Jeanie Stephens, jeanie.stephens@thetelegraph.com

Gardener and author Crystal Stevens, right, with her husband and two children who work together on the family farm and business, FLOURISH, in Godfrey.

Gardener and author Crystal Stevens, right, with her husband and two children who work together on the family farm and business, FLOURISH, in Godfrey.

Photo: Photos By Candice Pyle |The Telegraph

Gardener and author Crystal Stevens, right, with her husband and two children who work together on the family farm and business, FLOURISH, in Godfrey.

Gardener and author Crystal Stevens, right, with her husband and two children who work together on the family farm and business, FLOURISH, in Godfrey.

Mother of two empowers others through a life of gardening

GODFREY Crystal Stevens of Godfrey may not care for summer heat, but that hasnt kept her from doing what she loves: running a successful organic farm and plant nursery with her husband and two children.

An expert in growing ones own food and herbs, the local garden enthusiast and three-time author launched FLOURISH in 2018 along with her husband, Eric.

It just feels good to do what I love, she said. I wouldnt have it any other way.

Being able to wake up and go outside at sunrise and tend to the crops is my favorite part, along with getting to show my children the seed-to-table process and being able to work side-by-side with my husband growing good food and working with plants, she said. We make a really good team.

The FLOURISH farm, plant nursery and small apothecary operates on about 1.5 acres. It offers garden installation, landscape design and educational workshops as well as heirloom vegetables, herbs, fruit trees and pollinator plants. The couple, who have been farming together since 2008, have nearly 40 years of combined experience in farming and gardening.

My mom got me into gardening, she said. She never really grew vegetables. She grew heirloom irises from her grandmothers yard. So its fifth generation iris flowers that we have growing in our garden, passed down for five generations.

The plant nursery also sells a variety of fruit and nut trees such as service berries, hazelnuts and chinese chestnuts. Pollinator plants, like smooth sumac, are also available through the online store. FLOURISHs newly launched Community Supported Agriculture program offers a weekly harvest of its crops for a set fee. With the launching of an herbal foundations program last year, its products, services and opportunities continue to increase.

Last year my friend Alex Queathem and I launched the Tend and Flourish School of Botanicals, which is an herbal foundations program, she said. Its like an herb school, basically, for the Midwest.

A vegetarian since she was 13, Stevens said she has always had an interest in healthy eating and herbal medicine. Her path became more solidified when her father was diagnosed with cancer in 2000. Due to leave for college in less than a month, she instead got a job at a health food store to help her dad who didnt want to go through chemo and radiation.

He was given six months to live, she said. I just started working there to get the supplements discount and discount on local produce and juice to bring to my dad, and he lived five additional years with acupuncture, healthy eating, medicinal mushrooms, herbal tea blends and herbal suppleme nts.

The mother of two also has used her experience to author three books on gardening and farming, finding the transition from gardener to author came rather naturally.

I just started writing, said Stevens. I was really interested in writing poetry and that kind of morphed into writing about gardening and farming and telling the stories of the land, stewarding land and anecdotes of a day in the life of an organic farmer.

Worms at Work, Grow, Create, Inspire and Your Edible Yard offer gardening tips and simple ways budding gardeners can operate on a budget. They cover topics such as vermicompost, preparing and preserving harvest and growing food. She said the books are one way she hopes to cultivate a life of health, happiness and abundance for herself and others.

It feels good to just be empowering others to grow food and simplifying it in a way that makes it accessible for people to feel like they can also start a garden, because it can be expensive, intimidating and overwhelming, said Stevens. I absolutely love working with plants.

Stevens also makes public speaking engagements and offers educational workshops some at The Nature Institute in Godfrey geared to resilient living, gardening and compost, healthy eating and herbal medicine. She also spoke at Mother Earth News fairs across the country before the pandemic.

For more information on FLOURISH, visit growcreateinspire.com, shop.growcreateinspire.com or tendandflourishschool.com. FLOURISH also sells at the Tower Grove Farmers Market and the Alton Farmers and Artisans Market.

Read more from the original source:
Mother of two empowers others through a life of gardening - Alton Telegraph

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Eve Meddows talks about some of the wildlfowers growing in her yard Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Fort Gratiot. Some experts are recommending people stuck at home during the quarantine to garden and landscape with plants native to Michigan, which offer ecological benefits for insects and the animals that eat them.(Photo: Brian Wells/Times Herald)

With winter's cold fading away,Jeanne Mackay can see the wildflower blooming along the treeline of her Fort Gratiot home. The retired first-grade teacher at Pine River Elementary and master gardener still helps maintain a mostly-native flower bed at the school. She also helps maintain flower beds at Goodell's County Park.

Master Gardener Jeanne Mackay shows a patch of Dutchman's Breeches growing in her yard Monday, May 4, 2020, in Fort Gratiot. Some experts are recommending people stuck at home during the quarantine to garden and landscape with plants native to Michigan, which offer ecological benefits for insects and the animals that eat them.(Photo: Brian Wells/Times Herald)

With greenhouses and nurseries open for the beginning of spring, gardeners may be making plans for the season. Some experts recommend gardening and landscaping with plants native to Michigan, which offer ecological benefits for insects and the animals that eat them.

"By planting exotic species, we're depriving (wildlife) of a food source," Mackay said. "So the first asset is the ecosystem benefit."

Ellen Meadows of Blue Water Garden Club said she's been incorporating more and more native plants into her garden each year. Right now she's growing cone flowers, different colors of black-eyed susans and more.

"The native plants are good because it brings extra butterflies and moths to the area," Meadows said. "And it also brings different birds."

Most of the native flowers in Meadows gardens are perennials, meaning they come back each year without having to be replanted.

This time of year, Meadows is seeing some of her perennials pop up. The native plants are also fairly low-maintenance compared to some non-native plants.

"You don't have to take care of them like you do certain roses, or like my petunias and things like that need a lot of water every day, especially in the heat," she said. "The native plants are pretty much self sufficient."

Michigan Audubon Conservation Program Coordinator Linnea Rowse said native insects are closely tied to native plants, with the Monarch butterfly being a notable example.

"There's many insects that are tied to one specific type of plant," Rowse said. "Monarchs are tied to milkweed, their caterpillars can only survive off the leaf."

Healthy insect populations are particularly important during bird breeding season, when they need the food for their young. Black-capped chickadees, for example, need between 5,000 and 9,000 caterpillars for one set of nestlings.

Black-capped chickadee(Photo: TIMES HERALD)

Native trees such as oaks, can host more than 500 species of caterpillar, Rowse said. The gingko tree, native to Asia, has been found to host about five species of caterpillar, Rowse said. Native wildflowers provide nectar for hummingbirds and seeds for other birds.

"If everyone in a block, for example, could set aside just a little bit of their yard, even just a corner. Then that would make a huge difference if everyone did that in that community," Rowse said.

To those looking to use native plants in the future, Rowse recommended people get seeds and seedlings that are not treated with pesticides.

Esther Durnwald owns Michigan Wildflower Farm which produces seeds for sale from it's location in Portland, Michigan.

"We're finding our seed used a lot are people taking a portion of their lawn and putting in a meadow and cutting back on the mowing and maintenance,"shesaid.

Often, these meadows will be on the edge of someone's property. Perennial flowers will sprout up every year once established, but take two or three years to establish themselves.

It's important to eliminate other competing plant species in an area before trying to establish a wildflower meadow, Durnwald said.Space can be cleared for a wildflower meadow using tarps, tilling and other methods.

A flowering red trillium, photographed Monday, May 4, 2020, grows at the base of a tree in the yard of Master Gardener Jeanne Mackay. Some experts are recommending people stuck at home during the quarantine to garden and landscape with plants native to Michigan, which offer ecological benefits for insects and the animals that eat them.(Photo: Brian Wells/Times Herald)

A lot of Michigan-native plants are hardy and have deep root systems. This makes the plants drought resistant and they do not need irrigation. This can make them difficult to grow in a pot, but Durnwald said flowers like black-eyed susan or purple cone flower might be good for this purpose.

To those looking for larger landscaping plants, Durnwald recommended juneberry and red bud trees as good options. Native oaks, pine,cherry and maple trees are also good, she said.

"It's like a smorgasbord for birds if you have an oak tree,"Durnwald said.

Audubon Michigan maintains a web page on bird-friendly Michigan plants and a landscaping guide atbit.ly/2WyqzQf. The Michigan State University Department of Entomology offers lists of plant recommendations, broken down between southern Lower Michigan, northern Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, available atbit.ly/2WJhbcL.

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Contact Jeremy Ervinat (810) 989-6273 or jervin@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @ErvinJeremy.

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As spring gardens are planted, experts urge use of native plants - The Times Herald

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The scope of the Report:

The report analyzes the key opportunities, CAGR, and Y-o-Y growth rates to allow readers to understand all the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the Dock and Yard Management System market. A competition analysis is imperative in the Dock and Yard Management System market and the competition landscape serves this objective. A wide company overview, financials, recent developments, and long and short-term strategies adopted are par for the course. Various parameters have been taken into account while estimating market size. The revenue generated by the leading industry participants in the sales of Dock and Yard Management System across the world has been calculated through primary and secondary research. The Dock and Yard Management System Market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.

By Regions:

* North America (The US, Canada, and Mexico)

* Europe (Germany, France, the UK, and Rest of the World)

* Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, and Rest of Asia Pacific)

* Latin America (Brazil and Rest of Latin America.)

* Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, , South Africa, and Rest of Middle East & Africa)

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Highlights of the Dock and Yard Management System market study:

Speculations for sales:

The report contains historical revenue and volume that backing information about the market capacity, and it helps to evaluate conjecture numbers for key areas in the Dock and Yard Management System market. Additionally, it includes a share of every segment of the Dock and Yard Management System market, giving methodical information about types and applications of the market.

Key point summary of the Dock and Yard Management System market report:

This report gives a forward-looking prospect of various factors driving or restraining market growth.

It presents an in-depth analysis of changing competition dynamics and puts you ahead of competitors.

It gives a six-year forecast evaluated on the basis of how the market is predicted to grow.

It assists in making informed business decisions by creating a pin-point analysis of market segments and by having complete insights of the Dock and Yard Management System market.

This report helps users in comprehending the key product segments and their future.

Strategic Points Covered in TOC:

Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product scope, market risk, market overview, and market opportunities of the global Dock and Yard Management System market

Chapter 2: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the global Dock and Yard Management System market which consists of its revenue, sales, and price of the products

Chapter 3: Displaying the competitive nature among key manufacturers, with market share, revenue, and sales

Chapter 4: Presenting global Dock and Yard Management System market by regions, market share and with revenue and sales for the projected period

Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions

Finally, the report global Dock and Yard Management System market describes Dock and Yard Management System industry expansion game plan, the Dock and Yard Management System industry knowledge supply, appendix, analysis findings and the conclusion. It includes a through explanation of the cutting-edging technologies and investments being made to upgrade the existing ones.

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ESPN's team of college writers and reporters has seen some things. In a world where collegiate athletics are on indefinite hiatus, denying us not only March Madness and spring football but also iconic events such as baseball's College World Series and softball's Women's College World Series, our group was enlisted to reflect on the top players, teams and performances that have marked its members' many decades of collective coverage. All college sports were on the table, but much like their MLB colleagues, our writers were bound by one rule -- they had to have seen the moments they were recounting in person.

Up next in our weeklong series -- the incredible plays our group witnessed across the collegiate landscape.

Ivan Maisel: I was in the stands for The Play. I covered the Kick Six. I saw Reggie Bush defy physics. I watched Tommie Frazier break umpteen tackles by Florida on his 75-yard touchdown run in the third quarter of the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. But when I think about the best play I ever saw, I think of Kordell Stewart's 64-yard touchdown pass to Michael Westbrook as time expired to give Colorado a 27-26 victory at Michigan in 1994. A desperation call, a Hail Mary pass, a game-winning touchdown: the best execution of a play I ever saw.

In a weeklong series, ESPN's college writers and reporters were enlisted to reflect on the top players, teams and performances they've witnessed in person across their many collective years of coverage.

Monday: TeamsTuesday: ComebacksWednesday: Individual performancesThursday: PlaysFriday: Prospects / Recruits

Myron Medcalf: Kris Jenkins. Villanova. 2016 national title game. I think that will be my answer forever. If he'd just thrown up a 40-footer to beat North Carolina, seconds after Marcus Paige hit a big shot to tie the score, we would have been impressed, but the development of that play -- Ryan Arcidiacono bringing the ball up the floor, Daniel Ochefu setting him free with the backscreen and a trailing Jenkins nailing the most impressive NCAA tournament shot since Christian Laettner -- was incredible. I remember trying to figure out what I'd just witnessed as I ran toward the North Carolina locker room for a postgame piece. It was wild.

Ryan McGee: That's easy. T.C. Williams Titans vs. Marshall, when Sunshine and Rev ran Fake 23 Blast with a Backside George Reverse. Wait ... that wasn't real, was it? Sorry. Since this quarantine started I've been watching every sports movie on Disney+ over and over.

Mark Schlabach: Sorry, McGee, this one wasn't fiction. In 2001, Georgia played its first big road game under coach Mark Richt at Tennessee. The Vols scored on a long touchdown to take a 24-20 lead with 44 seconds to go. The Bulldogs took possession at their 39-yard line, and freshman quarterback David Greene completed three passes to reach the UT 6 with 10 seconds to go. After a timeout, Greene faked a handoff to tailback Musa Smith and then dumped a pass over the top of the defense to fullback Verron Haynes for a stunning 26-24 victory. The play -- P44 Haynes -- produced one of legendary play-by-play announcer Larry Munson's most famous calls: "We just stepped on their face with a hobnailed boot and broke their nose. We just crushed their face."

2 Related

Mechelle Voepel: It was actually a timeout to reset a play. North Carolina trailed Louisiana Tech 59-57 with seven-tenths of a second left in the 1994 national championship game. The Tar Heels were going to lob inside for their 6-foot-5 center, Sylvia Crawley. But inbounds passer Stephanie Lawrence saw that was well-covered, and called a timeout. Asked postgame how she kept her head and made that decision, Lawrence said she had been inbounding the ball for years and, "I never get nervous anymore."

Coach Sylvia Hatchell then decided to go for broke, and called a play where team star Charlotte Smith was to get the ball beyond the arc -- even though she had made just 8 of 31 attempts from 3-point range all season. But she swished it, and North Carolina went from defeat to national championship. It goes back to Lawrence calling the timeout, and then making a perfect inbounds pass to Smith. I asked Lawrence years later about her "never getting nervous" comment, and she laughed and said whenever she watches the end of that game now, she's incredibly nervous.

Chris Low: It was my first game at The Big House, and given the way Michigan lost that day in 2015, I might never be invited back. The game was for all intents and purposes over. Michigan led 23-21 with 10 seconds to play and had only to punt the ball away from midfield. But punter Blake O'Neill mishandled the low snap, tried to pick the ball up, and it landed right in the waiting arms of Michigan State's Jalen Watts-Jackson, who returned the fumble for a winning, 38-yard touchdown on the final play of the game.

Watts-Jackson, a redshirt freshman, had never even touched the football previously in a college game, and adding to the drama, dislocated and fractured his left hip as he was tackled while diving into the end zone and then mobbed by teammates. Watts-Jackson's hip was reset, and he was immediately taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. On the bumpy ride there, Dr. Mike Shingles, Michigan State's orthopedist, looked down at Watts-Jackson and said, "I know you're hurting, but you just won the game."

0:51

On Oct. 17, 2015, while leading with 10 seconds remaining in the game, Michigan botched a punt, resulting in a Michigan State touchdown and a miraculous Spartans victory.

Jeff Borzello: I had a really lucky string of games in the 2018 and 2019 NCAA tournaments, seeing Jordan Poole's buzzer shot to get Michigan past Houston 3 feet in front of me and then getting most of Virginia's run in the 2019 tournament. But just like in Wednesday's installment of this series, I have to go back to the Virginia-Purdue Elite Eight game for this one, too.

The Boilermakers were up three with 5.9 seconds left in regulation and they fouled Ty Jerome -- who promptly made the first free throw. Jerome missed the second, but Mamadi Diakite tipped the ball back and Kihei Clark retrieved it in the backcourt. Nearly everyone in the arena expected Clark to launch a desperation half-court heave, but he instead rifled a one-handed, 40-foot pass to Diakite, who quickly attempted a short jumper to tie the score and send the game to overtime. Virginia went on to win that game and the national championship, becoming the ultimate redemption story.

Adam Rittenberg: This one won't register for most, but mention "Victory Right" to a Northwestern fan and they'll immediately know what you mean. I covered the 2000 Northwestern team for the student newspaper, and witnessed several incredible finishes as the team won a share of the Big Ten championship. A week before outlasting Michigan 54-51, Northwestern went to the Metrodome and struggled, trailing Minnesota 35-14 before a furious fourth-quarter rally. The game appeared headed for overtime, but Northwestern won on a 45-yard Hail Mary as time expired. Quarterback Zak Kustok heaved the ball toward the right corner of the end zone, where Kunle Patrick, a former volleyball player, deflected the ball to teammate Sam Simmons for the score.

1:29

On Oct. 28, 2000, with the score tied and few seconds remaining, Northwestern's Zak Kustok heaves a Hail Mary pass, which gets batted into the air and hauled in by Sam Simmons, giving the Wildcats the miraculous win over Minnesota.

Northwestern rehearsed the play, "Victory Right," at the end of every Thursday practice. "I'll bet you we hit it 80% of the time," coach Randy Walker said. The play worked again in 2001 to set up a winning field goal against Michigan State. Sadly, the proposed headline for my Minnesota game story -- "Hail Mary, Hail Yes" -- never made it to print.

Joe Lunardi: Grant Hill threw a touchdown pass and Christian Laettner called game.

Link:
The best college plays we ever saw - Kordell's prayer, Villanova at the buzzer - ESPN

Jennifer Rude Klett, Special to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 6:00 a.m. CT May 7, 2020 | Updated 12:30 p.m. CT May 7, 2020

Honeysuckle shrubs are pesky invasive plants for property owners, shown leafing out before most natives by Marcia Wensing of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.(Photo: MARCIA WENSING)

They can be eye-catchingly waving at you along the roadside or innocently sunbathing on a prominent nursery display, but dont be fooled by invasive plants. Away from the checks and balances of their natural ecosystems, these botanical bullies possess an unfair advantage over essential native plants.

Be vigilant as property owners as invasives can mysteriously pop up at any time, even in well-tended yards. Their seeds can slip throughinside potted plants and root balls from nurseries. Or they may be deposited by what birds tend to leave behind.

They can come in the form of gifts from well-meaning but misinformed neighbors and relatives, or simply part of the package when buying a new property. Invasive plants often trigger swift regret and immeasurable havoc that involve backbreaking and potentially expensive eradication efforts in your yard, your neighbors yard, collective open spaces, farms, woods and conservancies near and not-so-near.

Invasive plants cost agencies and private citizens billions of dollars in North America every year, reads a handout from the Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin. Although this actual figure is impossible to estimate, we do know that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources spent nearly $8.4 million in 2015 on invasive species control.

Identifying and learning about them is key to prevention. What is invasive? A plant is invasive when it grows out of its home environment and encroaches into forests, roadsides and prairies where it spreads unchecked and displaces or replaces native plants, according to the Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin.

Invasive plants differ from merely unwanted weeds in that invasives pose a deeper, more-ominous threat due to their ability to destroy the diversity of native vegetation.

By definition, an invasive plant is non-native, said Marcia Wensing, plant pest and disease specialist in southeastern Wisconsin for the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. If it is native to the U.S., we would call it an aggressive native plant. Some gardeners might consider box elder trees invasive, but as a native, they are just well-adapted to the open spaces a site has to offer, explained Wensing, who has worked in landscape management for 30 years and taught in the states technical college system.

True invasives, as non-natives, made the journey to our gardens with assistance from people, she said. Early settlers brought over food and herb plants (such as garlic mustard) from Europe. Many other invasive plants come from Asia. Shrubs such as common and glossy buckthorn and many varieties of honeysuckle were introduced into the horticulture trade because of how they look.

Growing outside their home environment without the insects, fungi, diseases, grazing animals and other competitive plants to keep them in check, invasives can explode exponentially.

Spring is an ideal season to identify invasives because they may be the first to show life, according to Kari Hagenow, president of the Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin.

Honeysuckles are a good example of that. They are the first plant to leaf out, she said, that allows them to exploit a niche to shade out native plants. The same is true for buckthorn in the fall, when itholds itsleaves into November.

With her day job of being responsible for 5,000 acres in Door County as a land steward with the Nature Conservancy, Hagenow has become so proficient in spotting invasives she has trouble tuning them outsort of an occupational hazard. She even notices invasive plants while on vacation.

She called it the tyranny of an environmental education, referring to the writings of Aldo Leopold.

They all bother me, she admitted. I see them all.

Her most despised invasive plant is the common teasel, even after she, her husband, Tyler, and their boxer-lab mix, Brewer, cleaned up their own two-acre property in Green Bay that was covered with buckthorn.

Just because the landscape industry may recommend non-native varieties, theres no guarantee some wont go rogue down the road. Plants introduced from afar may bring long-lasting, expensive, unintended consequences.

For home gardeners, invasives can be the ultimate in high maintenance. Alternatively, its hard to go wrong with native plants. Research recommends landowners landscape with at least 70%native plants to support native insects, birds and pollinators, according to Wensing.

Native plants may also help prevent disease. Woodland areas invaded by barberry have been documented as harboring more ticks that may contribute to disease transmission to humans, Wensing said.

Her top tip to avoid invasives? Get schooled, especially before you dash to the garden center or assess your property in spring.

RELATED: Don't plant these 10 invasive species in your yard: tiger lilies, burning bush and more

Jennifer Rude Klett is a Wisconsin freelance writer of history, food, and Midwestern life. Contact her at jrudeklett.com.

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How to avoid invasive plants in Wisconsin, and prevent costly, frustrating problems - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"I've got five minutes left on a drive from Iowa to Florida. I've managed to squeeze myself into a Mustang GT and do this 21-hour trek, so my body isn't loving it right now."

That first sentence Matt Leo uttered on a call back in January tells you all you need to know about the South Australian's persistence on his road to the NFL.

Leo had just been invited to be part of the 2020 International Player Pathway Program, after three years at Iowa State and two years prior with junior college Arizona Western.

Courtesy of a temporary car swap with a friend, he'd switched out his snow-tested Nissan Ultima for a more Florida-friendly Mustang and made the near 3000km solo expedition to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Flash forward three months and that program has now placed the 6'6," 270 pound (122kg) defensive end with the Philadelphia Eagles, and the GT has a return journey back north on the odometer.

"She's got a few chips on the front bonnet. She surprisingly killed the trip on the way back ... she was a little more filled up than heading down," Leo tells ESPN.

"When everything closed down at IMG (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) I was either going to go back to Australia or back to Iowa, but I knew everything was going to be locked down no matter what. I made it back in two days."

Long-haul drives along Americans highways don't carry an ounce of frustration for the 28-year-old Adelaide native, whose desire to take a leap into American football started with a chance glance at Super Bowl XLVII during a 'smoko' (a 'cigarette break' in the Australian tradie vernacular) when he was an apprentice plumber. That, and watching the series Friday Night Lights.

"Watching [Friday Night Lights] was an incredible thing for me. It was almost that thought of wishing you had grown up in America, gone to high school and college there," he says.

"The physicality is something that shone out to me. I didn't know what position would suit me, but you think to yourself, 'what an incredible sport to be a part of'. It's something we lack in Australia ... so having the opportunity where I actually got to attend university here was like living out that dream."

The word 'dream' certainly isn't a new one for athletes making the cross-code switch, but for Leo it was more than a throwaway line. There were no college scholarships on the table for him back in 2015, and thousands of dollars in junior college tuition fees were waiting on the other end of a hopeful flight to the U.S.

"I managed to save up and sell my car. I had a bit of savings in the bank to make it possible for me for my first year at junior college. After that I've been fortunate enough to be on scholarship," Leo says.

"It was something that I'd never done in any terms before, taking such a big leap never having played the sport. I knew that because it was a dream, I was willing to take the chance on anything and trust that I'd give my all, and if it didn't work out then I could obviously hold my head up high."

With a sporting background that spans the three major 'footy' codes in Australia -- rugby league, rugby union and Aussie rules -- the physicality he got a glimpse of on TV was never going to be an issue, and that's precisely the trait that stood out to the coaching staff at Iowa State after his two years at the junior college (JUCO) level.

"My coaches love to see my physicality, my hands, just shocking and shedding, putting my paws on people and trying to move furniture," he says.

"I just really worked on earning trust within the whole building, until they could count on me in those crucial times. It was something that didn't come overnight or in one semester, gradually getting that opportunity to step on the field. I knew that I couldn't waste it."

From his senior season as part of the defensive line rotation for the Cyclones straight into the International Player Pathway, Leo arrived with a deeper football background than most of his class, as well as the two Australians that had previously come through the program: Jordan Mailata and Valentine Holmes.

"I definitely felt like I was more polished in some areas. Playing at a Division 1 school in a Power 5 conference is definitely an advantage," he says.

"The time that I spent there, even though it was cut short (by the COVID-19 pandemic), was amazing. The relationships that I built with the other eight guys are something I cherish. I wear this program with pride going into the next phase."

Despite promising numbers at a COVID-19-hastened Pro Day -- 26 reps in the bench press, 9'10" in broad jump -- and five years of seasoning in the college system, the over-age international prospect didn't hear his name called during the NFL Draft.

But with the NFC East being randomly selected to take on an international player and roster exemption for the 2020 class, Leo landed at a franchise familiar with Australians. The Eagles are currently home to punter Cameron Johnston and fellow Pathway product Mailata, who was the first to reach out after news broke that Leo's next stop was Philadelphia.

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"Jordan's been in contact throughout this whole thing - once my name got allocated in January he hit me up. And then the minute the Eagles released it on Twitter, he was the first person to FaceTime me and go crazy," he says.

Returning from a back injury that halted his 2019 season, Mailata will be operating on the other side of the line of scrimmage to his rookie compatriot, but the prospect of a show-down in camp, whenever that begins, excites the former Cyclone.

"He said he can't wait to get to work with me so I'm excited man, we're going to work our butts off. Iron sharpens iron and you know we're going to help each other in the best way possible," Leo says of Mailata.

"I can't wait to get out with those boys. Cameron hit me up too, so knowing there's two other Aussies in Philly on the team feels like I'm going home.

"I feel like this is my perfect fit. To go out to Philly with a team that is blue collar as well as passionate to a die-hard level, it feels like I'm back with the Port Adelaide Power, my [AFL] team back home."

Being an older rookie isn't the easiest path, but Leo looked to 38-year-old edge rusher Cameron Wake as a model for the unorthodox, undrafted route to NFL success. Wake tallied 39 sacks over two seasons in the CFL before breaking through with the Miami Dolphins, ascending as one of the game's best pass rushers after entering the league at age 27.

"He was such an inspiration for me to take this leap to American football. He's just the true definition of perseverance and persistence in what he did. He's such a detailed pass rusher and he perfected his craft, that's given him the ability to play this long. He's just an absolute beast," Leo says.

"I came into this sport behind everyone, next to guys who'd been playing since they were six years old. So it was that constant feeling of 'I know I'm behind the eight ball, and I have to consistently grind to get up to speed'."

But with a family that have been with him every step of the way, tuning in on TV or radio, and the memory of crawling into tight spaces under houses, looking back to his plumbing contractor days in Adelaide and saying "I'm too big for this", Leo wants to make sure a late arrival to football doesn't mean an early exit.

"I have fallen in love with this game that much, I'm invested completely. Whatever the outcome is I'll definitely exhaust all my measures giving this opportunity a go," he says.

"There is no other option."

Excerpt from:
From smoko to the big smoke: Matt Leo lands in Philly - ESPN

Amid the daily lifestyle changes that COVID-19 has brought with it, there are still everyday fixes thar require some outside assistance.

At locally owned and operated The Gentleman Plumber, presented by McGee & Sons Plumbing, the staff has taken extra measures in maintaining customer and employee health while getting the job done.

Owner Mike McGee said his team has been trained to follow safety protocols, even before the virus started. Thats how the name gentleman plumber came into existence.

The gentleman plumber was a nickname that customers gave me when I first started, because they saw the gloves, Lysol and cleanup and the way we would do things, McGee told The Coastland Times.

Currently, McGee has taken extra steps to make his customers feel at ease. When the homeowners call, we let them know the precautions that were taking, McGee said.

The precautions include sanitizing hands and wearing gloves prior to entering a residence or business, wearing a mask while servicing customers and no hand shaking upon arrival.

McGee said his techs are washing their hands in accordance with CDC guidelines before leaving a premises. They are also offering to take photos of the work being done during a job and after completion.

Due to the fact some customers cannot be present at the time of service, McGee said he still wants to keep them informed. Were sending them pictures as we work and making sure they feel comfortable with what has gotten done and whats complete.

In addition, officer manager Christy Siefferman has been handling all the billing through QuickBooks to eliminate interaction during payment.

To further mitigate spread of the virus, McGee noted that his team has been trying to stay away from jobs that are a lot more dirtier than normal, such as drain cleaning. We are being selective with those [jobs] to protect our own guys, he said.

The Gentleman Plumber is continuing to remodel and install products, such as water heaters, water mains, facets and other tankless products.

McGee said company trucks and tools are being cleaned daily and Siefferman noted that hot spots around the office, such as the bathroom, sinks, doorknobs and the like, are cleaned every day.

Its been really easy for us because we were like this before all this happened, McGee said. In a line of work that deals with daily germs, health and safety are of the utmost importance.

For more information on The Gentleman Plumber, visit http://www.mcgeeandsonsplumbing.com.

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The Gentleman Plumber on tackling germs and limiting 'dirty jobs' | The Coastland Times - The Coastland Times

In 470,000 American homes spread across every state, washing hands to prevent COVID-19 may not be as easy as turning on a faucet. They don't have showers or toilets or, in some cases, even water piped into their homes. Nearly a million U.S. homes don't have complete kitchens and millions more are overcrowded, making it much tougher for people to shelter in place and avoid infection.

In nearly half a million American homes, washing hands to prevent COVID-19 isnt as simple as soaping up and singing Happy Birthday twice while scrubbing.

In many of those homes, people cant even turn on a faucet. Theres no running water.

In 470,000 dwellings in the United States spread across every state and in most counties inadequate plumbing is a problem, the starkest of several challenges that make it tougher for people to avoid infection.

Thats according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of data from the Census Bureau and the Housing Assistance Council in Washington, D.C. The analysis reveals other ways that inadequate housing in the United States puts people at risk during this pandemic. Nearly a million homes scattered across almost all counties dont have complete kitchens, raising the risk of hunger and vulnerability to illness, even as people have been expected to eat all meals there amid stay-at-home orders. And over 4 million homes are overcrowded, with more than a person per room, making it nearly impossible to isolate the sick.

In fact, about 828,000 people have to deal with more than one of these housing problems.

We assume this is happening in Third World places, said Greg Carter, an assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Nursing. But its happening here.

Carters work takes him to southern Indianas Orange County, a community of just under 20,000 that, as of Thursday, had 107 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths. Its also one of 322 U.S. counties with rates of inadequate plumbing at least three times the national average of four homes in every 1,000.

Phil Mininger, construction manager for Habitat for Humanity there, said he knows a man in his early 70s who lives in a dilapidated house without running water or electricity. The man walks to a Walmart about a half a mile away to use the bathroom and wash his hands.

Conditions like these also occur in states such as Colorado, Alaska and New York wherever plumbing is absent or in disrepair or water has been shut off.

Percentages are twice as high in rural areas overall, but similar conditions can be found in urban centers, too. Just under half a percent of dwellings in New York City have inadequate plumbing, for example, but thats still about 14,000 homes.

Public health experts say substandard housing reflects vast socioeconomic inequities that make America a breeding ground for the coronavirus. Poverty, and the poor health that goes with it, fuel the spread and raise the likelihood of dying from COVID-19, both in places the disease already has hit hard and those its just reaching.

The discrepancies between those with privilege and those without, they existed before our pandemic. What happens after? asked Jessica Hanson, an assistant professor of community and behavioral health at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. I hope when this is done, we as a community and as a society recognize there are people who dont have access to what they need. And that has to be addressed.

Facing the virus without running water

The federal government made huge public health gains in the early- to mid-20th century by spending heavily on water infrastructure. The result was healthier people who lived significantly longer. But that changed in the 1980s, according to a 2019 report by the US Water Alliance, Dig Deep and Michigan State University researchers. From 1977 to 2014, another report said, federal spending on water infrastructure dropped from $76 to $11 per person in inflation-adjusted dollars. Local and state spending rose, but didnt come close to meeting the need.

Then the COVID pandemic struck.

Nick Slim, tribal council administrator in the remote Yupik Eskimo village of Kipnuk, about 500 miles west of Anchorage, said people there have been doing the best we can to follow hand-washing advice, but it can be a struggle. They have no piped water; he and the other 650 residents depend on hauling ice and collecting rain.

Were all concerned about the virus, Slim said.

Just over a third of homes in the Bethel Census Area of Alaska have inadequate plumbing, the nations second-highest rate behind the adjacent Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

According to state officials, most Alaska homes without running water and flush toilets are in Native Alaskan villages either not served by water utilities, or in places where water must be hauled or that have aging and deteriorating piped systems. Compared with the overall U.S. population, KHN found, Native Americans are eight times more likely to lack sufficient plumbing in their homes.

In the absence of running water, respiratory illness festers. Rates of invasive pneumococcal disease in southwestern Alaska are among the highest in the world.

Still, Alaska has had fewer confirmed cases of COVID-19 than many other states, with about 370 as of Thursday. But a University of Texas study said that if a county has just one case of COVID-19, there is a 51% chance that an outbreak is underway.

Gunnison County, Colorado, has already been hit hard by the coronavirus, with 172 confirmed cases and six deaths among just over 17,000 people. That gives the county, known for the Crested Butte ski resort, one of the highest case rates in its state. It also has one of Colorados highest rates of inadequate plumbing about 1 in 45 homes. Its a place of housing extremes, with the median owner-occupied home costing $339,000, and some mobile homes going for a tenth of that.

Loren Ahonen, a program administrator with the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority, recalled a mobile home with an unrepaired frozen water line. Water was restored about a week after county residents were told to stay home amid the pandemic, he said. But until then, he said, tenants relied on 5-gallon jugs of water from the grocery store, neighbors and good Samaritans.

As in many other communities, Ahonen said, all utilities in Gunnison County have suspended shut-offs for nonpayment during the pandemic. But emergency water shut-offs are still happening when leaks arise, as he noticed recently when he drove through a mobile home park prone to water problems.

Raising the risk of disease

Such issues compound another perennial issue in mobile homes: overcrowding. Ahonen said hes seen up to six people squeeze into a small home. A social distancing index created by the Colorado Health Institute found that 1 in 20 homes in a Gunnison County census tract were overcrowded.

Crowded housing is also a big issue in urban areas, and has been linked to higher rates of COVID-19. An analysis of New York City cases by the New York University Furman Center found that the ZIP codes with the highest rates of positive cases had more than twice the rate of renters living in overcrowded conditions as those with the lowest rates.

Pascual Pea, 33, an aide to a New York City council member, said he and seven family members are packed into a small, four-bedroom apartment in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights.

Recently, his parents and sister developed COVID-19 symptoms, he said, and it was difficult with so many people to separate each other. Pea said he spent most of his time in the kitchen, while his father stayed in a bedroom, his mother in the living room and his sister in her room. Everyone shares the bathroom, cleans constantly and hopes the virus wont spread further.

Indiana Universitys Carter said people living in unhealthy housing conditions are often older or suffer from chronic disease, further raising their risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19. Carter recalled a woman with diabetes who lived in an Orange County home buzzing with fruit flies, where meat rotted in a dilapidated refrigerator.

While Carter and his team were able to help her, aid is harder to come by these days, with many outreach programs on pause. Arranging repairs has been complicated by social distancing rules.

As the pandemic and its accompanying economic crisis continue, public health experts worry that people living in substandard housing may spiral further downward especially since housing is usually just one of their challenges. They may have lost low-wage jobs to COVID-19. Or they may lack medical care, steady food or other ingredients of a healthy life.

Were going to see them experience a greater lack of access to these things. Carter said. People were already dying of poverty.

Carter and other experts said policymakers, and society as a whole, must focus more on housing and health disparities. Pandemic or not, no one in America should live without the basics of indoor plumbing, said Lance George, research director for the nonprofit Housing Assistance Council, which helps build homes across rural America.

This is 2020, George said. These are problems that shouldve been solved.

KHN data reporter Hannah Recht contributed to this analysis.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Methodology

For estimates of households in the United States that do not have adequate plumbing or adequate kitchens or are overcrowded, KHN analyzed data from the American Community Survey (ACS) five-year estimates (2014-18), specifically the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) provided by the University of Minnesota. This data provides demographic data on individual members in each household. KHN excluded those living in group quarters.

For race/ethnicity categories, whites, American Indians, blacks and Asians include non-Hispanics only; Asians include Pacific Islanders and American Indians include Alaska Natives; and Hispanics are of any race or combination of races. Non-Hispanics who responded as representing more than one race are included in the other category.

Plumbing is considered inadequate if it lacks one or more of the following: piped hot and cold water; a bathtub or shower; or a toilet. A kitchen is considered inadequate if it lacks a refrigerator, a stove or range, or a sink with a faucet. A household is considered overcrowded if it has more than one person per room.

To compare rural and non-rural areas, KHN used data from the Housing Assistance Council, which coded census tracts as rural, urban, or exurban/suburban and provided household estimates by census tract for inadequate plumbing and kitchens, based on ACS five-year estimates (2013-17).

Read more from the original source:
Millions stuck at home with no plumbing, kitchen or space to stay safe - The Times

Plumbers, electricians, AC mechanics, carpenters, domestic help and caregivers can apply for work passes from the Greater Chennai Corporation online. These workers will have to apply through the website http:/tnepass.tnega.org, said Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash in a release on Sunday.

Standalone and neighbourhood shops selling articles such as hardware, electrical items, mobile phones and computer peripherals, except salons and beauty parlours, will be permitted to stay open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, residents are apprehensive about the process of getting the passes.

Santosh, a resident of Kilpauk who runs a shop in Broadway, said he had applied for an e-pass on the website and the application was pending. He is not sure if the police would allow him to travel to this shop. Shops selling essential commodities will operate from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hotels are permitted to supply food parcels from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

But all restrictions pertaining to the lockdown will be in force in all containment zones until May 17, Mr. Prakash said. The restrictions would be relaxed in areas other than containment zones. As many as 68 of the 200 wards in the city have not yet delineated any containment zones so far.

Work on relaying roads, construction of public buildings and bridges will begin on Monday in areas which have not been classified as containment zones. The Corporation Commissioner will inspect units in SEZ, and export units before issuance of permits for operations. Units will be permitted with 25% workforce with a minimum of 20 workers.

IT and ITeS units will operate with 10% workforce with a minimum of 20 workers. Micro, small and medium enterprises will be permitted with 33% workforce. Amma canteens, banks and ATMs will remain open.

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Plumbers, mechanics and caregivers need to get e-passes - The Hindu

Advanced Remediation Services (ARS), a subsidiary of Elk Grove Plumbing and Drain, is fighting the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) by disinfecting surfaces with thermal foggers.

ARS, which focuses on fire, water damage, sewer and mold remediation, is certified to use thermal foggers, which fumigate the interiors of buildings with a light mist that the company says is effective in killing this coronavirus.

Linda Fassett, remediation specialist with Advanced Remediation Services, spoke about her companys efforts to help keep the community safe through foggers.

This is a great way to sanitize and disinfect, whether it be hard surfaces, soft goods, whether it be your home office, its an easy, quick and efficient way to go ahead and keep you safe, she said.

Joe Stillwell, co-owner of Elk Grove Plumbing and Drain, told the Citizen that most customers who have called the company for their fogging service have done so as a preventative measure against COVID-19.

So far, most of them have had us come to be proactive, he said. You never know, like property management companies, for instance, or even plumbers will go into somebodys house. They might be infected and dont even know or they find out after we left that they were exposed to somebody that was infected. Well, they would call us.

Stillwell noted that the oil- or water-based solutions used with the foggers are 100% green and can kill viruses within four minutes.

He added that in the case of the novel coronavirus, it can remain on paper products for 24 hours, most other surfaces for 96 hours, and some hard surfaces such as plastics and hardwoods for two to three days.

Fassett, who recently gained further knowledge on COVID-19 through a symposium with the World Health Organization, said that it is important to eliminate the coronavirus from environments.

Thats the ultimate goal is to stop the spread, to minimize it and get us to that level plain, so we can get back to some kind of normality, she said.

Fassett added that disinfecting through smoggers is additionally beneficial due to its ability to reach hard-to-reach places.

But she stressed that the use of foggers alone will not kill the virus, and her company wipes down the oil of surfaces, and fogs a buildings interior twice just to make sure.

Its just extremely important to be detailed, to be efficient and to know your equipment and your products that you are using, she said.

Because the solutions used by Advanced Remediation Services for their foggers are plant-based, customers can safely reenter their buildings an hour or less after their buildings are disinfected.

Elk Grove Plumbing and Drain co-owner Mark Hutchason told the Citizen that his company strives to keep Elk Grove safe.

Of course, were in business to make money, but our number one priority is to take care of our community, he said.

For additional information about this service, call (916) 714-4357 or visit http://www.advancedremediationservices.com.

Read the original post:
Fogging out the coronavirus | News - Elk Grove Citizen