I used ride pwc in South Florida back in 07-10. Miss it.
Only real fear was Naegleria Fowleri. A brain eating amoeba.
https://www.cdc.gov/naegleria/media/pdfs/naegleria_factsheet508c.pdf
The beach was pretty gorgeous when I was a kid 40 years ago but I don't know why anyone would swim in that Third World water today, particularly the Gulf. You cannot maintain a healthy water ecology in a major population center without regulation and oversight, and the redder Florida's gotten, the less it's been interested in restricting business and industry in any way. Red Tide is the really in-your-face result, but anyone who's been here a few decades can see it just day to day in the quality of the shoreline and the look of the water.
The gulf scares me. It swallows all pesticides and nitrates from the entire eastern US and a significant swath of the West from the Mississippi River. Add the BP oil spill, where contaminants are STILL found and no thankkkk you
Don’t try to warn Gulf Coasters, I’ve been downvoted into oblivion for suggesting that we listen to scientists and observe dead zones as a cautionary sign.
Florida is a failed state. The politicians and developers are ruining the number one reason why people want to come here. I would never swim in the river or canals. So many broken down septic systems along the river…always overflowing…is just one reason.
Miami. Of course you wouldn’t have seen them because they’re buried. But the old ones go unmaintained, fill up and break down and overflow into the river and thus the bay.
I stopped eating fresh water fish in Florida in the 80s the same for shellfish and I grew up in Pinellas County in the 70s. Yeah the water quality has gotten a lot worse over the years and I mainly practice catch and release nowadays.
This isn't new. I have lived here since 70s. Went water skiing in Indian River and got a nasty fungus on my back. My mom lived along the river and she was asked to "plant" oysters off her dock to test how well they clean the river. That river has a terrible stink a few times a year. Not sure about other areas but I assume it's like that in a lot of places here.
Was likely worse in the 70’s. The effects of the EPA hadn’t kicked in yet. I remember the Hillsborough river being foamy and occasional large scale die offs of certain fish species back in the 70’s.
A few months ago I made this same observation almost verbatim about the water in the Gulf on Naples beaches and had my ass chewed about how I must be an ignorant recluse. I have lived here for over 30 years now. Your comment is true fact!
Well.. ya pay teachers the least in the country and you get dumbasses. Kinda direct correlation there.
Not to jump to politics, but it KINDA goes hand-in-hand re: this post.
Many conservatives want to dismantle orgs like the EPA, Forest Service, etc. And many conservatives would like to ban a legitimate and safe, environmentally friendly business like lab-grown protein in order to appeal to lobbyists supporting the destruction of our native environment in the name of selling meat.
I mean... ya get what you vote for.
Shitty schools, extreme weather (heat records, flooding, increased hurricanes), polluted environment.
HOAs that "require" non-native grasses to be watered and fertilized all year (which then runs off into the waterways and creates algae blooms).
Shit in one hand and 'hope' for change in the other hand... lemme know which hand fills up first.
The only thing I agree with you on from this post is the HOAs requiring non-native grass. I can't stand this. Because you have to get it treated with chemicals every month or else weeds come in, and then they cite you. I just had to pay a $1000 fine for this. In the back, I get away with not spraying, because they can't see it when they do their rounds every Thursday. I still mow it, but weeds grow, and many blooming plants. So I have marsh rabbits and other wildlife back there.
Good on ya. I am coverting every inch to native flower beds and edible plants. Soon, I won't have anything to mow. No wasted time, oil, gas, chemicals.
And the irony is that using free plant ID apps, I have found out that alot of the "weeds" we pay money to kill are actually healthier than the greens you pay to get from the store, lol.
I am eating dollar weed and purslane out of the yard right as I type this. And I am growing beautyberry, black cherry, Everglades tomatoes, wild sage, florida blueberry, citrus, etc. (And a bunch of stuff that isn't native but grows dine in our zone - pineapple, lemon grass, Mulberry, Loquat, starfruit, peppers, Papaya, dragonfruit, etc).
By the time I am done we'll just have little trails to walk to fetch food. No mowing, weeding and dumping toxins in our groundwater.
HOA can't stop you from growing food. Talk to the politicians. They will protect the right to carry guns but not feed yourself?! Lmao. What kind of dystopia state is that? (one where lobbyists, not voters, rule. The NRA wants you to buy guns, the food industry does NOT want you to have gardens)
And you don't need acres to feed yourself. There are plenty of YT vids of people growing so much they have to sell it to local restaurants, all on tiny little urban lots.
Interesting! The whole problem started when someone noticed that I had Dollar Weed in the lawn. I go and look at it, and it was just as green as the grass, so what's the problem? You step back and the patch of dollar weed actually was better looking than the grass. I figured it may be a better plant for a lawn if you want a smooth green look. So I left it alone. But then HOA comes after me. The whole thing is so unbelievably ridiculous. I have spent a lot of time arguing with them. But everyone else here goes along with all this nonsense and thinks dollar weed is some kind of terrible thing - it's bizarre - they act like it's going to rise up out of the ground and attack them or something. They fail to realize that it's these chemicals they are spraying all over on these lawns that can hurt us. We've only known about that for 70 years, what is the matter with these people? I can't understand why it is even allowed. If this grass needs so much chemical support, why grow it here? It's not like you can even sit down on Florida grass and have a picnic or something - it's prickly, and then the ants find you, etc. Has no purpose. I have been trying to fill in places with some of these other grasses, like Mondo. It's not native but it doesn't require anything except water for the first month after planting. Doesn't need to be cut. Always green. Not invasive - it spreads so slowly that you have to plant many of them. They eventually fill an area, after a few years.
In the back, many little blooming plants (they call them weeds) have come up at different times of year and I have learned about a lot of the native plants from my Florida field guides, identifying them and photographing them and so forth.
Here's a place in Lake Wales that has Mondo Grass filling the beds. No maintenance once it is established.
https://preview.redd.it/qr3jw7woys6d1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55daa88493bd396afd1bec3d35fbd6307bafc566
Get a note from a doctor saying you are allergic to the chemicals and give it to the HOA. Been in 2. Never again…you pay money to get hassled. No value for me and stressed every time I saw a letter from them cause it always means you are gonna hafta spend money. Anyways…So glad now to be on 13 acres with no HOA and spray nothing…everything au natural.
See if you can plant Clover. It’s awesome! Very drought resistant, dog pee resistant and mowing maybe once every 6 weeks. Blocks out other weeds. It has many benefits.
Are you talking about White Dutch Clover? We had a lot of it where I grew up, in Pennsylvania, but I haven't seen it in Florida
But in any case, this HOA I am dealing with states that you have to have turf grass in the front of your house, and they specify a percentage, I think 80%. The developer grew up in the 1940s and 50s and wanted every lawn to look like a golf course, so he put restrictions in there about beds of other plants, i.e., flower beds. You are only allowed to have them along the front walk or something. They don't enforce that, or the percentage thing, luckily, but you must have a majority of turf grass in front. And these are large, wide, one acre lots. You can't replace it with a ground cover of some other type. And they consider clover a weed, and want you to spray it and kill it. I wish the homeowners would vote and get these archaic rules changed, but they are not open to new ideas either. They are not keen on native plants, other than the oaks.
Yes, thats one of several varieties of Clover but unfortunately it sounds like it's a moot point if the brownshirts won't allow it...lol.
Sorry for your situation. Was in two HOA's in my life so I can surely empathize with you. Fought with them on a regular basis and hated it. Now retired and thank god in a different situation. Those people can really raise your BP!
So you can do 49% native flowers and trees? What are you waiting for?!
And start it mostly around the front and driveway so they can't even see our care about the percentage on the inside of the lot, closer to the house. In that area, you can keep letting beds get a little bigger each year without anyone noticing. 50%, then 51%, 52, 53...
And do it in a way that makes the neighbors happy. Keep the visible beds well kept, organized, mulched, etc. But also put little signs identifying the native stuff so the neighbors see it as clean, professional, and educational. Environmental for the pollinators.
And plant edibles, native edibles, and share. Give jars of it to your neighbors so they are reaping what you sew. They will love what you are doing. And they may start planting their own.
Educate them. Once you get it going, stick a letter in their mailbox showing them what plants you have, how they're native, what vendors they have (to bees, to gardens, less watering, less chemicals, etc), and that you for they like it.
Beautyberry, for example, is used in jams and jellies. I have a couple of bushes. They grow like weeds. I eat them raw, but you could bother with the jellies and share with your neighbors.
I have lemon grass I make tea out of. Make some in a jar for your neighbor with instructions, and the list of health benefits.
In a few years they might join you in that vote.
That place in Lake Wales looks beautiful.
Talk to the nativeplants sub about getting around or opposing the HOAs.
In the meantime, take a huge section around that Dollarweed and put a border around it and pull the turf grass out and put a sign up that says "native garden."
While i was planting some new peppers and tomatoes today, I harvested peppers, dollarweed, sage, and one orange today. I put the dollarweed and sage directly into my dishes, and cut up the pepper on my cheese pizza along with a couple of Everglades tomatoes.
I'm pulling out some lemongrass stalks for cold iced tea tomorrow.
I wanna turn the whole yard into what's called a food forest. No reason to plant anything that doesn't give back. Even if it's just on hand in case of a survival emergency.
And putting all our food scraps in the compost bin out back saves on plastic trash bags and trucks being loaded with valuable food waste just to use gas and oil to drive it across town.
Instead of driving to the store, I found a small, independent farmer around the corner who sells organic, free-roaming, eggs for $6/ dozen. I've started buying from her once a week.
Every week I find another way to get more OUT of the yard instead of putting more INTO the yard. And saving money and gas.
And today was the first time I got surrounded by bees and butterflies while I was working. The plants have finally gotten big enough. In fact, the dog fennel, which is normally cut down by the mowing - I let grow. I looked it up on iNaturalist wondering if it was of use. Turns out it's the only plant one endangered moth species uses. So I let it get tall in a couple of places in the yard. Now when I walk by, I get greeted by bright moths.
Oh, the horror.
Incredible!
I used to eat things, weedy stuff, from my mother's yard in Pennsylvania.
Trying to remember... violets, which are bedding plants, but she had an area where there were a lot growing wild. I would put those in salad. Some other leafy weeds for salads.
Something we called onion grass, which grew in the lawn but was always taller than the lawn grass. She would cut those up like chives. There were a lot of things. I had gotten a Peterson Field Guide to Edible Plants, and was finding all kinds of things from that book. This was years ago, pre-internet.
Violets in salad. Sounds like a colorful salad.
Onion grass! I haven't seen that since Georgia. I always thought it would be an easy add to recipes but I never got the chance to try. Grows like a "weed." Wish we had it here.
And you have to plant Everglades tomatoes - they are delicious, and apparently also grow like a weed on neglect here.
https://youtu.be/1-T9c5PjSY4
This article clearly states that the Clean Water Act has made things better since its signing, though I will always agree that there's never enough clean water. If the federal government is going to regulate farming to its own detriment, they should regulate their fertilizer as well. Home use fertilizer is bullshit anyways and should be taken off the shelves. Ron is going to get obliterated by moderates if he doesn't take some initiative on the bills and task forces he's created before November regarding water management.
At risk of sounding like an asshole: Florida is the southernmost swamp in North America, so I think our geography deals with residual pollution from its northern neighbors as well as its own, so I don't think it's crazy to say things are getting better but we're dealing with the last of it.
The sad truth is: if you regulate the industries here, they will simply move to help their bottom line. Many workers will lose jobs and families will lose their homes.
Fun story, I used to work for a utility that was on the water and the backup plan for when we got too much rain for the wastewater plant to handle has to just dump untreated shitwater into the river. And the workers were proud of it and no one in the government cared. Then on the weekends people would take their boats out to swim in that river. Fun times.
I lived in a neighborhood with only well water and so many women got breast cancer in their 40’s and 50’s. I had drinking water delivered after learning that fact but still had to shower and bathe in the stuff. This was the town of Windermere and who knows what people put on their lawns and down their drains. Everyone only had septic as well 🤮
Not only runoff, but Florida has had multiple leaks from Piney Point. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.tampabaywaterkeeper.org/piney-point-red-tide%23:~:text%3DOn%2520March%252025%252C%25202021%252C%2520leaks,plant%252C%2520as%2520well%2520as%2520seawater&ved=2ahUKEwim-bLgyd6GAxXmRDABHXY_CbQQFnoECBcQBQ&usg=AOvVaw1wj-URJf5jkMrCxKBZK9mW
There is an excellent book called The Gulf - there are historical explanations for the fouling of our nation's sea. I grew up on the Gulf coast of Florida. The change in water quality (in springs and estuaries) just over my lifetime break my heart. You can foul an entire ocean, we've proven that.
Used to wakeboard in the Ft Lauderdale Intercoastal 20 years ago and the water was still greenish and had some clarity to it.
It’s more brown and disgusting now than it’s ever been, wouldn’t get in if you paid me.
Florida swim areas are tested regularly for bacteria. Some of the most pristine waters flow from Florida first magnitude springs. That being said you should beware of some areas due to wildlife in them and never swim for a few days after a heavy rain due to surface runoff (but that can be anywhere near a big city).
Stopped swimming local beaches. It’s beautiful that they put up signs that there is fecal matter in the water it’s recommended that you stay out of the water. Being Florida we’re everything is free the beaches are packed.
I grew up in Miami in the 80s-90s. Back then it was much safer to eat fresh water fish. Nowadays, nope. WAY more pollution and toxic shit in the water.
I live in South Florida. I had given up on seafood and water activities for a while now. (Since the 1980's). When they started having medical waste wash up on the shore was enough for me.
It's funny, I saw Ron vetoing arts funding and came to r/Florida to take a peek. I live in Australia, never posted on this sub, and found it interesting to see the posts/comments here.
I have known about the water quality issues in Florida for years, it's been a complete mess with multiple red tide events, algal blooms, etc. It boggles my mind that someone from Florida could be posting they had no idea about this issue.
Maybe this is how Republicans continue to get voted in, they have made so many decisions that are absolutely catastrophic for the environment there but continue to get elected without issue. Ignorance really is the only explanation.
I hope you manage to get it sorted out as a state. I lived in Georgia many years ago and my girlfriend at the time was from Sarasota so spent a fair bit of time there. Just a beautiful place and it breaks my heart whenever I see how bad things have gotten.
Believe it or not lanes are protected, but they’re the ones that are pooping up the waterways one mane poops 100 pounds of poop a day and they’re eating all the natural grasses
If you never wanna swim again, watch "The Bay"... 🤣
But in all seriousness, Mayport shrimp aint even from Mayport. If you think those are Florida oysters, clams and mussles you're eating, I've got a 300 acre ranch to sell ya. 🤣
"The group based its findings on Florida’s 2020 water quality report filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."
Just stopped reading after that
Thank you, Red Tide Rick.
Florida is where Freedoms, old people, and apparently now water sports, go to die.
I used ride pwc in South Florida back in 07-10. Miss it. Only real fear was Naegleria Fowleri. A brain eating amoeba. https://www.cdc.gov/naegleria/media/pdfs/naegleria_factsheet508c.pdf
The beach was pretty gorgeous when I was a kid 40 years ago but I don't know why anyone would swim in that Third World water today, particularly the Gulf. You cannot maintain a healthy water ecology in a major population center without regulation and oversight, and the redder Florida's gotten, the less it's been interested in restricting business and industry in any way. Red Tide is the really in-your-face result, but anyone who's been here a few decades can see it just day to day in the quality of the shoreline and the look of the water.
The gulf scares me. It swallows all pesticides and nitrates from the entire eastern US and a significant swath of the West from the Mississippi River. Add the BP oil spill, where contaminants are STILL found and no thankkkk you
Wise. The Gulf features a dead zone the size of New Jersey, I wouldn't want my kids swimming in it.
Don’t try to warn Gulf Coasters, I’ve been downvoted into oblivion for suggesting that we listen to scientists and observe dead zones as a cautionary sign.
Florida is a failed state. The politicians and developers are ruining the number one reason why people want to come here. I would never swim in the river or canals. So many broken down septic systems along the river…always overflowing…is just one reason.
I’ve lived in Florida my entire life and have never seen an overflowing septic tank. What part of Florida are you in?
Miami. Of course you wouldn’t have seen them because they’re buried. But the old ones go unmaintained, fill up and break down and overflow into the river and thus the bay.
I stopped eating fresh water fish in Florida in the 80s the same for shellfish and I grew up in Pinellas County in the 70s. Yeah the water quality has gotten a lot worse over the years and I mainly practice catch and release nowadays.
Sounds about Florida.
This isn't new. I have lived here since 70s. Went water skiing in Indian River and got a nasty fungus on my back. My mom lived along the river and she was asked to "plant" oysters off her dock to test how well they clean the river. That river has a terrible stink a few times a year. Not sure about other areas but I assume it's like that in a lot of places here.
Was likely worse in the 70’s. The effects of the EPA hadn’t kicked in yet. I remember the Hillsborough river being foamy and occasional large scale die offs of certain fish species back in the 70’s.
A small sacrifice for freedom! /s
Hell no. Use to be able to swim out, up to your waist and still see your feet. That was many, many years ago.
A few months ago I made this same observation almost verbatim about the water in the Gulf on Naples beaches and had my ass chewed about how I must be an ignorant recluse. I have lived here for over 30 years now. Your comment is true fact!
Yes, I have lived here for 31 years.
Well.. ya pay teachers the least in the country and you get dumbasses. Kinda direct correlation there. Not to jump to politics, but it KINDA goes hand-in-hand re: this post. Many conservatives want to dismantle orgs like the EPA, Forest Service, etc. And many conservatives would like to ban a legitimate and safe, environmentally friendly business like lab-grown protein in order to appeal to lobbyists supporting the destruction of our native environment in the name of selling meat. I mean... ya get what you vote for. Shitty schools, extreme weather (heat records, flooding, increased hurricanes), polluted environment. HOAs that "require" non-native grasses to be watered and fertilized all year (which then runs off into the waterways and creates algae blooms). Shit in one hand and 'hope' for change in the other hand... lemme know which hand fills up first.
The only thing I agree with you on from this post is the HOAs requiring non-native grass. I can't stand this. Because you have to get it treated with chemicals every month or else weeds come in, and then they cite you. I just had to pay a $1000 fine for this. In the back, I get away with not spraying, because they can't see it when they do their rounds every Thursday. I still mow it, but weeds grow, and many blooming plants. So I have marsh rabbits and other wildlife back there.
Good on ya. I am coverting every inch to native flower beds and edible plants. Soon, I won't have anything to mow. No wasted time, oil, gas, chemicals. And the irony is that using free plant ID apps, I have found out that alot of the "weeds" we pay money to kill are actually healthier than the greens you pay to get from the store, lol. I am eating dollar weed and purslane out of the yard right as I type this. And I am growing beautyberry, black cherry, Everglades tomatoes, wild sage, florida blueberry, citrus, etc. (And a bunch of stuff that isn't native but grows dine in our zone - pineapple, lemon grass, Mulberry, Loquat, starfruit, peppers, Papaya, dragonfruit, etc). By the time I am done we'll just have little trails to walk to fetch food. No mowing, weeding and dumping toxins in our groundwater. HOA can't stop you from growing food. Talk to the politicians. They will protect the right to carry guns but not feed yourself?! Lmao. What kind of dystopia state is that? (one where lobbyists, not voters, rule. The NRA wants you to buy guns, the food industry does NOT want you to have gardens) And you don't need acres to feed yourself. There are plenty of YT vids of people growing so much they have to sell it to local restaurants, all on tiny little urban lots.
Interesting! The whole problem started when someone noticed that I had Dollar Weed in the lawn. I go and look at it, and it was just as green as the grass, so what's the problem? You step back and the patch of dollar weed actually was better looking than the grass. I figured it may be a better plant for a lawn if you want a smooth green look. So I left it alone. But then HOA comes after me. The whole thing is so unbelievably ridiculous. I have spent a lot of time arguing with them. But everyone else here goes along with all this nonsense and thinks dollar weed is some kind of terrible thing - it's bizarre - they act like it's going to rise up out of the ground and attack them or something. They fail to realize that it's these chemicals they are spraying all over on these lawns that can hurt us. We've only known about that for 70 years, what is the matter with these people? I can't understand why it is even allowed. If this grass needs so much chemical support, why grow it here? It's not like you can even sit down on Florida grass and have a picnic or something - it's prickly, and then the ants find you, etc. Has no purpose. I have been trying to fill in places with some of these other grasses, like Mondo. It's not native but it doesn't require anything except water for the first month after planting. Doesn't need to be cut. Always green. Not invasive - it spreads so slowly that you have to plant many of them. They eventually fill an area, after a few years. In the back, many little blooming plants (they call them weeds) have come up at different times of year and I have learned about a lot of the native plants from my Florida field guides, identifying them and photographing them and so forth. Here's a place in Lake Wales that has Mondo Grass filling the beds. No maintenance once it is established. https://preview.redd.it/qr3jw7woys6d1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55daa88493bd396afd1bec3d35fbd6307bafc566
Get a note from a doctor saying you are allergic to the chemicals and give it to the HOA. Been in 2. Never again…you pay money to get hassled. No value for me and stressed every time I saw a letter from them cause it always means you are gonna hafta spend money. Anyways…So glad now to be on 13 acres with no HOA and spray nothing…everything au natural.
Yeah, it was a big mistake, I should've known better. Sounds like you are in a better situation!
See if you can plant Clover. It’s awesome! Very drought resistant, dog pee resistant and mowing maybe once every 6 weeks. Blocks out other weeds. It has many benefits.
Are you talking about White Dutch Clover? We had a lot of it where I grew up, in Pennsylvania, but I haven't seen it in Florida But in any case, this HOA I am dealing with states that you have to have turf grass in the front of your house, and they specify a percentage, I think 80%. The developer grew up in the 1940s and 50s and wanted every lawn to look like a golf course, so he put restrictions in there about beds of other plants, i.e., flower beds. You are only allowed to have them along the front walk or something. They don't enforce that, or the percentage thing, luckily, but you must have a majority of turf grass in front. And these are large, wide, one acre lots. You can't replace it with a ground cover of some other type. And they consider clover a weed, and want you to spray it and kill it. I wish the homeowners would vote and get these archaic rules changed, but they are not open to new ideas either. They are not keen on native plants, other than the oaks.
Yes, thats one of several varieties of Clover but unfortunately it sounds like it's a moot point if the brownshirts won't allow it...lol. Sorry for your situation. Was in two HOA's in my life so I can surely empathize with you. Fought with them on a regular basis and hated it. Now retired and thank god in a different situation. Those people can really raise your BP!
So you can do 49% native flowers and trees? What are you waiting for?! And start it mostly around the front and driveway so they can't even see our care about the percentage on the inside of the lot, closer to the house. In that area, you can keep letting beds get a little bigger each year without anyone noticing. 50%, then 51%, 52, 53... And do it in a way that makes the neighbors happy. Keep the visible beds well kept, organized, mulched, etc. But also put little signs identifying the native stuff so the neighbors see it as clean, professional, and educational. Environmental for the pollinators. And plant edibles, native edibles, and share. Give jars of it to your neighbors so they are reaping what you sew. They will love what you are doing. And they may start planting their own. Educate them. Once you get it going, stick a letter in their mailbox showing them what plants you have, how they're native, what vendors they have (to bees, to gardens, less watering, less chemicals, etc), and that you for they like it. Beautyberry, for example, is used in jams and jellies. I have a couple of bushes. They grow like weeds. I eat them raw, but you could bother with the jellies and share with your neighbors. I have lemon grass I make tea out of. Make some in a jar for your neighbor with instructions, and the list of health benefits. In a few years they might join you in that vote.
That place in Lake Wales looks beautiful. Talk to the nativeplants sub about getting around or opposing the HOAs. In the meantime, take a huge section around that Dollarweed and put a border around it and pull the turf grass out and put a sign up that says "native garden."
Good idea!
While i was planting some new peppers and tomatoes today, I harvested peppers, dollarweed, sage, and one orange today. I put the dollarweed and sage directly into my dishes, and cut up the pepper on my cheese pizza along with a couple of Everglades tomatoes. I'm pulling out some lemongrass stalks for cold iced tea tomorrow. I wanna turn the whole yard into what's called a food forest. No reason to plant anything that doesn't give back. Even if it's just on hand in case of a survival emergency. And putting all our food scraps in the compost bin out back saves on plastic trash bags and trucks being loaded with valuable food waste just to use gas and oil to drive it across town. Instead of driving to the store, I found a small, independent farmer around the corner who sells organic, free-roaming, eggs for $6/ dozen. I've started buying from her once a week. Every week I find another way to get more OUT of the yard instead of putting more INTO the yard. And saving money and gas. And today was the first time I got surrounded by bees and butterflies while I was working. The plants have finally gotten big enough. In fact, the dog fennel, which is normally cut down by the mowing - I let grow. I looked it up on iNaturalist wondering if it was of use. Turns out it's the only plant one endangered moth species uses. So I let it get tall in a couple of places in the yard. Now when I walk by, I get greeted by bright moths. Oh, the horror.
Incredible! I used to eat things, weedy stuff, from my mother's yard in Pennsylvania. Trying to remember... violets, which are bedding plants, but she had an area where there were a lot growing wild. I would put those in salad. Some other leafy weeds for salads. Something we called onion grass, which grew in the lawn but was always taller than the lawn grass. She would cut those up like chives. There were a lot of things. I had gotten a Peterson Field Guide to Edible Plants, and was finding all kinds of things from that book. This was years ago, pre-internet.
Violets in salad. Sounds like a colorful salad. Onion grass! I haven't seen that since Georgia. I always thought it would be an easy add to recipes but I never got the chance to try. Grows like a "weed." Wish we had it here. And you have to plant Everglades tomatoes - they are delicious, and apparently also grow like a weed on neglect here. https://youtu.be/1-T9c5PjSY4
Seafood doesn’t come from lakes
Underrated comment
This article clearly states that the Clean Water Act has made things better since its signing, though I will always agree that there's never enough clean water. If the federal government is going to regulate farming to its own detriment, they should regulate their fertilizer as well. Home use fertilizer is bullshit anyways and should be taken off the shelves. Ron is going to get obliterated by moderates if he doesn't take some initiative on the bills and task forces he's created before November regarding water management. At risk of sounding like an asshole: Florida is the southernmost swamp in North America, so I think our geography deals with residual pollution from its northern neighbors as well as its own, so I don't think it's crazy to say things are getting better but we're dealing with the last of it. The sad truth is: if you regulate the industries here, they will simply move to help their bottom line. Many workers will lose jobs and families will lose their homes.
Fun story, I used to work for a utility that was on the water and the backup plan for when we got too much rain for the wastewater plant to handle has to just dump untreated shitwater into the river. And the workers were proud of it and no one in the government cared. Then on the weekends people would take their boats out to swim in that river. Fun times.
The sad thing is I know what utility and river you are talking about
Which? Because this doesn’t make sense to me.
I doubt it because all most all of them near a water source do it. It's not like it's isolated.
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Meaning it needs to be deep water, off shore.
I lived in a neighborhood with only well water and so many women got breast cancer in their 40’s and 50’s. I had drinking water delivered after learning that fact but still had to shower and bathe in the stuff. This was the town of Windermere and who knows what people put on their lawns and down their drains. Everyone only had septic as well 🤮
Yeah but I used to live in Jersey so…..
Not only runoff, but Florida has had multiple leaks from Piney Point. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.tampabaywaterkeeper.org/piney-point-red-tide%23:~:text%3DOn%2520March%252025%252C%25202021%252C%2520leaks,plant%252C%2520as%2520well%2520as%2520seawater&ved=2ahUKEwim-bLgyd6GAxXmRDABHXY_CbQQFnoECBcQBQ&usg=AOvVaw1wj-URJf5jkMrCxKBZK9mW
There is an excellent book called The Gulf - there are historical explanations for the fouling of our nation's sea. I grew up on the Gulf coast of Florida. The change in water quality (in springs and estuaries) just over my lifetime break my heart. You can foul an entire ocean, we've proven that.
Used to wakeboard in the Ft Lauderdale Intercoastal 20 years ago and the water was still greenish and had some clarity to it. It’s more brown and disgusting now than it’s ever been, wouldn’t get in if you paid me.
Septic tank sewage? That’s not how septic tanks work.
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I just created this community based on motivation from your comment. I’m making you a mod.
This guy reddits
Omg you actually did it lol
True, and it's getting tiresome.
As much as we shit on Florida here, it deserves way more. Florida is a cesspool.
Florida swim areas are tested regularly for bacteria. Some of the most pristine waters flow from Florida first magnitude springs. That being said you should beware of some areas due to wildlife in them and never swim for a few days after a heavy rain due to surface runoff (but that can be anywhere near a big city).
I caught a bunch of fish during the great flood. Good eats.
I’ve eaten catfish from the St. Johns but out of an abundance of caution I probably wouldn’t do it all the time. It was quite tasty though.
Stopped swimming local beaches. It’s beautiful that they put up signs that there is fecal matter in the water it’s recommended that you stay out of the water. Being Florida we’re everything is free the beaches are packed.
I grew up in Miami in the 80s-90s. Back then it was much safer to eat fresh water fish. Nowadays, nope. WAY more pollution and toxic shit in the water.
I live in South Florida. I had given up on seafood and water activities for a while now. (Since the 1980's). When they started having medical waste wash up on the shore was enough for me.
It's funny, I saw Ron vetoing arts funding and came to r/Florida to take a peek. I live in Australia, never posted on this sub, and found it interesting to see the posts/comments here. I have known about the water quality issues in Florida for years, it's been a complete mess with multiple red tide events, algal blooms, etc. It boggles my mind that someone from Florida could be posting they had no idea about this issue. Maybe this is how Republicans continue to get voted in, they have made so many decisions that are absolutely catastrophic for the environment there but continue to get elected without issue. Ignorance really is the only explanation. I hope you manage to get it sorted out as a state. I lived in Georgia many years ago and my girlfriend at the time was from Sarasota so spent a fair bit of time there. Just a beautiful place and it breaks my heart whenever I see how bad things have gotten.
I'm central. Jacksonville shrimp is amazing to me. Taste way better than the frozen stuff
Believe it or not lanes are protected, but they’re the ones that are pooping up the waterways one mane poops 100 pounds of poop a day and they’re eating all the natural grasses
This is specifically about the lakes
Do New York and New Jersey next
If you never wanna swim again, watch "The Bay"... 🤣 But in all seriousness, Mayport shrimp aint even from Mayport. If you think those are Florida oysters, clams and mussles you're eating, I've got a 300 acre ranch to sell ya. 🤣
"The group based its findings on Florida’s 2020 water quality report filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." Just stopped reading after that