Old Ways: Making Sugar Cane Syrup

According to the sources I read, sugar cane once grew in every county in Florida. Now, growing of cane and boiling it down to produce Pure Cane Syrup takes place for the most part at festivals showing the old ways of Florida.

Karl took this shot at a recent event. We watched them work for some time, and returned two days in a row, fascinated by the various parts of the process.

Red-shouldered Hawk at Brooker Creek Preserve

Red-shouldered Hawks frequently fly overhead and call at Brooker Creek Preserve (Tarpon Springs, FL). On a recent bird count (an 18 year and still running citizen science project at the preserve) we spotted this one directly overhead in a tree near the bridge over the main channel of the creek.

 

 

He flew to another tree next to the trail, and watched us as we walked by. I compared these photographs to both my desk version of Sibley Guide to Birds and the Peterson Hawks of North America. Based on those illustrations, and the bird's behavior, this appears to be a juvenile.



Friday Photo: Piggyback Turtles

 

Standing on the deck overlooking Weeki Wachee Spring I noticed these turtles floating to the shore. The sky just turned overcast, so the light worked for this shot. I took it with a Canon G16. Once in Photoshop Elements, I did a minor crop. Had I used a SLR with a longer telephoto, I could have done the crop I wanted in the camera. Getting closer with the G16 was not an option!

County Fairs and Country Stores

We spent a lot of time on the road last summer. Family weddings and get-togethers took us to the western New York area a couple of times. After decades of air travel for our respective business careers, we now choose to drive. It's nice to see at eye level all the things we used to fly over.

 

 

 

 

An August, 2014 visit to the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, NY. The Erie County Fair is one of the oldest continuous running county fairs in the country. I grew up not too far from here, and growing up going to the Fair was one of the highlights of summer. We visited in August for a family wedding, and happened to hit Fair time. It brought back a lot of very good memories, but times have definitely changed.

 

My attempt at documenting the Fair in photography yielded several interesting photographs, but with the plethora of cell phone cameras and other cameras I noticed people no longer politely wait when they see a camera pointed, they simply jump in front to take their photograph. I unfortunately ended up with many less than flattering photographs of the backsides of people I did not know, and are not likely to ever see again. "Street" and "Event" photography poses many more challenges now than it did when Vivian Maier did her work.

We drove a different route last summer to western New York State, the place we both grew up but left long ago. Family still lives there, so a summer visit remains a must for us. Plus, let's face it, not a lot happens in west central Florida in July and August. After eight hours in the car, we stopped in a small place in Ohio. While perusing their tourist information, usually my second stop after checking out the room, I realized we stopped near Ohio Amish country. And, much to my amazement, quite near the Lehman's store. The next morning we arrived at opening, and spend a couple of hours wandering the 35,000 square foot, many roomed store. Started as a hardware store serving the Amish in 1955, the still family owned store provided me with the non-electric items I needed over the years.

Sandhill Cranes

This Sandhill Crane walked up to the fence as we walked by, not at all concerned about us, almost curious.

Field Journal - Brooker Creek Preserve Bird Census

I tend to forget to keep a personal field journal as another team member keeps the count on our bi-weekly bird census at Brooker Creek Preserve. As part of my effort to become more effective in my observations I plan to use the blog as my field journal entry.

We started Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. following the Education Center route. The temperature was 74 degrees, with 75% humidity, and the sky overcast. Winds were calm.

We encountered three mother Wild turkeys with five chicks in the middle of the road, and waited a few minutes until they cleared. One chick was clearly larger than the others, and spent a lot of time testing its wings. I found a Pine Warbler at the next stop, flying around the pine trees. The heavy afternoon thunderstorms in the Preserve area meant that parts of the trails still had water, so we did see several water birds in those areas. A pig frog called loudly and continuously, but we did not catch sight of it.

One American Alligator swam in the main channel, visible from the bridge. Once again we did not see the Black-crowned Night Herons often seen in that area, but did observe one later on the hike on the boardwalk near the Education Center.

The button bush is in bloom all along the boardwalks, and depending on the light make interesting photographs. A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers worked on a tree, one opposite the other, just off the boardwalk. Their bright red head tufts were visible through the curtains of large ferns.

We spotted two Pygmy rattlesnakes, one on the side of a trail and the other curled in a dead sawgrass palmetto leaf. We always give them a wide berth, particularly as it is still their mating season.

We counted 26 different species, a little low but typical for this route and this time of year. We did not see any species we could not identify. Hopefully my journal entries will become more informative as I continue to practice writing my field observations, not just observing them and relying on memory.

The Pioneer Settlement in Barberville, NY

Driving along State Road 40 on our way to Tomoka State Park I noticed a sign for Pioneer Settlement. I just saw the name, so looked it up later and found out that this "village" contains seventeen historical structures, many of which may have been destroyed if not relocated and restored. We both love history and particularly living history like this. On the way back, we found the turn and visited.

Pioneer Settlement is open Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and admission for adults is $6, less for children. We walked around, talking to the interpreters who explained the buildings, and demonstrated various skilled crafts such as rug weaving and spinning. We toured the many buildings including a railroad depot, blacksmith shop, church, pottery shed, and the Barberville Central High School building. The high school, built in 1919, served as school until 1969. It now houses a museum with many displays.

This shotgun style house dates from the 1920s. The two laundry tubs on the porch remind us of a "simpler" time, though I find the thought of hand washing, rinsing, and hanging clothes on a line to dry less than simple.

I shot this looking into the school room replica. The blue behind the lamp is the shirt of the mannequin dressed like the school marm.

A close-up of an old cash register. H.L. Wynn's Commissary from the 1900s  serves as the country store. Items made by the various craftspeople are sold here, with proceeds helping to support their programs.

We love traveling the smaller highways and back roads. Not only is the scenery more interesting than the Interstates, but we never know what we will discover.