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March 09, 1995 - Florida 's Wild West of Lake Okeechobee,March ;9, , 1995 •. The ,S,uffok Times - .7 A Florida 's Wild West of Lake Okeechobee By Paul Stoutenburgh Florida's weather is not all peaches and cream. It does have its cloudy days, tor- rential rains with high winds and thunder- storms along with occasional cool and downright chilly mornings but, by and large, we've enjoyed the warmth of this sunshine state. Right now, it's hard to tell when one season starts and the other ends. Back on Long Island one knows all too well that spring has come when you hear and see the Focus on tractors turning over the rich earth. Mature Here in Florida we see new sugar- cane sprouting up in one field, while in another its trash is being burned off to make way for har- vesting, while in still another we see the sugarcane with its half- ripened heads telling us that maturity is near. Sugarcane grows somewhat like our phragmites, or plume grass, that we see in wet areas but its stems are thicker and its plume finer and silkier. Then, to confuse the new- comer, some of the orange groves are heavy with their fruit, some are being picked and shipped along the highways in huge trailers, while in other groves you can't see a trace of fruit. So I've given up trying to determine the season by the crops grown. My standard is bird life. Flocks of'redwings are gathering for the trip north and in the middle of March you'll be seeing them in wet areas, the males first with their new fiery orange -red epaulets that are raised on high with spread wings to entice some female. It's the male's job to stake out a territory and then sing his heart out in hopes of interest- ing the female to become his bride and start building their grass - bundled nest. We've just recently visited the largest lake in Florida that is basically situated in the south - central part of this semitropical state, Lake Okeechobee. On our way over there, we traveled along the west side of the lake where many ranches were spread out about us. It's still hard to think of Florida raising more cattle than the state of Texas — at least, that's what I've been told down here. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh TURKEY —From Maine to Florida, turkeys are making a strong comeback. Some have been released by the state here on Long Island and reports are that they are doing well. Big Sandhill Cranes In one of the fields where cattle were grazing we saw Sandhill cranes stalking insects. My, how big they are! They dwarf our great blue heron and are just as leery of people. They seem to always be in the middle of a field so that no one can approach them without being seen and with their tall stance they see everything. Of Community Farms SOUTHOLD —The community farm, or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the topic of an informational meeting set for 10 am. Saturday, March 18, at Southold United Methodist Church. CSA involves the cooperation of a full -time grower with members who buy shares and participate in the farm's op- erations. For more information, call Denise Markut (734 -5069) or Paula Croteau (765- 6032). Bridge Results Mattituck Bridge Club March 1 Results 1. Ann Driscoll -Ted Ferguson; 2. Stelle -Jim Manos; 3. Joan Halligan -Peg Connors; 4. Helen Belmont- Dorothy Sawyer. Call Marion Gibson at 7224857. Cutchogue Bridge Club March 3 Results 1. Charles Michel- Louise Deland; 2. Stelle- Jim Manos; 3. Florence Tritt-Helen Belmont; 4. Frances Deegan -Marge Nittoli. Call Marion Gibson at 722 -4857. in other parts of the country, is one of shame and regret; even to this day they are not completely accepted. We did get good views later of the big, long - legged caracara on our way home where we saw it feeding on a road kill along with some vultures. I'm always curi- ous as to what has attracted these scav- engers so I stopped the camper and walked back to investigate. They were dining high for what I found was a freshly killed hen turkey. So freshly killed it was, I almost thought of taking it back and cleaning it for a turkey dinner but on second thought I left it to the onlookers in the nearby trees. It's Festival Season We hope to take in one of the many fes- tivals that are found throughout the state during the winter season and, like the Strawberry Festival we have each year, they feature some product or event. The one at LaBelle a few miles to the west of us is the Swamp Cabbage Festival. It doesn't sound too great but it really doesn't come from the swamp. Rather it comes from the sable palm that is Florida's state tree. The way I heard it, it comes from the bud of a 12- to 20 -foot- tall palm where they cut the top out and peel all the old husks off until the three - foot heart is exposed. This delicacy is then cut up in small pieces and eaten raw Our destination was wet areas around Okeechobee. or cook d ' t f d d All along the way cattle egrets (like our small, white egret) hunted insects along the roadsides. In some areas they were so used to man they walked the streets of the busiest sections of town seeking insects that might be hidden in flower beds and bushes. I believe it's one of the most common birds in Florida and to think they originally came from Africa only a short time ago. `in some ar On our tour of the area we egrets wer were able to photograph wood storks, those true, almost -all- man they white storks that stand three feet streets of tall. They are a beautiful bird to see in flight with their huge feet section trailing and their long neck and bill pointing the way ahead. We drove out to an Indian reservation in hopes of seeing burrowing owls and a special kind of hawk called the caracara that our guidebook told us should be there. As happens so often, we saw none but were impressed with the reservation with small, neat homes along the highway. The early history of Indians here, as 1_e69iliiililll ■_wwiL nwwL 75 Years Ago March 5, 1920 Peconic Boy May Pitch for Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of March 1 published the following item: H.E. Goldsmith, varsity pitcher of the St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y., team, has been offered a contract by president Charles Ebbetts of the Brooklyn National League Club, and expects to sign at the close of college in June, when he plans to join the Brooklyn club and try out for a position on Ebbetts' pitching stab. Goldsmith is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Goldsmith of Peconic. His work in the Eastern Long Island Amateur League last season attracted the attention of several major league scouts. Largely through his gilt -edged twirling the Mattituck team ended the season at the top of the league. For the past two years he has done the bulk of the pitching for his college nine. Besides a wide assortment of curves and much speed, "Goldie" has a spitball which has proved the despair of opposing batsmen and brought him many a strikeout. He is of the rangy type, well fitted to stand the grind of big league baseball. 50 Years Ago March 16, 1945 Servicemen's Column: The fact that the local e rn a varre y o ways an serve at the Swamp Cabbage Festival. In early days the Indians and later the early settlers used this section of the palm as a staple food but today it's only harvested for special occasions. There are lots of other events going on, like parades, band concerts, country dancing, rodeos, etc., and, of course, the crown- ing of a Swamp Cabbage Queen. eas the cattle Hours later — we've just come in from our evening bike ride down a e so used to long road into this wonderful camp - walked the site. The last few days were spent visiting relatives in Fort Myers and the busiest we're glad to be back in the peace s and quiet of the countryside. Biking of town.' in just now, we passed the lone sen- tinel, the bald eagle, sitting on his dead tree guarding his nest site a short distance away. He arrives there each evening to spend the night and we always pedal down to see him. My, he's a monarch! A covey of quail ran along the hedgerow alongside the road where the cattle grazed in peace and quiet. Darkness is slowly folding up the day and it's time to settle in. Our days are full and sleet/ comes easv. draft board has nearly exhausted its supply of available men for the armed forces from Greenport was demonstrated this week when Earl Gillespie, married and the father of eight children, was drafted. Gillespie left on Tuesday of this week to enter the armed forces. Wanted: Voters to go to the polls on Tuesday, March 20, and vote for Washington White, a capable business man, as mayor of the Village of Greenport. (Advertisement) 25 Years Ago March 13, 1970 Board Opposes Island Condemnation: Southold Town went on record Tuesday as opposed to any county condemnation of Robin's Island for a public park. Removal of the 434 -acre island from the roll in event of any county takeover would extract $20,893 from the tax roll, it was explained, including one -sixth of the entire school taxes of New Suffolk. Suffolk is Top GOP County: Suffolk County Republicans were told by the party's National Commit- tee this week what they have long suspected — that Suf- folk is the nation's No. 1 Republican county. Suffolk produced the top plurality in the nation for President Nixon, 96,000 votes.