Daily Loaf

The Temple Terrace Preservation Society’s next meeting on Thursday, November 19, will be featuring local author and Temple Terrace resident, Dr. John Henry Fleming, and his newest book, Fearsome Creatures. Dr. Fleming will do a reading and signing of his latest book that’s mystical, magical and funny, with an environmental theme about preserving what’s left of Florida.

As CL writer Shawn Alff reviewed, “In Fearsome Creatures of Florida, Tampa author John Henry Fleming serves as taxonomist of Florida folklore, producing a wildlife handbook that could have been published by National Enquirer. This book breathes new life into real creatures and popular myths like the Skunk Ape and the Chupacabra.”
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The Tampa Bay Derby Darlins are at it again, teaming up with Esurance, T.R.E.E., Inc. (Tampa Bay Reforestation and Environmental Efforts Inc), the City of Temple Terrace Parks and Recreation Department and Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, Inc. to plant trees to offset their carbon gas emissions from their local and long distance traveling done in their 2009 season.

The girls and other volunteers will be planting 72 Florida native trees including the Florida Elm, Baldcypress and Longleaf pine trees.

If you would like to help the girls and volunteer this Halloween, the planting will take place at 10 am this Saturday, October 31st, at 78th Street and Bullard Parkway in Temple Terrace. The rain date will be scheduled for Saturday, November 7th.
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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this past week:

Reconstructing a historic bat tower in Temple Terrace and how to build your own bat roost- Grant Rimbey investigates efforts in Temple Terrace to reconstruct an historic tower for bats, discusses a large community bat roost he designed for the Florida Bat Conservancy, and tells how you can purchase (or build) your own bat roost for your yard.

Summer Solstice: A brief history- Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, occurs this Sunday- June 21st. Here are a few facts you might not have known about it, from Linda Taylor.

Organics: How to eat well without breaking your budget- With the increase of demand over organic food in the last ten years you would think that a wide range of these products would be easily accessible. Here’s some some advice from Kelly Rothwell on purchasing healthy, organic food in this region without breaking your budget.
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This post is about bat conservation: efforts in Temple Terrace to reconstruct an historic tower for bats, a large community bat roost I designed for the Florida Bat Conservancy, and how you can purchase (or build) your own bat roost.

Folks have long thought that installing birdhouses is beneficial, but the idea of placing roosts for bats is a recent one. Bats are not the feared, repulsive creatures of the night that folklore and superstition have made them out to be.  Bats are not blind, they do not attack people, they do not get caught in people’s hair, and they are not flying rodents. Not all bats are rabid, in fact, “studies have shown that less than one percent of bats contract rabies, and when they do, they usually die within three or four days”. Bats are an important and beneficial part of the natural Florida environment, for instance, a single bat is capable of eating 500-1000 mosquitoes per hour!

Growing up in Temple Terrace I had many uniquely Florida experiences as I explored this eighty year old city with my brothers and sisters: the mysterious Hillsborough River; moss draped, crumbling 1920s Mediterranean Revival buildings; the ancient live oaks and longleaf pines; the Olmstedian 1920s golf course; and of course, the sublime and gothic bat tower. That’s right, I said “bat tower”!

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A year ago I was doing microfilm research on local history at the John German Library in Tampa. Anyone who’s done this research knows how tedious it is; there’s no index for microfilm so to find pertinent articles one must scan each newspaper page on each microfilm roll. While doing this I was flabbergasted to discover a Tampa Tribune article from November 25, 1924, that mentioned the work of the famous town planner John Nolen in connection with Tampa.

To my surprise, the City of Tampa commissioned Nolen to survey the city in 1924 in preparation for a master plan which he was to create for the city. I know a good deal about the planning and architectural history of the area but hadn’t heard that Nolen was working in our area. Tragically, Nolen created his survey but was never commissioned by the city to create his master plan for Tampa: 1924 was the height of delirium during the 1920s Florida real estate boom and the development industry of the time did not want to slow down the good times enough to allow the creation of a master plan and code to direct them. The great depression came early to Florida and by the end of 1926 the roaring 20s were over.

The discovery of John Nolen’s survey of Tampa is important as he’s arguably the finest town planner to have worked in Florida and is the namesake of the John Nolen Medal for Contributions to Urbanism in Florida, given by the progressive planning organization Congress for the New Urbanism, Florida Chapter. In Florida, Nolen was the genius behind the town plans of Venice, Sarasota, West Palm Beach, Clewiston, and Temple Terrace.

In 1924, the problems that Mr. Nolen identified in Tampa’s planning remain problems to this very day: Read the rest of this entry »

The Tampa Bay Derby Darlins have always been known for their super athleticism, rough and tough exterior, and bringing fun to the sport of skating in Tampa. Even though you don’t want to necessarily meet these girls in a dark alley, you can better believe when it comes to taking care of the environment, they are just as passionate as when they are on the rink.

With the onset of the new Green Committee established in the league by members Lunch Lady and Ninja Monkey, the girls are grouping together to bring recycling bins to their home games, planting trees to offset their travel cost emissions, and obtaining volunteers for green efforts such as the Great American Clean Up in Tampa. They are setting a good example for local sports leagues across the nation to do their part for the environment with a few fun and simple ideas. All of the girls are very excited to participate in the national effort to save the environment and hope that their example will stick with a few of their fans and fellow sports leagues alike. Read the rest of this entry »