Agrimag July 2017

Down to Earth in Florida

AgriMag Formerly: The Ag Mag

The Bad Seed “I’ll Swap You...”

Fungus Among Us Improving Florida Soil Heirloom Varieties Landowner Liability

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Volume II, Issue 5, July 2017 July 2017

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Pay for the Party.

Always Vote.

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From the Publisher The writers and staff of the AgriMag did not know each other (a couple slightly) until we all began working to publish the magazine.

In an uncanny feat of synchronicity, the universe (please feel free to use your own noun), provides the AgriMag with a diverse assortment of backgrounds, experiences, and interests from our writers.

Yet, when the articles begin to cross my desk on the 10th (or about) of each month, I first notice the quality of their work. Then, upon re-reading, it delights me to find that each article is so appropriate for that issue.

We informally work with a theme each month, though our writers do know that. Yet, almost every work submitted alludes to, enhances, or broadens the month’s work. I consider that a wonderful validation of our mission of offering agriculture as the major force it is in Florida. Working to give testament and proof to that journey from different voices, tells me that we answer the call of truth and need.

Sharing my appreciation of our writers reminds me how much I would like to know more reader’s reactions. We hear comments, of course, but I would so much like to hear your thoughts and opinions. More of this, less of that, we’re wrong, we’re right, please add more photos, more news, more workshops. This magazine needs your input, so that we may reliably reflect your own opinions and interests. In thinking how to encourage you to share, and make it easier for you to answer, we have added a Question & Comments Forum on our website, http://www.agrimag.press/forum. See page 25 for the details.

A happy, safe, and festive July. Honor our democracy with gratitude all month (and beyond). Consider doing your part to help make our nation the moral force it needs to be for every person.

Jeri

AgriMag Volume II, Issue 4 ISSN 2471-3007

Publisher Jeri Baldwin Jeri@AgriMag.Press 352-309-0675 Editors Jeri Baldwin 352-309-0675 Marnie Hutcheson 352-207-6520 Contributors William K. Crispin Jan Cross Cubbage David Goodman Laura McCormick Melody Murphy Design + Production Marnie Hutcheson Marnie@AgriMag.Press Amy Garone Ad Sales Ursula Ceballos Ursula@AgriMag.Press Distribution Terri Silvola-Finch Founder Carolyn Blakeslee Contact Us & Subscriptions AgriMag Press info@AgriMag.Press 352-309-0675 P.O. Box 635 Orange Springs, Florida 32182 Websites http://AgriMag.Press https://www.facebook.com/ AgriMagPress/

Cover Photo: The Rainbow River at the head springs Photo by Marnie Hutcheson

Copyright ©2017 AgriMag Press All rights reserved

July 2017

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Contents 3

| From the Publisher

6 | The Bad Seed:

A Tale of the Woefully Neglected

by Melody Murphy

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| “I’ll Swap You...”

by Jeri Baldwin

10 | Fungus Among Us:

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi

by Marnie Hutcheson 12 | Can Florida ‘Soil’ be improved

Long Term?

by David the Good 14 | Heirloom Varieties:

Saving the Past For the Future

by Jan Cubbage 16 | In the Good Old Summer Time 18 | Landowner Liability:

Invitees, licensees, and Trespassers

by William K. Crispin, Attorney At Law 20 | In Season Recipes 22 | Florida AG: Watermelons 23 | Book Review: Debra Segal’s “The Idylwild Cowgirls”

24 | Farming Wonders: Mushrooms 25 | Announcing: The AgriMag Forum 26 | Agri Briefs Photo:The Rainbow River Head Springs July 2017

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The Bad Seed: A Tale of the Woefully Neglected

by Melody Murphy Watermelons were an important part of my childhood summers. I have eaten ice-cold watermelon slices on porches all over the South on summer evenings, often surrounded by fireflies, as is proper.

A summer evening at its most correct smells like a blend of watermelon, freshly cut grass, gasoline from the lawnmower, kerosene from the grill, and rain on the horizon. Watermelon should be accompanied by the creak of a porch swing and the distant rumble of thunder. There should be a few flashes of watermelon-pink heat lightning in the sky and some blooming watermelon-pink crape myrtles in the yard, so that you can note the serendipity of color with satisfaction.

Watermelon in summer is more than a fruit. It is a tradition. A rite of passage. I almost don’t care if you don’t like it. Liking watermelon is not the point. You must have it at least once in the summer, like turkey on Thanksgiving. It is the American way. I have a friend who inexplicably does not like watermelon, but she knows, correctly, that she must have it on hand for her children in the summertime. She did not allow her biases to intrude upon their appropriate summer experience, which includes watermelon.

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You cannot properly get through a summer in the South without a watermelon, ideally purchased from an old man in overalls selling them out of the back of his beat-up pickup truck on a country road. They taste better this way. It is a fact and no one may dispute it.

But most important of all about the watermelons of my childhood: They had SEEDS. It is ridiculously hard today to find a watermelon with seeds. A normal, old-school watermelon, like the kind I grew up with. Striped green rind, rosy-pink flesh, black teardrop-shaped seeds.

The kind you see in country-style arts and crafts wares at small-town festivals. All the hand-painted wooden watermelon décor items in the world have seeds. Artists know: This is the correct way to depict a watermelon.

I insist on seeds for more than aesthetic reasons.

A watermelon with seeds tastes better. In my experience they are redder, juicier, and sweeter.

The texture of a seedless watermelon is so often mealy. They just look anemic. And those pale little slivers throughout are seeds, even if the melon is masquerading as seedless. They get in your teeth in a very irritating way.

I have read about blind taste tests in which seedless watermelons emerge triumphant, that the occasional stubborn preference for seeded watermelons is really just nostalgia-based. I will not go so far as to say this is a lie, but sometimes people who are wrong are so convinced that they’re right, they see it as truth.

The other important reason why the old-fashioned kind of watermelon is better is that you must have seeds to spit. You must spit them from your porch, in the blue-violet of the evening, into the dusky shadows. You cannot spit those pale little slivers any distance.

You can, however, spit an old-timey black watermelon seed. If you apply yourself and have been raised on seed-spitting, you can spit it remarkably far. The trick is that you must spit with gusto.

Spit like you mean it. There are even seed-spitting contests, for those who take great joy in the art of expectorating. Or there were, before seeded watermelons became so hard to find.

I’m not sure when the insidious seedlessness began. I just know that it is now a national blight.

More than 80% of watermelon shoppers actively seek the seedless variety. It’s them I blame.

The blight was created by chemically treating watermelons to alter their chromosomes, resulting in a sterile hybrid. Growers often use the analogy “It’s the watermelon version of a mule” to explain the phenomenon. This does not make me more

amenable to the aberration. I like mules, but I do not like seedless watermelons.

Oh, sure, it’s easier to go seedless when cutting up watermelons for fruit salad. You don’t always eat watermelon on a porch where you can spit and remain within the bounds of proper decorum. People don’t often spit at an indoor brunch.

Or if they do, they aren’t asked back again.

But a watermelon is not about ease. A fruit which requires a strong person to carry, a wide open space and a large sturdy knife to hack open, then which requires sawing into triangle-shaped wedges to serve (again, it is not about your personal preference, only what is proper and timehonored) – a fruit which is truly best prepared and eaten outdoors, as it creates a great mess of juice and pink pulp – is not something you should expect to eat easily. It is a fruit whose joys you must labor to acquire, and it tastes all the sweeter for having done such.

And so, when you sit down at last with your hard-won slice, I do not find it reasonable that you should expect an easy, seedless time of eating it. No: You are made of stronger stuff than that. Expect to expectorate: We should all be ready to spit.

Melody Murphy hopes to find a watermelon this summer with seeds she can spit, as she knows just the porch for it.

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I’ll Swap You...

by Jeri Baldwin The word barter easily owns a place in my top 10 list of favorite words. Each of my chosen words made my favorites list for different reasons. “Butterfly” made it to the top because of the beauty and fun of repeating the word. It didn’t hurt that the incredible butterfly population ranks among the planet’s amazing sights. A couple of my words, like euphonious, sing when spoken. And “windowsill” echoes magically in my ear.

Then there is “barter” which rings clearly and cleanly when spoken; the simple joy of saying the word reminds me, appreciatively, of the process.

Once I decided to write about barter for this issue, as good writers often do, I turned to Google, the immense reference resource my computer would connect me to. Seconds later, it listed dozens of approaches and conclusions about barter.

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As usual, Google gave me far more information than I ever knew, or needed. I learned about formal, organized barter in corporate organizations. My source reached deep into data about contractual and legal documentation needed for barter with another person or company. I learned that group barter, one of my favorite ways to exchange, had a specific name. When more than two people wanted in on the same deal, they called it “multi-lateral barter.” When two people bartered, they did a bi-lateral barter of goods, services, or land. Who knew?

Another source announced that the value of the two items for swap needed to be established so the two parties would enjoy an equitable exchange.

Swapping required a monetary value on each item, else no one knew if the barter satisfied everyone.

Finally, an “expert” told me that disparaging language, higgling, haggling, and dickering had no place in civilized living, and made a bargain unlikely between the barterers.

Google’s barter is miles and worlds different from where I learned the art of the swap.

Where I lived, if someone spotted goods or animal or service they needed or wanted, they found the owner of the desired item, and deep into their conversation casually asked, “What would you take for that old sorry, beat up mule out in the pasture, the one that can’t stand without leaning on the fence?”

Right then, the value of the animal climbed, and the owner replied, “It would be pretty hard to do without my mule. It has the

most stamina of any creature that ever lived here on the farm.

Plus, he eats the least possible amount of food, and runs to the gate every morning to get hitched to the plow so he can work all day.”

Thus began the time honored ritual of trading lies and insults about the item in question.

Barter runs at its own pace, so hours, sometimes days, and maybe months later, the two bargainers finally allowed as how they might could see their way clear to an exchange. One last offer usually came.

“I’ve been thinking; that mule is worth probably 35 bales of hay this winter instead of the 25 we been talking about. “ So would begin the last round, albeit a shorter one, until a final deal sealed the bargain; a satisfied farmer took a new work animal home, and the other satisfied farmer looked forward to extra hay come winter.

Barter has enjoyed success wherever people want to participate. It isn’t required of anyone, so an agreement should satisfy everyone.

Perhaps more important than setting a monetary value is the satisfaction that is gained by getting something you want or something you no longer want.

Much can be said for the fun of the event as well.

want to explore the fine art of swapping, though I am far from expert compared to the masters from whom I learned.

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Barter is ideal for procuring a good, service, animal, or land that you badly need if you want to continue earning your living.

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You own equipment or goods that you haven’t used for years, and you hate to continue watching it turn into a pile of rust or decay.

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Your neighbor owns a good, (name item) that you wanted years ago, and still do.

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Money is in very short supply and…

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Your neighbor is a real A-Hole, and if you can strike a bargain with her or him you get to remind them about respect for others.

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It is pretty dull in your end of the county.

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The haggling, trading insults, and bantering while reaching an agreement is absolutely required since all participation is voluntary, isn’t serious, and anyone may drop the barter talk at any time they wish.

A friend and I own a Gulf front home in a small community

at the south end of Florida’s Big Bend. The house lot had its own boat ramp, a terrific bargain when special events and holiday weekends cram the village full of boats and people.

Our neighbors eyed our ramp wistfully after they endured the clamor and crowds of the public boat ramps, then watched us drop calmly into the water any time we chose. To this date we have swapped: • Expert computer repair and maintenance for use of our ramp; • A competent handy man next door willing to repair plumbing problems in our old house for use of our ramp; • We enjoy a brand new cable, lock, and installation across our ramp in exchange for its use; • A spiffy golf cart sits across the road, ready for our use any time in trade for our boat ramp.

Likely our boat ramp isn’t yet through with other satisfying exchanges which please all participants.

Jeri Baldwin

There are many reasons for swapping or exchanging goods, services, animals, or land.

I offer a few should anyone

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Fungus Among Us Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi

By Marnie Hutcheson

The illustration shows the plant roots in symbiosis with the Arbuscular mycorrhizal Fungi hyphae (the black lines) https://mycorrhizas.info/vam.html

Today there are 1-2 million species of fungi on the planet. 10% of them are mushrooms, approximately 150,000 species. We have identified only 14,000 of these species so far. --Our ignorance about fungi is huge, but we are learning more all the time as we begin to understand how important fungi are to our world.

Not only are mushrooms good to eat, but many of our most important medicines have come from mushrooms. Amadou mushrooms have been used for sterilizing wounds since 370 BCE. Penicillin has saved more lives than we can count. And, there are many other important examples, like cures for Tuberculosis, Small Pox, and other viruses.

Mushrooms are the flowers of fungi. The main body of a fungus is the Mycelium; fine fibers only one cell wall thick and miles long form a tightly packed network in the soil. In an old growth wood-

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land, there can be several miles of mycelium under foot at any moment.

Not only do the flowers of fungi (the mushrooms) cure infection and disease, the body of the fungi, the mycelium, digests dead organic material and makes the soil we need to grow our food.

The fungi also trade nutrients and useful enzymes with plants for carbon, and provide a connective network between plants for defense.

How it works Fungi breathe in oxygen and exhale CO2, just like we do. As they digest organic material, they combine hydrogen with oxygen to produce water. That’s why there are ‘sweat’ pools in the compost pile. Every 100 pounds of dry wood chips or straw digested by fungi will produce about 10 pounds of water.

The break down on digested proportions is 10% water, 50%

Carbon Dioxide, 10% mushrooms and, 20% is left as residual compost.

The residual compost is the favorite domain of worms, and for that reason worms actually chase mycelia. Worms choose substrates with mycelium over those without. Different types of worms prefer different types of mycelia and they actively seek them.

Some Fungi consume rocks. They combine minerals from the rocks with enzymes from organics and feed them to plants. Which brings me to the topic of this article:

Fungi that feed and protect our plants and forests.

Fine fungi filaments growing on plants were long thought to be an infection, but we now know that they are part of almost every plant species’ defense system.

They help the plant survive against any number of invaders and pathogens.

These fungi are called Mycorrhizal fungi and they do a lot more than just help protect plants. One type in particular, Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, AM Fungi, or AMF for short, enters into a symbiotic association with almost all plants, through their roots.

AM Fungi form highly branched structures to exchange nutrients with the plant. The structures are called “arbuscules.” Phosphorus, nitrogen, carbon, water, and other nutrients are exchanged in the Arbuscules. This is how fungi colonize plants for symbiosis.

AM fungi must have carbon to survive and they can only get it from their symbiosis with plants.

80% of all plants actively encourage this symbiosis by luring AM fungi with carbon.

Symbiosis with the AM fungi expands the plant’s root system enormously. The fungi not only bring nutrients to the plants, the Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Network helps them defend themselves against disease and pests.

“Fungus network plays role in plant communication” The BBC News Science published a study of two experiments with bean plants. and revealed the following: In the first experiment, 5 bean plants were placed in separate pots with AM fungi. One plant was exposed to aphids. It immediately began defending itself by secreting anti-aphid defensive genes called Oxalates. The other four plants did nothing.

In the second experiment, 5 bean plants were placed in the same pot with AM fungi. This was done so that the roots of all the plants and AM fungi would interconnect. One plant was exposed to aphids and immediately it, and all the other plants in the pot (that were not exposed) began secreting the same defensive Oxalates.

Clearly, there is a communication system underground, where the community of plants are benefitting from the fungal networks that alert them to a pathogen or a parasite in their space.

The host plant makes major modifications in its cells to accommodate the arbuscule formation, and it controls the amount of colonization. Since almost all plants do this, they are almost all part fungi.

Once colonization has occurred, short-lived fungi runners called hyphae grow from the plant root into the soil. These hyphae take up phosphorus and micronutrients in the soil and transport them to the ambescules where the plant absorbs them.

The main benefit of mycorrhizae to plants has been attributed to increased uptake of nutrients, especially phosphorus. The rate of phosphorus flowing into mycorrhizae can be up to six times more than that of the plant’s root hairs. In some cases, the role of phosphorus uptake can be completely taken over by the mycorrhizal network, and all of the plant’s phosphorus may be from the fungus hyphae. AMF hyphae are also finer than plant roots and can enter into pores in the soil that are inaccessible to roots.

network and the below-ground organic carbon pool.

AM fungi are found most frequently in plants growing on mineral soils, and are of extreme importance for plants growing in nutrient-deficient substrates such as in volcanic soil and sand dune environments like Florida’s.

Note: Biochar is a particularly good medium for bringing AM fungi to plants in need. See David the Good’s article, Can Florida Soil Be Improved Long Term, page 12, and keep AM fungus in mind when you prepare your soil...

Links: How Mushrooms Can Save Us from Ourselves --An eye opening lecture by mushroom expert Paul Stamets https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=t8DjeaU8eMs http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/Extension/ florida_forestry_information/forest_resources/soils_overview.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbuscular_mycorrhiza

Another type of AM fungi hyphae grows from the roots and colonizes other host plant roots, which sets up the communication network between the plants and explains the ‘aphid defense’ communication network in the experiment above.

Up to 20% of the host plant’s carbon may be transferred to the AM fungi. -- So the host plant invests a considerable amount of its carbon in the mycorrhizal

The author and her assistant Sam catalog wild mushrooms at Shady Grove Preserve in Ocala FL

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Can Florida “Soil” Be Improved Long-Term?

by David the Good For the last couple of months I’ve been working on a book project with gardening expert Steve Solomon. He’s the author of Gardening When it Counts and the eye-opening work on soil mineralization The Intelligent Gardener.

As we’ve talked about the unique growing conditions in Florida, the topic of sand keeps coming up.

When you have clay or loam in your soil, you can make improvements stick… whereas sand is “a sinkhole for plant nutrients,” as Robert Parnes puts it.

I remember making compost for my mom’s garden in Ft. Lauderdale. The sand in my parents’ backyard is the dreaded Florida “sugar sand.” You could drop compost on it and come back a month later and it was like you did nothing. It eats humus. Fertilize the ground and it washes through. Buy soil and dump in there and it lasts longer but will eventually leach

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away.

It’s ridiculous. Many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. You could spend your life making compost piles to feed a sandy Florida garden… but if you walk away for a year, the ground there is back to being sand.

Deep mulching lasts longer, of course, but as much as I love seeing the ground turn rich and black beneath a layer of mulch, getting enough wood chips to keep a big garden covered is a losing proposition unless you have friends in the landscape or tree-trimming industry.

So what can you do? Here are two options that may improve your sandy garden beds longterm – plus a quick fix that will allow you to grow in even the sugariest of sands.

1. Biochar Biochar is a fancy term for charcoal. If you have wood and brush, burn it to coals, douse the fire and – voila – you have bio-

char! Sure, there are more complicated ways to make it with kilns and barrels, but I don’t have the time or inclination to invest extra time or money into the process. Once you have your biochar – however you make it – crush it fine and then add it to your beds. If you soak it in compost tea or any other nutrient-rich solution (a tea of rotting weeds… a bucket of urine… manure water, etc.) before adding it to your garden beds, it “charges” the biochar with good stuff and allegedly will feed the beds better.

Charcoal stays in the soil for a long time, catching and holding nutrients that normally leach through. Though this method is in the experimental stages right now, I am hearing good reports on biochar helping poor soil.

With our Florida sand, we can use all the help we can get!

2. Add Clay to Your Compost Clay has a unique bonding ability that joins it to composting materials and increases the

longevity of humus in the soil.

Bentonite, baseball diamond clay, Florida “gumbo” clay… just get some and throw it into your compost as you make it to unlock the power of clay. I also add layers of biochar to my compost piles along with the clay for some extra fertility-catching power.

Over time, as you add finished compost to your beds, that material should stick around longer and increase the “exchange capacity” of your soil. If you have a high exchange capacity in the soil, plants can get what they need. A low exchange capacity makes for hungrier plants. In Florida, our sand isn’t a great growing medium.

As Infogalactic notes “Most of the soil’s CEC (cation exghange capacity) occurs on clay and humus colloids, and the lack of those in hot, humid, wet climates, due to leaching and decomposition respectively, explains the relative sterility of tropical soils.”

See https://infogalactic.cominfo/Soil Hot, humid and wet sound familiar?

The Quick Fix for Hungry Gardens If you need to get a garden jumping and don’t have time to make biochar and clay-enriched compost, there is an almost magic method of growing garden plants in absolutely lousy soil. It’s called “foliar feeding.”

You serious farmers are already

ten steps ahead of us backyard gardeners in this area.

Plants can absorb nutrition through their leaves. I have a friend in Tennessee who runs a blueberry u-pick patch; however, his pH isn’t ideal. Though he has amended the soil over time to lower pH, his blueberry bushes kept yellowing and needing a pick-me-up. Unfortunately, when the pH is wrong, plants can’t get what they need from the soil. A quick fix was to spray the leaves with a good nutrient solution, bypassing the soil’s pH problems altogether.

His blueberries responded and he was back in business faster than you can say “purple preserves.”

As I spoke with Steve Solomon about Florida sand, he observed that growing under our conditions is much like growing hydroponically. If you can’t improve the soil

long-term or make amendments stick, you could still lightly lime it and give it some complete organic fertilizer while giving the plants the rest of what they need through their leaves.

Compost tea, fish emulsion or synthetic liquid fertilizers sprayed on leaves and secondarily drenching the soil have a quick impact. Though this is certainly too extreme for many, I once saw a Florida garden in sugar sand that was right, green and productive thanks to the owner’s use of diluted urine as a foliar feed! Sure, it’s sad that foliar feeding doesn’t improve the soil long-term, but improving the soil long-term in Florida takes planning, experimentation and may not even be feasible in some situations. You can grow nutrient-dense food if you foliar feed with a wide range of macro and micronutrients, even if you’re stuck with sand.

Try some biochar, add clay to your compost, and if all else fails, bust out the backpack sprayer!

David The Good is a gardening expert and the author of five books available on Amazon, including Totally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening, Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting and Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening. Find new inspiration every weekday at his popular gardening website TheSurvivalGardener.com and watch his entertaining YouTube gardening presentations at www.youtube.com/user/davidthegood

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Heirloom Varieties: Saving the Past For the Future

By Jan Cubbage

According to the FAO (Food and Agricultural organization of the UN) over 7,000 plants varieties have been cultivated for human consumption since the advent of early agricultural practices originating about seven thousand years ago. Fast forward to modern times and we find that most of the industrialized world is cultivating a mere 150 plant species. Just twelve species of plants provide 75% of the human food supply (IDRC/ International Development Research Center Communications).

Pondering as to whether the limited use of plant species is supplying the nutrition we need with respect to the numerous amino acids and enzymes necessary for cell growth and repair and immune system support is a big unknown.

However a growing amount of knowledgeable persons agree with the colloquial expression “variety is the spice of life”.

If we are what we eat perhaps we should look at the rather mundane and not so healthy diet we have constructed for ourselves, and how it happened. More and more people are doing just that. Food values are changing in our region and farmers can supply the goods consumers are wanting and willing to pay for.

Freedom of choice is an inherent ideal of our nation. But what on earth has happened to all the choices? I am an avid gardener, farmer,

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eater and reader. While researching the potential for growing apple trees in our region in Florida I read the following: “The number of distinct varieties (apples) grown by Americans in the 19th century was somewhere around 14,000. It was common for plantation orchards in the Mid-Atlantic region to have 2,500 to 7,500 trees in their orchards. Having an old orchard on your farm was as common as having a twostory barn in the rural New Jersey community where I was raised.

See: “A Curious Tale: The Apple In America” https://www.bbg.org/gardening/article/the_ apple_in_north_america Apples were utilized as a readily storable food, dried, sauced, baked or eaten fresh. Cider production was a massive industry throughout the land and was the number one non alcoholic drink of a growing America. Good old earthy, sweet and tart apple cider has been replaced by Pepsi and Coke. Reality is that commercial appeal overrides common sense and a healthy choice of beverage is now off the cultural map of the USA. That number of around 14,000 apple variety choices of yester-year has been pared down to only 90 varieties, most all grown for their consumer appeal which ironically is not the flavor, juiciness or nutrition of the apple but mostly the demand for uniform size and the red color of the producer-waxed peel.

There are two terms that come to mind regarding the utilization of the best of the past and agricultural production choices. Those terms; “heirloom variety” and “landrace livestock” are all about cultivating and raising food sources that were great successes of the past but under utilized today. Good news is these choices are making a hearty come back by farmers and gardeners that grow and raise their own for family use and fast growing local markets.

According to Southern Exposure Seed Exchange an “heirloom variety” is any variety dating to 1940 or earlier. After 1940, most plant varieties were developed solely for mass production and marketing. This trend in modern agriculture required large -scale chemical use of pesticides, chemical fertilizer use and irrigation. Heirloom varieties are regarded as hardy varieties and very often, regional varieties.

Heirlooms are reputable varieties known for their unique shapes, sizes, colors, uses and of course, flavors! Examples that grow well in our region are the Seminole Pumpkins that David the Good has mentioned, Carolina African Runner peanuts, and several southern pea varieties brought to America from Africa on 17th century slave ships.

“Landrace livestock” are likewise varieties of livestock breeds that are hardy, but often do not meet the modern standard of “weight per carcass” required by commercial livestock marketing. A case in point would be the Idaho

Pasture Pig and the Piney Woods Pigs that are small in size but huge in hardiness, food to meat expense, and meat flavor.

Michael Twitty, food historian, gardener, chef and one of my favorite food-faire bloggers is big on heirloom varieties. Twitty, a native of east coast Virginia has heirloom seeds that are regarded as “family heirlooms” passed down to him from seven generations of his family tree.

Twitty’s discoveries of what makes American food “American” trace back in time to the cultural exchanges of seeds between continents; regions of Africa and the southern region of America. To us, grits, black-eyed peas and sweet Vidalia onions are good food but there is a lot of history there on the fork. --Heirloom varieties often secure our regional food tastes to the place we live.

Jan Cubbage

The Wagon

U-Pick Blueberry Farm

14201 SW 16th Place Ocala, Florida 34481

Thanks for a great picking season!

Open Thurs.-Sat. 7am-12pm from Memorial Day, May 31 until June 30 Closed Sunday - Wed. Organically grown $3.00/lb.

Call: 352-489-1441 for directions

See you next year...

July 2017

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In the

Good Old

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Summer

T i m e July 2017

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Landowner Liability Invitees, licensees, and Trespassers

by William K. Crispin, Attorney At Law

Landowners often ask, “What liability do I have to people who cross my property’s boundary line?”

The facts of the situation and ultimately, who may be liable, are evaluated according to distinct principles written in The Florida Statutes which provide statutory law in these cases.

These laws guide the judges through their court opinions.

As you may suspect, there have been volumes written on this topic.

This article is intended for information only and not legal advice. It is a ‘snapshot’ of basic landowner responsibility, broken down into three categories of visitors. It is based on an excellent handbook, Handbook of Florida Fence and Property Law: Visitors and Responsibili-

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ties to Visitors, published by the University of Florida’s IFAS Extension and authored by Professor Michael Olexa, certified real estate attorney Eugene Shuey and attorney Patrick Todd. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fe111 There are three types of individuals who may enter upon your property.

1.

The first type is an invitee (a person who enters onto your property either by direct or implied invitation).

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The second type is a licensee (an individual who enters upon the property of another for personal convenience, pleasure, or benefit).

3.

The third type of person is a trespasser.

Invitees Invitees include those individuals who are on the owner’s

property by invitation from the owner, or by other circumstances that may lead them to believe the property is available for their use.

Invitation occurs when the property is open to members of the public or the individual enters the property for business purposes, that deal with the owner of the property. Individuals in this category may include business customers, visitors to public places such as museums or historic homes, and employees. A property owner also owes the same duty of care to anyone invited onto the property for social reasons.

Notably, Florida law classifies a firefighter or law enforcement officer who enters a property to discharge a duty as an invitee, Fla. Stat. §112.182.

For Invitees, the property owner: • Is charged with the duty of reasonable care, • Is responsible for any injuries to the invitee caused by the owner’s intentional actions, by a failure to warn the invitee of any dangers of which the owner is aware, • Is also responsible by a failure to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition.

The courts have ruled when property is open to the public and the property owner invites the public inside, the visitor is considered an invitee. Under this rule, a store owner would be responsible for injuries to a customer as well as to injuries to a friend or child accompanying a customer into the store.

Licensees Licensees are individuals who enter upon the property of another for their own convenience, pleasure, or benefit. This includes uninvited licensees whose presence is tolerated or permitted by the owner of the property. This category also includes discovered trespassers and trespassers who have done so for a substantial period of time with the owner’s knowledge.

For visitors classified as licensees, the property owner: • Will be held responsible for injuries caused to licensees where conditions show a willful or gross disregard for safety.

• Is responsible in cases where the owner willfully injures that person or that person is injured due to the owner’s wanton negligence.

• Has a responsibility to warn the licensee of any known dangers that someone would not readily notice.

The courts have held that licensees, upon entering property, assume whatever risk of injury that might exist due to conditions of the property unless those conditions are hidden.

Trespassers A trespasser is a person who intrudes upon another person’s property for his own reasons without invitation or license and without any purpose other than self-interest. An action against trespassers may recover both compensatory and punitive damages. Under Fla. Stat. §588.10, a property owner must

provide proper notice to all parties that may enter the property.

All gates, fence corners, and all boundaries that lay along waterways must have posted notices of proper size and composition. The postings can be no more than 500 feet apart.

If no notice, i.e. “NO TRESPASSING” is posted on a piece of property and the trespasser cannot know who owns the land, the trespasser may not be able to be assumed to be a trespasser. This may change the trespasser’s status in liability for damages for harm that may befall them.

Certain facilities require different wording in the posted notices, and a different penalty for the person caught trespassing. For example, if someone is caught trespassing upon a property that manufactures agricultural chemicals, the offender commits a felony of the third degree, Fla. Stat. §810.09(h)(i).

However, the facility owner is required to post notices throughout the property, prior to the offense, that include the following phrase: “This Area Is a Designated Agricultural Chemicals Manufacturing Facility and Anyone Who Trespasses on This Property Commits a Felony.”

must warn the trespasser of dangerous conditions that are not open or obvious to the trespasser.

Generally there is no liability until the owner knows or should know of the likelihood of trespassers and has had a reasonable opportunity to exercise the proper care to prevent injury to others. This area of the law hinges tightly on the given facts of a situation and has been the subject many court cases.

The property owner is responsible when a warning is necessary for protecting trespassers from injury, particularly children.

This gets into what is referred to as “attractive nuisance doctrine.” Attractive Nuisance Doctrine will be addressed in a future article.

William K. Crispin Afarmersfriend.com Links: An extensive list of links to multiple topics on Florida fence and property law. http://edis.ifas.ufl. edu/topic_book_florida_fence_ and_property_law The Florida statutes http:// www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/

For visitors classified as trespassers, the property owner: • Has the duty to not intentionally injure the trespasser.

• If the property owner knows or has reason to know of trespassers on the land, the property owner

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In Season Recipes

Tomato-and-Watermelon Salad Ingredients

How to Make It

• • • • • • • • • • • •

1.

Combine watermelon and tomatoes in a large bowl; sprinkle with sugar and salt, tossing to coat. Let stand 15 minutes.

5 cups (3/4-inch) seeded w termelon cubes 1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes 3 teaspoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 small red onion, quartered and thinly sliced 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil Romaine lettuce leaves (optional) Cracked black pepper to taste 1 t Tarragon 2 t Chervil 2 Cloves Garlic

• Olive Oil

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2.

Stir in onion, vinegar, and oil. Cover and chill 2 hours. Serve chilled with lettuce leaves, if desired. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper to taste.

Pickled Watermelon Rind

Ingredients

How to Make It

• 2 pounds watermelon rind (1 medium watermelon) • 1 tablespoon pickling lime • 7 cups water, divided • 1 quart white vinegar, divided • 3 (3-inch) sticks cinnamon • 1 tablespoon whole cloves • 1 tablespoon whole allspice • 5 cups sugar

1.

Remove outer green skin and pink flesh of watermelon rind. Cut greenish-white portion of rind into 1-inch cubes or other shapes, if desired.

2.

Place rind in a large glass, ceramic, or stainless steel container. Combine lime and 1 quart cold water; pour over rind. Cover and let stand in a cool place 3 hours. Drain and rinse in 3 baths of cold water.

3.

Place rind in a 10-quart stainless steel stockpot; cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, and boil slowly, stirring occasionally, 1 hour or until rind is translucent. Drain well.

4.

Combine rind, 2 cups water, and 1 cup vinegar in a glass container; mix well. Cover and let stand in a cool place overnight.

Drain; cover and set aside.

5.

Combine cinnamon, cloves, and allspice; tie loosely in a cheesecloth bag. Combine spice bag, remaining 1 cup water, 3 cups vinegar, and sugar in stockpot. Bring to a boil; remove from heat.

Cover and let stand 1 hour. Add rind to syrup. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, 2 hours or until rind is translucent. Remove spice bag; discard.

Herbed Goat Cheese -Melon Party Bites Ingredients

How to Make It

• 1 small watermelon • 1 (4-oz.) goat cheese log, softened • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper • Garnishes: fresh basil and freshly ground pepper

Cut half of watermelon into 1-inch-thick slices. Cut slices into 25 rounds, using a 2-inch round cutter. Scoop just enough melon from tops to form indentations, using a melon baller.

Stir together goat cheese, 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil, salt, and 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper.

Spoon into indentations. Chill 1 to 2 hours. Garnish, if desired.

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Watermelons One certain activity announces summer’s arrival each year. Dusty, beat up pickups sprout like mushrooms beside roads across north Florida. The trucks, parked beneath a shade tree (of course) with tail gate facing the road, sit piled with green, weighty balls of appetizing promise.

Watermelon gourmets brake, scramble off the highway, admire the melons, and discuss choices with the farmer. After they select and pay for their prizes, they rush to the nearest cooler to bring the temperature of their melon to icy perfection.

And summer begins. A ripe watermelon will split open when stabbed with a sharp knife. Inside, cold, pink flesh with juice running everywhere assures taste heaven.

All that juice means watermelon ought to be eaten outside; besides, then you can spit your seeds. At nearly 100 per cent liquid, the melon offers a tasty substitute for water.

Florida growers ships the second most, or 18 per cent, melons in the nation, and returns 88.2 million dollars to Florida’s economy.

22,500 agricultural acres produce melons in Florida.

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The AgriMag’s four county distribution area of Alachua, Citrus, Levy, and Marion add several million dollars of a vegetable/ watermelon mix to those counties. Levy and Marion Counties produce the most of the four, and indeed, a large portion for all Florida.

Archeologists have found watermelon seeds at 5,000 year old settlements in Libya.

The Florida Favorite, once Florida’s official watermelon, provided the sweetest, tastiest fruit imaginable. Around World War I, because the melon could not withstand pests, commercial growers soon found other melons that shipped without spoiling.

The Florida Favorite melon disappeared, but not its reputation. A seventh generation Floridian farmer and a Florida chef combined their experience and determination, experimented with pollination and rehybridization until they successfully produced a Florida Favorite. Dark fuschia, with thick white rind and a glossy dark green skin with a faint zig zag pattern, the beautiful melon honored its heritage with plentiful juice and succulent flavor.` Florida watermelons, summer’s surest heat reliever and stress reducer.

Book Review “The Idylwild Cowgirls”

by Debra Segal Often in conversation folks reminisce about earlier times, and one will say, “I sure miss the good old days.” The listener responds, “I sure don’t.

I can’t think of a thing to miss.” The Idylwild Cowgirls have no such problem. The lively, and often magical, antics of a young clan of midteen girls living in the Idylwild neighborhood of southeast Gainesville in the early 1970s soon amasses a sizeable list of memories. Friends, horses, rides, parents, Paynes Prairie, ‘gators, rattlesnakes, rescues, boys, heartbreak, mischief, earning money and much more leaves little room to forget their “good old days.” Debra Hill Segal, part archivist and part fiction writer, has woven truth and imagination into a nostalgic offering that anyone who lived around Paynes Prairie in the ‘70s will smile at upon reading.

The cowgirls’ parents bought horses for their daughters, certain that the desire to ride ensured that the girls followed every condition set for having a horse. Owning a horse also freed the girls to explore, enjoy each other and their mounts. The Cowgirls disappointed themselves and their parents on only one occasion. The worst happened: they lost their riding privileges.

Losing their precious mounts for a week etched appropriate behavioral requirements deep into their minds. Their journey toward becoming responsible women never wavered from that time.

Alachua County residents lived a gentler life when the Cowgirls rode. Far and wide they ranged, often together though sometimes singly, with ‘gators, snakes, and heat their major worry.

Three of the Cowgirls once faced their greatest danger when they decided to ride south to north through Paynes Prairie rather than returning to Highway 441’s safer passage. They soon realized that their path across the prairie lay along the same trail that the alligators and rattlesnakes

favored. As a Cowgirl counted, the ‘gator total climbed easily toward 100, and darkness caught the ‘Girls a fair piece from the end of the prairie nor could they find a gate out when they reached the north fence.

Ultimately the earth turned and The Cowgirls faced the most serious change in their young lives: the greedy ogre of development loomed. A neighbor announced plans to pave their riding road so residents could drive comfortably to and from the land he proposed to divide and sell to build houses. The “Cowgirls” despaired, but not for long. They pledged to each other to find a way to stop the paving proposal, and started to plan.

As days passed, the “Cowgirls” threw oars into every puddle, and exciting events occurred.

They met an “activist,” who introduced them to actions they could use to wage their campaign.

They believed that their sleepy dirt road offered the neighborhoods, residents, and themselves the ideal environment for the area. They explained their feelings to any listener available.

The activist invited the “Cowgirls” to meet with a Gainesville Sun reporter. From that interview, people involved themselves in the campaign.

Ultimately, the Alachua County Commissioners established a “scenic roads” ordinance for Alachua County, still currently in use, and still welcomed by citizens who work to maintain natural and scenic portions of the county.

The Idylwild Cowgirls and Debra Segal remind us that positive solutions and lovely memories will leave readers smiling and enraptured by the “good ole days.”

-

By Jeri Baldwin –

Buy the book at: http://IdylwildCowgirls.com Debbie.segal@gmail.com $10 + $3.50 shipping Or at: Alachua Farm and Lumber (14101 NW 145th Ave. Alachua) and Alachua County Feed and Seed (2316 NW 6th St. Gainesville)

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Farming Wonders of the World Eating Cooked Mushrooms is VERY Healthy 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Complete sources of protein. Mushrooms contain all the essential amino acids.

Low fat and no cholesterol.

Great source of vitamin B complex and D, calcium, copper, iron, potassium, selenium, zinc and other important minerals.

Contain unique anti-cancer, immune-boosting and cholesterol lowering dietary fibers and polysaccharides.

Full of antioxidants for cell and blood vessel health.

Contain a unique protein that slows down dementia.

Perfect food for weight, blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol controls.

Growing Mushrooms Protects the Environment 1.

•

2.

•

•

3.

4.

•

Recycles agricultural wastes Straw, wood chips and sawdust, wood logs are used to grow mushrooms via composting and digestion which sequesters carbon safely in the ground.

These are typical agricultural waste that are disposed of by burning, which puts carbon into the air.

Conserves water It takes 4000 gallons of water to raise a pound of beef, 1000 gallons to raise a pound of chicken.

It takes 100 - 200 gallons of water to raise 1 pound of mushrooms in a log or garden bed method. It takes 2-3 gallons of water to raise 1 pound of mushrooms in a bag method.

No large land tracks are required to house animals. No green house gas or methane produced. No animal waste to deal with.

Focus on feeding people instead of animals.

1.3 billion tons of grain are used each year to raise animals for human consumption.

Links

http://www.livestrong.com/article/262719-nutrition-facts-for-mushroomsaftercooking/ Crimini mushroom benefits: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage. php?tname=foodspice&dbid=97

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Announcing The AgriMag

Forum

Have a comment?

Want to express an opinion?

Want to Swap?

Remember the swap?

From peanut butter cookies for strawberry pudding in first grade, folks, young and old, have looked, wanted, and learned to exchange an item or a good or service.

We at the AgriMag miss the days when barter and swap gave folks something they wanted in exchange for something someone else wanted.

Shopping at its simplest…and best. Best of all: the fun of exchange and story telling about the items.

And the satisfaction of getting something special.

And knowing someone better. And keeping your word on your side of the exchange. Barter is a folk art and we want it to return.

We will report selected comments and barters in the AgriMag. The online AgriMag Forum may be viewed by all visitors. Want to ask a question, post a comment, or list your item to swap? All you need to do is:

• Sign in at http://www.agrimag.press/forum with your favorite email address and a password that you create • Click on the topic you want to participate in, i.e. “Questions & Comments” or “I got something to swap”

• Select “Create new post” to add your swap item(s) or your Question. Add text and pictures and Click on “Post” • You can always edit, share, or delete your post; click on the three little dots in the upper right hand corner of your post or comment for the menu • You will receive an email notification when someone posts a response to your post • You can always view the comments on line at http://www.agrimag.press/forum

Crones’ Cradle Conserve will host Second Saturday Swap each month beginning on September 9th, 9am until 2pm. Bring items you wish to barter. You will have a 15’ x 15’ space, and are responsible for your own set-up. Space rental is $2.00.

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AgriMag News

Briefs

Nominate Unsung Heroes Cox Conserves Heroes is accepting nominations for the 2017 award winners. $20,000 will be awarded to the winning unsung heroes and the environmental organization of their choice. Nominees who are creating, preserving, or enhancing outdoor spaces will be accepted. Nominations may be sent through July 10th .

Nominees will be accepted from the Central Florida TV9 viewing area. To nominate a hero, please see http://www.wftv.com/9family/cox-conserves.

Florida Farm to School Initiative In a double edged benefit, Florida Department of Agriculture has aided Florida’s farmers and the state’s school systems with one move. At least 870,000 pounds of Florida produce were sold to school districts since 2015. Nearly 207,000 pounds of Florida peaches were served to students thus far in 2017.

The success of the Farm to School, begun in 2012 by FDACS, varies from county to county, depending on personnel, support, and availability of produce.

Nevertheless, the program enjoys moderate success throughout the state. The objective of getting healthy fruit and vegetables served in students’ meals is slowly gaining headway.

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Collier County, in south Florida, bought more than $1 million in produce last year. The district’s Nutrition Services program helps the district schools plan healthy menus. In other counties, lunchroom personnel plan their own meals, and often do not include the fresh vegetables and fruit that USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program recommends.

Groundcovers We Love to Hate Are you searching for a healthy groundcover for those sparse areas in your yard where nothing seems to grow? The American Nurseryman recently released their list of five ground covers which they call “…popular but aggressive.”

Many nurseries recommend the plants, but caution users to monitor them carefully. The plants enjoy great popularity, are easy to grow, and are beautiful in yards and garden beds. Thus, many home owners are willing to brave their aggressiveness and choose to plant a familiar rather than an unknown groundcover.

The same traits that make them aggressive are the same traits that people appreciate and choose to plant. The groundcovers are: 1.

Snow on the Mountain (Aegopodium podagraria), also known as bishop’s weed, covers large areas rapidly to provide a continuous mound of delicate foliage. It has small, white flowers, and is happy in a wide variety of conditions, from full sun to part shade. Best planted

in self-contained areas, or it takes over even the healthiest plants.

2.

English Ivy (Hedera helix) is one of the most beloved groundcovers – who doesn’t know about the “…hallowed halls of ivy.” It is a long-lasting addition to yards or gardens.

Easily grown in average soil and can tolerate part to full shade.

Great care must be exerted to contain the ivy as it has been known to spread upwards of 100 feet.

3.

Chameleon Plant (Houttuynia Cordata) grows very easily and provides a fantastically colored plant of deep blue-green leaves often edged with red, pink, yellow, and cream on red stems.

4.

Evening Primrose (Oenothera Speciosa) is lovely, quickly and easily grown spreads reliably, and requires little maintenance. Blooms are fragrant and open in the evening and stay open until the next morning.

5.

Periwinkle (Vinca Minor) is prized second to the English Ivy where gardeners prefer a groundcovers that provides a reliable green mat year round and prolific blooming purple (sometimes white) flowers in spring.

Push The Zone The AgriMag, the agricultural magazine of north Florida, is pleased to congratulate David Goodman, on the publication of his latest gardening book, Push

AgriMag News

Briefs

The Zone, The Good Guide to Growing Tropical Plants Beyond the Tropics. David’s Florida gardening information, appears monthly in AgriMag. “Way To Go, David!”

A Glimmer Of Hope Among many topics considered at the 2017 Florida Citrus Growers’ Institute was a presentation about ongoing research in the use of RNAj genetics, a major defense mechanism found in plants and animals. Dr. Bill Dawson of UF/ IFAS told attendees that, “once you understand how RNAj

works in plants, animals, and insects, you can learn how to change it for your own.

“When It Rains…”

In a year of rampant wildfires, burn bans, and crucial water shortages, Florida weather reversed course in June and dropped nearly double the amount of normal rainfall.

Hardest hit was North-Central Florida and South Florida.

The unusual amount of rain caused high-water emergencies, particularly in water conservation areas. Rainfall in the three conservation areas in south Florida was nearly 15 inches, or roughly 181% above average.

In the St. Johns River Water Management District, which covers the five counties of the AgriMag distribution area (Alachua, Citrus, Lake, Levy, and Marion), rainfall measured well above the monthly average. Putnam County, east of Alachua County, reported 16.17 inches of rain in June.

June rain fell in record amounts, but the St. Johns District still recorded a rainfall deficit for the 12 months before June.

It is somewhat amazing that struggling to stay afloat coincides with the constant struggle to make up for the major rainfall deficit which faces north central Florida well past the June deluges.

Did you know that you can read any AgriMag or AgMag issue on line, any time?

Go to http://www.agrimag.press and click on any cover picture.

The magazine will open in a new browser window.

Click the arrows to page through the issue.

Click the box in the bottom right corner and read the issue in full screen.

Check it out and tell us what you think!

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Learn the secrets in this book...

“If I had had this book 10 years ago, I'd have saved a lot of frustration and wasted energy.”

“If you've had trouble growing anything edible in Florida, or if you are new to Florida gardening, this is a must read.”

Visit us on Facebook Down to Earth in Florida

AgriMag Formerly: The Ag Mag

The Bad Seed “I’ll Swap You...”

Fungus Among Us Improving Florida Soil Heirloom Varieties Landowner Liability

“This book gives hope to us, the ‘purple thumb’ people, that we can have a successful garden in Florida.”

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transform your

Florida garden forever!

From expert gardening author David The Good comes a remarkable new book that gives you the key to jaw-dropping success in your garden:

Totally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening Now on Amazon in Kindle and paperback versions

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FREE

Please Enjoy

Volume II, Issue 5, June 2017 July 2017

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www.facebook.com/AgriMagPress Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.

AgriMag August Ad Special Special ends August 31, 2017 - Ads run Sept, Oct, Nov 2017

Buy a 1/4 page ad for $50 / month for 3 months ~total $150 when you place your order ~ AND be featured in our “Meet Our Advertisers” Page for free Call 352-207-6520 for details

See our July featured advertisers Aqua Well & Septic on page 30

AgriMag Distribution 12,000 copies of AgriMag are printed monthly and distributed in Alachua, Citrus, Levy, and Marion Counties, as well as The Villages and Wildwood.

This magazine can be found in your neighborhood. It’s in feed stores, tack shops, tractor dealers, hardware stores, extension services, farm bureaus, FL Farm Credit offices and other farm-friendly banks, a few vets, UF/IFAS, high school and university agricultural departments, trailer dealers, selected restaurants, farm-oriented real estate offices, Thoroughbred associations, landscape and garden centers, nurseries, libraries, economic development offices/ chambers of commerce, wineries, farms with retail outlets, and theatres including The Hippodrome and OCT.

Hey, Advertizers GeT Noticed!

Advertize in Agrimag

Ads@agrimag.press July 2017

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Meet our Advertisers

Aqua Well & Septic Tanks

Meet the Service Team from Aqua Well & Septic From left to right,

Kristen Madeiros, Krysta Hall, Ryan Hall, Kari Basye, and Dane Boyd.

Aqua Well & Septic Tanks is a certified, licensed, and insured Florida Septic Tank and Water Well Contractor, serving Marion, Citrus, and Levy county since 1985.

They offer complete life cycle services for your water well and septic systems, whether you need new construction, or maintenance and repairs on an existing system; they’ve got you covered.

customer satisfaction through quality workmanship, excellent service, and competitive prices.

The service team at Aqua Well & Septic is available when you need service, and when you need answers. They are happy to share their knowledge on all aspects of your well and septic systems so you get the longest life possible out of your investment. They believe the more you understand about your well and septic systems, the more you will get out of them.

Their motto, “Don’t Fuss. Call us.” isn’t just about their 24 Hour Emergency Service

Aqua Well & Septic offers competitive prices on all their work, from traditional proven solutions to new technology and innovative approaches that solve your problems and satisfy your needs.

It’s a testament to the wide variety of services they provide and their commitment to

So, don’t fuss, you know who to call...

352- 427-4919

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For a more complete list of the services they offer, check out their web site at: http://www.AquaWellInc.com email: aquawell@bellsouth.net

“Don’t Fuss. Call Us!”

Aqua Well & Septic

Drilling ~ Pump Repair ~ Filtration ~ New Systems Lift Stations ~ Tanks Pumped ~ Drainfield Repairs

24 Hour Emergency Service Dane Boyd 352 - 427- 4919 352-489-5350 1-800-343-2578

1935 New Lenox Lane, Dunnellon FL 34434 Serving Marion, Citrus and Levy Counties since 1984

RED WAGON PRODUCE

Fresh Produce Vegetable & Herb Plants Organic Practices

April & Gil Norris 352-537-0413 RedWagonProduce@hotmail.com

See us at local Farmers Markets: Thursdays: 9am - 12pm Circle Square Commons Saturdays: 9am - 2pm Ocala Farm Market

www.superiorlandscape.net FULL SERVICE GARDEN CENTER

LANDSCAPE DESIGN & INSTALLATION

Palms • Shade Trees • Citrus Trees Annuals • Perennials • Shrubbery Pottery • Custom Planters Mulch • Pine Straw • Soil

Ponds • Waterfalls • Fountains Paver Patios • Driveways Landscape Lighting Outdoor Kitchens

SUPERIOR LANDSCAPE & GARDEN CENTER 5300 North US Highway 27, Ocala, FL 34482

352-368-6619

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Crones’ Cradle Conserve Foundation

Ecological Preserve

Retreat Center

Natural Farm

Florida Certified Stewardship Forest

Farm to Fare Subscription Food Basket Are you eating healthy?

Each week your basket will contain: 5-7 vegetables currently in season.

1 culinary herb ½ to 1 dozen eggs 2 recipes using the ingredients in your basket 1 copy of our weekly newsletter The Record

Items are occasionally substituted from the following:

1 pint jam, jelly or pickled vegetables, 1 loaf of bread, 1/2 pint raw honey, 1-3” potted herb, 1 pint fresh fruit in season.

Cost:

Each season for our farm to fare program runs for 13 weeks.

s tart nS 7 o s Sea 201 New y 5th, Jul

$50 Membership fee for each season, which helps cover planting, tending and harvesting vegetables and herbs, seeds, supplies, machinery and labor costs.

Delivery Locations: Ocala: Marion County Library Pickup- Wednesdays, 2:30pm, at the library headquarters parking lot.

Special Delivery- Within Ocala. Must be within our delivery area. $5 per week charge for special deliveries.

Gainesville: Location to be determined.

Farm Pickup - after 1PM on Wednesdays. *Other days may be arranged.

Each basket is $25 each. Contents cannot be altered. Additional items can be added to your basket at regular cost per pound.

Extras need to be ordered before 2:30 on Tuesday prior to your delivery.

Cost of the baskets are prorated if you join midseason.

Full Payment at the start of the season will earn you a 10% discount off of your weekly baskets.

Season Dates for 2017 Season 1 — April 5th 2017 to June 28th 2017 Season2 — July 5th 2017 to September 27th 2017 Season3 — October 4th to December 27th 2017 Season 4 — January 3rd 2018 to March 28th 2018

For more information, please call 352-595-3377, email catcrone@aol.com or visit our website at www.cronescradleconserve.com

6411 NE 217th Pl. Citra, FL 32113 6.4 miles east of 301 on CR 318

352-595-3377 catrone@aol.com FB: Crones’ Cradle Conserve Foundation cronescradleconserve.org No Pets or Smoking Cash or Check Only

Farm Store Open 7 Days a Week Ask about our Certified Kitchen & Honey House

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