HEALTHY SPIRIT

a walking path all the way down to County Road 470. “It’s what people are wanting for that kind of physical activity and The Villages is responding to it.”

On the Villages’ website it notes their newly released designer homes – their most popular series of homes—is in the Village of Chitty Chatty, which has “a picturesque setting of the Chitty Chatty Preserve,” and the homes feature their most popular requested enhancements of larger expanded homesites with garages large enough to accommodate up to four cars or toys. In addition, the homes have expanded lanais to extend the living space outdoors with comfort to enjoy the natural setting of the neighborhood.

Pendant lighting, tile backsplashes, and enhanced nishes are noted as being in the homes throughout the neighborhood, including all electric appliances and smart home technology.

Shopping and dining is listed as being conveniently located nearby at the Lake Deaton Plaza that is also adjacent to the Rohan Recreation Complex, including the Soaring Eagle Softball Fields and Air Gun Range.

The Village of Monarch Grove is another neighborhood lled with greenspace of the natural Florida landscape, where The Villages website notes the homes are surrounded by beautiful waterways and pathways, connecting Villagers to lifestyle opportunities at Riverbend Recreation Center, Rupert Canine Park, and Swallowtail Recreation Area.

The site notes residents can enjoy a scenic ride or stroll to Everglades Recreation Complex, the convenience of nearby golf, shopping, and dining. At the designer homesites at the Village of Marsh Bend, residents can watch the sun rise over Hogeye Preserve and Lowlands Executive Golf Course from their backyard.

By taking a stroll along Hogeye Preserve Pathway, Villagers will be able to stop by Ednas’ On The Green for a meal, and the Village of Marsh Bend also has the Everglades Recreation Complex, Cattail Recreation Area, Marsh View Pitch & Putt, and soon the Magnolia Shopping Plaza.

MORE IN LAKE COUNTY

And while the bulk of The Villages growth has been in Sumter County, soon Lake County and the Leesburg area will bene t from the community’s expansion plans. The Villages’ economics incentives package for a $100 million mixed-used district was approved by Lake County o cials, and the district will reportedly be located on about 435 acres at the intersection of Florida’s Turnpike and County Road 470. Some of the commercial space is projected to be used for a healthcare-focused multi-use complex, anchored by a UF Health regional hospital.

Back in 2017, the City of Leesburg sold 1,000 acres to The Villages for residential and commercial use, which is expected to include about 14,000 residential units. Don says the some of the already named neighborhoods planned for the area are Village of Newell, Village of Lake Denham, and Village of Dabney.

“I don’t think that is the last of what we will see of Lake County,” he says of The Villages’ expansion plans.

MIDDLETON IN 2023

The Villages, on its website, also reveals plans of an all-new community—Middleton by The Villages. It is in the works to o er a variety of housing, shopping, dining, and recreation, speci cally designed to meet the needs of the families and business partners who work, serve, and care for residents of The Villages community, and it is projected to come to fruition in 2023.

Middleton will reportedly feature single-family homes, apartments, townhouses, even brownstone-type of housing options, all in a variety of styles and price ranges. The website noted the planning teams are also working with the renowned architectural rm, SchenkelShultz to expand The Villages Charter School by building a second K-8 campus as well as an expanded state-of-the-art high school and athletic center.

The Villages Charter School currently operates on County Road 466 in The Villages, and when the second campus is built, students from both K-8 campus locations will come together into one all-new high school located in Middleton. The new schools will be connected through a park-like setting with surrounding shops, dining, and entertainment locations. The Villages is envisioning a splash park, ice cream shops, children’s boutiques and more for Middleton, along with a connectivity of paths for walking and golf car tunnels.

Don says the golf cart tunnels for Middleton have already been built.

The Villages says on the website since it opened The Villages Charter School in August 2000, it has attracted great employees working in The Villages community: “We know where our families choose to live, work, and play is equally important. As we look at what is on the horizon for The Villages in our newest southern locations such as Sawgrass Grove, Eastport, and the future Wellness Village, it makes perfect sense to expand our school and housing options for all the employees who support our community.”

Don believes the next two decades will be great for The Villages, and he envisions the community founders would be pleased by the growth.

“I believe Harold would be happy they are continuing his plan. From my research of Harold Schwartz, he was a businessman. He understood customer service, and he understood making people happy. He also understood how to run a business,” says Don. “I think Harold Schwartz and Gary Morse would be very proud of their children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren that are involved in this company. They have taken a dream, it’s a passion obviously, and this is their business to build homes, to build communities. They’re making a place people want to come to and call home.”

PEOPLE

No space like home

For a group of Villagers, making decorative adjustments to each part of their house unleashes feelings of joy.

STORY: JAMES COMBS

he options to make a home more attractive and visually appealing are limitless. Di erent styles of furniture. Window coverings. House plants. Three-dimensional artwork. Or maybe it’s a lick of new paint, a fabulous pillow added to a sofa, or a new sheet to the bed. Just ask members of The Villages Home Decorating Club.

Whether they’ve personalized a new home or revitalized an old room, imagined spaces have become do-it-yourself realities.

“When we have a home that is warm and inviting and re ects our personalities, then the home makes us feel comfortable and cozy,” says Dianne Carter.

Dianne, who formerly owned a home decorating company called “Feather Your Nest,” speaks from experience. Her home blends Florida and French country architecture and is decorated with folk art and antiques.

“When I moved from New England, I didn’t bring all my furniture and home decorations with me,” she says. “That gave me an opportunity to tweak my lifestyle and décor with brighter and lighter colors. For me, it’s about creating a warm and beautiful space to live in and share with others.”

Dianne has served as president of the club since 2015. With 650 members, it’s one of the largest clubs in The Villages. During meetings, which are held on the third Tuesday of every month at 1 p.m. inside Laurel Manor Recreation Center, members share home decorating ideas and even trade décor.

They also soak up tips from industry leaders. Guest speakers from local companies such as Peddler’s Wagon in Eustis, Sherwin-Williams in The Villages, and Besco Lighting Center in Leesburg come to meetings and enthusiastically share the latest home decorating trends.

“We only want speakers who educate, entertain, and inspire us,” Dianne says. “We also like having speakers who present di erent ideas. For instance, one speaker gave a presentation on how too much is never enough. In contrast, we had another speaker lecture on minimalism, which is basically a less-is-more approach to home decorating.”

Of course, there’s no better way to draw decorating ideas and inspiration than visiting other homes. Each year, club members host a home tour that lasts from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s an opportunity to peek inside exceptionally decorated houses that range from small cottages to luxury homes.

“Our members volunteer their homes to be toured, and some say their home is not good enough for a tour,” Dianne says. “However, you’d be surprised how beautifully decorated they actually are. We usually have 300 people participate in the tour, and we’ve had as many as nine homes. I organize it so that no more than 40 people can come into one home at a time. We even wear booties to help keep each home as clean as possible.”

Sometimes, club members take trips outside The Villages to visit marvelous homes and structures. During one outing to the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, they witnessed Disney World’s life-sized gingerbread house, which is made with real gingerbread and attached to a wooden house frame.

Another memorable visit was to Southern Living magazine’s 2019 Idea House on Amelia Island. The home’s design features 2,257 square feet of porch space, a hidden pantry, a wine bar, an elevator, and a 9-foot sliding

“IT’S FUN TO BE AROUND A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE A COMMON INTEREST.”

—BARB DUBOIS

glass wall with waterfront views. Each year, the magazine selects one site in the Southeast to build a model home with unique architecture and designs.

“Whether we’re at meetings or taking trips, our ladies have lots of fun together,” Dianne says. “We are fortunate because we don’t have problems with members being di cult. In fact, we have the best members and best club in The Villages.”

Those who have been recipients of a Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter home would likely agree. During the past nine years, club members have furnished and decorated 10 homes for the organization, which builds houses for families in need. This is the club’s primary outreach project, and member dues help pay for furniture and decorating items.

“We meet with the families beforehand to nd out what things sing to their heart and decorate accordingly,” Dianne says. “The best thing about doing these projects are the reveals when families enter their new home for the rst time. I cry at each one because it’s such a rewarding experience.”

Barb Dubois can attest to the club’s generosity. Less than a year after moving to The Villages, her home was destroyed in the February 2007 tornadoes. She was forced to buy new furniture and reached out to club members for decorating advice.

“That was a stressful time, so it was nice to have resources,” Barb says. “The members were extremely helpful and compassionate.”

Barb joined the club four years later. Today, she serves as vice president.

“It’s fun to be around a group of people who have a common interest,” Barb says. “We’re always looking for new places to shop, new places to visit, and new ideas for our homes.”

For more information about the club, visit homedecoclub.com.

The Villages Home Decorating Club will hold its 8th annual Home Decorating Showcase Sale on March 26 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Laurel Manor Recreation Center. More than 60 tables will be set up for members to display and sell their “gently used home décor.” The event is free to the public.

“We’ll have everything from furniture and nightstands to dressers and tabletops,” Barb says. “This isn’t your typical yard or garage sale. We have some very nice items.”

Want to see your club in Social Club Spotlight?

Send your suggestions to james@akersmediagroup.com

JAMES COMBS

REVIEW

American Dirt

By Jeanine Cummins. A story about the revenge taken on a journalist and her family after she writes about drug cartels in Acapulco, Mexico.

STORY: KATHY PORTER

ydia is married to Sebastian Peréz

Delgado, a journalist who writes about the drug cartels in the very dangerous city of Acapulco, Mexico. Lydia owns a bookstore and one of her regular customers and a friend is Javier Crespo Fuentes. What she doesn’t know after spending months talking to Fuentes is that he is the drug kingpin known as La Lechuza, “The Owl,” who is head of Los Jardineros cartel. Lydia learns the truth about her friend when her husband writes an expose on Fuentes.

Lydia’s niece is celebrating her quinceañera at a barbecue when three gunmen arrive and open re on the party. Lydia’s husband, mother, sister, niece and twelve other family members are gunned down. Lydia is outside the bathroom door when the gun re erupts. She knows her eight-year-old, son Luca is in the bathroom. She runs into the bathroom, shoves him into the shower stall, and covers him with her body. La Lechuza has taken his revenge, but it won’t be long before he realizes that Lydia and Luca are not among the dead.

Lydia’s mind slowly begins to work again as she absorbs the shock. She knows La Lechuza will be coming for her and Luca. She knows they have to disappear, but Lydia can’t think of where to go. Then she decides they will live with her distant uncle in Denver. Lydia and Luca become migrants, and their incredible journey is fraught with inconceivable hardships. Not only are we terri ed for Lydia and Luca but the other migrants that cross their path on their ights for freedom.

Jeanine Cummins took four years to write this book. Although this is a work of ction and there is no actual La Lechuza, or Los Jardineros cartel, it is representative of drug cartels. The statistics and locations are true. It is so well researched and well written that we feel we are migrants traveling with Lydia and Luca. We know Lydia and Luca represent the unique personal stories of the thousands of migrants whose tales we will never hear. This is a book that is nearly impossible to put down.

Want to read more about what happens to Lydia and Luca?

“American Dirt” can be found at Target, Books-A-Million, Barnes and Noble, or on Amazon

PRINT

84% of what audience says they are more engaged when reading a print magazine than with any other form of content?

who regularly read one or more magazines. What % of US adults say they read magazines in the last 6 months?

The average time spent on a website is 2 minutes. What is the average time spent reading a magazine?

18-64 YEARS OF AGE

(Bauer Media)

THE HIGHEST OF ALL TIME

This even includes 93% of those under 35 and 95% of those under 25.

(GFK MRI)

MINUTES

(Digital First Content Marketing: the Return of Print - CMO by adobe, 2016)

When more than 1,400 US advertisers were asked which medium offers the highest ROI, which was on top? Of all media, which do US internet users say they trust the most?

With a $3.94 return for every $1 spent, a full 50% higher than the $2.63 average ROI from digital display and more than double the $1.52 from digital video.

(Nielsen Catalina Solutions, 2015) 82%

PRINT ADS

80%

TV ADS CATALOGUES 76% RADIO 71% OUTDOOR 69%

61%

SEARCH

(Marketing Sherpa, 2017) 25%

POP UP ADS

Physical material is more “real” to the brain, invloves more emotional processing, is better connected to memory, with greater internalization of ads—all important for brand associations.

finds a new home

Local man perfects recipe for turning industrial hemp into a building material to replace concrete, steering the housing market in a different direction.

STORY: ROXANNE BROWN ≈ PHOTOS: NICOLE HAMEL

n the classic story of The Three Little Pigs, the moral is that hard work pays o , a lesson learned the hard way by the rst two pigs, who quickly built their homes from straw and twigs in order to have more time to play, only to have them blown down by the wolf at the end. The third pig, who labored relentlessly for an unknown amount of time to build his house from bricks, and maybe even some concrete, missed out on playtime he’ll never get back, but remained safe from the wolf, whose breath was not strong enough to topple his home.

Today, if OrganicaWorld owner Colin Farnum could re-write that story, however, the third pig would have been out having a grand old time with his brothers much sooner, and still thwarted the wolf, if only he’d known about what could very well be one of the most revolutionary home building materials out there – hempcrete.

“If you really take a close look, hempcrete is pretty amazing, it has a lot of bene ts, and it really could make a di erence for a lot of people,” Colin says, adding that for the housing industry, and for people looking to build more a ordable homes, and with a much quicker turnaround time, hempcrete is a potential game changer.

OrganicaWorld

When Colin founded OrganicaWorld nearly nine years ago, his focus became providing people with the freshest and most delicious food possible. To do that, he built an openair market and farm to table restaurant, and began selling and serving produce and other ingredients grown in hydroponic green houses on site at the farm, and making a di erence for other local farmers, by purchasing meat and things he doesn’t grow, straight from them.

And although he’s been doing that successfully, since, there’s always been more to his plan – growing hemp seeds in dedicated greenhouses, selling the seeds to local hemp farmers for cultivation, purchasing the product back in hemp form, then transforming it into hempcrete to be used in place of concrete for building a ordable housing.

Until very recently however, none of it was possible.

“OrganicaWorld was started with hemp in mind, but it took me seven-and-a-half years to get our hemp license,” Colin says, with a huge smile on his face because now that they have it, his plan has been set into motion. “Hemp is something I’ve always wanted to do, but because of government rules and regulations, it’s taken longer than I ever thought it would, and I’ve had to continually nd my way around obstacles.”

Industrial vs medical

Colin says the license granted to OrganicaWorld is for industrial hemp, explaining that there are two main strains of hemp. The rst is industrial hemp, which has zero percent Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, versus the marijuana plant that is hemp with THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis that produces the high sensation.

Colin says with the marijuana side of the equation, comes “a gazillion di erent medical uses,” adding that although industrial hemp o ers that too, the process getting there is a tad bit more complicated.

According to the National Hemp Association’s website (nationalhempassociation.org), hempcrete is produced by taking the hemp hurds – or what Colin calls chive (pronounced shiv) – that come from the center of the stalk, plus water and lime (which is powdered limestone), mixing it together in a slurry, and forming it into the wall of a building.

Over time, the chemical reactions between the water, lime and hemp will petrify the hemp and turn the lime back into stone, according to the website.

Colin says the chive, which ends up looking like wood shavings, basically gets separated from most of the ber in the industrial hemp plant and in its new form, can be used to produce various materials.

He notes decades ago, people would use it to make hemp rope, which lasts a long time, but more recently, it’s been used to