Groundwork Farmstead

09/02/2026

ITS 👏 ABOUT 👏 TIME!!!!! Whoohooo 🙌🪴🤓

09/01/2026

🌱 Root-Knot Nematodes or Nitrogen Nodules?

You pull up a plant and find bumps all over the roots… good or bad? It depends!

🪱 Root-knot nematodes (RKN) = BAD. These microscopic worms cause swollen, distorted galls that are part of the root itself. Plants may become stunted, yellow, wilt easily or produce poorly.

🌿 Nitrogen nodules = GOOD. Found on legumes like beans, peas and mimosa, these nodules house beneficial bacteria that help fix nitrogen. They usually look like little bumps attached to the roots rather than the root itself being swollen. Cut an active one open and it may be pink or reddish inside!

🌼 Can companion planting help? Yes—but choose wisely. Certain Tagetes marigolds and cover crops like sunn h**p can help suppress some RKN populations. Legumes can improve soil fertility, but some can ALSO host RKN, so they aren’t automatically a solution.

To manage RKN:
🌱 Rotate crops
🌼 Use appropriate marigolds/cover crops
☀️ Solarize heavily infested soil
🪱 Build healthy, organic-rich soil
🌿 Choose resistant varieties when available

The lesson: Know your roots! Not every bump is a bad one. 🌱🔬💚

09/01/2026

🐾🐶🙏

08/31/2026

🐾 Mr. W Health Update: Lyme, Ehrlichia & a Whole Lotta Doxycycline 💊

We are officially down to ONE more day of antibiotics for Mr. Washington! 🙌 After a full month of doxycycline, morning and night, I can confidently say that both of us are VERY ready to be done with the daily pill-pushing routine. 😂

When Mr. W came to us, he tested positive for Lyme disease and Ehrlichia, two tick-borne diseases that can cause everything from fever, lethargy and joint pain to more serious blood and organ complications.

Doxycycline is commonly used to treat both infections. It works by interfering with the bacteria’s ability to make proteins they need to grow and multiply, allowing the body to get the infection under control. Ehrlichia generally responds particularly well to doxycycline; with Lyme, treatment helps address the active bacterial infection, although dogs can remain antibody-positive on future tests even after successful treatment.

And our boy is looking GOOD. 🥹🤍

He has put on so much weight, his coat is coming in thicker and lusher, and most importantly—he looks good and he feels good. His personality and energy tell me just as much as the scale does. I’m incredibly satisfied with his progress.

We’re not completely out of the woods yet. Mr. W is also heartworm positive, which is a separate disease transmitted by mosquitoes and requires an entirely different treatment approach. He’ll remain on his prescribed medications for that until we take him back north to my dad’s veterinary hospital in March, where he’ll be reevaluated and we’ll continue his treatment plan from there.

For now, though, we’re celebrating this milestone.

One. More. Day. 💊😂

Then I think Mr. W and I can happily retire from our twice-daily wrestling match over who is actually going to swallow the pill. 🐾🤍

08/31/2026

Oof. Y’all see what I see? 👀🫣 I just figured out what these little spiky sacs are. Do you know? 🤓

08/31/2026

What a great opportunity to learn! 🤓

🚨 ONE FINAL PUSH — AND WE NEED YOUR HELP SPREADING THE WORD! 🚨

Last year, you all helped us take A Land Remembered far beyond what we ever imagined. Teachers, Extension agents, agricultural organizations, parents, producers, and friends shared the program across Florida — and it took off.

Can we do it again? 🌴🐄📚

Registration is wrapping up for A Land Remembered: Where Cattle, Conservation, and Beef Come Together! — a 6-week classroom program for 4th grade, 5th grade, middle AND high school students!

Using Patrick D. Smith’s A Land Remembered, students get to experience Florida’s history while connecting it to the agriculture and natural resources that still shape our state today.

📖 Daily reading from A Land Remembered
🌱 ELA, science, math & social studies connections
🗺️ Journals, maps, worksheets & vocabulary
🐄 Pioneer life + modern ranching
✏️ Real-world writing activities
🎥 PLUS a one-day statewide livestream on February 26, 2027!

And we need YOUR help getting this into the hands of teachers.

You may not be a teacher — but you probably know one. Share this post. Tag an educator. Send it to your local school. Drop it in a homeschool group. Share it with your 4-H families. Send it to that teacher who loves Florida history.

One share could put this program in front of an entire classroom of students. ❤️

🔗 REGISTER HERE:
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=-KBNDTFKdk2s5gpiMx4bhLlLEGE0DK1LruOuG4GP70ZUMFhGRFhNUzc5UUFBS0pYRDUxMjRMTjFFWS4u&utm_source=chatgpt.com&route=shorturl

📧 Questions? [email protected]

Help us make Florida’s story go viral one more time. 🌴🐂📚

08/30/2026

Oh, Good morning!! I sure do love you guys ☀️

08/29/2026

Welcome back, sweetheart 💖🪽

The girls and I get so excited every year for our first Roseate Spoonbill sighting! Their return with the rainy season always feels a little magical. ✨

While we’re stuck inside watching the rain pour down day after day, these beautiful pink visitors give us something special to look forward to. 🌧️🩷🪽

One of our favorite signs of the season. 💕

08/29/2026

Learning from blemished produce… 💜🍠

Just because what comes out of your garden isn’t perfect doesn’t mean it isn’t edible—or that it was a failure. Sometimes those blemishes are your garden communicating with you.

Case in point: my GIANT purple sweet potatoes. Some were beautiful… others, not so much. 😂

I actually grow sweet potatoes mostly as living ground cover. The potatoes are a bonus! They’re heavy feeders, and all that vine growth helps suppress weeds and make use of the compost, manure and worm tea I’m constantly adding.

Although I’ll admit… sometimes I get lazy and chicken manure mixed with wood chips goes straight into the garden. 😬 Great for vigorous vines, but I’m learning there are tradeoffs—especially when it comes to timing and soil pests.

I’ve also noticed that harvesting before our rainiest months seems to give me cleaner potatoes. So this fall I’m experimenting with:

🌱 Rotating crops
🐓 Removing post-harvest debris—straight to the chickens!
🍄 Beneficial microbes like Beauveria bassiana for certain soil-dwelling insect pests
🪱 Beneficial nematodes for susceptible grubs and larvae
💩 Being a little more intentional with fresh manure 😂

We still had a GREAT harvest. But I’m always trying to understand what my garden is telling me and improve the next round.

I’ll come back to this post next year and let you know what worked. 💜🤞

Grow. Observe. Learn. Adjust. Grow again. 🌱