A death sentence : Activists call on Florida governor to prioritize vaccines for farmworkers Rima Abdelkader and Sara Mhaidli and Carmen Sesin and Adrianne Morales
On a farm in Plant City, Florida, María Alvarez and her husband have been working throughout the pandemic, picking what’s in season and planting for the next.
Alvarez, 34, is worried about getting infected with Covid-19 while she works with dozens of other migrant workers during shifts that last up to 12 hours.
“When we arrive to pick up the boxes, we’re very close to each other, she said. Then we head back to go picking and we’re still close. There’s no social distancing.
Do you want to become a Master Gardener?
The Apalachicola Times
Open enrollment has begun for the UF/IFAS Franklin Master Gardener volunteer program course, to be offered at the Franklin County Extension Office.
The course will begin Wednesday, April 7 at the offices at 261 Dr. Frederick S. Humphries Street in Apalachicola, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a one-hour lunch. The classroom portion runs for 13 weekly classes, with the remainder of 12 months to complete the volunteer hour requirement of 75 hours.
The cost is $120 per application and the fee covers all materials and handouts you will need including the UF/IFAS Florida Master Gardener Volunteer book, name badge and polo shirt. Class availability will depend on at least four students registering.
For the first time in 21 years, Gainesville residents will be asked this holiday weekend to be invader raiders in their own backyards and neighborhoods instead of nature parks.
The annual Great Invader Raider Rally, typically held on a Saturday in January, will be held Friday through Monday in a socially distanced format because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Gainesville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department has organized many volunteers every year since 2000 to remove invasive plants from local parks and natural areas.
The event’s organizers said the focus this year is on reducing the amount of plants that jump from the community into nature parks.
The clean, white building looks almost clinical upon first approach. Wires and piping line the ceiling. Whirring air-conditioning drowns out your footsteps. And a series of green and light gray doors that resemble your grandma s 1960s refrigerator fill the facility floor.
But behind those doors, life will soon flourish as the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences new growth chamber research facility opens on the main Gainesville campus.
Fifteen chambers, varying in size from reach-in to walk in, are now fully functional test sites designed to create and observe how various environmental factors like light, temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels, affect species.
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Vegetables are one of the best things we can eat: They’re chock-full of nutrients, they’re low in calories, they can reduce our risk of heart diseases and cancers. So we know WHY we should eat more veggies. This episode is all about HOW.
Vegetables are one of the best things we can eat: They’re chock-full of nutrients, they’re low in calories, they can reduce our risk of heart diseases and cancers. So we know WHY we should eat more veggies. This episode is all about HOW.
Today we hear from Carol Leffler and Anne Yasalonis of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, better known as UF/IFAS. IFAS has county extension offices across the state, and they’re a great resource for learning how to grow and cook healthy foods.