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Category Archives: The past & present

DeLand Florida, A Step Back and a Step Forward In Time, Part 1 of Two Chapters

Stepping out Friday nights at the Artisan Alley Farmers Market with Georgia, Barb and Teddy Roosevelt.
Pat & Toni’s Sweet Things! Talk about a treat to the eyes and tongue. Best candies we remember tasting, ever!!
Taste test offered-hard to ever forget!
Pat & Toni’s offeres everyone some of the sweetest tastes, anywhere!!
Breakfast at DeLeon Springs State Park at the Old Sugar Mill Pancake House and Fountain of Youth Boat Rides. Here, you cook your own pancakes, eggs and all the meat fixin’s you can want. This couple drove hours to enjoy the park and have breakfast there too! Sparkle Rex was our contact. She was terrific!! Go Floridastateparks.org to see all this park has to offer


American Press Travel News-Bob and Barb “On the Road Again.” June 14th-June 17th–We contacted our very favorite tourism specialist; Georgia Carter Turner to develope a visit itinerary to DeLand Florida, located in Volusia County. We rolled in to town on June 14th, and moved into a very comfortable apartment at True Trail Farms –www.mddensmore@yahoo.com Mike and Kathy Densmore, the owners were very welcoming and we found they loved farm animals and they had a bunch of them. We were also greeted by the goats, turkeys and more chickens than Kentucky Fried could have handled. DeLand is a bit like old time Florida meeting up with the modernity of today! After settling in at True Tails Farms, we headed into town to the Half Wall (half the wall was covered by beer taps) for a delightful dinner. For dessert, we went next door to Davids Sweet Things. David was the most  affable and interesting man we encountered during our adventure to DeLand.

GO: VisitWestVolusia.com and see all the greatness that this area has to offer. (end of part 1 of our DeLand Adventure, see part two shortly)

Living In Natures Park

A great way to exercise your butt and casting arm!!

American Press Travel News-July 15th,-Bob and Barb at Goose Holler’ Farm and Ranch–Well, we are self-quarantined, or sequestered, or hunkered-down. Never in our life, have we ever thought, that we would be in-hiding from something we cannot see with the naked eye! So here we are, waiting for what we think we know, what the future could hold for us, and everyone else in America, and the world, are waiting for. We hope its a real vaccine that is easily available for everyone, quickly! In the mean time, what we all have to do is keep our “cool”, not let our cheese slip off the sandwich! There are several ways to keep the bulb in the socket, for light at the end of the tunnel: Number 1– Stay in touch with your loved ones and friends. Reaching out for sociality now is vital for the human psyche. 2-Stay away from the constant TV news channels that pump info on statistics and fear. 3-Pickup on an existing hobby, or acquire one. Go hobbies.com for ideas, and also do a home improvement project or two. 4-Eat and drink well! And if married, or sharing your hideout with a friend, still find alone-time, too!

If you have a pet, feel blessed! Why? Getting out of yourself, and caring for a pet is a therapy, all on its own. If you don’t have one, get one! Dogs are best, cats are great too! A dog is empathetic, and note; spelled backwards, dog spells G-D! With a dog you have to bend to feed, and pickup after it. Smile, and look into the eyes of an entity that will not judge you, love is always real. A dog is always faithful to the love it is shown! And remember;  Exercise is a key component in staying healthy. Everything is connected from head to toes. Not seeing to the whole body by forgetting to care for any part of it, will effect the whole body!

Just finished clipping thorny brush away from the fence that blocked my view of feeding bass. Got my juices flowing, as I just sat back down to my monster, flip-top, laptop. No it just has a 17-screen, but I feel like I’ve got to feed the monster every few hours-I’m a writer, eh? A few thoughts: Great exercise, a full-set of clothes, after a towel-bath, and here I am again!

I love to do exercise that allows me to look back and see exactly what I accomplished with my sweat-equity. I used to actually go to a health club. I lifted weights, pulled cables with iron attached, and rode a bike to nowhere. Yes, I got sweat equity, but always felt that I was being totally self-serving-just stretching muscles, pumping heart, etc. I guess, before my farm, that’s what I needed to do as a food and travel writer. Got to burn those amazing home-made desserts off somehow! Oh, and while I was out there along the fence-line, the blackberries were black. So, I stuffed my mouth with mostly sweet, vitamin C.

Our Terry as a pup. Gone now, I still mourn his loss!!

The take-away from all of the above is: Keep moving, don’t despair, stay healthy, drink, drink, drink–water, mostly and try and keep more smiles on your face than frowns.

To Carp or Not to Carp

To Carp or Not to Carp—Author, Bob T. Epstein, Publisher of www.AmericanPressTravelNews.com

There are more than 100 known species of carp in the world. The main species of carp found in the USA are silver, grass, common (German) mirror, grass, and big head.

Carp are probably the healthiest fish to eat and according to the World Book Encyclopedia, 90-percent of the world’s population subsist on the protein carp provides.

Unfortunately, carp have a poor public image in America. But, it has been getting better over the past few years. Many anglers used to bending their rods on fish, from 1-6 or, even 10-pounds, who hook a carp unintentionally, are amazed and delighted by the stamina and pull of even, a 5-10 pounder.

Some anglers are introduced to carp fishing by a friend, and then after experiencing hooking up on a carp, are “hooked”, too!

My first time was in a small pond in Queens N.Y. I cast a slice of bread with 3-hooks in its crust. I laid my Mitchell 300 down on a rock, chatting with a friend who showed me the pond, and the large carp that it held. Suddenly, my line leaked at the spool, after I heard a sucking sound in the dark of the evening. I hooked up and found that I really liked the sound of my spool drag. The carp was about 10-pounds, and the next day I skipped school to get ready to head over, on my Schwinn.

Today, the biggest problem for carp to be taken seriously as a fish to enjoy catching, is image. For decades carp have been thrown into the column of “trash fish.” Seems the over-abundance of many species has falsely condemned them as being unworthy of anything, but being used as fertilizer, or just leaving them on the bank to rot, what a giant waste of a tasty fish! Yes, a fecund carp can produce a million eggs, twice per year. Most of these are food for all manner of our dear gamefish. And no, carp do not chase out other species. Carp can live in waters many gamefish cannot, due to oxygen levels, turbidity, and temperatures, as well.

Waiting on a bite!!!

Word -of-mouth marketing, helps in educating and offering experienced information about the positive qualities of these fish. The in-your-mouth experience of eating them, are the two biggest means of getting the ball rolling, to ramp up commercial and personal harvesting efforts.