CRESTVIEW — The art of bookbinding dates back centuries, but a group of modern book artists has an exhibit of their contemporary works on display locally through October.

Members of The Experimental Artists Book Arts Guild, who call their group TeaBAG, showcase their creativity in the Crestview Public Library’s lobby display cases.  

"They've got some really pretty books in there," TeaBAG member Mary Richardson, of Baker, said.

Richardson belongs to two regional, loosely affiliated bookbinding groups in Pensacola and Panama City, respectively. Each group meets monthly to practice their craft.

"Somebody will bring in something they made and we'll think it's real cool and say, 'Would you teach that to us?'" Richardson said.

Richardson became involved in bookbinding after taking a course at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City. After a couple semesters, some of the students formed TeaBAG.

Some of the bindings on exhibit at the Crestview library include star books, accordion folds and flat books with leaves that open into various shapes and directions, she said.

"(When) somebody finds a new technique, we try to learn it and teach it or get somebody who knows how to do it (to) come teach us," Richardson said. "Mostly everybody's just teaching each other. It's a lot of fun. It keeps us out of trouble."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bookbinders guild exhibit showcases art that binds

Goldenrod is a familiar sight this time of year, with its showy yellow flowers held high on stems swaying from autumn winds.

A field full of these vivid yellow blossoms, with a bright blue fall sky as a backdrop, is a sight to behold. Too often, this plant is blamed for the sneezing, runny nose and itchy eyes that many people suffer while goldenrod blooms.

However, the common culprit causing these allergy symptoms is ragweed, not goldenrod. Ragweed blooms at the same time — August to frost — as goldenrod.

Ragweed releases its billions of tiny, lightweight pollen grains into the air this time of year. This windborne pollen causes much of the hay fever problems.

Goldenrod pollen is too large, heavy and sticky to be windborne; it relies on insects to carry its pollen. I suppose if you nestle your nose into a cluster of goldenrod flowers and take a big sniff, the pollen might bother you, but otherwise, it is not going to get into your nose.

Goldenrod is an innocent bystander; ragweed remains camouflaged while releasing pollen and it visually blends in with other green plants.

Despite the fact that common ragweed, an annual, can grow 3 to greater than 6 feet tall, it just does not get your attention. It is quite common along roadsides, vacant lots and abandoned fields.

Its inconspicuous flowers start out green — similar in color to the leaves — and turn yellowish green before drying to brown. They are never showy.

Enjoy the bright yellow flowers of goldenrod this fall.

However, please do not blame them for your allergies.

Larry Williams is an agent at the Okaloosa County Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EXTENSION CONNECTION: Blame ragweed for fall hay fever

NICEVILLE — Crestview resident Joseph Perna has been cast in the lead role of Northwest Florida State College's Fine and Performing Arts Division fall production of "Jake's Women."

In the Neil Simon comedy, a hilarious foray into the world of modern relationships, Perna portrays Jake, a writer in the grips of a midlife crisis who is more successful with fiction than with life.

Jake faces a marital crisis by daydreaming about the girls in his life during the play’s wildly comic and sometimes moving flashbacks “interrupted” by visitations from the women. The 1992 comedy starred Alan Alda on Broadway.

Playing Older Molly, Jake’s daughter at 21, now a college student who longs to know more about her deceased mother, is Crestview resident Naomi Campagne.

Four-time Tony Award-winner Simon, considered America's premier comic playwright, authored more than two dozen plays, including "The Odd Couple," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Biloxi Blues" and "Barefoot in the Park."

"Jake's Women" runs Oct. 23 to 26. Tickets are on sale now.

Want to go?

What: Neil Simon's comedy "Jake's Women," presented by the Northwest Florida State College Fine and Performing Arts Division

When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23-26

Where: Mattie Kelly Performing Arts Center Spring Theatre

Tickets: $17 adult, $12 youth ages 18 and younger by phone or online, 729-6000 or www.mattiekellyartscenter.org>>

Contact News Bulletin Arts & Entertainment Editor Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview's Perna and Campagne are in ‘Jake’s Women’ Oct. 23-26

BAKER — Being approached by a lumbering 650-pound porker can be unsettling, until the hog proves he's just eager to make a new friend who'll rub his jowls and ears.

Hilltop Farm gallery photos>>

This particular pig is Peter, the breed hog on Grundel Hilltop Farm, and he has plenty of reasons to wear a big grin, including the hearty rubbing he gets from farmer Dr. Don Grundel.

Peter and his mates, Pansy and Peaches, are Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, and thanks to a handful of pig farmers such as Grundel, their breed was rescued from the brink of extinction.

Today there are about 200 registered breeding Gloucestershire sows in the United States, and only one breeder in Florida, Grundel said. Between 300 and 500 of the pigs remain in their native England.

Almost 1,000 of the pigs in the U.S., including Peter and his family, aren't registered, Grundel said.

"They've got a great temperament," Grundel said as he rubbed Peter's snout, evoking a chorus of grunts and snorts. "Any other breed hog of this size, you'd never be able to get close to."

Gloucestershire Old Spots are pasture pigs; they prefer to forage in fields that he has planted with peas, okra, squash and, soon, rape (also known as colza), rather than being confined to a sty waiting for food.

Grundel feeds Peter and his family, including several 4-month-olds, pig chow to supplement the vegetation.

A local tradition

Though the breed is new to north Okaloosa County, raising pigs is a tradition that dates back to the region's earliest settlers.

Older residents recall the excitement of hog butchering day, when the whole family would pitch in to help produce sausages, hang meat in the smokehouse, render lard and make cracklin's.

"At the turn of the century, the pig was the No. 1 meat source around here," Grundel said. "For black residents, 90 percent of the meat they ate was pork."

George Washington Carver's first published article at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute Experiment Station instructed pig owners to harvest autumn acorns as pig feed, Grundel said.

"The pigs are acorn vacuums," Grundel said. "They love 'em. Forage pigs raised on acorns make great lard."

Very little of a slaughtered Hilltop Farm pig goes to waste. Meat is sold to a waiting list of customers, and fat is rendered into lard for cooking and soap making.

Soap making

Grundel makes scented soaps in a large cast-iron Dutch oven in the family's kitchen. As lard combines with lye and water, it produces soap and glycerol, which Grundel leaves in the soap.

"It has a moisturizing effect," he said.

Saturday morning, Grundel produced several dozen bars of lavender soap in less than an hour. As the mixture in the pot reached the right thickness, it was immediately ladled into molds.

"Sometimes it thickens so fast that he's yelling, "Bonnie, come help!'" his wife said.

After setting up overnight, the filled molds were moved to a cabinet to cure for two weeks. The couple sells the soap at festivals and fairs, including the annual Baker Heritage Festival in November.

Hilltop Farm is a hobby rather than a vocation for Don, an Eglin Air Force Base engineer, and Bonnie, a local physician assistant. They also raise a few Big Black and Berkshire pigs, horses and chickens.

"Pig farming doesn't pay the bills," he said, adding his daytime job "pays for the pigs."

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker farm raises rare Gloucestershire pigs (GALLERY)

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have announced four additional license-free fishing days.     

Florida annually offers four days on which the recreational fishing license requirement is waived for residents and visitors. Saltwater license-free fishing days this year were June 1 and Sept. 1; freshwater days were April 6 and June 8.

During its Sept. 5 meeting, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission added four more license-free fishing days to the calendar; the Florida Legislature approved this increase earlier this year. Additional saltwater license-free fishing days will be Oct. 12 and Nov. 30. Additional freshwater license-free days will be Nov. 29 and Dec. 28. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Scott, Florida Fish & Wildlife add four more license-free fishing days

TALLAHASSEE— The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has prohibited importation of live captive deer from out-of-state sources.

The rule was passed to reduce chances of chronic wasting disease, or CWD, being introduced into the state. Eighteen other states, including Georgia and Alabama, also prohibit importation of live cervids such as deer, elk and moose.

CWD is a contagious, fatal neurological disease affecting cervids. So far, the disease has been discovered in 22 states, two Canadian provinces and in South Korea.

The order includes limited exemptions for reindeer and zoos.

Learn more about chronic wasting disease, this rule and the CWD Alliance; see the link at MyFWC.com/CWD.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission prohibits deer importation