Tag Archives: Agriculture

Old maps of north central Lowndes County

Some old roads from a century ago are still in the woods in north central Lowndes County.

1917 and 2023 maps compared

On this 1917 soil map of Lowndes County, Hambrick Road runs east from Hagan Bridge to Cat Creek Road, as it still does today. In the center of the map, running south from Hambrick Road, is an old road that I keep open in my woods. The other day we used a bit of it for a firebreak in a prescribed burn.

Soil Map, Georgia, Lowndes County Sheet, Record ID cmf0373, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1917, in County Maps, Surveyor General, RG 3-9-66, Georgia Archives.

The house marked just north across Hambrick Road from that old road is still there. That was probably Fisher Gaskins’ house. I will ask his descendants.

That old woods road is between two creeks that are still there: Redeye Creek to its west, and Toms Branch to its right. They both end up in the Withlacoochee River floodplain.

Toms Branch is just east of the east part of Quarterman Road. Most of the rest of that road was already there in some form or other, although the south part of it, that currently runs straight east and west, did not run like that.

And notice all the other roads that are no longer open to the public. Continue reading →

Petition: Stop rezoning on Quarterman Road 2023-08-28

Update 2023-08-24: Packet: Two county rezonings, one plainly inappropriate @ GLPC 2023-08-28.

Please sign and share this petition:

https://chng.it/LDW47QsdSd

We the undersigned ask that the request for 2.5 acre lots on Quarterman Road be denied.
The smallest appropriate acreage in our area is the EA minimum of 5 acres.
Rural rezonings like this lead to additional developments in the future. We don’t want it now and we don’t want it later.
We ask the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission to recommend denial in its August meeting.
We ask the Lowndes County Commission to deny in its September meeting.

Rezoning sign, site, Quarterman Road, Zoning Map, Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area

R-A allows 2.5-acre lots, while E-A allows only down to 5-acre lots. That is inappropriate on Quarterman Road, where there is no R-A, and the entire road is in the Agriculture/Forestry/Conservation Character Area. Many of us fought to preserve that Character Area only two years ago. Just last year we fought off a Dollar General on GA-122 at Skipper Bridge Road, in the same Character Area.

Now let’s stop this rezoning in the same Character Area.

According to the Lowndes County Unified Land Development Code (ULDC), Continue reading →

Okra Paradise Farms is disappointed in farmer Bill Gates 2021-06-08

Okra Paradise Farms doesn’t always get into national news, but when we do it’s about Bill Gates.

April Glaser, NBC News, 8 June 2021, updated 9 June 2021, McDonald’s french fries, carrots, onions: all of the foods that come from Bill Gates farmland: Gates does not appear to count his farming investments as the nation’s largest farmland owner as part of his broader strategy to save the climate.

The story goes into some detail about how a few big corporate farmland owners crowd out small farmers. She didn’t go for my comparison to Wal-Mart, and I suppose my comparison to the Highland Clearances was a bit too obscure, but she got the point and backed it up with documentation.

Then there’s this part:

“Shell of a shell of a shell”

Public records suggest Cascade Investments has bought its farmland through a web of at least 22 limited liability shell companies across the country. These shell companies have made it difficult to find out where and how much farmland the Gateses own even for local farmers, like John S. Quarterman, a farmer and landowner who grows okra, corn, squash and other vegetables in Lowndes County on the southern edge of Georgia.

John Quarterman on his farm in Lowndes County, Ga. Matt Odom / for NBC News

That’s where the Gateses began buying land in 2013 through two limited liability corporations registered to an address in Kirkland by Derek Yurosek, then head of agriculture operations for Cascade.

When Quarterman first heard about Gates’ firm buying land in the area, he began digging through local property records, linking addresses and business records from registered owners to Kirkland-based companies, until he was able to piece together that the companies buying multiple tracts of land in the Suwannee River Basin were all a “shell of a shell of a shell company investing for Bill Gates.” NBC News’ independently confirmed that there were, in fact, shell companies tracing back to Gates’ firm that purchased 6,021 acres across four counties in Georgia.

That includes Continue reading →

Swamp burn 2020-03-01

When you live in a fire forest, you must burn every few years. We caught up on about 23 acres of burning of piney woods, seepage slope, and swamp. All this was inside concentric rings of firebreaks, with no danger of it escaping off our property.

Don’t worry, for the wildlife there are plenty of brambles and woods and swamp unburned this year. More next year. And quail, gopher tortoises, and other wildlife don’t like the woods too thick anyway.

Gretchen spreading fire with a rake

For why we burn, see Continue reading →

67th Ham and Eggs show, Lowndes County only one left in U.S. 2017-02-14

The last of a century-old tradition: local ham and eggs, right here in Lowndes County.

When: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017
1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017

Where: Lowndes County Extension Office
2102 E. Hill Ave., Valdosta, GA

Photo: Michael Rivera, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons share, remix, attribution, share alike.

Daniel DeMersseman, VDT, 2017-02-10, Ham and Egg Show tradition returns,

Lowndes County’s annual Ham and Egg Show returns for its 67th year Feb. 14, 15.

The show once spread across every county in Georgia, said Velma Miles, chairman of the Lowndes Improvement Association. “We’re the only one left.”

Miles said the Continue reading →

Bees and Wildlife Gardens –Student Track @ SOGALO17 2017-01-21

The students like the bees.

South Georgia Growing Local is inside a new venue with cooking facilities!

When: 9AM-4:30 PM, Saturday, January 21st 2017 today, right now!

Where: Continue reading →

Backyard Hens –Claudia Dunkley @ SOGALO17 2017-01-21

A popular class, Backyard Hens, and Claudia Dunkley of UGA is the expert all around.

South Georgia Growing Local is inside a new venue with cooking facilities!

When: 9AM-4:30 PM, Saturday, January 21st 2017 today, right now!

Where: Continue reading →

Today! A good day for growing things and learning about them inside @ SOGALO17 2017-01-21

Come on down this morning to PineVale Elementary and learn about growing things in our south Georgia subtropical climate! It’s rainy this morning and afternoon, and breezy all day; a great day for growing, and South Georgia Growing Local will be inside a new venue with cooking facilities!

When: 9AM-4:30 PM, Saturday, January 21st 2017

Where: Pinevale Elementary School, 930 Lake Park Road, Valdosta GA.

Facebook: event and Community

Web: page with schedule.

If you’re still not convinced, watch Gretchen explain it on the radio with Continue reading →

Growing Backyard Chickens –Claudia Dunkley @ SOGALO17 2017-01-21

Dr. Claudia Dunkley, Extension Poultry Scientist, will speak about Growing Backyard Chickens at South Georgia Growing Local 2017, January 21, 2017 in Valdosta, Georgia:

Basic information for beginning a backyard flock including: breeds, housing, nutrition, egg production and biosecurity.

Her conference bio: Continue reading →

Tomorrow! and inside out of the rain @ SOGALO17 2017-01-21

It may rain Saturday (tomorrow!), but South Georgia Growing Local will be inside at a new venue with cooking facilities! Watch Gretchen explain it on the radio with Chris Beckham and Scott James.