FFA Sponsored Mother's Day Plant Sale

The East Bay FFA Alumni and the East Bay FFA Chapters are pleased to announce our Annual Mother’s Plant Sale, May 7-9, 2008. The plant sale will feature gift plants and spring favorites including gift plants, flowering annuals, indoor plants, hanging baskets, landscape plants and much more. This is the perfect opportunity to shop for Mom, spruce up your yard or stop and smell the flowers. The plant sale will run Wednesday, May 7 through Friday, May 9, from 7:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. in the Agriscience Department.
Proceeds from the plant sale will help provide FFA awards, student travel to FFA conferences and competitions, and to support other FFA and agriscience department activities.
East Bay High School is located at 7710 Old Big Bend Road, Gibsonton, Florida 33534, phone 813-671-5134, www.sdhc.k12.fl.us

“Reconnect, Restore, Rewild;
The Wildlands Project”
Monday May 12 at 7pm
St Pete Times Auditorium, 490 1st Ave South, St Petersburg.

The Wildlands Project is a network of people protecting networks of land. Throughout Canada, the US, and Mexico, individuals, organizations, government agencies, scientists, and naturalists are working to form land corridors for wildlife. Creation of these wildlife linkages between core protected areas will help protect our valuable diversity of wildlife from extinction. Join Margo Knight as she tells about the work of the group and what it means to the future of wildlife. Free. Presented by the Friends of the Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges. For more information call 727 343-1272.

“Picnic in The Vineyard”
Henscratch Farms Vineyard & Winery

Henscratch Farms will host an end of season “Picnic in the Vineyard” for the community on Saturday, May17. Activities are scheduled 11:00am – 2:00pm. The vineyard & winery are closed June & July each year for vacation and to prepare for the August harvest.

Activities include a tour of the winery and a video of the winemaking process at the farm. Then the staff will be serving complimentary wine tastings with cheese and nibblies. It is blueberry u-pick season on the farm. A Free picnic lunch and entertainment by the “Front Porch Fiddlers” are scheduled 11am -2pm. The ice cream shack will be open for creamy blueberry treats and a special wine bar will feature wine by the glass. Guests may tour the farm by strolling through the nine flagged educational stations, complete a scavenger hunt and feed the 101 free rang hens. It’s all for free! Don’t forget your camera. Door prizes and giveaways will be every 15 minutes. For more information, country store coupons for the day and special wine pricing offers visit the website www.henscratchfarms.com , or call the winery at 863-699-2060. Located at 980 Henscratch Road. Lake Placid, FL
www.henscratchfarms.com

Corn Disease Management Field Day May 12
and the
Corn Silage Varieties Field Day May 21
10:00 am – 12:00 noon
UF/IFAS Everglades REC
3200 East Palm Beach Road (CR 880)
Belle Glade, FL

The corn disease management field day will highlight several fungicide field trials conducted by Rick Raid on both sweet corn and silage corn. Trials will exhibit fungicide efficacy and timing. Compounds included in these trials are both old standards and new chemistries. Evaluations will be available for: Mancozeb, Quadris, Quilt, Headline, Caramba, Stratego, Prosaro, Tilt, and a few promising strobilurin/triazole premixtures. Diseases prevalent include northern corn leaf blight and southern corn leaf blight.

While this field day is for sweet corn, this might be a good opportunity for sugarcane growers to view potential efficacy of fungicides for rust control in sugarcane. The morning will start with a short talk (Conference Center) that highlights the trials, then we go to the field, and finally we will finish up back at the Conference Center for our sponsored lunch. Light refreshments will also be available at the field trial.

This is a great opportunity to review disease control and fungicide efficacy issues; we hope to see you at this very timely and relevant Corn Disease Management Field Day.
Please be assured that the UF/IFAS Everglades REC corn silage breeding program is alive and well, and this is your opportunity to make your own determinations on new varieties and to make a positive impact on future directions of this important breeding program.
The Corn Silage Field day willl provide an opportunity to visit with Robert Beiriger who has been very busy in 2008 planting and comparing/contrasting new corn silage varieties at the Everglades REC. Robert will host this Field Day, which will highlight the following objectives:
1) View over 400 new University of Florida corn silage hybrids
2) Compare these new hybrids with local popular grower silage standards
3) Discuss silage production issues
4) Provide constructive input/suggestions for future silage breeding work

Peach field day May 22 in Attapulgus
University of Georgia

Peaches come in many varieties. Anyone who wants to see the latest and best to grow in the Southeast should go to the Florida-Georgia Twilight Peach Field Day May 22 at 5 p.m.at the University of Georgia Research and Education Center in Attapulgus, Ga.
Participants will learn about low-acid peach types, types with long shelf life, high-sugar types and types with “enhanced” flavor. They’ll get to taste them, too.
The Attapulgus breeding program is a partnership between the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Florida and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
RSVP for the free supper by calling (229) 386-3355.

Sustaining Florida's Wildlife Heritage
Amid 21st Century Challenges
May 20 - 23, 2008
Hilton Hotel - Cocoa Beach, Florida

The Organization of Wildlife Lands and Realty Specialists (OWLS), an Affiliate of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), is holding their 24th annual conference on Florida's Space Coast. This year's theme focuses on the ongoing work and commitment to protect Florida's wildlife heritage and the efforts being made to address 21st century challenges.
The organizing agency, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, hopes participants will leave with new ideas, approaches, methods, and an understanding of Florida's commitment to conserve wildlife and their habitats and how the State plans to accomplish that goal in the coming decades.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Land Acquisition Specialists and Agents; Wildlife Biologists; Land Owners; Land Managers; Conservation Biologists; Restoration Ecologists; Field Biologists; Practitioners; Surveyors; Engineers; Technical/GIS Staff; Consultants; Non-profit Groups; Conservation Community

Go Zero Program
We are participating in the Go Zero program with The Conservation Fund (TCF)! Go Zero calculates carbon dioxide emissions that will result from the energy use at the conference, as well as the travel of our attendees. To help trap the carbon dioxide that is produced from the conference, The Conservation Fund will plant native trees in protected parks and wildlife refuges across the nation. As they grow, these new forests will help clean the air that we breath, filter the water we drink, restore sensitive wildlife habitat and enhance public recreation areas for current and future generations.
TCF's Florida Office will donate the cost of planting the trees, giving everyone the "Gift of Zero" - a healthier planet.
Click here for more information: http://www.conservationfund.org/