Carolina wrens nested in our grill and hatched five healthy, little babies. The parents flew back and forth for over a week with worms and insects for them. Yesterday (June 6), they all hopped out of their nest, off the grill and around our yard. By the end of the day, they were flying a little.

Head on over to Hillcrest Farm, grab a pail and start filling it with plump, organic blueberries. You might want to go for two buckets, so you have one left after the one you eat on the ride home.

We recently loaded up the car and headed to Hillcrest Farm to meet some friends and pick blueberries. We even discovered that they have a geocache.

When we arrived, we were given a friendly greeting by the Hixson’s, long-time owners of Hillcrest Farm. The Hixson’s have been supplying Florida and Alabama with berries, jams, garden vegetables and ice cream for over twenty years. We were given instructions on where to pick and given buckets with plastic bag liners for carrying our ripe, picked blueberries. After berry picking, the kids enjoyed eating Ms. Hixson’s homemade ice cream while we all enjoyed the shade- although there was a nice breeze and it wasn’t too hot. We like to go early in the season for that reason and for easier picking when the blueberry bushes are still loaded with berries.

Hillcrest Farm is a family-owned farm located in Elberta, Alabama and just 30 minutes from Pensacola.

Location

30497 Hixson Road
Elberta, AL 36530
Phone: 251-962-2500.
East of Foley and Elberta on US98 to mile marker 76. Turn north on Hillcrest  Dr. Open: June – Sept, Daily, 6 am till dark.

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

For more information: Earth Day Pensacola

Supporting Florida’s Gulf Coast!

Ticks are out in the woods and tall grasses all year long on the Gulf Coast. A tick is a small bloodsucking parasitic arachnid that may transmit diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease. Even if they do not carry disease, they can be tricky to remove. If you plan to be out in the woods for any length of time, make sure to spray or rub on a repellent. If you choose to use a product containing the oil pesticide, DEET, make sure you know the risks. Do not use while pregnant. It is safer and less expensive to try a simple homemade oil as a tick repellent.

Repellent For Body:

Just mix together the following ingredients and rub it on your skin. I don’t measure the amounts. You just need something oily with a strong scent and that should keep ticks away or make them fall off while you’re out hiking, camping or geocaching.

• Oil- a carrier oil like apricot or jojoba

• Aloe vera gel

• Essential oil essence- peppermint or citrus. These are not the scents from the grocery store that are mixed with alcohol. You’ll probably need to get the oils at your local natural health store.

Repellent For Head:

If you don’t want to put oil on your scalp, you can try mixing essential peppermint oil and water and spraying it in your hair. Some people recommend spraying on lemon water, but if you use it in the sun often enough, it may lighten your hair.

Using repellent on children is especially important. Many children love to walk through and roll around in tall grasses and that makes them more susceptible to ticks. Caution: Peppermint may cause a strong burning sensation in young children or people with sensitive skin. Test the mixture in a small area first. Always make sure to avoid the eye area. For children under three years old, consult a health care professional before applying any type of repellent.

Tick Removal

If you still end up with a tick in your skin after using repellent, the best way to remove it is by grabbing it as close to your skin as possible with a pair of tweezers and pull straight out. Never twist or jerk when pulling. You don’t want to leave the head in your skin.

Go prepared and enjoy the great outdoors!

Additional Resources:

Homemade Tick Repellent

Tick Repellent For Pets

Have you ever thought about planting a garden, but you were not sure how to get started? According to Susan McCoy, Garden Media Group’s chief idea generator, “gardening with a purpose” will begin taking root. Two of the trends in gardening that McCoy predicts we’ll be seeing more of in 2011 are New Urbanism and CSAs or Community Supported Agriculture farms. These are two types of gardening that will help people connect through gardening education as well as allow them to develop better Earth stewardship through keeping produce local.

New Urbanism may include having homes, apartments and inner city businesses with less turf. More people may want to have plants that need little water or they will be collecting rainwater. Urban gardens are often placed in window sills or in pots on patios.

Community Supported Agriculture farms (CSAs) are springing up nationwide. CSAs offer fresh produce and provide the opportunity for learning about varieties, maintaining plants and sharing experiences with other members of the community.

I’ve noticed a few community gardens on the Gulf Coast. One CSA is in the Aragon Court neighborhood in Pensacola. I drove through with my kids when the Plein Air Painters group were in the neighborhood. I stopped at the playground and noticed a woman nearby pruning plants and pulling weeds. As I walked closer, I saw that she was working in a huge community garden that was filled with flowers and vegetables for the neighbors to work in and enjoy together. It has a covered area with bench swings for resting out of the sun.

Something new for the Gulf Breeze Area Chamber of Commerce is that they are developing a community garden and organic gardening educational program. Robert Randel of Tiger Point Chiropractic came up with the idea after a previous attempt in another location. The City Council approved establishing a garden on the chamber’s property, so it would be in a centralized location for volunteers.

Are you doing any urban gardening or taking part in a CSA? Let us know. It’s a great way to develop friendships and your gardening skills!

Go Explore!

Troy Record
Garden Center Magazine
Pensacola News Journal

Photo by Lisa Parker

Geocaching (pronounced- geocashing) is an outdoor treasure hunting game using your GPS device

Geocaching is a community-wide game that is gaining in popularity across the world. I was recently introduced to it through Twitter tweets by other outdoor adventurers. I looked up exactly how to play and found that it is really easier than it sounds. There are geocache searches made specifically for children and others that are easy enough for them. Many geocaches are hid in local parks. After finding our first cache, the children and I were hooked. I loved watching the excitement in their faces and experiencing us working together towards a common goal. They loved the challenge and the great trade items inside. It’s a great way to add interest to your  hikes while promoting family bonding.

As children get older, it is easy to just let the family grow apart. It takes time and work to keep a family close. I believe a family should be a place of love and security for children. I learn so much about my children as well as learn about myself as we spend time outdoors together. There is something relaxing about the fresh air, allergies or not, that can help change a person’s whole attitude. Stress seems to evaporate with the morning dew or afternoon sun. There is peace within us and peace with one another as we look outside of ourselves. It’s a time where simplicity and technology merge. I hope you will take time to explore the possibilities of what geocaching can mean for your family. Here are a few tips on how to get started using your iphone. You can also use a Garmin.

• Go to www.geocaching.com and watch the introduction video.
• Decide which geocaching app is best for you and download it.
• Choose a geocache that is medium to large sized for your first hunt and a one star difficulty level. You want to make sure you find something the first try.
• Wear appropriate shoes and clothing for the terrain and temperature. Caches are often hid in bushes, trees or tall grasses.
• Look for other “treasures” along the way. My son is ecstatic to find simple bolts or wires. You may want to name plants and animals you see and take photos.
• Bring items to trade like silly bands, coins. . .
• Sign the log book- you may need to use your own pen.
• Place the cache back where you found it.
• Have a picnic and spend time talking as a family. It may be a great afterschool activity for your kids before they get started with homework or something fun to do when homework is finished.
• Hide your own cache in your neighborhood.

Rocks and Seagrass Beds of Site 1

My children and I recently visited the areas of Project Greenshores. We had a great time seeing the numerous amounts of crabs, small fish and birds which have made Site 1 and 2 their homes. People were there from the FDEP to collect water and species samples as well as to give an educational tour.

Crab Watching

While we were there listening, I began thinking about the numerous amounts of money, people and time it takes to restore these saltmarshes and oyster reefs and decided to write about a couple of easy ways for us to help prevent problems to our sensitive water systems before they occur. The first things that came to mind were boater awareness and lawn maintenance.

In our community, we have water all around us and many people spend a lot of time boating. One thing boaters can do to protect the balance of water systems is to be careful not to uproot seagrasses.

Seagrasses are plants totally adapted to living underwater. They create a stable and protected habitat for marine life. Once a seagrass bed is destroyed it can take up to ten years to grow back naturally. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the seagrass beds of Project Greenshores “will provide habitat for many fish and invertebrate species, help stabilize the Bay bottom thus reducing turbidity (from boats and barges), and serve as a nursery area for 70-95% of the commercially harvested species in this region.” This is good news for our bay and the local economy. 

Cautious Boaters near Site 2

Therefore to prevent damage to our seagrass beds the Department of Environmental Protection offers five simple steps for boaters:

1. Know your boat and be familiar with the boat’s draft. As a general rule, there should be at least a foot between the boat’s propeller and the top of the seagrasses.

2. Be familiar with the local waterways. Estuarine and coastal environments change constantly, making navigation tricky.

3. Be aware of how tide and wind conditions affect boating. It is common for seagrass beds to be completely exposed during low tides.

4. Turn the motor off and drift into deeper water, if you run aground.

5. Use a trolling motor and push pole for fishing in shallow water.

For more info: Florida Boater’s Guide

Another problem for our area is with stormwater runoff. Stormwater runoff is rainwater that cannot be absorbed by the soil during a storm event and runs into our waterways.

It has become the largest source of polluting nutrients, which can lead to an imbalance called eutrophication. Too many nutrients can reduce seagrass productivity. While The City of Pensacola works on the challenges of stormwater treatment, we can use caution in our landscaping.

Stormwater picks up herbicides and pesticides applied to the lawn or garden and run off into waterways and make their way into the food chain. Not to mention, it’s not the safest environment for children to play.  So, I looked into some landscaping options.

Here are some tips from experts I am trying with my own yard:

* Burnout- an organic weed killer
* Less watering- removing some grass and replacing with stone pavers
* Soil testing kit for under $20-only put on my lawn what it needs
* Aerating soil to help grass grow stronger-aerators can be rented from garden centers
* Compost fertilizer
* Mowing without a bag to let clippings fertilize naturally

While some damage from hurricanes and other things may not be preventable, all of us can do something to help. It just takes some time and planning. Prevention is the easier and most cost effective route to help keep us all enjoying the benefits of our beautiful Gulf Coast waters.