I took a picture on my walk today to give you an idea of the surroundings here in John Prince County Park. This picture is taken from the road looking across a slough. (At least we would call it a slough in Missouri.) If you look carefully, you can see a Great Egret wading in the water, fishing (or maybe frogging?). To the left up, on the land is a Great Blue Heron, who seems to be just hanging around. There are at least three kinds of herons here. In addition to the Great Blue, there are Tricolored Herons and Green Herons.
Last weekend I went up to Inverness, FL to visit family members. Inverness is perhaps 150 to 200 miles north of here. It is amazing how the climate changes here in Florida by going such a small distance north. It was, at least ten degrees cooler, cooler enough so that long pants rather than shorts were called for.
Whereas the dominant feature here in the Fort Worth area, is either ocean or wetlands, Inverness is dominated by low rolling hill with intermittent areas of wetland. There is a lot of calcium rock there, remains, I suppose from the time when Florida was covered by a shallow sea. There are considerable phosphate deposits in northern Florida, and these are the result of the remains of small organisms, diatom-like, I suppose from when the area was covered by a shallow sea.
When one thinks of Florida agriculture, one thinks of oranges. Over the years the orange growing has moved south because of occasional freezing weather which can kill orange trees. I wonder what effect global warming will have on the location of orange groves in the future. Tomatoes and strawberries are wonderful Florida products and are just coming into the stores now. In this area there is a significant immigrant population, which I am told is involved in vegetable farming. Guatemalans are particularly prominent. On Sundays, one sees teams of Guatemalans playing soccer. Family picnics and get-togethers in the park are a common and pleasant sight.
Last weekend I went up to Inverness, FL to visit family members. Inverness is perhaps 150 to 200 miles north of here. It is amazing how the climate changes here in Florida by going such a small distance north. It was, at least ten degrees cooler, cooler enough so that long pants rather than shorts were called for.
Whereas the dominant feature here in the Fort Worth area, is either ocean or wetlands, Inverness is dominated by low rolling hill with intermittent areas of wetland. There is a lot of calcium rock there, remains, I suppose from the time when Florida was covered by a shallow sea. There are considerable phosphate deposits in northern Florida, and these are the result of the remains of small organisms, diatom-like, I suppose from when the area was covered by a shallow sea.
When one thinks of Florida agriculture, one thinks of oranges. Over the years the orange growing has moved south because of occasional freezing weather which can kill orange trees. I wonder what effect global warming will have on the location of orange groves in the future. Tomatoes and strawberries are wonderful Florida products and are just coming into the stores now. In this area there is a significant immigrant population, which I am told is involved in vegetable farming. Guatemalans are particularly prominent. On Sundays, one sees teams of Guatemalans playing soccer. Family picnics and get-togethers in the park are a common and pleasant sight.
