Welcome to my blog~
The adventures of a girl hopelessly in love with nature.
28   Jan
2010 Annual Air Potato Raid
Filed Under (Seminole County) by Kristie on 28-01-2010

So I’m here to tell you why I chose Spring Hammock Preserve as my first natural land to cover on my blog. Can you guess it? Well, it starts with a 2010 and ends with a Raid. Yup, you got it! The 2010 Annual Air Potato Raid. This is an event hosted by the Environmental Studies Center here in Seminole County in order to raise awareness on the HUGE air potato problem we’ve got going on.

I’ll back up and little to talk to you about what an Air Potato IS. It is a non native invasive plant species that just so happens to be my worst enemy. It grows as a vine and wraps itself around plants and trees, restricting them from sun and growth, essentially killing them. This species is my absolute least favourite invasive species because it is so hard to get rid of. The vines are strong and grow little (or in some cases huge) potatoes which will then sprout more vines allowing the cycle to continue. Here is a picture or two for a visual:


As you can see these plants are very harmful to our natural environment. They kill our native plants and trees which then cause shelter and food issues for our wildlife.

So now you know a little more about the air potato and I can talk about the awesome event I attended this past Saturday. There were an estimated 1000 people volunteering at the Environmental Studies Center on the Spring Hammock Preserve Lands removing these and other invasive plants. That is a whole lot of people! And this isn’t easy work~ very rewarding and crucial yes, but easy no. We were so lucky to have amazing volunteers and ended up with bags upon bags upon bags of air potato. We were able to prevent many trees from dying that day, and that is a GREAT feeling.

We usually attack invasives in much smaller numbers, but it’s that continued attention that will help show a difference in the long run. It is great events like this though, that are critical to raising awareness. Plan on being there next year to be apart of it all :) Until then, if you are interested in becoming involved in this effort and aren’t afraid to get a little dirty, I do a invasive plant removal every month and there are many more offered across the county. If you need more info, please contact me. We need EVERYONE to help fight this air potato takeover and if you are interested we’d LOVE to have your help!

Stay tuned for my video log of Spring Hammock Preserve and be prepared for peacefulness!

Any questions or comments? Please feel free to write them here or email me at Kristie@thenaturejunkie.com :D

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Comments:
7 Comments posted on "2010 Annual Air Potato Raid"
Tess The Bold Life on February 7th, 2010 at 3:04 pm #

I had no idea this was going on and yes 1000 volunteers is something to get excited about. I love nature as well. I grew up on a farm and we lived outside. What a gift!

[Reply]

Kristie Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 5:10 pm

Hi Tess,

Growing up on a farm would be quite a wonderful and unique experience! I sometimes even day dream about it myself: owning a horse or two, growing my own organic fruits and vegetables, oh how lovely would that be? ;) I love your blog so much, because I can see that you are connected with nature and nature inspires me so :)

[Reply]

Wilma Ham on February 14th, 2010 at 10:35 pm #

Hi Kristie.
I live in New Zealand and we are battling with many invasive non-natives as well.
But as you say it is worth the effort because seeing native bush appear in its full glory is wonderful.
Me and my partner John moved out of the city to live rurally two years ago and we are enjoying our abundant supply of veggies and fruit, especially now as it is mid summer. Nature never ceases to amaze me.

[Reply]

Kristie Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 4:44 pm

Oh having that fresh fruit and veggies local is wonderful! It’s crazy how many invasives we really do have and you don’t even realize it unless you’re familiar with the species. I had no clue until about a year ago and now I drive or hike around, seeing them all over the place! What are your biggest invasives there? I’d have to say our biggest problem here in Central Florida is the air potato, but we also have a lot of wandering jew, cesaerweed, and bamboo.

[Reply]

Kristie Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 6:37 pm

Also, New Zealand~ very cool! Wouldn’t mind visiting there one day! :)

[Reply]

Wilma Ham on February 15th, 2010 at 9:59 pm #

Hi Kristie
We are growing our own food and we have so much abundance, we are giving away heaps of tomatoes, courgettes, apples, pears and more. Where we live has a great climate so we can grow food all year round.
And of course the weeds love it too and grow prolifically.
Our major weeds are wandering jew which you have as well and gorse, wild ginger and blackberries which overgrow the paddock if we let them, but I love them because their berries are wonderful. John keeps them in check with the weedeater.
I too did not know much about invasive weeds. However we have great forests and there are a lot of people who too want to bring only the natives back and thus are fighting with these invasive weeds.
It is amazing to realize what we don’t know that we don’t know. I too am starting to find that out in many areas of my life, not just nature and I find that extremely exciting. This inquiry is bringing us back to a far more healthy environment, mentally and physically, don’t you think?
And yes, New Zealand is an amazing nature place, as it is not densly populated it is a banquet of beautiful forests, beaches and tramping places.
Love Wilma

[Reply]

Kristie Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 5:18 pm

That sounds amazing! I would love to spend some time in an area that is described as being NOT densley populated ;) And yes, I do find the vast amount of information that I am unaware of exciting! I love to learn and although it can be overwhelming because I want to learn so much at one time, it’s also very motivating.

Growing my own veggies and spices has been on my to do list for some time now and I think that this spring I will finally cross it off. That simple way of life that you are experiencing sounds so great and has been something I’ve wanted for some time. I’ve dreamt of moving to places like Costa Rica, Ireland, and England because they seem like such quaint places (and I LOVE Costa Rica). I find that type of lifestyle kind of hard to pull off here in the U.S. Glad you are taking full advantage of it though~ those fresh blackberries sound amazing :)

Also, I am very much looking forward to ordering and reading some of the books you have recommended on your site. I checked them out a couple days ago and love book recc’s!

Happy Harvesting! And Learning!

Talk to you soon :)

Kristie

[Reply]

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