Black Hammock Farm

09/02/2026

Please sign. This is local.

Require Jetta Point Park to remain a wooded park

07/10/2026

Have you seen this sign? Its on my fridge where the 🥚🥚 are located right at my front door. Come on by... this is your sign.

06/28/2026

06/21/2026

The appraiser compared our home value to our farm revenue.

$500,000 house. $3,000 in agricultural income.

Therefore: residential is the primary use. Denial.

Three problems with this argument:

The revenue figure was wrong. Documented annual revenue is $17,000 to $44,000. The appraiser’s number was off by 425 to 1,467 percent.

The comparison itself is the wrong legal test. The Florida Supreme Court held in Amrep Corp. that agricultural classification depends on the use of the land, not the value of non-agricultural improvements.

And the statute the appraiser cited? It contains its own answer. F.S. 193.461(3)(c): “The maintenance of a dwelling on part of the lands used for agricultural purposes does not in itself preclude an agricultural classification.”

F.A.C. 12D-5.003 is even more direct: the property appraiser shall not deny agricultural classification solely because of the maintenance of a dwelling on agricultural land.

90% of our parcel is in agricultural use. The Gianolo court defined “primarily” as “the most significant activity on the land.” On 4.653 acres where the only physical activity is livestock grazing, the question answers itself.

In the same subdivision, a 1.7-acre parcel with “HOMESTEAD” in the legal description carries G1 classification. The appraiser approved it.

The new piece on the blog walks the full primary use defense. The statute. The administrative code. Three appellate court decisions. The acreage analysis. The comparable property that proves the point.

Link in comments. ↓

06/18/2026

The Property Appraiser photographs standing water in September.

The Florida Administrative Code says that is pasture.

The wetlands argument is the most common reason used to deny agricultural classification in east Seminole County. It sounds reasonable. The land is wet. Therefore the land is not agricultural. Denial.

Here is what the regulatory framework actually says:

F.A.C. 12D-5.003: Pasture land includes areas that are seasonally flooded or have hydric soils.

FL DOR Guidelines Section 8.0: Pasture with hydric soils is rated at 80 to 100 percent productivity.

F.S. 373.406(2) — the Henderson Act: Agricultural activities on classified land are exempt from state wetland regulation.

F.S. 373.406(14): No permit required for activities affecting wetlands created by an unaffiliated adjoining landowner’s interference with natural surface water flow.

FDACS BMP Manual: The state publishes guidelines for grazing livestock in and around wetlands. Not prohibitions. Guidelines. Because the state assumes cattle and sheep graze on wetland-condition pasture.

In our case, a licensed environmental consultant found that the standing water was not a natural wetland at all. It was artificially saturated by a county stormwater drainage ditch that the county failed to maintain.

The county creates the standing water. The appraiser photographs it. The appraiser denies classification. The landowner pays.

The new piece on the blog walks all three layers: the regulatory text, the artificial saturation, and the Property Appraiser’s own satellite evidence that contradicts the denial reasoning.

Link in comments. ↓

06/16/2026

Pick up eggs today!! 🥚

06/16/2026

Working on the garden area. Tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, and strawberries.

06/14/2026

Hummingbird