Dirty Thirty

I'll be gone for the next week or two, as I am taking a vacation to celebrate my 30th birthday. I'll miss you, Florida!

Man Up (Summer Survival)

So I decided I'm going to try to get through this summer without turning on my A/C window unit. I lived without A/C of any kind for all three years of college (at UF), and I liked it. I've gotten soft in my old age and it's time to toughen up. (Plus I don't want to shell out the cash -- A/C is costly and right now my electricity bill is below $50 a month.)

Today I went to the store and bought two fans, which are going to save me.


One's for my bedroom, and one's for the living room/kitchen. I have ceiling fans in each room, but sometimes they're not enough. Lately I've been having trouble sleeping because of the heat. Enter fan. Added bonus: white noise covers sounds of neighbors partying late at night. It's a win-win. I love summer.

More Springs Adventures

Tuesday my friend Jenn was in town from Seattle, so I took the day off and we went to Ichetucknee Springs State Park. The Ichetucknee River is a tributary of the Santa Fe, and it's spring-fed -- totally clear all year-round. It's an incomplete summer when I don't go down this river in a rented inner tube at least once. But I've never spent much time at the springhead, which is a series of swimming holes at the north end of the river -- the origin of the river, I suppose.

It is, of course, unbelievably beautiful.


Inbetween sunbathing/napping/reading episodes I went swimming several times, using my mask and snorkel (thanks, Alex!) to look at the fish and underwater caves.


I didn't want to leave.


The wildflowers are in bloom along all the roads in rural North Florida. I'm pretty sure the yellow ones are Coreopsis lanceolata, the Florida state wildflower.


Update: The DEP used to have a map on their Web site of all the springs in the state, but since I can't find it, I'm linking to the The Orlando Sentinel's map of many springs.

If you're looking to go to a spring, you should know that some springs are privately owned and are not accessible to the public, while others are privately owned but charge a fee for the public to use them. Still others are owned by counties or municipalities, and some are state parks.

Other spring facts: There are several springs that are right on or just off rivers and can be accessed by canoe or other watercraft only. Some spring-fed rivers include the Rainbow, Juniper, and the Ichetucknee. The largest concentrations of accessible springs (at least from my experience) seem to be in Gilchrist and Suwannee Counties (North Florida) and in Marion County (in the Ocala National Forest).

Aha! A helpful person answering comments at www.floridasprings.org just emailed me this site, which is more comprehensive than anything I've ever seen about Florida springs.

Ginnie Springs

My neighbor and I went to Ginnie Springs (on the Santa Fe River) on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day. I alternated between swimming in one of the springs and lying in the sun (protected by sunscreen, of course). After I exited the water (72 degrees year-round), my skin would vibrate for twenty minutes. It might be one of the best feelings in the world. I think I'm going to try to go to one spring or another every weekend possible this summer.


Florida has more freshwater springs than anywhere else in the world -- geologists estimate more than 700. They're literally windows into the aquifer (the glowing blue spot in the center of the above photograph is the Dogwood Springs cave). Under pressure from the many layers of limestone that emerged from the sea a long time ago, they pump out water constantly -- sometimes as much as 60 million gallons per day. When we overpump water from the aquifer (where do you think bottled water like Coca-Cola's Aquafina comes from? Yep, they have at least one plant along the Santa Fe River) or let fertilizer and pesticides leave our landscapes, the state's water supply is endangered and we risk losing our amazing springs.

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Making a Radio Show

So I write this radio show called "Gardening in a Minute." A lot of work goes into the show, which airs every weekday on NPR stations in about half the counties in the state (we're working on syndicating it throughout the rest of Florida).

I've estimated that it takes about ninety minutes of my time (from writing to recording) to make each minute-long show, plus a lot of time on the part of our host, our producer, another writer, and all of our faculty reviewers.

We record shows about once every two weeks. It takes a whole morning, and today I thought it would be fun to document the process.


"You're acting like an annoying tourist," Tom said. I reminded him that he's the American going to Holland in a few days.

After I write between ten and twenty shows and we review them a few times, we record them.

We drive across campus to WUFT-FM in our ghetto state car. Note missing hubcap; the passenger-side front window doesn't roll down. Also, it makes a clunking noise on the highway. Oh, and the turning radius means you get to practice your six-point turns in any space, no matter how large!


Our producer, Ben, lets us into the fortress.


We go upstairs to the studio.


Tom and Ben talk about sports for a little bit and I give them their copies of the scripts.


Tom enters his chamber of seclusion, separated from us by a pane of glass.


Ben and I hang out in the control room.


It has a nifty control panel. I can push a button on it and talk to Tom.


This is what Ben and I see as we record the show.


If I get closer to the window, this is what Tom looks like.


I look at my script as he reads, to make sure he doesn't ad-lib anything (happens all the time, especially if he forgot to bring his glasses that day).


Between scripts I do a crossword or stare out the window.

Farmer's Market

Gainesville has a farmer's market every Wednesday in the downtown plaza from around 4 to 7. There's lots of fresh, organic, local produce; live music; jewelry; and hacky sack-playing. I often intend to go after work, but rarely make it for several reasons, most of which have to do with a word that starts with the letters "N-A-P."


Kim and I carpooled to work yesterday, and decided to stop by the market on our way home. I bought some delicious-smelling basil and beautiful kale for a dollar! The latter is in the bottom of this photo.


I'm going to make green lasagna with both the kale and the basil.

Find out where farmer's markets are in your area and where to buy other locally produced food here: http://www.localharvest.org/.