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Archive for the ‘location’ Category

Laurel wilt symposium

Posted in events, farmer/grower, fruits, location, tagged , , , on November 1, 2009|

If you have only one avocado tree in your yard, or a grove full, come get the latest information on the laurel wilt disease. It was spotted in Northern Florida earlier this year, and this summer in a grove in Redland. If the disease spreads, it could wipe out not only commercial groves but also backyard trees. I’ve blogged earlier about this in more detail the post titled Avocados are threatened.

Dr. Jonathan Crane of UF IFAS/TREC will lead the Laurel Wilt Disease and Redbay Ambrosia Beetle Research Symposium on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Download the agenda here (PDF 60 KB).

Location:
Miami-Dade County Cooperative Extension Service Auditorium
18710 SW 288th Street, Homestead, FL 33030-2309.
(305)248-3311

Driving Directions:
Traveling south on the Florida Turnpike (Homestead Extenstion), take Exit #5 (Biscayne Drive / SW 288th Street), and go west for about 5 miles. The Extension Office is at the corner of SW 288th Street and SW 187th Avenue (Redland Road), on the left. It is a one-story, beige, block building.

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Extension is saved – come celebrate!

Posted in farmer/grower, location, politics, tagged , on October 21, 2009|

The Miami-Dade County Cooperative Extension staff, in an expression of our appreciation for our supporters and friends in our recent budget resurrection, would like to invite the community to a “Thank You” reception on Tuesday, October 27th from 3 to 6 PM. As this is an informal gathering we do not expect to have a program or an agenda. No speeches or presentations, just light refreshments, snacks, and fellowship.

Please come by for afternoon break or stay the while! We all would enjoy having some time to individually thank each member of the community that worked behind the scenes, communicated with the County Commission, and/or took the time to speak at one or numerous public meetings on our behalf .

Hope to see you all.

Best regards,

Don Pybas

UF/IFAS Extension Office
18710 SW 288 St.
Homestead, FL 33030-2309
Phone  (305) 248-3311

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Local farmers in the news again

Posted in csa, farm, location, market, media, tagged , , , on October 13, 2009|

Several months ago, I blogged about Jaideep Hardikar, a journalist from India who was here in the States on a fellowship. He wrote the article The Farmers Among Us that was published in the Sun-Sentinel. The original article profiled several growers who belong to Redland Organics, but is no longer available online. A shortened version was published on the front page of the Business section of the Miami Herald on Tuesday Oct. 13th. You can read it here.

According to the article,

Across the United States, consumers are increasingly buying directly from local farms through a model started decades ago in Switzerland and Japan now known as Community Supported Agriculture.

Nationwide, sales from farms directly to consumers — including CSA and farmers markets — jumped 49 percent from $812 million in 2002 to $1.2 billion in 2007, according to the most recent Department of Agriculture census. That’s twice as many sales as a decade earlier, the federal agency said.

Estimates of active CSA programs vary, but the 2007 U.S. census found more than 12,500 farms selling directly to consumers in every state. The National Center for Appropriate Technology, an agriculture think tank, estimates CSA programs supplied food to more than 270,000 households last year.

Farmer Margie told me that last season she had 440 CSA members, and has 465 members this season. She started Redland Organics CSA in 2002 with only 25 members. There are at least 100 on the waiting list. Turnover varies, maybe about 35%. Margie also mentioned that in January there will probably be a very limited number of trial shares available, and only to those folks already asking about them. She is pretty much at full capacity already. If you’re not a CSA member, but still want to get the same food, you can shop at the South Florida Farmers Market in Pinecrest.

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Gardening in South Florida

Posted in agritourism, food, location, locavore, market, tagged , , on September 21, 2009| 1 Comment »

The Edible Garden Festival at Fairchild

The Edible Garden Festival at Fairchild

Some people have been asking me, licking their lips, “So, what’s good from the farm this week?” Their appetites were whetted by all the fabulous fruit we’ve been having this summer. Now they’re ready for veggies. Now? You gotta be kidding! There’s nothing growing right now except for weeds! While the rest of the country in latitudes to the north of us are at the peak of their season, reveling in all kinds of veggie goodness, we’re sweltering in the heat swatting mosquitos and gnawing on the last of the fruit. There just isn’t that much growing right now. Too hot, too much rain, too many bugs, too many weeds. (Wonder how the pioneer settlers got by during the cruel late summer/early fall months.) This time of year is a food desert comparable to the dead of winter in Maine (but without the permafrost).

But October and fall and slightly cooler temperatures are around the corner, and that’s going to be a good time to start planting your own food garden. This Sunday’s Miami Herald had an extremely informative article in the Home and Design section about planting gardens in our area. It’s the second of what I hope is an ongoing series of articles written by the good folks at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens.

By the way, don’t forget to check out the Edible Garden Festival on Oct. 24-25 at Fairchild. Look for the Redland Organics tent!

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Possum Trot Nursery

Posted in agritourism, chef, farmer/grower, food, fruits, location, locavore, photo, vegetables, tagged , , , , , on September 9, 2009|

If you bought smoked eggs or fruit this summer, the jakfruit, starfruit and passion fruit (among others) came from Possum Trot Nursery. Later this month owner Robert Barnum will host a brunch outdoors on his property. You’ll get a tour, then eat a sumptuous meal — The Possum Trot Experience — prepared by Robert himself. He calls himself The Cantankerous Chef and invents all kinds of tasty dishes that use his fruits. This month’s brunch should be an easy challenge for Robert — use only local ingredients except for salt, pepper, sugar and the like.

Possum Trot is completely unlike any plant nursery you have ever seen before. It’s a cross between a grove and a primeval jungle, 40 acres of Old Florida wildness that makes Fairchild Tropical Gardens look like a manicured rosebush. Robert has collected all kinds of trees that have useful purposes, whether it be fruits, herbs or wood for smoking food. The property also has a sinkhole — or is it a spring? — and a bomb shelter right in the ground.

Here are pictures of my first visit to the nursery in September 2007.

Entering Possum Trot Nursery

Entering Possum Trot Nursery

Ye olde swimming hole

Ye olde swimming hole

Strolling through 40 acres of tropical trees

Strolling through 40 acres of tropical trees

Star fruit hang like golden lanterns

Star fruit hang like golden lanterns

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