Tag Archives: John S. Quarterman

Smut no more: tasty corn fungus!

Corn smut a delicacy? Well, if truffles can be, why not?

Jill Neimark, the salt, 24 August 2015, Scourge No More: Chefs Invite Corn Fungus To The Plate,

One evening last July, Nat Bradford walked along rows of White Bolita Mexican corn at his Sumter, S.C., farm, and nearly wept. All 1,400 of the corn plants had been overtaken almost overnight by corn smut, recalls Bradford, who’s also a landscape architect. The smut, from a fungus called Ustilago maydis, literally transforms each corn kernel into a bulbous, bulging bluish-grey gall. It is naturally present in the soil and can be lofted easily into the air and onto plants.

Smut is considered a scourge by most U.S. farmers, and it goes by the nickname “devil’s corn.” Just one discolored kernel typically renders an ear completely unsellable….

Yep, that’s the way we’ve usually considered it. But keep reading: Continue reading →

Elsie Quarterman, Hall of Fame, Tennessee Botanists

2011 inductee, Tennessee Botanists Hall of Fame, Elsie Quarterman,

Elsie Quarterman was born in 1910 in Georgia. She completed her undergraduate work at Georgia State Woman’s College in 1932. Post-graduate studies were done at Duke Univ. where she obtained her Ph.D. in 1949 under Henry J. Osting. She accepted a faculty position at Vanderbilt Univ. and later became the University’s first female department chair, heading the Biology Department in 1964.

Dr. Quarterman is best known for her work on the ecology and plant communities of the cedar glades of the Central Basin. She is widely recognized for the re-discovery of the Tennessee Coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis) in 1969, a plant once thought to be extinct and subsequently the first plant endemic to Tennessee to be protected by the Endangered Species Act. She has received many honors including our very own TNPS Conservation Award. The Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade State Natural Area was named in her honor in 1998.

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Okra, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, and popcorn at Valdosta Farm Days 2015-07-18

Also rosemary, collard seeds…. A bit muggy, you can tell by the foggy picture Gretchen just took at the historic Lowndes County Courthouse in downtown Valdosta, Georgia.

526x701 Market time, in OPF at Valdosta Farm Days, by Gretchen Quarterman, 18 July 2015

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GMOs: worse risk of ruin than nuclear power –Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Because Genetically modified crops risk widespread ruin, they should not be permitted without far greater scientific knowledge, for which the burden of proof falls on those proposing GMOs, not those opposing, say experts in risk and ruin.

Risk management or mitigation may work for localized harm, but GMOs risk widespread systemic damage, which is ruin, and to prevent that the precautionary principal is needed:

if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing severe harm to the public domain (such as general health or the environment), and in the absence of scientific near-certainty about the safety of the action, the burden of proof about absence of harm falls on those proposing the action.

A paper by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and co-authors lays out Continue reading →

Growing local for local economy –Gretchen Quarterman on the Chris Beckham 105.9 radio show @ SOGALO15 2015-01-24

Really on the air this morning, and now on YouTube, talking about “quite the event” as Chris Beckham called it, South Georgia Growing Local, this Saturday, January 24th at Pine Grove Middle School, in Lowndes County, Georgia. Five times five: five tracks in five sessions, from soil to planting to cooking and nutrition, including aquaponics by UGA Professor Pat Duncan and local oils by national award winner Clay Oliver. Space still available; sign up now!


Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms (OPF).

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Gretchen Quarterman on the Scott James 92.1 radio show @ SOGALO15 2015-01-24

See her on YouTube if you missed her on the radio Monday, talking about South Georgia Growing Local, this Saturday, January 24th at Pine Grove Middle School, in Lowndes County, Georgia.

Includes a back yard garden story about her daughter Lindsey, where the apartment manager was very impressed.


Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms (OPF).

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Raising goats. Is it a hobby or a business? –Bobbie Golden @ SOGALO15 2015-01-24

South Georgia Growing Local is also for North Florida, where these goats live.

  • Breeds that are most likely to live in our environment
  • How to market and get some return on your investment

Bobbie’s business is Golden Acres Ranch, between Monticello Florida, and Thomasville, Georgia. Come hear Bobbie talk about her goats at South Georgia Growing Local 2015, this Saturday, January 24th, at Pine Grove Middle School, in Lowndes County, Georgia.

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Gretchen will be on the radio twice this week @ SOGALO15 2015-01-24

Update 2015-01-20: Oops; actually Wednesday January 21st on the Chris Beckham show, still 8AM. Listen in tomorrow!

Morning radio is where a lot of people get their local news, and Gretchen will be talking about South Georgia Growing Local on both the local talk shows this week, reminding everybody about the great lineup of speakers about local agriculture for Saturday January 24th at Pine Grove Middle School.

7:30 AM Monday 19 January 2015
Scott James, 92.1 FM WDDQ, http://www.talk921.com/
facebook event, tunein.

8:00 AM Tuesday 20 Wednesday 21 January 2015
Chris Beckham, 105.9 FM WVGA, http://valdostatoday.com/wvga/
facebook event, tunein.

You can listen to them with a radio, or through various online streaming services, such as tunein.

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