September 15, 2019 - PEACE RIVER STATE FOREST: Here are a few photos from this 5,000 acre park where the Peace River meets Horse Creek. The state's website describes this preserve, which is just six miles from my home, as having been "acquired through donation by the Mosaic Company in October 2014." Hmm, an interesting definition of the word "donation." Our county Board of Commissioners tells it this way, "In 2012, environmental groups settled a lawsuit against fertilizer giant Mosaic Fertilizer over the expansion of a phosphate mine in Hardee County in the Peace River Watershed. As part of the settlement, Mosaic Fertilizer bought Peaceful Horse (the former land's name) from out of bankruptcy for nearly $10 million and agreed to donate the land for a state park." The word donate comes "from Latin dōnātiō (“a present”), from dōnō (“to give”), from dōnum (“a gift”)." Oh how words are twisted in legal circles. In the end it became a state forest. This day, I hiked the loop trail with three friends. There were ripe Sparkleberries, a blueberry relative, in many places.