Canopy Roads of South Georgia

Banking sweet potatoes

Why would we want a doorway to a dirt pile?

Terry Davis and John S. Quarterman banking sweet potatoes at Okra Paradise Farms.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 August 2011.

Watch the slideshow and see:

-jsq

Snake on a hoe

How I get the snake in the box:

I pick it up on a hoe. Most snakes it's more like raking them into the box with the hoe, but this one's playing dead:

Peppers yellow, green, and red

Ready to make pepper jelly.

Picture by Gretchen Quarterman, Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 August 2011.

-jsq

Caw!

Crow on a longleaf candle:
Update 10:00 23 August 2011: Gretchen says that's not a crow; it's a smaller bird; some sort of flycatcher.

You lookin' at me?

SEC investigating Monsanto's Roundup tactics

Somebody oughta.

Tom Philpott wrote for Mother Jones 19 July 2011, SEC Investigates Monsanto's Roundup Biz

The SEC is investigating Monsanto's tactics for defending the market for its herbicide, Roundup. The news emerged just before the July 4 holiday weekend, during Monsanto's press conference about its quarterly financial earnings. Company execs boasted of a 77 percent increase in profit before dropping a mini-bombshell, The Wall Street Journal reported:

Monsanto said it was cooperating with a previously undisclosed US Securities and Exchange Commission probe into its customer incentive programs for herbicides in fiscal years 2009 and 2010, and had received a subpoena to provide related documents.

A subpoena sounds like a start. If they do a real investigation I wouldn't be surprised if they find enough evidence to pull some licenses.

-jsq

Peppers, red and green

Tasty!

Picture by Gretchen Quarterman, Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 July 2011.

-jsq

What's that sound in the woods?

Very odd sounds.

Here's video:

What's that sound in the woods? Part 1 of 3:
that sound, in the woods,
Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman.

Some kind of cat, maybe?

Let's get closer:

Gopher across Coppage

Why did the gopher tortoise cross the road?

Video by John S. Quarterman, Coppage Road, Lowndes County, Georgia, 18 August 2011.

To find a way through the fence.

-jsq

Dogs and Armadillo at 3AM

What are the dogs barking at at 3AM?

Oh, just an armadillo five feet outside their door.

Pictures of dogs and armadillo by John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 August 2011.

So what happened to it?

Elsie Quarterman's Tennessee Coneflower taken off endangered species list

WSMV in Nashville reports that the Tennessee purple coneflower, which grows only in cedar glades, and only in three counties in the world, is being taken off the endangered species list:

Less than one percent of endangered species ever get taken off the list. The Tennessean reports:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to officially remove the wildflower by Sept. 2, from its list of plants that are near extinction.

“The Tennessee coneflower’s recovery is an example of what can be achieved through the combined efforts of dedicated partners,” said Cindy Dohner, the Service’s Southeast Regional Director, in an emailed announcement.

Echinacea tennesseensis was thought extinct until Dr. Elsie Quarterman rediscovered it in 1969 in the cedar glades which are her academic specialty. She was 59 then.

Now she is 100, and still being honored by her students and by her state.

Aunt Elsie was born in Valdosta and played basketball for Hahira High School, before she started her very long career in botany and plant ecology.

As aye, Elsie!

-jsq

PS: This post owed to Patrick Quarterman.