Author: Debbie Roney Smith

Native Wildflowers of Florida

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Narrowleaf sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) by @noahstmt (Instagram)

The Florida Wildflower Foundation defines “Florida native wildflowers” as any flowering herbaceous species that grew wild within the state’s natural ecosystems in the 1560s; this is when Florida’s first botanical records were created. The defenition also recognizes natives as flowering plants and grasses introduced before that time by Native Americans through travel and trade, as well as wildflowers introduced without aid of human intervention. Native wildflowers are crucial for the health of the variety of ecosystems found in Florida; if you want to see a plethora of wildlife and beautiful blooms, plant native! Spring and fall are the time for showy fields of wildflowers but Florida also boosts beautiful summer blooms such as meadowbeauty and hibiscus.

Please don’t pick wildflowers! Preserve your memories with a picture, art, or the written word – it will last much longer. Picking flowers reduces a plants’ ability to sustain itself and grow back stronger the next season. Additionally, picking the flowers of endangered or threatened species is illegal (see Florida Statute 581.185 Preservation of native flora of Florida). Want to spread the natural beauty of the Sunshine State? Send your photos to photos@flawildflowers.org.

Oyster Cook-Off

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The annual Apalachiocola Oyster Cook-off is back! The cook-off and related activities benefit the Apalachicola Volunteer Fire Department and will be held in downtown Historic Apalachicola at Riverfront Park. The cook-off event features a silent auction, oysters galore, shrimp, smoked mullet, hot dogs, hamburgers, local beer, live music, kids’ activities, dancing performances, and a 5K run! Additionally, well-behaved dogs on a leash are welcome. Learn more at the Oyster Cook-off website or the Facebook event page. Tomorrow, Saturday the 15th, events begin at 8am with the 5K run while the cook-off runs from 12-5pm.

Beach Ecology Walk

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Healthy Gulf is hosting a beach ecology walk on Tuesday, January 11th at 9 AM. The walk will be along the beach of Santa Rosa Island at Pensacola Beach. The hike will follow along both the Gulf and Sound side of the Island, exploring the changing plant communities and life along the shoreline. The host of the walk will teach attendees about terrestrial and aquatic life by examining what has washed ashore. The hike will cover a total of four miles and will take two hours to complete. The exact meeting location will be provided only upon registration for the event, although it is free. However, space is limited so to ensure a spot, email christian@healthygulf.org or call (850) 687-9968 to reserve your spot today!

Damayan Garden Project

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Damayan is a non-profit located in Tallahassee that works to provide schoolyards, community centers, and low-income housing communities with the necessary materials to establish raised-bed vegetable gardens. The Damayan Garden Project is a volunteer organization that relies heavily on donation-based support from the community. It is run by gardeners, educators, and volunteers who want to help enchance the quality of life in their community by fostering opprotunities for fresh produce, gardening experience, and a healthy relationship with food and community. If you would like to volunteer your time, the organization has numerous opprotunities including new garden installations, weekly garden assistant, social media coordinator, and more! Visit their website for more information. 

Pensacola Mardi Gras Ball

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This evening is the Pensacola Mardi Gras Kick-Off, and tomorrow is the Krewe of Priscus Inaugural Mardi Gras Ball. While the Kick-off is free, the ball is $65 per person. The ball promises to be a night of glitz and glam with food, an open bar, and music provided by the local bad Horseshoe Kitty. There will also be a cash shot bar for charity. The ball will be held at the Court of Deluna Event Space in Pensacola from 7:30 PM – 11:30 PM.

 

Mardi Gras Kick-Off Event

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The 11th annual Pensacola Mardi Gras starts tomorrow! There will be a special Mardi Gras Kick-Off Event held tomorrow, January 7th, in Seville Quarter at 5 PM. The floats will be parked on Jefferson St. south of Romana St. all the way down to Zarragossa, and Government Street between Palafox and Tarragona Streets. The event will feature the unveiling of the float themes and a blessing ceremony for each float. Learn more about the kick-off on the PMG website, and stay tuned for more posts on this year’s Pensacola Mardi Gras.

Calhoun County Recycling Program: 2022 Updates

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The Calhoun County Recycling Program has implemented some changes to their program for 2022. As of January 1, 2022 the drop off location for recyclables will be at the Calhoun County Recycling facility located at: 17384 NW Magnolia Church Road. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 8 AM – 2 PM. The Recyling Program continues to accept type 1 plastics, type 2 plastics, aluminum cans, newspaper, and cardboard. They would like to extend their thanks to the community for helping keep Calhoun County clean!

Florida and WWII: Temporary Exhibit

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The Florida Historic Capitol Museum in Tallahassee is hosting a special exhibit until March 20th on World War II. The exhibit opened on the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Rendezvous with Destiny: Florida and WWII is a temporary exhibit that will provide an oral history of many of the Floridians who served on the front lines and at home during the war. When the U.S. entered WWII, Florida was still a mostly rural and agricultural state. It was relatively unpopulated compared to the rest of the country. The exhibit will explore how the war impacted Florida’s expansion and how Florida contributed to the war effort in turn. The exhibit was developed through a partnership with Camp Blanding Museum and the Human Experience at Florida State University.   

Welcome to the New Year: Resolutions

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Welcome to 2022 everyone! The new year has officially begun and you may be feeling the annual societal pressure to create some New Year’s resolutions. However, Dr. Sophie Lazarus, a psychologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, believes resolutions should be put to the side. There is nothing inherently bad about setting a New Year’s resolution or using the New Year as an opprotunity to start working on new goals. However, if the drive to commit to resolutions is coming from a place of pressure or obligation, it can create unneeded stress in your life. This is especially true this year as the world continues to try and recover from a global pandemic and a string of worsening climate disasters. Resolutions can be grounding if created with understanding and self-kindness in mind but they can also put pressure on an already strained situation. 

Dr. Lazarus instead advocates for entering the New Year with a general goal of self-improvement; “See if you can be a bit gentler with yourself or give yourself this same kind of grace that you might give to someone that you really love or care about who’s in a similarly challenging situation,” she says. Let go of the idea of perfection, the stress of self-critism, and the belief of having to prove ones worth to others. “So often in these times of stress, we tend to really focus on what’s wrong and what is unknown and what we need to worry about,” she says. “But there are ways that we can kind of try to shift our perspective and even just being more attentive, aware and grateful for the things that are going well or that are stable.”

Lucky New Year’s Food Traditions

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Food is an important part of New Year’s traditions. Listed below are some lucky dishes traditionally eaten around the New Year to bring good fortune in the year to come.

Hoppin’ John: a Southern menu staple originating from the enslaved Africans in the South Carolina Low Country. It is a mix of black-eyed peas, rice, and pork. The black-eyed peas shape to coins, the greens signify money, and the cornbread stands for gold.

King Cake: traditionally eaten on January 6th (i.e. Twelfth Night, Epiphany), the King Cake is a Louisianane favorite. It is a sweet ringed king cake topped with colorful icing and sprinkles; it is baked with a trinket hidden inside. The lucky person who finds the trinket is named “king” or “queen” for the day.

Tamales: bundles of masa stuffed with meat, wrapped in corn husks and steamed. They arrived in Los Angeles and San Antonio in the 1870s. They were sold by steet vendors from Mexico, and have since come to symbolize family as generations historically gather in the kitchen to make the labor-intensive food. 

Toshikoshi Soba: a soup with buckwheat “year-crossing” noodles. Soba is a New Year’s Eve tradition in Japan and is now practiced in the U.S. The long, thin noodles symbolize a long, healthy life, and date back to the 13th or 14th century, “when either a temple or a wealthy lord decided to treat the hungry populace to soba noodles on the last day of the year.”1

Grapes: las doce uvas de la suerta is a Spanish tradition also known as the 12 lucky grapes. The tradition holds that eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight—one for each chime of the clock—will bring good luck in the coming year. According to the superstition, failing to finish all 12 in time will mean misfortune in the year to come.

Lentils: an Italian New Year’s Eve feast favorite. Round and shaped like a coin, they’re a symbol of prosperity. Lentils are often served with pork sausage. 

Pork and Sauerkraut: a savorful, slow-cooked favorite for those in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The dish is said to bring good luck and progress; pigs are known to root forward and sauerkraut is made with cabbage, which symbolizes riches, prosperity, and a long life. It is a Germanic tradition that was brought to the U.S. by the Pennsylvania Dutch.