Tag Archives: Okra Paradise Farms

Corn snake in the hand

Snake in the grass and in the hand:

Snake in the grass Snake in the hand

Yellow Dog caught this snake by the swamp. She set it down when I told her too (I was surprised). When she and Brown Dog went off in the brush, I picked it up to transport it where they wouldn’t get it again. Snake on the skin: Continue reading →

Mallory blueberries on WCTV 2012-06-25

More blueberries than peaches in Georgia fruit production, featured on WCTV and at Valdosta Farm Days.

Eames Yates wrote for WCTV 25 June 2012 Blueberries Overtake Peaches as Georgia’s Largest Fruit Crop,

The Georgia peach has been bumped from the top spot when it comes to fruit production in the state. The new leader of the pack: Blueberries, which are now the number one selling fruit crop in Georgia.

Georgia has more than 19,000 acres of blueberries. And about 12,000 acres of peaches. The Mallory’s operate a blueberry farm in Valdosta. So far this year they’ve sold about 1,200 gallons of blueberries worth more than $9,000 dollars.

Mallory’s Farm owner Shirley Mallory said Continue reading →

Potatoes to market

We dug the potatoes and washed them yesterday, and this morning Gretchen just left with them for Valdosta Farm Days, Historic Courthouse Square, 100 West Central Avenue, Valdosta, GA:

Digging and washing:

Digging Washing

Potatoes and grits, plus rosemary, in the car for Valdosta Farm Days: Continue reading →

Gypsy the circus elephant, Lowndes County, GA 1902

My father told me about the circus elephant that escaped in Valdosta and ran as far north as Cat Creek, a few miles from where we live, going on 111 years ago. My great-aunt Evalyn told us more; she was 17 when it happened and about 97 when she told us where she was then living in Texas. It seems she got it mostly right, although it’s not clear exactly what the right story is.

Lowndes County Historical Society and Museum, undated, Gypsy the Elephant,

The story of Gypsy the elephant is one of Valdosta’s most bizarre and notable stories. In 1902 Gypsy, a large Asian elephant who belonged to the Harris-Nickle-Plate circus, killed her trainer, broke free, and went on a rampage in Valdosta before eventually being brought down north of town by the chief or police. At the time, the incident was so peculiar that people in surrounding towns accused the citizens of Valdosta of fabricating the entire story for publicity.

Our old family neighbor Albert Pendleton (from when we all lived on Varnedoe Street in Valdosta; way before my time), added: Continue reading →

Monsanto loses French appeal, reconvicted of poisoning

Will we listen to French farmer Paul François, who sued Monsanto for nerve damage due to inhaling Lasso weedkiller, and won last year? Monsanto appealed, but François just won

“Farmers need to understand that those who speak for them are businessmen who defend other interests, very lucrative for the businessmen, who do not care about farmers’ health or the health of those around us.”
the appeal, too. Now the court is gauging losses to determine penalties for Monsanto. This after back in 2009 France convicted Monsanto of lying about its claims that Roundup was “biodegradable” and “left the soil clean”. And Argentinean tobacco farmers are suing Monsanto in New Castle County Court, Delaware, saying Monsanto “knowingly poisoned them with herbicides and pesticides and subsequently caused ”devastating birth defects” in their children”. These same Monsanto herbicides and pesticides are sprayed on most fields around here, and they’re just as much poisons here as in Argentina or France.

Paul François answered questions from Pierre Penin for Sud Ouest (southwest France) 8 February 2013,

Continue reading →