Unique Crop: Sodbuster Radish In Hwy 29, Hwy 97 Field
March 25, 2013
A rather unique, and pretty, plant grew throughout the winter in a field at the corner of Highway 29 and Highway 97 in Molino.
According to Libbie Johnson UF IFAS Escambia County extension agent, the crop was a mixture of Sodbuster radish and oats in a filed owned by local producer Eric Koehn.
Sodbuster brand radish is a new cover crop developed in New Zealand, according to Richard Petcher, retired Auburn Extension Agronomist agent and proprietor of Petcher Seeds. The Sodbuster’s large taproots are superior and can penetrate as far as six feet deep. The fleshy upper part can “bust” a hole from 10-20 inches long and 2-3 inches wide. And the taproot both plows and breaks the hard soil while scavaging for plant nutrients.
The crop was recently sprayed by a herbicide to kill it. The root will decompose in just a few weeks, leaving open holes where rainwater can penetrate the soil. According to Petcher, the crop is an excellent scavenger for nutrients and can release 80 pounds of Nitrogen and 5 tons of organic matter for the next crop. Wildlife, especially deer, love this radish.
In November, Eric planted five pounds of seed per acre and added some oats to the mixture. Although he didn’t add apply any fertilizer to the crop, he said he is satisfied with the stand and hopes to see some benefits in the cotton he plans on growing on the field this summer.
For more information on Sodbuster radish, visit www.petcherseeds.com or call the UF IFAS Escambia County Extension office at (850) 475-5230 or email libbiej@ufl.edu.
Escambia County Students Of The Month Named
March 24, 2013
Students of the month for February have been named in Escambia County. The awards are presented monthly to a limited number of students from participating schools.
North Escambia area students of the month for February were:
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Bratt Elementary — Sara Amerson, first; Sheyenne Dillon, fifth;
Jim Allen Elementary — Eluah Bianchi, kindergarten; Kayla Jarman, kindergarten;
Lipscomb Elementary — Seth Bestgen, fourth; Amaya Bullock, fifth;
McArthur Elementary — Bryson Gier, kindergarten; Heidi Lynn, kindergarten;
Molino Park Elementary — Addison Pawless, first; Evin Pedicord, first.
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Ernest Ward Middle – Helen Kemp, sixth; Jacob White, seventh; Savanna Calhoun, eighth;
Ransom Middle — Jacob Kmetz, eighth; Kayla Johnson, eighth.
HIGH SCHOOLS
Northview High — Jessica Baldwin, 12th; Tristan Brown, 10th;
Tate High — Emily Lee, 12th; William Newman, 12th;
West Florida — Kelly Wyland, 11th; Samuel McKenzie, 12th.
Recipe: Magic Crust Custard Pie
March 24, 2013
Sometimes basics are best… and this tasty little custard number from home cook Robyn Witte has all the right ingredients to become a new favorite.
First, its classic vanilla custard flavor and gooey texture just can’t be beat. What’s more, this tasty confection comes together in a snap.
To prepare, simply combine all the ingredients in a blender then pour into a pie pan. The crust forms “magically” as the flour settles to the bottom of the pan during baking. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
Magic Crust Custard Pie
What You Need
- 1/4 cup margarine
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 c white sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 cups 2% milk,
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
Directions
- Put all ingredients into a blender.
- Blend for 30 seconds. Pour into buttered 9-inch pie pan.
- Sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. The flour will settle to make its own crust.
Birth: Jaxon Noah Wilson
March 24, 2013
Jaxon Noah Wilson born on March 4, 2013, weighing 7-pounds, 5-ounces and 20 inches long. He was welcomed by parents Jeremiah and Lindsey Wilson. Grandparents are Teresa and Lloyd Jordan, and Rose and Willie Wilson of Century.
Who Do You Call When Your Train Overheats? Not AAA, But ECFR
March 21, 2013
AAA can’t help you when you train locomotive overheats, but you can call Escambia County Fire Rescue.
Engine 419 from the Cantonment Station of Escambia County Fire Rescue responded to Highway 95A near Jim Allen Elementary School Thursday morning to assist CSX after a train locomotive engine overheated. There was no fire, just a need for water to cool the engine.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Mira Awards Honor Escambia’s Most Creative Seniors
March 21, 2013
Seventy of Escambia County’s most creative high school seniors were honored Thursday night during the 2013 Mira Creative Arts Awards Banquet at New World Landing.
Mira Award recipients were nominated for the award by their teachers and received engraved medallions, a book scholarship from Pensacola State College, memberships from the Pensacola Museum of Art and Artel Gallery, and Certificates of Special Congressional Recognition from Congressman Jeff Miller.
2013 Mira Creative Arts Award recipients were:
Northview High School: Alison Danielle Bardin, Vocal Music; Ashton Brooke Gibbs, Instrumental/Vocal Music; Alisha Grice, Graphic Arts; Zach Johnson, Journalism; Courtney Lambert, Culinary Arts; Ashley Mooney, Graphic Arts; Maranda Moye, Journalism; Stephanie Roach, Instrumental Music; Johnnie Smith, Visual Arts; Julia Thorpe, Journalism.
Tate High School: Lindsey Gordon, Band; Marissa Sue Jackson, Orchestra; Jennifer Haley Krostag, Visual Arts; Nicholas Andrew Krostag, Television Production; Katie Massey, Band; Kimberlee Marie Richards, Photography; Victoria Ryder, Yearbook Photo Editor; Amy Sapp, Mock Trial; Brooke Lindsey Marie Verlaan, Drama; Elizabeth Violet Watson, Chorus.
West Florida High School: Natalie Allgyer, Art; Italia Maria Brinston, Band; Lauren Hughes, Journalism/Yearbook; Jacob McDonough, Band; Lauren Elaine Meadors, Drama/Performance; Jahleel Ordoñéz, Multimedia; James Rhyne, Drama-Scenic Design/Technical Theatre; Michelle Shepherd, Newspaper; Jessica Taylor, Art; Hannah Woolford, Journalism/Yearbook.
Pine Forest High School: Serena Bishop, Band; Jennifer Lenore Cacal, Media Academy; Joshua Tyler Carnahan, Yearbook; Alyssa Marie Jones, Art; Christopher S. Patch, Culinary Arts; Kaylee Toyne, Art; Angel Trevino, Culinary Arts; Zachary Walston, Media Academy; Adrian Maurice Jackson Weatherspoon, Yearbook; Morganthë Williams, Theatre.
Escambia High School: Erran Bergstrom, Instrumental Music; Mindy Lynn Cramlet, Visual Arts; Danielle Davis, Culinary Arts; Alyssa Etienne Elliott, Visual Arts; James Thomas Faist, Chorus; Caitlin Fournier, Journalism; Elaina Keyes, Theatre; Amelia Slaughter, Instrumental Music; Shelby Vanstraten, Instrumental Music; Kelsey Wood, Digital Multimedia.
Pensacola High School: Jasmine Bradstreet, Instrumental Music; Anishandeliz Claudio-Torres, Instrumental Music; Hannah Fernandes-Martin, Visual Arts; Savannah Green, Drama; Lauren Heckathorn, Visual Arts; Christina Jones, Instrumental Music; Samantha Negron, Instrumental Music; Caroline Shell, Photography; Rhiana C. Simon, Fiction/Nonfiction; Courtney Stein, Visual Arts.
Washington High School: Heath Barrow, Visual Arts; Kristen Michelle Broussard, Instrumental Music; Breyanna Cayla Chapron, Vocal Music; Austin Paul Marvin Conner, Jr., Instrumental Music; Elliot David Friedman, Drama; Cameron A. Gonzales, Drama; Amanda Irby, Vocal Music; Shane King, Visual Arts; Adam Vinson, Instrumental Music; Matt Young, Visual Arts.
About The Mira Creative Arts Awards
In 1987, a group of teachers at J. M. Tate High School created the Mira Awards to recognize talented and creative students in the arts and sciences. The following year, the committee approached the Foundation to bring the awards under its umbrella and to initiate county-wide student participation each year in the areas of writing, performing and visual arts, and other disciplines. The term “Mira” is Latin for the name of the brightest star in the constellation Cetus.
Pictured top: Alison Bardin (left) and Ashton Gibbs of Northview High School are two of the 2013 Mira Creative Arts Award winners. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Barrineau Park 4-H Students Advance To District Event
March 20, 2013
Three members of the Barrineau Park 4-H Club placed with blue ribbons at recent county competitions.
Izzy Kent, junior divison; Dillon Conti, intermediate division; and Jessica Conti, junior division, will present their Animal Science Demonstrations/Illustrated Talks at the 4-H District event this Saturday at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church at 1394 East Nine Mile Road between 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
For more information on the Barrineau Park 4-H Club, call Tena Gindl at (850) 698-3441.
Pictured top: Izzy Kent, Jessica Conti and Dillon Conti advanced to 4-H District events. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Molino Park, Ernest Ward Students Win At County History Fair
March 18, 2013
Students from Molino Park Elementary and Ernest Ward Middle School were recently awarded during the Escambia County School District History Fair. Overall, of the 31 Molino Park students that took part in the history fair, 23 received some type of recognition.
Winners from Molino Park and Ernest Ward were as follows:
MOLINO PARK ELEMENTARY
Civil Rights Award
Awarded by the NAACP organization
Winner: “Mary Church Terrell: A Colored Woman in a White World” –
By Lacie Carter (group leader), Micah Calhoun, Jameisha Gross, Emily Boutwell, Jeremiah Morris
Historical Performance Awards
Awarded by the Escambia County School District
Group Winner: 2nd place: “Sacagawea ~ Across the Western Frontier”
By Natalie St. Cyr (group leader), Jacob Hawkins, Kamren Simpkins, Parker Hassebrock
African American Heritage Awards
Awarded by the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
1st Place Individual Exhibit: “Frederick Douglass”
By Ariel Ward
1st Place Group Exhibit: “Jim Thorpe: The Greatest Athlete of All Time, ”
By Clay Smith, Logan English
1st Place Group Performance: “Alvin Ailey – Opening the Doors to Dance”
by Jayda Crabtree (group leader), Tanner Davidson, Kayla McKillion, Raeleigh Woodfin, Kyle Simmons
Historical Project Board Exhibit Award
Awarded by the Escambia County School District
1st Place Individual Exhibit Project Board: “Frederick Douglass”
by Ariel Ward
1st Place Group Exhibit Project Board: “The Legacy of 9-11″
by Ronnie Plenkers, Cole Fryman
Best in Show
Awarded by T. T. Wentworth Museum
Group Exhibit: “A Turning Point in the Way the World Communicates”
by Bryce Korinchak, Nathan Danforth
ERNEST WARD MIDDLE
Native American Heritage Award
Mallory Gibson
Group Historical Web Page
Triston Long, Cameron Long
Magnolia Branch Honored As Treasure Forest (With Video)
March 18, 2013
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians recently received the Helene Mosley Memorial TREASURE Forest Award for the South Region at the Alabama Natural Resources Council’s Awards Banquet in Auburn.
The event recognized PCI for exemplary dedication to the wise stewardship of natural resources at the Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve. (For more information about Magnolia Branch, see the video at the bottom of the page.)
PCI has earned many honors for their forest stewardship. In June 2010, they received three prestigious awards for forest management activities at MBWR: the Alabama Natural Resources Council’s TREASURE Forest Award and certifications for the Forest Stewardshipand the American Tree Farm Programs. This was the first time a landowner had received all three recognitions at the same time.
Magnolia Branch is mostly timberland and is used as a recreational area for the Tribe and their guests. By working with various state and federal agencies, the Tribe has sustained, protected, and enhanced 6,000 acres of timberland and 50 lakes. PCI partnered with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to secure financial and technical assistance for site preparation on about 800 acres planted to longleaf pine, and to install permanent firebreaks and prescribe burn over 2,000 acres of pine plantation.
“Managing for timber is vital to our long-term forest goals. Seventy percent of our forest land is loblolly and 30 percent has been converted to longleaf pine,” said Billy Smith, PCI Tribal elder and manager of the Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve. “Whenever we clear-cut an area of loblolly, we plant it back to longleaf pine. Right now we have planted about 800,000 longleaf pines on Tribal land.”
Prescribed burning plays an important role in the longleaf pine ecosystem. It helps control disease and reduces competition of undesirable understory. It also provides wildlife habitat benefits by stimulating the growth of native plants for wildlife food.
“We are on a two year burn cycle and try to burn about 2,000 acres each year,” Smith said.
The wildlife accomplishments include planting 37 acres of food plots to cool and warm season forages, building numerous wood duck boxes and bird houses, and thinning 2,000 acres to improve wildlife habitat.
They are attempting to reestablish native grasses. “After clearing the understory through a controlled burn, we are seeing the comeback of native grasses that have been here all along,” said Smith.
Magnolia Branch is located south of I-65 west of Highway 113.
Pictured top: The Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve. Pictured inset: Tim Albritton/ NRCS state forrester; James W. (Billy) Smith, general manager of Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve; and Keith Martin, Poarch Creek Indian Tribal Council member. Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Photos: Cantonment Cantonment Baseball and Girls Softball
March 17, 2013
Saturday was opening day for Cantonment Baseball and Girls Softball.
The day included filming a commercial with Sandy Sansing, who made a $500 donation to the organization.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Guest speaker was Greg Litton, a former major league player for the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and the Boston Red Sox. In 1992, he played all nine positions in the Hall of Fame Game.
Kazoo from the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Cat from Cat Country 98.7 were also on hand.
Does your child play at Cantonment? Send us photos and scores this season! Email news@northescambia.com.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
