Garden to Table with Beth and Dorothy – Growing and Saving Blackberries
Blackberries are one of the easiest fruiting crops to grow in the North Florida Garden. Fruits mature during the month of May and early June. If you don't plan to eat your blackberries fresh, learn some quick tips from UF IFAS Escambia County Extension for saving...
Canned Food Gone Bad…
It started with a visible dark line running down the pantry wall. My eye traced the dark line up to an upper shelf, only to realize a can of food was leaking. My first reaction was, “Oh, no! Botulism!” then I quickly recognized that the guilty can contained a highly...
American Rescue Plan: Enhanced, Child Tax Credit
It is not often (or ever) that working families receive a windfall. Nevertheless, that is exactly what the enhanced, Child Tax Credit as part of the American Rescue Plan is. Moreover, it is a significant chunk of money for many families to receive on a monthly...
Meet Your FCS Agent: Samantha Kennedy
Samantha Kennedy is the Family and Consumer Sciences Agent in Wakulla County, FL. She specializes in health and wellness programming – healthy cooking, nutrition, and food safety – and is working to expand her expertise in financial education by studying to become an...
Edible Garbage
I would like to continue on the theme of reducing food waste by talking more specifically about ways to use food scraps effectively to prevent them from ending up in the landfill. As I was thinking about this topic, I was reminded of a funny scene from the 1982 film...
Goodbye, Mold!
Have you seen black, gray, white, or orange stains on your bathroom tile’s grout? Does it look slimy or cottony? Well, you guessed it—that’s mold. There are good molds – yogurts, cheeses, and antibiotics - and bad molds, like the kind that grows in the bathroom. Mold...
Keep It Fresh, Keep It Safe
Spring has arrived. It is fresh produce season. The USDA Dietary Guidelines recommend that half your plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables. Select a rainbow of colorful fresh fruits and vegetables to enhance your diet. There is a bountiful supply of...
Exploring Your Health Indicators: Cholesterol
The American Heart Association notes that cholesterol is “not inherently bad” and continues by explaining how cholesterol is necessary to “build cells, make vitamins and other hormones.” Cholesterol is not only derived from your dietary intake, what you eat, but also...
Exploring Your Health Indicators: Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome
According to the American Diabetes Association, “the national cost of diabetes in the U.S. in 2017 was more than $327 billion, up from $245 billion in 2012.” Additionally, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates 7.3 million adults ages 18 and up are...
Earth Day 2021
The basic tenets of sustainability – reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse work for food waste too! We can all do our part! Let’s start today.