 JOHN DEERE

BUILDING SUPPLIES

METAL ROOFING

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Everything you need under ONE roof! Call Blake 813-752-3378 NEW, USED & ABUSED.

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Trade-Ins Welcomed, Service Department Available. Exit 22 • S. Frontage Rd. Plant City 813-752-4459

GRIBALDI-SALVIA SB3947

Sickle bar mower. Good condition and ready to work. $1,500 Call Alvie 813-759-8722

2015 MAHINDRA 3016

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Come see us at Everglades Farm Equipment. evergladesfarmequipment.com

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TRADE • BUY • SELL?

Polk County Cattle Women

s a Florida resident, Hurricane Ian has been front and center in my mind. As I’m writing this, just shy of two weeks have passed since the storm ravaged our beautiful state. In the aftermath, I have been left to truly count my blessings. It has been humbling to see strangers from around the country and state come together to help families like their own, even though they may not know each other by name. Local farm ers and ranchers have loaded up trucks to distribute supplies to affected ranchers and their families. Volunteers from states away left the comfort of their own homes to cook and distribute meals, wash clothing, remove debris, and restore power and a sense of normalcy to those in need. It’s important, as always, to count our blessings. Like me, you may be fortunate to be surrounded by the love of family and friends, and the comfort of a safe place to call home. No matter the ways we have been blessed, we’re all called to be blessings to others, as well. At the end of the day, we’re all just neighbors trying to help each other along.

If you’re a lady in need of a tribe of neighbors, we’d love to have you come join the Polk County CattleWomen. We meet the first Tuesday of each month in Bartow. We welcome all ladies from all walks of life. Please reach out if you have any questions about membership, meetings, upcoming events, or if you’d like to be added to our email distribution list. You can reach me at BuckLD96@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram for up-to-date information.

Till next month,

Leslie Buchanon

Polk County Cattlewomen President