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  • Collard greens in gumbo wins festival competition

    Collard greens in gumbo wins festival competition

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — “So this is where is begins—in the garden,” said Chef Ja’Vin LeCount.

    What You Need To Know

    • The 6th Annual Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival is Saturday, Feb. 18 at 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

    • It will be at the Carther G. Woodson African American Museum and surrounding streets

    • It’s located at 2240 9th Ave. S., St. Petersburg

    You see, gumbo in the style Chef Ja’Vin LeCount speaks of requires collards.

    LeCount is in the garden at Daystar Life Center in St. Petersburg, gathering his leafy greens.

    LeCount’s addition of collard greens in his Cajun dish helped to crown him a top chef for the 2023 Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival.

    “This is something I love to do,” he said as he began chopping his collards into ribbons.

    “For a thicker ribbon you would want to go for maybe like a thicker texture,” LeCount explained. “For a thinner ribbon, you may want to cook your greens a bit faster.”

    The festival isn’t just for young chefs like LeCount.

    It’s for the greater St. Pete community, too.

    “Our mission is to promote healthier living in our communities through foods we love to grow and eat,” said festival co-found Boyzel Hosey, “through agricultural sciences, the culinary experience, fitness, nutrition and family fun.”

    For LeCount, this honor reinforces something he’s enjoyed his whole life — creating smiles through his culinary creativity.

    “I’ve got a lot of good reactions from these collard greens,” said LeCount. “And really a lot of people told me I need to share this with the world, so I want to share this with as many people as I can at the event.”

    Lecount, who turned 17 this month, has been cooking as long as he can remember, and has spent the last seven months as a chef.

    The Prince Private Academy student would like to thank his family, Junior Chefs of America and the American Culinary Federation.

    Virginia Johnson

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  • Beers for Barres: Local Breweries to support party for ballet

    Beers for Barres: Local Breweries to support party for ballet

    TAMPA, Fla. — If you’d like to learn to fly in ballet, then you start from the ground — getting on your rehearsal soft shoes.

    Brandon Ballet’s Courtney Moody is getting ready for rehearsal on the studio floor before heading to the barre.

    “We do lots of different stretches, lots of things to get warm, get moving,” she said.

    If the stretches look easy for Moody, it’s because she’s been a ballerina for about two decades and helps teach it now, too. 

    “I’m so grateful to have that opportunity to continue doing this as a career,” said Moody.

    In addition to excerpts from Swan Lake, they have something brand new to offer.

    “This is a new ballet called the Iron Flower,” said Brent Townend, the Ballet’s Assistant Artistic Director. “We are premiering a 15-minute excerpt.”

    As an artist, Moody says she is moved by the story of the dance.

    “It’s very important to me to have that is somewhat near my hometown where I can continue to dance and share this art form with others,” said Moody. 

    Breweries taking part in Beers for Barres:
    -Three Bulls Tavern & Brewery
    -Bullfrog Creek Brewing Company
    -Magnanimous Brewing Company
    -3 Daughters Brewing Company
    -Woven Water Brewing Company

    Virginia Johnson

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  • 4-H student learns about fat, feed and hair sheen raising steer

    4-H student learns about fat, feed and hair sheen raising steer

    PALMETTO, Fla. — Maverick the steer likes a clean coat and the cool off that comes with a wash down.

    What You Need To Know

    • Manatee County Fair Jan. 12-22

    • Steer Sale Jan. 14, 1 p.m.

    • 4-H students spend months raising animals for fair competitions; it’s their Super Bowl

    • Manatee County 4-H’er Mason Huttinger shampoos and blow-dries his steet Maverick every day

    Every day after school, 16-year-old Mason Huttinger is in his grandparents’ Palmetto field taking care of him.

    “I work with him, I spend my time with him. Like talking to him. Saying his name,” said Huttinger, a Manatee County Home Grown Heritage 4-H Club member.

    Huttinger got Maverick last summer, with the goal of growing the best-tasting beef and the shiniest hide in Manatee County by the week of the county fair.

    Every day since June of 2022, he’s washed and cared for this animal. Maverick has nearly doubled in size for the big show and beef auction.

    “I think it’s good it’s going to someone who will eat it and not waste it,” said Huttinger. “And it’s good for me – helping someone else.”

    That’s right. Maverick is a walking steak and a throw rug.

    After his shampoo and rinse, it’s blow-out time. It can take 45-minutes to dry Maverick.

    Huttinger says it’s part of the care he needs.

    “He doesn’t get sick and he feels much better,” said Huttinger.

    Plus Maverick gets a special hair conditioner — more product than Huttinger uses on his own hair.

    And more brushing.

    “I brush him up to keep the hair growing up,” explained Huttinger.

    Darkness falls as Huttinger finishes caring for Maverick, and Huttinger guides Maverick to his pen.

    “I’m ready to put him in his stance and feed him, and he goes to bed,” said Huttinger.

    The stance is the pose for fair judging.

    Maverick’s reward: a barley-based supper with a big side helping of hay. He eats 23 pounds of it a day.

    Huttinger hopes his investment will win Maverick “Overall Supreme Beef Breeding Champion.”

    But Maverick’s already given him a bigger prize — his ideals as a future farmer.

    “He’s going to a family that will love him and feed their kids.”

    Happy steer equals a good meal.

    Virginia Johnson

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  • ‘Making a Snifference’: Conservation dogs help locate bumble bee nests

    ‘Making a Snifference’: Conservation dogs help locate bumble bee nests

    MILWAUKEE — When researchers wanted to collect data on wild bumble bee nests this past summer, they turned to man’s best friend to help sniff them out.

    What You Need To Know

    • Bumble bee nests are difficult to locate

    • The dogs help sniff out nests of 20 species of bumble bees

    • They are used to locate invasive species as well as turtles

    One is affectionately named Betty White, and her partner in crime is Ernie. The two spent the summer sniffing out bumble bee nests for researchers.

    “Nests, in general, are just super hard for humans to find by themselves. Any valuable find for the dogs is helpful for the researchers,” said Laura Holder of the Conservation Dogs Collective.

    Their slogan is “Making a Snifference.”

    (Spectrum News 1/Jon Fuller)

    The dogs are trained to locate Wisconsin’s approximately 20 species of wild bumble bees.

    On a recent training day in Wauwatosa, Holder hid parts of nests for the dogs to locate.

    “We train with different volumes of the bumble bee nest material. Out in the wild, there could be a tiny little nest or a really large nest,” explained Holder.

    A dog’s superior sense of smell makes it possible to locate nests and collect data on these important pollinators.

    “These dogs are super impressive. When they find a nest, they know exactly where it is,” said Jade Kochanski, University of Wisconsin-Madison Ph.D. graduate student.

    (Spectrum News 1/Jon Fuller)

    With a keen interest in pollinators, Kochanski witnessed the dogs working this summer.

    “If we can increase the efficiency and accuracy of finding bumble bee nests, that can help us answer research questions,” explained Kochanski. “Are there species-specific differences in their nesting preferences? Are prairie restorations helping them?”

    The dogs love to run and sniff, but their contributions are invaluable.

    “Finding the correlation between where they are foraging to where nests are found is a critical piece of information that’s missing right now,” said Holder.

    (Spectrum News 1/Jon Fuller)

    Sniffing around looking for bees may sound like you’re asking for trouble, but problems are rare, Holder said. She carries Benadryl just in case.

    “Bumble bees, you have to make them upset for you or the dog to get stung,” said Holder.

    The dogs can detect more than just bee nests. They can also help locate invasive species like the New Zealand mud snail.

    “We just had a team that came back from Iowa last week. They were doing ornate box turtle surveys. Wood turtles are another thing here in the area that are of great importance,” said Holder.

    The practice is an emerging field that continues to provide useful data for scientists — there’s no doubt it’ll also keep the valuable noses of Ernie and Betty White quite busy. 

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