Wendt Family Named The 2021 Santa Rosa Farm Family Of The Year
September 28, 2021
The 2021 Santa Rosa County Farm Family of the Year was awarded to Wendt Family Farm and Nursery, which has three generations of hard workers and over three decades of experience.
The 2021 Farm Family includes Earl and Janet Wendt, parents to William Wendt and Vickie Shiver. William Wendt is married to Joy and they have five children and four grandchildren. The Wendt’s are joined with other family members who also work on their farm, Wayland Nowling and Angela Nowling. The family enjoys participating in the Farm to City program that provides produce for families at Thanksgiving.
Wendt Farm and Nursery, a Santa Rosa County landmark, has been growing wholesome and delicious vegetables for 35 years. It was once located on Chumuckla Highway before urban sprawl encroached upon the farm caused the family to move it 15 miles north into rural Santa Rosa County On the farm, three generations of the Wendt family work side-by-side to produce some of the best locally grown sweet corn, peas, butterbeans, tomatoes, cantaloupe and watermelon, and other fresh produce to area customers both wholesale and retail.
The Wendt’s commitment to provide the best locally products coupled with the desire to better serve their customers resulted in building and opening a seasonal market located on the original farm site, 5191 Chumuckla Highway in Pace.
Growing 50 acres of vegetables in the Florida panhandle is not for the faint of heart, and the Wendt Family has demonstrated their commitment to providing nutritious vegetables regardless of what weather conditions are thrown at them.
Beyond the vegetables grown on the farm, the Wendt Family also operates a two-acre greenhouse nursery where they have provided seasonal color for over three decades to the area. Wendt Farm and Nursery is known for growing Christmas poinsettias, Easter lilies, fall garden mums, and spring flowering plants, but few likely know that they also grow wholesale commercial vegetable transplants that are shipped to commercial vegetable farms all over the region.
The latest endeavor at the nursery is hydroponic lettuce production where they produce the freshest leafy greens available at local retail produce markets.
ECSO Mounted Unit’s Shannon Enderson Named ‘Volunteer Of The Year’
September 28, 2021
Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Unit member Shannon Enderson has been selected as Florida Crime Prevention Association’s Volunteer of the Year.”
“I love helping where it is needed. I enjoy meeting new people in the community and meeting the children all around our county,” Enderson said. “The children of the future is in our hands in the present. It is our responsibility to help them grow and show them the right way. This is a big part of why I volunteer, to show our youth that it is OK to do good things for free.”
Enderson also volunteers with the ECSO Citizen’s Law Enforcement Academy and the Neighborhood Watch Academy.
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Act Of Kindness: No One, Not Even The Resource Officer, Should Eat Lunch Alone
September 26, 2021
Randall Gulley is the new school resource officer at Flomaton Elementary and Flomaton High School.
The new guy was eating alone recently in the lunchroom when second grader Alexis White thought he looked, well, lonely. And no one should be lonely in a school lunchroom.
Alexis picked up her tray and joined Officer Gulley so he’d have a friend as he ate his lunch.
“Thank you, Alexis, for showing kindness and thank you, Officer Gulley for helping to keep our schools safe,” Flomaton Elementary said in a social media post.
The school resource officer program in Escambia County, Alabama, is under the Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office. And Sheriff Heath Jackson took notice.
“This right here shows kindness, love, professionalism, and what our Resource Deputy Program is all about. Our Resource Deputies have a new friend for life and plan to gain many more,” Jackson said.
ECSO Blazer Academy Named ‘Outstanding Program Of The Year’
September 26, 2021
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Blazer Academy has been selected for the Florida Crime Prevention Association’s “Outstanding Program of the Year” Award.
Sheriff Chip Simmons hosted Escambia County’s first Sheriff’s Blazer Academy in August of this year. The goal of the program was to immerse young men ages 13-15 in an environment that provides mentoring and instruction on many topics such as courtesy, responsibility, empowerment and respect. And there were some pretty sharp blazers involved.
“While this is a tremendous honor, the true value is the growth and evolvement of these young men throughout the entirety of the program,” Simmons said. “This first class was a huge success, and the Sheriff’s Blazer Academy will be a program we offer each year. We plan to expand the program by offering a Sheriff’s Blazer Academy for young women as well. We are proud to serve our community by providing mentorships for our youth.”
The Florida Crime Prevention Association, founded in 1969, is the oldest crime prevention association in the United States and serves the entire State of Florida. The program’s mission is to increase the awareness of crime prevention strategies and to network with other agencies on how to fight crime victimization.
A formal awards ceremony will be held on October 21 in Orlando.
West Florida High Students Collect Diapers, Wipes, Formula For Hurricane Ida Victims
September 22, 2021
The National Honor Society Chapter at West Florida High School collecting diapers, wipes and baby formula for the littlest victims of Hurricane Ida in Louisiana.
The supplies were delivered to Pensacola law firm Lorium Law for transportation to Louisiana.
WFHS club sponsor Teressa Doman and her National Honor Society students collected over 1,500 diapers. numerous baby wipes, and baby formula.
“The kids have really come together and gotten behind this initiative,” said Doman. “We are just happy to be able to lend a little bit of relief to our neighbors in Louisiana.”
“It is our privilege to be able to gather and deliver tens of thousands of dollars worth of desperately needed donations and supplies directly to the people of Louisiana who were hardest hit by Ida,” said Garrett P. LaBorde, Pensacola managing attorney for the law firm.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
If 4th Graders Wrote Their Own Constitution, What Would It Say? (Hint: There’s Food And Naps)
September 20, 2021
If kids could write their own classroom constitution what would it say?
The Byrneville Elementary School fourth graders of Room 43 celebrated Constitution Day last Friday by writing their own “Classroom Constitution”.
It started with great virtues like being fair, being kind, and working hard to the very best of their abilities.
And then there were a few perfect world clauses…the right to eat whenever they want, naps everyday at 1:30 (well, except for music days), free time and free talk time (freedom of speech, you know).
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Arrr Matey! Century Library Celebrates Talk Like A Pirate Day
September 20, 2021
The Century Branch Library celebration National Talk Like a Pirate Day on Saturday.
Children were able to create their own pirate crafts and practice using their pirate vocabulary. (And no one had to walk the plank.)
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Cantonment Lodge Adopts Ernest Ward Middle School Teacher
September 19, 2021
Cantonment Masonic Lodge #322 has adopted Ernest Ward Middle School English Language Arts (ELA) teacher Alexander Fitzgerald (pictured in brown jacket). The Lodge presented Fitzgerald with a $250 donation and a donation of supplies recently. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Sneak Peek: Planting Thanksgiving Dinner For 1,000 Needy Families
September 19, 2021
Every November, NorthEscambia.com takes you to Farm City Week, and this year we are giving you an early sneak peak.
During Farm City Week, a couple of hundred or so student volunteers from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties work for a day in the fields near Jay to harvest collards, bag sweet potatoes, and more that will feed needy families at Thanksgiving.
This week, the University of Florida’s West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay planted collards donated by Wendt Farm and Nursery. They collards be ready just in time to harvest for Thanksgiving meals for about 1,000 families in partnership with Feeding the Gulf Coast and Waterfront Rescue Mission.
At the bottom of the page, you can see the harvested collards in 2019.
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Century Gas Station Customers Surprised With Free Food
September 18, 2021
People that stopped at a Century gas station got a little extra surprise Friday afternoon.
Northwest Florida Community Outreach held an impromptu mini-food distribution at the Marathon Station at Highway 29 and East Highway 4. The non-profit handed out meat, eggs, yogurt, juice, bread and pastries for free.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
