Blog Entry # 8

Fountain of Youth

  When I was home again for spring break there was article that I found that was amazing. The article was called “70-year-old woman says her garden is the Fountain of Youth”.  Her name is Annette Larkin and her backyard garden is full of fruits and vegetables. She has been eating vegetables, seeds, nuts, and fruit as her diet since 1960. Unlike her husband who owned a meat shop, he did not follow her diet and he has high blood pressure and diabetes which he has to take medicine every day. Annette has no need for even aspirin since she became a vegan in the 1960’s. 

            Annette Larkin does not look 70 at all in fact she looks like she is 40 years old. Her skin is flawless and a wrinkle has never appeared. There is no need for her to go to the grocery store because her backyard is the store. She juices her fruits and vegetables and all her food is unprocessed. This really shows someone that living a sustainable life is not difficult and you will really reap the benefits from it. Her husband is the same age but is dealing with problems every day, whereas Annette wakes up at 5:30am everyday with ease.

            I found this article to be so interesting and inspiring at the same time. I know that if I could own some land, the first chance that I would get is to plant trees and seeds. Eating the right foods, exercising daily and being sustainable is the life that I want to live. This article shows that those three ideas can be achievable. It will help your body in the long run plus the planet. There is nothing wrong with that. Annette Larkin will be in mind when I think about how I want my body to function when I am 70 years old.

Blog Entry #7

“Estero Bay Field Trip”

No other field trip could ever compare to Fort Myers beach historic cottage. The sights were amazing from the beaches to the houses. Our first part of the journey was getting to the beach historic cottage and since the traffic was really bad, I liked the fact that we walked for a little while to the cottage. It was sort of a “green” thing to do and the weather was especially nice, so walking was a nice way to get the field trip started. Getting lemonade and cookies especially put a smile on my face because it was a nice treat to have.

Jo Hughes was our presenter and the information that she was presenting was very intriguing. Learning about her experiences through growing up in the 1930’s on Fort Myers beach was fascinating.  I liked when she spoke about the different schools she went to for early education. The schools were cottages and named after a person. There was only one teacher per three grades and the teacher was the school driver as well. That was a lot to fulfill and I couldn’t imagine doing all these jobs.

 Another interesting point that she mentioned while growing up on Fort Myers beach was how hurricane disasters have changed the bay. At first there were only three canals and now there are over a hundred canals. Which worries her the most because if we have a major hurricane; she says it would be scary to think how many pieces the bay could break into before it becomes obsolete. Learning about southwest Florida’s history and what it was like before and how it is shaped now is very interesting. I like learning about history and to learn about Fort Myers history was to cool. The final part of the field trip was a walk through the mangrove preserve boardwalk and the best part was the dock that we stood on and the view of the water was amazing. The wind and the smell of the water was just a wonderful experience. Estero Bay Field Trip is something that I will not forget about for a long time.