FEATURES
FLORIDA COUNTRY MAGAZINE / ISSUE VOL. 1 • NO. 2
ON THE COVER: Five centuries since the first Andalusia arrived on Florida shores, more than a century after the first railroad reached deep into the state, ranching and cracker cowboys/cowgirls are still with us. Read more about these inspiring men and women starting on page 38.
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Okeechobee Livestock Market The man behind the auction house, cowboying and ranching, 'a good combination' Written by : JACK COLLIER
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Florida Beef’s Long History Ranching shaped our state, still drives an agricultural economy Written by : WALTER BURNS
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DEPARTMENTS FLORIDA COUNTRY MAGAZINE / ISSUE VOL. 1 • NO. 2
FCM CIRCLE
PICTURE PERFECT
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
PICTURE PERFECT (AGAIN)
page 8
page 53
VET VIEW
FLORIDA MEMORIES
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ASK THE VETERINARIAN
page 10
ROD & GUN CLUB
page 54
COUNTRY STYLE
LOCAL FLAVOR
JOHN B. STETSON HAT COMPANY
ALVA COUNTRY DINER
page 13
page 56
FLORIDA 4-H WHAT IS 4-H?
page 14
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HORSIN’ AROUND
FLORIDA HARVEST MINESTRONE WITH LATE-SUMMER VEGETABLES
page 58
SOUTH WEST FLORIDA HORSE RESCUE
THE WATERING HOLE
page 16
GYPSY VANNER HORSES
AMERICAN BARRELS BOURBON
THE BARNYARD
FLORIDA CHARM
page 60
page 19
OLD HENDRY COUNTY COURTHOUSE
GOING SMALL
page 22
page 62
RODEO ROUNDUP RODEO CALENDAR
page 25
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COUNTRY CALIBER
page 26
STARS & GUITARS
MEET MR. BOBBY BONES
FLORIDA COWBOY’S STORY
page 68
page 29
THIS IS SHEENA BROOK
COWBOY CHURCH MINISTRIES
page 70
page 31
UNFORGIVEN
page 72
THE ARENA
page 42
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TRACTOR TALK LOVIN’ OUR MACHINES
page 73
FLORIDA EXCURSIONS FLORIDA OUTDOOR EXPERIENCE
TRUCKS & TOYS HERO PROJECT
page 46
page 75
KICK BACK
MY RIDE
WESTGATE RIVER RANCH RESORT & RODEO
TOP TRUCKS
page 78
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page 50
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YOUR DREAM COUNTRY HOME
page 64
COWBOY UP!
SAY HOWDY TO JOSIE ADKINS
THE HOMESTEAD
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Chairman/Publisher Scarlett Redenius C.E.O. Brad Redenius President Thomas Fifield Vice President Sheila Fifield Editorial Director Jack Collier Design Director Jessica Fifield Director of Photography Marsay Johnson Proofreader Katherine Waters Sales Associates Lynn Cox, Robin Griffiths, Kelly Walling Contributing Writers Stacie Adams, Susan E. Blackwell, C.V.T., Michael Bohn, Walter Burns, Jack Collier, Keitha Daniels, Ava Isabel Grace, Kym Rouse Holzwart, Paige Jardin, Emma J. Morse D.V.M., Jacob Ogles, Krista Wyant Featured Photographers Michael Bohn, Calvin Brothers, Angie Chestnut, William R. Cox, Ava Isabel Grace, Marsay Johnson, Tami Johnson, Deb Mascolo, David Rosenfield. Brett Seng, Luke Williams, Kaly Zielke For more information about advertising with Florida Country Magazine, please contact:
239-692-2613 sales@floridacountrymagazine.com For other inquiries contact:
Scarlett Redenius, Publisher 239-600-4783 Published by: Florida Country Publications
PO Box 50989 • Fort Myers, FL 33994 LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
facebook.com/floridacountrymagazine F LO R I D A C O U NTRYM A G A Z I N E . C O M Florida Country Magazine is published bi-monthly, copyright 2017, all rights reserved. Reproduction of contents in print or electronic transmission in whole or in part in any language or format must be by expressed written permission of the publisher. All articles, descriptions and suggestions in this magazine are merely expression of opinions from contributors and advertisers and do not constitute the opinion of the publisher, editor or staff of Florida Country Magazine, and under no circumstances constitutes assurances or guarantees concerning the quality of any service or product. Florida Country Magazine specifically disclaims any liability related to these expressions and opinions. Florida Country Magazine is not responsible for any unsolicited submissions. The advertiser agrees to hold harmless and indemnify the publishers from all liability.
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FCM CIRCLE
OUR RANCHING HERITAGE “Talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much.”
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—John Wayne acting tip orses and country living have always been part of my life. Yet thinking about cowboys and cattle drives, it’s hard to not picture John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.
But real cowboy and cowgirls still work Florida’s ranches and farms, successfully compete in rodeos, hold on to the land and the country traditions that seem to be going away as quickly as I write these words. Beef and ranching, in one form or another, have always played a major role in Florida’s history. In fact, Florida is where cowboys came into existence. Rodeo was where they competed with each other, roping and riding and showing off. In putting together this edition of Florida Country Magazine celebrating cowboys/cowgirls, I rediscovered these wonderful people running and working our farms and ranches. It’s good to know that while Florida is still losing ranch and farmland, these men and women stand tough. I found that standards of humanity, care, dignity and integrity still exist, that people still have faith in sealing contracts with a simple handshake. I met Pete Clemons. He was a champion rodeo cowboy, purchased the Okeechobee Livestock Auction in 1961. Pete is as authentic as you would hope or imagine. It was quite intimidating sitting around a poker table with this legend and his protective sons, Jeff and Todd. I witnessed a rare family bond. Those jitters quickly melted with a nod and a smile from Pete. The family that included granddaughter, Audra, welcomed their visitors with grace and Southern hospitality, decency in the world that’s sadly fading. We want you to meet Aaron Hudson, a cowboy and ranch owner, training horses and working rodeos when ranching is quieter. We’d also like you to meet Ray Conversano, a rodeo cowboy in the 1950s through '70s who is a farrier now. Ray is a character and
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has amazing passion for horses, for keeping them healthy and happy. Josie Adkins, a Florida high school rodeo champion, more than anyone we included in this issue, represents Florida’s future. She is what’s good and right about country living, more about hope than the darker things we sometimes read and hear about our kids. No one is perfect, but there’s truth that a hobby that includes caring for others, in Josie’s case her horse Pepto, and that requires hard work, discipline and a willingness to literally get back on the horse, that’s good and healthy and positive for Florida. And then there are Tina Garrett and Matt Venaleck with South West Florida Horse Rescue, and pastor Frank Dana with Cowboy Church Ministries, one saving horses, the other saving us, both with deep passion and dedication, humanity at its finest. This is what Florida Country Magazine is about. Follow your dreams, follow your passions and never forget where you come from. I love meeting people, I love hearing their stories and then sharing these amazing stories with you. SCARLETT REDENIUS, Publisher
s t n e s Pr e
The Fort Myers
PRO RODEO FEBRUARY 23RD : 24TH, 2018 DATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE. VISIT WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION
LEE COUNTY POSSE ARENA
t wo per f or mances Friday Saturday STARTING AT
7:30PM
GATES OPEN AT 5:30PM
H s t e HTi ck ORMATIO
VI P$75
INF AND MORE
EATING, F (PARKING, S
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OOD AND D
STARTING AT
6:00PM
GATES OPEN AT 4:00PM
Tickets also sold at all are Hooters Locati a at a discounteons price of $13! d
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s d i k 0 H 1 $ s t l u $20 Ad(4 & UNDER FREE)
NLINE m O E L B A L I A AV ProRodeo.co s r e y M t r o .F www
COME HUNGRY! LOTS OF VENDORS, MECHANICAL BULL, BOUNCE HOUSE & MORE! RAIN or SHINE! F LO R I D A C O U NTRYM A G A Z I N E . C O M
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VET VIEW
ASK THE VETERINARIAN MANAGING YOUR HORSE’S HEALTH, PROTECTING THEM FOR A LIFETIME My 14-year-old quarter horse is constantly having hoof problems. It seems like she gets an abscess at least once a month. What could be the problem?
T
he saying goes, “no hoof, no horse.” This is why a good working relationship between the client, farrier and veterinarian is so important to properly manage the health of your horse’s feet. Quarter horses, particularly those who live in the harsh Florida environment, seem to be more prone to hoof issues such as underrun heels and thin soles. Underrun or low heels are seen in horses that do not grow much heel at the back of the foot; which, in conjunction with long, overgrown toes, can alter the angles of the bones within the foot. We call these the “hoof-pastern axis angle” and the “palmar heel angle.” Radiographs (X-rays) of the front feet are an important tool for your veterinarian
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and farrier to more accurately understand what may be going on within the foot, and can help guide therapeutic trimming or shoeing practices. We evaluate the long pastern, short pastern, coffin bone and navicular bones on lateral and dorsopalmar foot X-rays, their positions in relation to each other and to the outer hoof capsule. Radiographs can also help evaluate how thick (or thin) the soles of the feet may be. Horses with thin soles are more likely to suffer from chronic abscesses and stone bruises, which can render them lame. Imagine walking barefoot on a hard gravel driveway, versus wearing thick Dr. Scholl’s pads in your shoes. That’s the difference in a horse with thin soles, or one with thick soles and/or a horse that has shoes and pads up front. Shoes often provide more support and offer protection from injury, and pour-in pads can stimulate more sole growth. Emma J. Morse, DVM, Calusa Equine Veterinary Services
RADIOGRAPHS CAN ALSO HELP EVALUATE HOW THICK (OR THIN) THE SOLES OF THE FEET MAY BE. What is the difference between hot vs. cold therapy? Under what circumstances should each be used?
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ot and cold therapies are great healing tools for horses. Knowing which condition to use the correct therapeutic aid is often confusing. While each horse and injury is unique, typically the basic rules are cold therapy is for acute (sudden onset) injuries while hot therapy is used for chronic (conditions that have developed over time) injuries. Cold therapies are most effective when used during the first 48 hours after an inflammatory injury (the sooner, the better). An example of these types of injuries would consist of a stumble during a trail ride or “rodeo� impressions that include careening into a fence, or simply cooling your horse's legs out after a strenuous exercise causing pain, heat or swelling to the legs. The cold temperature of the water/ ice helps to decrease blood flow to the injured area, thus minimizing the swelling, inflammation and heat. Cold therapy also aids in decreasing the possibility of further damage, thus assisting in a faster healing process. Continuous cold hosing and the use of ice wraps are two F LO R I D A C O U NTRYM A G A Z I N E . C O M
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VET VIEW
Do you want your question answered in our next issue? Email us at customerservice@floridacountrymagazine.com
versions of cold therapies. The general rule of thumb for cold therapy is to apply the ice/cold water for five minutes, rest for 15 minutes. Repeat this process three to four times per day until the heat and swelling have dissipated.
can be extremely beneficial in the healing process of your horse. When in doubt, please contact your veterinarian for clarification.
Hot therapies are most beneficial to injuries that have developed over time. An example of these conditions would be arthritis or use in healing after the acute inflammatory stage of an injury. Heat therapy increases the injured cell’s metabolism, thus stimulating blood flow. The therapeutic results of these effects are a reduction in pain and muscle spasm, an increase in circulation, more mobile connective tissue and a general feeling of relaxation and well-being.
Always contact your veterinarian before using these therapies if any of the following has occurred:
Sweat wraps (with or without liniment), magnetic leg wraps and blankets (Back on Track) and lasers are all good heat therapy items. Wraps should be changed every 12 hours; magnetic horse wear should be used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and laser therapy usage will be guided by your veterinarian and/or therapist’s recommendations. When used appropriately, both hot and cold therapies
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The injury is an open wound Your horse is reluctant to move The injured area is hot to the touch Your horse is running a fever Your horse has lost is its appetite Your horse seems to be in moderate to severe pain The swelling lasts longer than 24 to 36 hours without significant improvement Susan E Blackwell, CVT, Calusa Equine Veterinary Services
COUNTRY STYLE
JOHN B. STETSON HAT COMPANY IT’S NOT JUST A HAT, IT’S THE HAT
J
ohn Batterson Stetson in 1865 with his tools and $10 of fur started his hat company, pretty quickly known for his “Boss of the Plains,” a sort of waterproof cowboy umbrella.
Stetson’s company of 3,000 employees at one point annually made 2 million hats. Stetson in 1903 began a profit-sharing plan for those workers, issuing $500,000 worth of company stock for distribution
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according to merit and length of service. The hatmaker was behind expansion of what became and still is Stetson University of DeLand, Florida, whose law school was the state's first. The school’s mascot is Hatter, its athletes are Stetson Hatters. John Stetson died in Florida in 1906. Today’s cowboy hats aren’t much different than 1865. Samples of what’s popular are shown below:
1. CARSON 10X STRAW Material: Shantung Quality: 10X Color(s): 81-Natural Crown: 4 3/8 inches
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2. SEMINOLE GUS
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BUFFALO Material: Fur Felt Quality: 4X Color(s): 23-Mink Crown: 3 3/4 inches
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN B. STETSON HAT COMPANY
3. ROYAL FLUSH
Material: Shantung Quality: 10X, 1x1 Weave Color(s): 81-Natural Crown: 3 7/8 inches
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4. CORDOVA
WILDWOOD Material: Fur Felt
5. BROKEN BOW Material: Buffalo Quality: 4X Crown: 4 x 5 inches
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HATS OFF! HAYLOFT WESTERN WEAR, Fort Myers 239-694-4916 hayloftwestern.com STETSON HATS stetsonhat.com
WHAT THE X’S MEAN The quality of the hat body used to make a hat is the main factor that determines the X’s. In felt it is determined by the percentage of furs used in making the hat body. Stetson uses beaver, mink, chinchilla and other animal fur to make bodies. The mixture of which furs determines the X’s. In straw, the X’s are also determined by the body used to make the hat. The tighter the weave and narrower the straw reed used to make the hat, the better X quality is marked in the hat. Source: John B. Stetson Hat Company
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FLORIDA 4-H
WHAT IS 4-H? LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING, LEADERSHIP AND LIFE SKILLS
I pledge my head to clearer thinking, I pledge my heart to greater loyalty, I pledge my hands to larger service, and I pledge my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world.
We may not have an app for that, but we will have a great club for you to join or a great project book for you to jump aboard. There is anything from electronics, cooking, sewing, shooting sports, agriculture, camping and even books about building your own business. Whatever your kids are interested in, we have it or will go out and find it.
hen someone first asks about 4-H, the response taught to 4-H agents is that youth involved in the program and 4-H volunteers "are a community of young people coming together across the nation to learn citizenship, leadership and life skills.”
County Extension likes to talk about numbers that are involved—more than 100 public universities across the nation helping provide experiences in which young people learn by doing. In Lee County this year alone we have about 500 youth enrolled in our program. If you add up the youths' parents, 4-H reaches about 1,500 kids and adults.
This is a good roundabout way of saying 4-H is a little bit of everything.
Statistics are easy to throw out. Feelings, on the other hand, are a little harder to express through an informative article.
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IF YOU ADD UP THE YOUTHS’ PARENTS, 4-H REACHES ABOUT 1,500 (LEE COUNTY) KIDS AND ADULTS.
4-H is not just about a tangible number that can be shown off like a hog at the county fair. Sure, numbers can be impressive and they get more to the point, but 4-H is family to those who have been touched by a century of hard work and determination. Depending on who is asked, you will get different answers. Ask parents about 4-H, for example, and they will tell you it is about building an amazing résumé for their child’s future, the child getting life experiences as young as possible. If you ask a 4-H graduate, most will say something about building confidence. “4-H has also given me many opportunities to make lifelong friends and provided me with strong social skills,” says Lacey Hughes, a Lee County 4-H alum.
Parents want their 4-H kids to build a résumé, to get life experiences before shipping out on their own.
4-H STANDS FOR HEAD—appreciating others, understanding our community, gaining knowledge HEART—finding friendships, discovering yourself, cooperating with others HANDS—becoming involved, participating in projects, activities and events HEALTH—developing habits that lead to a healthy lifestyle.
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PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF FLORIDA 4-H
Written by: Krista Wyant
“Before I got involved in 4-H, I wasn’t very social and after 10 years in the program I can make friends anywhere I go; 4-H has given me assurance that later in life I will be able to make friends and I won’t be nervous when I do.”
4-H offers experiences outside traditional agriculture, such as visiting with our American military (left).
Within the 4-H community there are some rules we all live by. The first rule is that whenever you are wearing a 4-H emblem, you no longer just represent yourself—you represent your family, your county, your country and your world. To some this may be a little drastic. But to 4-H'ers, it's their integrity and something that makes them feel proud. Krista Wyant is an intern with Lee County 4-H, a Florida Gulf Coast University student and a third-generation 4-H'er. Details are at lee.ifas.ufl.edu
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HORSIN’ AROUND
SOUTH WEST FLORIDA HORSE RESCUE ITS 40-ACRE RANCH, FRISKY SPARKY’S NEW LIFE, ONE MAN CONNECTS TO HORSES
ue Swink is a volunteer at the South West Florida Horse Rescue in Punta Gorda. The Cape Coral woman feeds these recovering horses, cleans their stalls and helps groom them. While the experience is fulfilling, it’s also rewarding for her husband, Sidney, suffering from Alzheimer’s. “He connects to the horses,” explains Sue. This is the human side of a success story that started in 2009. Tina Garrett and Matt Venaleck at first wanted to help abandoned and unwanted animals of all sizes, realizing the need to save abused, neglected and abandoned horses was becoming a priority. As time passed, the horse rescue grew and gained nonprofit status. “We were awarded a grant in April 2014 and so we purchased the 40-acre property that we are on today,” explains Garrett, adding that she, Venaleck, the employees and volunteers have worked tirelessly to clear the property and erect fencing for six paddocks and two pastures on the front 20 acres. While there’s land, money is always a concern—food and farrier bills, veterinary care and equipment, other costs involved in caring for these large and graceful creatures. South West Florida Horse Rescue, or SWFHR, as of this May had rescued 18 horses so far this year, for instance.
WHILE THERE’S LAND, MONEY IS ALWAYS A CONCERN—FOOD AND FARRIER BILLS, VETERINARY CARE AND EQUIPMENT, OTHER COSTS INVOLVED IN CARING FOR THESE LARGE AND GRACEFUL CREATURES. 16
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To help cover those tremendous costs, which average $335 per month per horse, the SWFHR hosts monthly online auctions. “Folks from all over the U.S. and Canada donate items,” explains Garrett. Other fundraisers hosted during summer months are the Quarter Auctions, hosted at local restaurants. Proceeds from volunteers, online donations and sponsorships ($20 per month, per horse), also help out a great deal, she says. As the need to help as more horses arrive, so do the projects at SWFHR. There is, for example, the construction of a much needed medical barn that will consist of two stalls and an enclosed room “to hold all of our medical needs and offer an area for our veterinarian to treat any of our rescue horses,” says Venaleck. Horses brought to South West Florida Horse Rescue are surrendered, seizures for any number of reasons from county agencies and from other sources. Sparky, a mixed-breed horse, for instance, was rescued in December 2016. He arrived with respiratory issues, needed dental work, his hoofs trimmed and was due for vaccines. SWFHR vets fixed him up like new. Trainer Lauren Merchant chipped in a body clip, leaving Sparky looking and feeling like a frisky young colt,
Horses, ponies, miniatures and donkeys are available for adoption at the rescue. They represent most breeds and ages.
PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF ANGIE CHESTNUT PHOTOGRAPHY
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Written by: Ava Isabel Grace
Rescued horses come from abuse or abandonment. Food, care and equipment are concerns for those stepping up to save these graceful animals.
THINKING ABOUT OWNING A HORSE? “Owning a horse is an incredibly rewarding experience, and with a bit of planning and consideration to ensure you are finding the best horse for your lifestyle, you’ll get to enjoy years of companionship with your new horse,” says Emily Weiss, vice president of research and development with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA.
WEISS OFFERS THESE EIGHT TIPS:
1. CONSIDER ADOPTION There are so many wonderful horses needing a good home, and many rescue organizations do great work to train the horses to prepare them for new homes. Adoption also opens space for another horse.
2. YOU DON’T WANT TO RIDE? NO PROBLEM! While riding is one way to bond and enjoy a horse, also good is time spent grooming, trick training and simply caring for them.
3. AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
Many would mistakenly consider a 15- to 20-year-old horse over the hill. A healthy older horse is terrific for kids and seniors looking for a gentle ride.
4. DO A BIT OF BUDGETING No matter where you live, horse upkeep can be significant. In addition to hay (that can fluctuate in price), grain and board (or barn upkeep), horses require regular hoof care, dental care, deworming, vaccinations and equipment.
5. JOIN A NETWORK
One of the best ways to increase knowledge, support and the fun factor in horse ownership is connecting with other equine folks in your community. Check out local feed stores and barns for clubs and groups in your area, and don’t forget social media.
6. CHOOSE THE RIGHT HORSE 7. MAKE PREPARATIONS
Make sure you choose an appropriate horse for your goals, skill level and resources.
Have the support, knowledge and understanding to properly care for your horse before you get one.
8. VOLUNTEER AT A RESCUE
There you can learn firsthand about the care and resources needed to successfully support a horse, and you just may fall in love!
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HORSIN’ AROUND
Garrett says. “Our hearts melt each time we look at Sparky,” she says. “We wonder, if not for SWFHR, where would he have ended up?” SWFHR hands in March also rescued Poco, an American Paint. Poco and Sparky have since become pasture mates. “We get calls almost on a daily basis,” explains Garrett, who says the team prides itself on making every effort to help in any way possible. “If we are full,” she says, “we help [owners] network to find a suitable home for their equine.” Darcy Freeman is a barn manager at South West Florida Horse Rescue. “It’s all in the heart,” says Freeman, explaining that potential volunteers and those wishing to adopt can begin the process by visiting SWFHR's website. Ava Isabel Grace is a Southwest Florida resident who loves the country.
ROUNDUP South West Florida Horse Rescue, Punta Gorda 239-567-4111, swfhr.org
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ANGIE CHESTNUT PHOTOGRAPHY
Horses that had suffered are in a good place at the South West Florida Horse Rescue in Punta Gorda.
HORSIN’ AROUND
GYPSY VANNER HORSES VERSATILE BREED DISCOVERED IN ENGLAND, ARRIVED IN OCALA IN 1996 Written by: Kym Rouse Holzwart
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he Gypsy Vanner Horse was introduced to the world by Dennis Thompson and the late Cindy Thompson of Gypsy Gold Farm in Ocala, Florida. While driving through the English countryside in 1994, they were captivated by a black-and-white stallion in a pasture. And so began their adventure. The stallion was the height of an average horse but was built like a draft horse, with feathered legs, a refined head and a very friendly nature. This magical horse was an example of the perfect caravan horse that Gypsy breeders created soon after World War II by selectively breeding Shires, Clydesdales, Dales ponies and Friesians. After two years of research and working with British and Irish gypsy breeders, the name Gypsy Vanner Horse was chosen for the breed. Vanner is an Old English word that means “a horse suitable to pull a caravan.” The Thompsons established the breed registry, the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society (GVHS), in the U.S. in late 1996. The mission of the GVHS is to bring honor, recognition and a better understanding to one of the world’s most colorful and least understood societies and their beloved horses; to respect the spoken words of Gypsy families who dedicated their lives in the pursuit of a dream to create the perfect caravan horse; and to be quality-based, culturally sensitive and socially responsible.
The GVHS preserves and protects the look and temperament envisioned by the Gypsy families, the genetics that created the look, and the feelings of the status, pride and values felt by the Gypsy families for the Gypsy Vanner. The Thompsons imported Cushite Bok, the magical stallion described earlier, to the U.S. in 1997; in early 1998, a second stallion, The Gypsy King, was imported. Fourteen quality mares were also imported for foundation breeding stock, with the first two mares, Bat and Dolly, arriving in the U.S. in November 1996. In June 1998, the Gypsy Vanner Horse was introduced at Equitana USA in Louisville, Kentucky, and on the internet. Sired by The Gypsy King and the only foal of Bat, Kuchi was born in March 1999 at Gypsy Gold Farm in Ocala, the first Gypsy Vanner born in the U.S. Kechi is a champion halter horse and has excelled in dressage and driving; she has also produced many outstanding foals. Both Kechi and The Gypsy King are Breyer model horses. The Gypsy Vanner Horse is not a color breed but a body type. They resemble small Shires, with short backs, broad chests, heavy round hips with ample hooves, strong necks and refined heads. Feathering (hair on the legs) begins at the knees on the front legs and at or near the hocks on the hind legs and covers the front of the hooves; they have flowing manes and tails. Weighing between 1,100 and 1,700 pounds, the average height of the Gypsy Vanner is 14.2 hands, but they range in size from
THE GYPSY VANNER HORSE IS NOT A COLOR BREED BUT A BODY TYPE.
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HORSIN’ AROUND
BOTTOM PHOTO BY TAMI JOHNSON
The mare and foal (below) are excellent examples of horses produced at Gypsy Gold Farm in Ocala.
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ROUNDUP Gypsy Vanner Horse Society 888-520-9777, vanners.org Gypsy Gold Farm, Ocala, Florida 352-817-1777, gypsygold.com WR Ranch, Oxford, Florida 954-540-5582, wrranch.net
TOP LEFT AND BOTTOM LEFT PHOTOS BY TAMI JOHNSON; OTHER PHOTO BY DEB MASCOLO
VV King William (above) is a star attraction at Gypsy Gold Farm, which includes presentations by Dennis Thompson (below) on farm tours. Check for times.
12.2 to more than 15.2 hands. While the Gypsy Vanner Horse can be any color, the most common is black and white or brown and white. Some of the most famous Gypsy Vanner stallions and mares are solid black. British Gypsies used only feathered breeds descended from the Forest Horse, an ancient, docile, feather-legged, cold-blooded horse from the European forests, to develop the Gypsy Vanner Horse; therefore, selective breeding for feathering also resulted in an extremely gentle horse. In addition, their environment, traveling with Gypsy families and being cared for by children, fosters a calm horse. Since they were bred to pull caravans, the Gypsy Vanner Horse excels at driving. However, because a perfect caravan horse is intelligent, strong, calm, athletic, colorful and has outstanding endurance, they also do well in dressage, hunter/jumper, Western pleasure and trail riding.
Shenandoah Gypsy Vanner Horses, Weirsdale, Florida 352-205-7312, shenandoahgypsyvanners.com Gypsy Tales Farm, Myakka City, Florida 941-882-2010, gypsytalesfarm.com
ADORN THE UNICORN Country star Miranda Lambert's Gypsy Vanner, Sophie, has been transformed into a unicorn for the Pink Pistol Pony Show.
Because the Gypsy Vanner Horse was the first breed introduced during the Age of Technology, news of this magical, versatile breed spread quickly. From the first 16 horses that came to the U.S. and establishment of the breed just over 20 years ago, there are now a few thousand registered Gypsy Vanner Horses in Florida and other states. Formally trained as an ecologist, Kym Rouse Holzwart is a multi-generational native Floridian and co-proprietor of Spotted Dance Ranch, riding horses for more than 50 years.
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THE BARNYARD
GOING SMALL LITTLE LIVESTOCK ARE BIG IN FLORIDA, URBAN FARMERS TURNING TO ‘LIL DOGIES
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Written by: Jack Collier
t’s popular for city kids to become involved in 4-H and the Future Farmers of America groups. The problem is that a traditional farm animal won’t fit into a postage-stamp backyard. So some of the more dynamic kids are turning to miniature goats, other livestock that are bred to be much smaller than farm animals that can weigh more than 1,000 pounds and cost a fortune to feed.
Welcome to the world of miniature farm animals, creatures in some cases no bigger than a dog, some pint-sized cattle, in fact, shipped in a Great Dane’s dog crate. Little donkeys, goats, horses, cattle, sheep and pigs are raised by serious breeders, not just for the novelty, but because they’re less expensive to feed and keep and sometimes produce nearly as much as their full-sized counterparts. In most states, keeping miniature livestock (especially miniature cattle and miniature hogs) qualifies landowners for valuable agricultural-use land tax exemptions, even on small parcels of land. And minis are sometimes OK where zoning laws prohibit full-sized barnyard pets. BIG SURPRISES IN SMALL PACKAGES. Don’t let the Jersey in a mini-cow fool you. They are in fact from Jersey, a British island off the French coast. This mini-cow has pure bloodlines going back 600 years and is one the oldest dairy breeds. Standing 36 to 40 inches, these 600- to 650-pound farm animals are perfect for smaller farms that want to maximize their value. Jersey mini-cows are great milk cows, and can produce up to two to three gallons of milk per day. Not only is their milk delicious, it’s nutritious too, with higher butterfat and proteins. No problem here providing your family with milk, cheese and yummy butter. The Jersey cow also adapts well to heat, which makes it great for Florida weather. The little guys are known for their sweet disposition, or “like having a dog that gives you milk.” NIGERIAN DWARF OR PYGMY goats were first imported into the United States around 1959. These adorable tiny creatures make excellent pets with their loving nature and docile temperament. Unlike larger livestock, these playful minis are low maintenance, eating far less, are inexpensive to buy and can be crated similarly to dogs. A pygmy doe (girl) is especially family friendly and is a favorite with children.
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Pint-sized horses (above), donkeys and goats can qualify farmers in some states for land-use exemptions. And who could say no to that face?
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THE BARNYARD
TOP, MIDDLE RIGHT AND BOTTOM RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY OF PIXABAY
THE MINIATURE LLAMA has a rich history originating from various areas including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Canada and North America. Mini llamas are said to be an absolute must-have for hobby farmers, not only providing a beautiful fleece, but driving carts or taking small children on rides. 4-H groups also enjoy using llamas as project animals. Best known for their occasional spitting, these highly intelligent minis are long-lived, gentle and easy to care for. THE IDEA OF HAVING A PIG AS A PET is a relatively new one, although pigs have been domesticated for thousands of years. Today, the mini piglet has earned a place in the homes of many who have fallen in love with a cute little snout and curly tail. Mini pigs can easily be litterbox trained, walked on leashes and taken on road trips. Being incredibly intelligent and sensitive they also make excellent service animals, making them candidates for therapy animals or emotional support animals. MOST MINIATURE HORSES come from Shetland pony blood. These cuties can be found in literally hundreds of coat colors, from solids to pintos, even leopard appaloosa patterns. They just might be the most diverse equine species when it comes to color. In fact, some shows hold a class for the most beautiful coat. But don’t let the size fool you ‌ mini horses can pull up to four times their weight, making them not only adorable but a valuable resource on the farm. Jack Collier is the editorial director for Florida Country Magazine.
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Jersey mini-cows (top right), miniature llamas and pigs are big with 4-H city kids and Florida farmers on small parcels.
RODEO ROUNDUP
RODEO CALENDAR CENTRAL FLORIDA RODEO
Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017 Venue: Central Florida Rodeo Arena 1140 Fish Hatchery Road, Lakeland, FL centralflrodeo.com 863-581-9654
OCALA SHRINE RODEO
Friday, Sept. 1, 2017 Venue: Southeastern Livestock Pavilion 2200 NE Jacksonville Road, Ocala, FL ocalarodeo.com 352-401-5900
BOTTOM PHOTO BY WILLIAM R. COX
OKEECHOBEE LABOR DAY WEEKEND BULL RIDING
ENCORE RODEO
Friday-Saturday, Sept. 8-9, 2017 Venue: Jacksonville Equestrian Center 13611 Normandy Blvd., Jacksonville, FL jaxequestriancenter.com 904-255-4254
DAVIE PRO RODEO
Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017 Venue: Bergeron Arena 4271 Davie Road, Davie, FL davieprorodeo.com 954-680-8005
CENTRAL FLORIDA RODEO
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017 Venue: Okeechobee Cattlemen’s Rodeo Arena 1885 U.S. Highway 441 N., Okeechobee, FL theokeechobeerodeo.com 941-628-4044
Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 Venue: Central Florida Rodeo Arena 1140 Fish Hatchery Road, Lakeland, FL centralflrodeo.com 863-581-9654
CIRCLE S RODEO BULLS AND BARRELS
FLORIDA CATTLEMEN’S RANCH RODEO STATE FINALS
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017 Venue: Circle S Rodeo Ground 32450 Clay Gully Road, Myakka City, FL circlesrodeo.com 941-322-4005
Friday, Sept. 29, 2017 Venue: Silver Spurs Arena 1875 Silver Spur Lane, Kissimmee, FL silverspursrodeo.com 321-697-3485
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COUNTRY CALIBER
COWBOY UP! FLORIDA'S INTERESTING CHARACTERS, ONE RIDER'S TALE, PLENTY OF BULL Written by: Jack Collier
“Aside from serving as a demonstration of skill, rodeos have a strong social element that brings together communities like few other traditions can do. In cities and towns where the surrounding region is highly involved in the cattle industry, rodeos are held frequently, and are designed for the entire family to enjoy.” —Florida Memory, State Library & Archives of Florida
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ven when things are right, when you’re in the groove and riding the storm, those few seconds are like hours.
And even if the cowboy is having fun—grasping a braided rope on the back of a twisting and bucking bull that can weigh 1,800 pounds—he or she could get stomped, broken … or worse. A completed rodeo bull ride lasts about eight seconds, which is forever, those who’ve done it say. “Feels good if [you] get it rode,” says Ray
Conversano, once a top rodeo bull rider who lives in North Fort Myers. “You’re on the front [of the bull], as far forward as you can. But I’ve had chipped teeth, my lip hanging loose. “And my wife says I’ve had too many concussions,” he adds, smiling. Conversano in the 1950s rode bulls and broncs at the Cowtown Rodeo in New Jersey, a historic arena, competed in Florida in winter. Other prominent Florida cowboys such as Pete Clemons, owner of the Okeechobee Livestock Market, have ridden at Cowtown. Conversano in a long career rode his last bull at Madison Square Garden, in 1970. “If I was younger, I’d be doing it again, partying and rodeo and having fun,” Conversano adds. Because Florida’s cattle and horse trade goes back centuries, there’s truth that its cowboys were first in organized rodeo. The lasso, bronc-busting and branding were the trade of ranch hands, practical needs that became sport. Rodeos in Kissimmee, Okeechobee and other towns remain big with cowboys/cowgirls and spectators; the Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo soon gets a new 7,700-seat indoor arena, the price tag about $7 million, for instance. Florida high school kids compete for national titles, in some cases rewarded with college scholarships. Small kids start out riding sheep, clutching its wool as spectators whoop and cheer. Select riders and ropers grow rich in modern rodeo circuits. The $500 to $600 to top cowboys in Conversano’s day, for instance, his contemporaries will pick up $25,000 for the same single event, top riders $300,000 or more in a season.
IF I WAS YOUNGER, I’D BE DOING IT AGAIN, PARTYING AND RODEO AND HAVING FUN. —Ray Conversano, former rodeo cowboy and modern farrier
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF RAY CONVERSANO
Ray Conversano rode bulls at Cowtown Rodeo in New Jersey and also up and down the East Coast, including in Florida for the winter. Good riders in his time collected $500 for winning an event, what he calls traveling money.
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COUNTRY CALIBER
Ray Conversano (center) was a top rodeo cowboy through the 1970s, even riding at Madison Square Garden. He'd do it again in the snap of his fingers, he says.
“We got travel money,” he says. “Things have changed quite a lot.” Decades after his rodeo career closed, Ray Conversano today is a farrier. He cruises Florida’s horse country, arriving with his tools: a shoeing box and stand, clippers, picks and rasps. He’ll lace on a farrier’s thick apron and turn to the physical labor of keeping horse hoofs in tip-top shape. His people idolize him. Ray Conversano is a “grumpy old man … but we love him,” says Darcey Freeman, smiling. She’s the barn manager at the South West Florida Rescue in Charlotte County, a 40-acre ranch in Punta Gorda run by Tina Garrett and Matt Venaleck that takes in abused, neglected or abandoned horses. A friend with horses a couple of years ago learned that Conversano in his time was a top farrier, “and the next day the phone is ringing,” the 76-year-old says. “It has been ringing every day after that.” Jack Collier is the editorial director for Florida Country Magazine.
The Florida horse industry generates a $6.5 billion economic impact on the gross domestic product, when including spending by industry suppliers and employees. The Florida horse industry produces goods and services valued at $2.2 billion. Some 244,200 Floridians are involved in the industry as horse owners, service providers and employees. The Florida horse industry generates more than 72,000 jobs. Source: State of Florida
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PHOTO COURTESY OF RAY CONVERSANO
FLORIDA ROUNDUP
TOP RIGHT PHOTO BY DAVID ROSENFIELD/CCFOTOS; OTHER PHOTOS COURTESY OF AARON HUDSON
COUNTRY CALIBER
FLORIDA COWBOY’S STORY AARON HUDSON’S KIDS ARE FIFTH-GEN RANCHERS, ARCADIAN BORN TO SADDLE-UP Written by: Jack Collier
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n the middle of God’s ranch country, at his hushed home under the charcoal sky of a June evening, Aaron Hudson is on his phone.
A generational Florida cowboy and rancher, Hudson tells a friend that he’s bushed, bone-tired, sun-up to sundown working his 3,500-acre ranch. “I’m sore today, buddy,” I said. "And he says, 'What would you do differently?’ ” Hudson remembers of the conversation. “And I told him, ‘You know, I can’t think of one thing. In some way, shape or form, I’m gonna get to ride a horse. Not so bad.’” Hudson, who is 41, is an authentic cowboy, in a way one of the last. His forbearers were citrus growers and ranch builders, leaving their children the ground on which Aaron Hudson now runs a working ranch of some 1,000 cattle. While the days are as hot as they once were, modern genetics have made ranching a science, he says, a modern cow at 10 months weighing 600 pounds, for example, when its forbearers five generations ago may have weighed 300, Hudson says.
Nearly 1,000 beef cattle roam the Hudson Ranch. On his land in Arcadia, Aaron Hudson (above right) is a horse trainer and travels the state as a day-working cowboy.
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COUNTRY CALIBER Aaron Hudson (pictured) also works rodeos as a pick-up man, protecting the rider and securing the animal.
AARON HUDSON WILL SOMEDAY HAND OVER THE ARCADIA RANCH TO HIS KIDS, 12 AND 21, A MISSION THAT HE SEES AS SPIRITUAL. Yet Aaron Hudson will someday hand over the Arcadia ranch to his kids, 12 and 21, a mission that he sees as spiritual—his great-grandfather farmed citrus and ranched, passing along his possessions to his children, as Aaron Hudson will do when the time arrives, and it will, he understands. “God gave me this piece of earth to look after, on lease to me,” he says. “And my goal [in life] is to hand them a better place than I got.”
Story: Hudson is coaching a small-kid baseball team. A man of integrity wants the same from others, so he tells the children and their parents rules are to be obeyed, and that players will address adults respectfully, as in “yes, ma’am/yes, sir.” “And the one mother says her son,” Hudson says, “isn’t calling anyone ‘sir.’” So he nods, tells the woman she has choices. Ending: The mother decides her child will remain on the team, ultimately apologizing for misjudging Aaron Hudson. “With horses, dogs and kids,” Hudson adds, “say it with a soft, gentle attitude. Then reward the good, and discipline the bad.” A true Florida cowboy, Hudson is mostly on horseback, rounding up his or another rancher’s cattle, running a large enterprise. In down time, he travels with other cowboys, works as a pick-up man in rodeos, protecting the rider and securing the animal. Rodeo allows him to experience the time when he rode broncs, as a younger man without the damage, he says. And then rush home, as his ancestors had in the preceding generations. “I see a lot of country and a lot of friends,” he says of returning to rodeo each season. Jack Collier is the editorial director for Florida Country magazine.
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TOP PHOTO BY DAVID ROSENFIELD; OTHER PHOTO COURTESY OF AARON HUDSON
In some ways, Aaron Hudson is the luckiest man on the planet, born to ranching parents, on horseback early, no real cares—where luck stops, it seems. It was instilled that you worked and rode hard, yet found joy in a blue sky, barn and agriculture smells, loved your family, held genuine faith, placed the same standards on yourself that you placed on others, trying to not judge anyone.
COUNTRY CALIBER
COWBOY CHURCH MINISTRIES PHOTO COURTESY OF COWBOY CHURCH MINISTRIES
FRANK DANA’S MESSAGE OF LOVE, ALWAYS IS HEARD AN ENCOURAGING WORD Written by: Paige Jardin
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rank Dana says that when “God laid it on my heart” to reach out to ropers, he replied, “God, you made a mistake.”
That was in 1998, just about a year and a half after he was saved, Dana says. He was in his 30s then, and an unlikely candidate for preacher. “I was very reserved. I was the one standing in the corner back there … with nothing to say.” But today he has plenty to say, and it seems his calling was no mistake. He and his wife, Cindy, hold Cowboy Church every Sunday—in Venus, Florida, on the second Sunday, and on their property in LaBelle on the others. Dana explains how he was persuaded. “I call it a vision. Because it’s just as plain as you and I talkin’,” he says. “I’m
standing in line and before me is Jesus … and his first comments [to me] are, ‘I want you to look over to the side and see there’s another line.’ And I'm saying, ‘I finally get to see you face to face, no, I want to look here,’ but I look, and I see folks I know in that line. And He says, ‘They’re standing in line for the devil. And they’re going to hell because you’re not doing what I asked you to do.’ ” So Dana relented, and began by sharing the message of Jesus once a month to a roping club that met in Venus, where competitions are held. “We’d meet before roping. There would be seven or eight people,” he says. And then “a gentleman built a barn [in Venus],” he adds, and a group of men, women and kids worked together building the barn and the number of attendees grew. And before long, Dana felt God calling him to hold
DANA FELT GOD CALLING HIM TO HOLD NONDENOMINATIONAL COWBOY CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY. SO HE BUILT A BARN ON HIS PROPERTY ON SEARS ROAD.
Frank Dana will greet ministry faithful such as Cody Moran (middle) and Zebb Luster at the Cowboy Church in LaBelle.
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COUNTRY CALIBER nondenominational Cowboy Church every Sunday. So he built a barn on his property on Sears Road. Three Sundays a month, folks gather to hear the live band, prayers, requests for prayers, encouraging words and a message from Dana. Unlike a traditional church, there is no passing of the plate. There’s a box at the back of the church for offerings. The money goes to “help families,” Dana says. “We buy [them] gift cards. We send money out every month to the missionaries. And to the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes, to St. Jude’s.” Children are the focus also on Tuesday nights, when they come to Cowboy Church for calf roping—and a message from Dana. On Thursday nights, adults and children gather for steer roping—and a message. The rest of the week, Dana works in construction, specifically excavation. Cindy Dana is an administrator for Lipman Produce. The couple have been married for 37 years. They are devoted to each other, to God and to Cowboy Church. “It’s a place you can come, it doesn’t matter how you dress, it doesn’t matter what you look like, it doesn’t matter where you came from,” Frank Dana says. “What matters is that you’re there and God wants to love on you.” Paige Jardin made rural Florida her home about 10 years ago. She is a poet and a storyteller.
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The faithful on Sundays gather to hear music, prayers, requests for prayers, encouraging words and a message from Dana Frank.
PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF COWBOY CHURCH MINISTRIES
Kids play a regular role at Cowboy Church Ministries, whether roping or receiving baptism (below).
UNLIKE A TRADITIONAL CHURCH, THERE IS NO PASSING OF THE PLATE.
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Pete Clemons (above) was a champion rodeo cowboy. Photo at right shows Pete (center) and his sons Jeff (left) and Todd. The family oversees Okeechobee Livestock Market (below) and North Florida Livestock Market near Lake City.
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TOP LEFT PHOTO ON OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA
The man behind the auction house, cowboying and ranching, 'a good combination' Written by: Jack Collier
1. 2.
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A CATTLEMAN
A wide-brimmed hat, a pair of tight pants and a pair of $200 boots. At least 2 head of livestock, preferably cattle; 1 male, 1 female —Sign at the Okeechobee Livestock Market
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here are eight more such ranching requirements on a varnished board at the Okeechobee Livestock Market, right inside the small arena where wholesale auctions have for many years run on Mondays and Tuesdays. The auction house decades ago had operated as an association
clearinghouse beginning in the 1940s, but was purchased in 1961 by men that included a celebrity cowboy who remains in charge, although his children and their kids today run the enterprise. That celebrity cowboy was Pete Clemons, today much older, his age slowing him a bit. Yet in gripping his hand, observing his bright eyes as he recalls tales of rodeo and later as the president of a thriving business, there remains the radiance of a man who built a small empire, who raised solid, hardworking children—and who this morning cuts short a family discussion about his legacy so he can make a doctor's appointment ... on time. It speaks to Pete Clemons' character, to a time when country cattlemen, ranchers and merchants made deals and sealed them with a handshake, his son Todd says.
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Pete Clemons (top and second photos) was Florida's champion cowboy. His father, Oscar (bottom photo), was a state cattleman and managed rodeo events.
“My father,” he says, “was and is about honor and integrity. That’s how it still is today.”
Someone has to sell all that beef. In Florida, Okeechobee Livestock Market sits atop nine or so such businesses in the state. The Clemons family operates a second wholesale auction house near Lake City. The author of a book about Okeechobee’s livestock history tells us that the former Dixie Cattlemen’s Association was formed in the 1940s by a federal agency to support small ranchers. Those men funneled their beef through an auction, sold mostly to brokers of large ranches or directly to processors, Howard S. Jones wrote in The Green Jeep, a history of the association and early organized livestock processing in southeast Florida. “Wild tough cattle, probably descendants of those abandoned by early Spanish explorers,” Jones wrote, “still ran loose on portions of the vast property. Their value, if you could have caught them, might have been at most a few dollars a head. Hiring hands, fencing, pasture planting and cattle management began in earnest.” As this early scene unfolded, Pete Clemons was running with a reputation in rodeo, riding and winning in each major category, well into his 30s, he told a television reporter in a 2008 interview. He was tickling the reporter with his stories, that amused look on his face that he holds into his advancing years. Nearly a decade after that interview, Pete Clemons this morning is heading into a back room at the Okeechobee Livestock Market. He eases into a chair alongside a small television showing the day’s commodity prices. Todd and his brother, Jeff, sit at the old poker table near their father. Those in the slightly dusty room are pausing, a politeness to await Pete’s first words, the same courtesy afforded most heads of any family in every culture. And there’s that slight bemusement again, Pete's eyes fixed in space, perhaps thinking about an ice-breaker. You see that while he’s limited in mobility, his mind remains clear. And the stories begin, funny and as meaningful as you’d imagine … and hope. Being a celebrity cowboy and then an auction house director, Pete says “is a good combination.” You’re listening to living history, the kind in Florida that is vanishing so quickly. His sons, in fact, are handing some daily responsibilities to their children, the third generation at Okeechobee Livestock Market and the North Florida Livestock Market in Ellisville near Lake City. Oscar Clemons
Pete after 30 minutes or so heads out for his appointment. Monday’s livestock auction in Okeechobee is beginning, as it has since the 1940s. The auctioneer, Aubrey Bailey, assumes his seat alongside the small arena, readies for the steady march of cattle, lumbering in singly or darting onto a large scale, priced and out through a hydraulic doorway and into pens. Brokers and buyers using eye or finger gestures or a flicking of a folded price sheet bid on these animals. Two women tally each sale, sliding sale receipts to one another through PVC pipe. You wonder how the pair keep the pace. Todd says most Florida beef is trucked to Texas or Oklahoma for fattening or processing. Okeechobee Livestock Market on this Monday will process about 600 cattle, taking 3 percent of each sale, Aubrey Bailey sipping Mountain Dew to keep moist for the odd trilling of a veteran auctioneer, the fun banter with buyers; his job to drive the price, to return on Tuesday and to help feed the world. Jack Collier is the editorial director for Florida Country Magazine.
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MIDDLE AND BOTTOM LEFT COURTESY OF STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA; OTHER PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF OKEECHOBEE LIVESTOCK MARKET
Florida’s cattle industry is one of the 20 largest in the country. Of the 90 million or so cattle processed every year in the U.S., Florida will run about 1.7 million of those, or 2 percent. Texas remains the king of the cattle business, with some 12 million cattle going to market annually. Tennessee processes about the same number of cattle as Florida.
SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDBACK
“OLM has really been good to our family. We have done business with them for over 50 years … they have supported our community and created lots of jobs. They have supported our young kids with livestock shows. My dad ‘Alec’ talked about working at the market when he got out of high school and what good memories he had and stories to tell. The Fulford Family wants to say “Thanks” for all that you have done for our family and for the cattle business.” —Randy Fulford, Okeechobee “Everything is excellent. The sale runs smoothly. The food is excellent. The staff is excellent, very helpful and nice. Mr. Pete, Mr. Todd, and Mr. Jeff are very nice and helpful and willing to talk to anyone about the sale of cattle and are willing to help you with anything, anything at all.” —Tuff, Okeechobee
YOU’RE LISTENING TO LIVING HISTORY, THE KIND IN FLORIDA THAT IS VANISHING SO QUICKLY.
Three generations (top) run the Okeechobee Livestock Market and the North Florida Livestock Market near Lake City. Auctioned Florida beef mostly ends up in Oklahoma and Texas. F LO R I D A C O U NTRYM A G A Z I N E . C O M
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“The first week of the drive was uneventful, the cows setting their own pace and moving slowly. For four days they followed an old military trail that had been built by soldiers during the first Seminole War. …”
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From A Land Remembered, Patrick Smith’s novel published in 1984. ow, Floridians cruise along in air-conditioned cars, order hamburgers at drive-through windows from fast-food restaurants and gobble their chow as they drive, perhaps dribbling ketchup on their chins. Beef and ranching, in one form or another, have always played a major role in Florida’s history, long before the first McDonald’s opened. How long?
Cattle, ranches and ranchers have helped shape Florida since before we became a state, even before the creation of the United States of America. Before the arrival of Europeans, the only residents on the peninsula were indigenous people who didn’t have cattle. Or hamburgers.
When Juan Ponce de León sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and arrived on the land we now know as Florida in 1521, his fleet carried seven Andalusia cattle. That was the start of Florida’s cattle industry, and eventually ranching, businesses that were evocatively recreated in Patrick Smith’s novel of old Florida. “They followed the herd southward for a month, sometimes moving several miles in a day, other times not moving at all. The cows grew larger each day, and even their hides took on a sleek luster… several times they passed within sight of wild herds, some of them five times larger than the one they tended.”
Written by: Walter Burns
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Now, the vast ranges of the undeveloped Florida of the 19th century are crossed with highways and railroads, the land covered by gated communities, golf courses and shopping malls. What Ponce de León started with those seven Andalusia nearly 500 years ago grew in the 16th century when more cattle were shipped here and the ones that were here wandered into the wilderness and bred. The first ranch in Florida’s history was organized in St. Augustine in 1565, according to the Florida Memory website. It wasn’t the last ranch, that’s for sure. Ranches still dot the state’s landscape, all these centuries later. In A Land Remembered, a
PHOTOS ON OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
There were many tribes, but the major ones included the Calusa in Southwest Florida, the Tocobaga around the Tampa Bay area, the Tequesta in southeastern Florida and the Timucuan in the northeast. The coming of the Spaniards doomed all these tribes. They were wiped away by warfare and disease.
The first ranch in Florida’s history was organized in St. Augustine in 1565. It wasn’t the last ranch, that’s for sure. Ranches still dot the state’s landscape, all these centuries later.
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Early drives pushed cattle from central Florida in Kissimmee to Tampa, for shipping to Cuba or for processing.
CATTLE, RANCHES AND RANCHERS HAVE HELPED SHAPE FLORIDA SINCE BEFORE WE BECAME A STATE.
In the 1870s, Dr. Lykes moved from South Carolina to Hernando County and purchased a 500-acre ranch. His seven sons followed him into the business and they incorporated as Lykes Brothers in 1910. The Lykes are still in ranching. The company’s 337,000-acre ranch sprawls over parts of Glades and Highland counties. In A Land Remembered, readers travel along on cattle drives from central Florida to Punta Rassa across from Sanibel. Life was hard in those days before air-conditioning, mosquito control and automobiles. “Tobias had made four more drives into Punta Rassa, each one larger than the one before. He now had regular buying points along the trail, and his last herd numbered over 3,000. Predators still stalked them, and many nights they kept fires burning to turn away wolves….” But there was a reward for the cattlemen. A real-life cattle baron named F.A. Hendry wrote a historical pamphlet recalling the early days. “The demand in Cuba for Florida cattle became very extensive and Spanish ounces and doubloons almost became playthings,” Hendry wrote shortly before his 1917 death. Early cattle barons such as Lykes, Hendry and Jacob Summerlin are sometimes referred to as crackers, a name often attached to their descendants to this day. Some believe the name derives from the cracking sound of whips used by cowhands to herd cattle. By 1892, the future of ranching and cattle drives was clear in A Land Remembered. “One morning they could see the railroad in the distance as the sun reflected off shiny steel rails. It was the new line into Tampa. Soon afterward a tooting sound broke the silence of the prairie.” Five centuries since the first Andalusia arrived on our shores, more than a century after the railroad reached deep into the state, ranching and cattlemen and crackers are still with us. Walter Burns is a veteran Florida journalist who has resided in the state since 1961 and has a deep interest in its history.
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BOTTOM LEFT PHOTO COURTESY OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY; TOP PHOTO COURTESY OF STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA
fictional family, the MacIvey clan, built an empire. In real life, they had their counterparts with pioneers such as Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes. His name may be little remembered deep into the 21st century, but the name Lykes likely rings a bell with many Floridians.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA
Capt. F. A. Hendry's home at Fort Thompson (pictured) often held cattle to be processed.
The seven Lykes brothers (above) and Jake Summerlin (right) are among the legends in Florida's cattle ranching. The state's wharfs would be crowded with cattle, some driven through streets in such towns as Fort Myers.
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THE ARENA
SAY HOWDY TO JOSIE ADKINS FLORIDA’S TOP HIGH SCHOOL COWGIRL, PLANS A RODEO CAREER Written by: Jack Collier
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osie Adkins is a modern cowgirl.
The 15-year-old is Florida’s best at pole bending, a rodeo sport that’s about pure speed and agility, a cowgirl and her horse maneuvering a serpentine course of free-standing poles, weaving inside the obstacles, galloping like a trade wind outside them. The race is a few silent moments of synchronized racing, the horse doing its job, the cowgirl steering the animal with her foot on the gas pedal, pole bending and not pole knocking. A race of four lengths of the course, a good run is around 20 seconds. Josie is the state’s high school champion, which makes her a top American cowgirl. She learned Horsemanship 101 at age 10, guided by Florida barrelracing legend Margo Crowther. Josie, of North Fort Myers, won the polebending title this spring at the Florida High School Rodeo Association Finals
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The race is a few silent moments of synchronized speed, pole bending and not pole knocking.
PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF THE ADKINS FAMILY
Josie Adkins is the state’s high school champion, which makes her a top American cowgirl.
championship. She’s entering sophomore classes at Riverdale High School in North Fort Myers. While the competition among the high schoolers was intense at the championships, “everyone afterwards is friendly,” she says. “It works out.” You may know barrel racing and other rodeo sports, but pole bending is about gliding and raw speed, the rider and horse traversing a line of free-standing poles, like chasing a snake, without downing the poles. Best times win. If you know slalom skiing or dog agility racing, you know pole bending, only the competitor is aboard a 1,000-pound horse. Racing her gelding Pepto, Josie’s time at the May Finals was a hair over 20 seconds, a target she wishes to best. “I’ve heard of people running nineteens,” she says. In some sports, 10 is middle aged. So when Josie was
JOSIE WON THE POLEBENDING TITLE THIS SPRING AT THE FLORIDA HIGH SCHOOL RODEO ASSOCIATION FINALS CHAMPIONSHIP.
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THE ARENA introduced to horses, she was behind a few of Florida’s youngsters riding nearly before walking. Yet she seemed to take to horses and competition as if born to do so, says her mother, Michelle, saying that her daughter wanted more than loping along on horseback. So the mom and dad (Steve) contacted Margo Crowther, a champion at barrel racing, a sport like pole bending—riders in harmony with their horse, accelerating around obstacles. Was Michelle Adkins proud that her daughter won the pole-bending competition at the state finals? “Yeah … heck, yeah!” she says. Josie Adkins pictures success in high school rodeo, ultimately riding for a university in Texas or Oklahoma. But for the immediate future, she will work to build her skills and stamina on the pole-bending obstacle course, training with Pepto, a horse that seems to possess that same competitive fire as his rider, she says. Then, possibly professional rodeo, that nomadic lifestyle of Florida’s cowgirls/cowboys. “I see myself doing that,” Josie says. Jack Collier is the editorial director for Florida Country Magazine. The Florida High School Rodeo Association is a statewide group of students grades 9 through 12 (below). Josie Adkins has also performed well in roping events (right).
AT A GLANCE
The Florida High School Rodeo Association enriches the lives of Florida student rodeo athletes by preserving our western heritage through the sport of rodeo. Student members are required to conduct themselves in a commendable manner, abide by the dress code and event rules when competing. In addition they are required to maintain the same grade-point average that it takes to play any high school sport. Education in important to the FHSRA and scholarships are given each year to seniors through an application process. Source: Florida High School Rodeo Association
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ADKINS FAMILY
The Florida High School Rodeo Association is a statewide association comprised of high school students grades 9 through 12. Members participate in rodeos throughout the state. The top 15 in each event compete in state finals rodeo and the top 4 in each event following the state finals make up a national team (competing in July in Wyoming), which represents Florida at the National High School Rodeo Finals each summer.
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FLORIDA EXCURSIONS
FLORIDA OUTDOOR EXPERIENCE CHASING THE ELUSIVE OSCEOLA TURKEY, HISTORIC CHIEFLAND PRESERVE
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Written by: Jacob Ogles
Gray Drummond in 1996, just after finishing college, took an opportunity to do just that, purchasing an expansive property in Chiefland that his forebearers once called home. “It had a lot of sentimental value to me,” he says of the land west of Gainesville that was settled by Drummonds in the early 19th century. “How many people have the opportunity to own property their ancestors settled when they first came to Florida?” Drummond today serves not just as custodian of a family property but as a lodge owner and operating manager for Florida Outdoor Experience, a wild game and fishing preserve. Drummond and a tightknit staff lead modern explorers of the Florida wilderness onto the site to fish, hunt deer, hogs and Osceola turkey around Drummond Pond, a Big Bend water body not coincidentally bearing the family name. Florida Outdoor Experience is also about lodging in historic yet luxurious accommodations. The company maintains a 19th-century Florida cracker home kept to first-class standards. The Farmhouse at Rocky Hammock Preserve provides five-star quality lodging in a remote location off an old wagon-wheel trail. Lacey Kelly, Florida Outdoor Experience operations manager, says the interior includes incredible artifacts— including quilts once owned by Daniel Boone—yet guests access satellite television and Wi-Fi connections, escaping to a Florida of yore without forgoing modern comforts. “It’s a more high-end experience,” Kelly says. “Maybe one or two other lodges in the state operate the way we do.” But don’t let the luxury accommodations mislead. Whether fishing for tarpon in the Gulf or setting up tree stands to spot white tail deer, the focus here remains game. Kelly notes the property boasts a significant population of Osceola turkey, for instance, regarded as the most elusive bird in the turkey Grand Slam. With 10,000 acres of low-fence hunting to explore, guides guarantee a shot at the small bird, staff offering to extend your time in the lodge until the opportunity for a shot arises. Kelly says few visitors make a day trip with Florida Outdoor Experience; the majority want a weekend or more to enjoy the land and to track game. Drummond also boasts an 1839 log cabin and smokehouse brought down from Virginia that add to the character of the land and harken back to the era when the first Drummonds in Florida decided to lay down stakes and make this place home. The land remains a precious and treasured resource to Drummond, who Campfires under the stars (left) and cozy accommodations in an old Florida setting at Rocky Hammock Preserve (right) define your stay at Florida Outdoor Experience.
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BOTTOM RIGHT PHOTO BY LUKE WILLIAMS; ALL OTHER PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE BY BRETT SENG
select few of us walk the land settled by our pioneering ancestors.
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Osceola turkey (left) is the prize game bird in Florida. The preserve (top) is land settled by Gray Drummond's forebearers, the cracker house at Rocky Hammock Preserve like what these hardy people built from surrounding forests. Drummond enjoys visits to the replica house with daughters Elle and Kate (above).
THE PROPERTY WON’T EVER BECOME OVERDEVELOPED, WHETHER IT REMAINS IN DRUMMOND FAMILY HANDS OR NOT.
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has sold development rights to the Suwannee River Water Management District in perpetuity, meaning the property won’t ever become overdeveloped, whether it remains in Drummond family hands or not, he says. Sometimes landowners need to do more than proclaim a belief in conservation, he says, and actually do something to preserve the natural world. “I’m not opposed to all development,” he says, “but there’s very little left like what we have in this part of Florida.” The priority for Florida Outdoor Experience remains ensuring guests get the most from the land during their stay. That hospitality doesn’t stop with the outdoor sporting activity; staff here will stay with guests in the evening, cooking meals over an open fire and even strumming a guitar. “It’s about the whole experience here,” Drummond says. “Whether you take that game home or you just come here to have a good time, the important thing is you have a smile on your face.” Details about Florida Outdoor Experience are at floridaoutdoorexperience.com. Jacob Ogles is a Southwest Florida freelance writer.
Florida Outdoor Experience is in Chiefland, west of Gainesville and encircled by the amazing natural wonders of the Sunshine State.
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BOTTOM PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIDA OUTDOOR EXCURSIONS; LOWER RIGHT PHOTO ABOVE BY CAVIN BROTHERS; OTHER PHOTOS BY BRETT SENG
FLORIDA EXCURSIONS
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KICK BACK
WESTGATE RIVER RANCH RESORT & RODEO LUXURIOUS GETAWAY, FLORIDA’S LARGEST DUDE RANCH, WHERE MEMORIES ARE MADE
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Written by: Ava Isabel Grace
hether you want to saddle up and head off to enjoy miles of unspoiled trails, sink arrows into a bullseye at an archery range or take a thrilling airboat ride, there’s one place where you can do it all and much more—right on location. The Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo is Florida’s biggest dude ranch, a sprawling venue of action and fun—tennis, golf, boating/full-service marina, trap/skeet, eco-tours, swampbuggy rides, hayrides, a pool and an arcade. Accommodations include teepees and luxury camping, or glamping.
The working ranch’s big draw is the Saturday night championship rodeo, the longest running such event in the United States. Staged in a 1,200-seat arena, cowboys/cowgirls compete in trick riding, barrel racing and bull riding. A street party follows the rodeo. Whatever it is you love about country lifestyle is at the Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo, a working ranch on the Kissimmee River—a waterway flowing between Lake Kissimmee to the north and Lake Okeechobee to the south—that straddles a Florida heritage trail that cowboys have traversed for some 150 years to take cattle to market.
Miles of riding trails make Westgate River Ranch perfect for horseback adventures.
WHATEVER IT IS YOU LOVE ABOUT COUNTRY LIFESTYLE, YOU WILL FIND IT AT THE WESTGATE RIVER RANCH RESORT & RODEO.
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PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF WESTGATE RESORTS
Teepee living (above left) is a fun alternative to orthodox resort stays. Petting farms, airboats on the Kissimmee River (below) and evening campfires make Westgate River Ranch an event vacation.
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KICK BACK
Rodeo is a historic centerpiece at the Westgate River Ranch, but you need luxury accommodations and other fun at the 1,700-acre resort to balance your visit.
“Westgate River Ranch is designed to pay tribute to our Florida cowboy heritage and provide our guests the unique opportunity to experience the great Florida outdoors on an authentic working ranch,” says Mark Waltrip, Westgate’s chief operating officer. Indeed, Florida really is the birthplace of the American cowboy. And it all started when the explorer Juan Ponce de León took the first cattle and cattlemen to America, to what is now the Sunshine State.
Dining is about the Westgate Smokehouse Grill, the River Ranch Saloon and the Deli at the General Store. There’s also a cool hybrid—a family style dinner, a hayride and a singing cowboy. “Westgate River Ranch & Rodeo is the most unique luxury getaway in Florida,” explains Waltrip. While the days are packed with excitement and the nights filled with
fun, what stands out the most, as always, are the scrapbook memories you will hold. “We have parents that visit with us today with their children that first came to River Ranch when they were children themselves,” explains Waltrip. Kids visiting the ranch find events and activities that are geared especially for them—a petting farm, ziplining, bungee-jumps, pony rides and a rodeo game, a real calf scramble to remove a ribbon from a calf’s tail. The first child to get the ribbon wins a prize. “Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo creates lifetime memories for families,” adds the resort’s marketing director, Lauren Miller. Ava Isabel Grace is a Southwest Florida resident who loves the country.
ROUNDUP
Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo River Ranch, Florida 863-692-1321, westgateresorts.com
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF WESTGATE RESORTS
Besides the countless ways to bring out the cowboy or cowgirl in us, Westgate offers lodging for every size of family or group, including suites, spacious cabins, glamping (glamorous camping), tenting/RVs and luxury teepees with high-end furnishings, double-sided fireplaces and a concierge service. The grounds also accommodate special events, reunions, business meetings and conventions. Wedding sites and packages are also available.
PICTURE PERFECT
PICTURE PERFECT (AGAIN) KALY ZIELKE’S GREAT HORNED OWL Photo by: Kaly Zielke
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lorida Country Magazine photo contest winner Kaly Zielke's alligator entry was your choice in our first issue, June/ July 2017. This issue's photo of a great horned owl, also taken by the talented Kaly, was chosen from dozens of submissions, each amazing and surprising. She shot her winning photo with a Nikon D7000 body, a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 vr II lens. The Orlando native likes to photograph wildlife and Florida horses.
Kaly Zielke
Every issue of Florida Country Magazine features a winning photo. Check our Facebook page or floridacountrymagazine.com for details and to see other photo entries.
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ROD & GUN CLUB COLORFUL HISTORY INCLUDES THE RICH AND FAMOUS, SOUTH FLORIDA'S SPORTING LEGACY, PAST IS FOR SALE Written by: Jack Collier
“Rod, Gun Club Host To Princes, Presidents, Teddy Roosevelt, Truman and Ike among club guests. German Nobility Prince Adolph von Schwarzenberg and his princess of the German nobility, with his sister Princess Anna, not only enjoyed the fishing but seemed to delight in the democracy of the Rod & Gun Club.”
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—1955 newspaper clipping
s she has been doing for 60 years, Barbara Bowen is behind the hardwood check-in counter at the Rod & Gun Club in Everglades City. From her perspective, the club’s interior is a time capsule of South Florida’s resort and sport fishing history; varnished floors, alligator hides,
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celebrity photographs and newspaper clippings dating back decades. It feels this morning as if time is not real, that anything is possible, and that Ernest Hemingway could stroll through the same door he used in visiting the resort. Barbara Bowen started at the Rod & Gun Club in the 1950s as a clerk answering telephones, plugging cords into the spaghetti-wired switchboard, when a son of Barron Collier, the wealthy advertising mogul, owned the historic resort in Everglades City. The town was used by sportsmen in winter season, the Rod & Gun Club its palace, its heart, where the wealthy and famous arrived by boat or car, dined and sipped cocktails, hunted or fished on some of the world’s best salt flats in the Ten Thousand Islands preserve. Barbara Bowen’s father, Martin, purchased the resort in 1972.
Soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower (left, center) and his wife, Mamie, visited the Rod & Gun Club in 1951. Boaters regularly dock at the resort that defines South Florida's sporting legacy.
LEFT PHOTO COURTESY OF COLLIER COUNTY MUSEUMS; BOTTOM RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY OF EVERGLADES ROD & GUN CLUB
FLORIDA MEMORIES
TOP RIGHT AND BOTTOM PHOTOS COURTESY OF STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA
She recalls earlier effects of Hurricane Donna, the super storm that plowed into South Florida in 1960 and devastated places such as Everglades City, when tide surges flooded the resort “up to here,” she says, holding her hand as high as the countertop where she worked. She co-owns the resort today with a sister, Patricia Bowen, and her son, Jeffrey Foss. It continues to operate as a hotel and restaurant. The place seems to embrace history, dark and hushed inside during the day, tables of patrons on an airy screened porch sipping iced tea and cold beer, watching the afternoon slip along. “It’s really nice to find a place like this,” says John Janis, an east Florida man on his first visit to the Rod & Gun Club with his wife, Tina. “It’s like you’re stepping back in time. But with a swift signature, Everglades City and a slice of Florida history could change: The historic Rod & Gun Club, where guns have been phased out, in essence making it the Rod Club, is for sale. The price is a reported $12 million. A purchaser could swap things around—updating and modernizing the resort, for instance, perhaps using social media to drive new generations to the property. But one thing at the Rod & Gun Club will remain forever intact: Its long and colorful history. That won’t change, Barbara Bowen says. “Vanderbilts and Colliers,” she recalls of early Rod & Gun Club regulars. “Barron Collier Jr. was a nice The club's waterfront entry (above left) is traditional brick. R.A. Gray (above right, far left) visited Everglades City in the 1950s. He was Florida's secretary of state through 1961. The George W. Storter residence (below) in 1915 was much different before Barron Collier turned it into the Rod & Gun Club, which then was private.
man. He’d have someone meet the [arriving] yachts with bottles of red wine. It was a different time.” And while the Rod & Gun Club is legendary in South Florida, Hollywood has come calling too. The historic property has been a location for several films, including one that starred Joe Pesci, the tough-guy character actor. “We sat on the porch and smoked cigarettes,” she says. “He was just the nicest guy.” William Smith Allen was the area’s first permanent settler, building a house in the 1870s along what is now the Barron River. Barron Collier in 1922 purchased vast tracts of Southwest Florida, including the city of Everglade and the home that he converted into the private Rod & Gun Club. He ended up with more than 1 million acres. Everglade was renamed Everglades City that same year. Today, Collier Enterprises and Barron Collier Companies have ventures in commercial and residential real estate, agriculture, oil exploration and golf courses, according to Forbes magazine. Barron Collier in his day hosted international dignitaries, wealthy sportsmen and U.S. presidents. It was likely the heyday in South Florida, the end of one era and the beginning of another that lingers into our century. Even though she’s plainly tired and ready for a new chapter, Barbara Bowen is clearly saddened by the prospect of losing the historic Rod & Gun Club. “It’s a big decision,” she says. “I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t necessary.” Jack Collier is the editorial director for Florida Country Magazine.
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ALVA COUNTRY DINER HOME COOKING, THE VERY BEST PIES, CASH ONLY—PLEASE Written by: Ava Isabel Grace
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n Florida State Road 80/Palm Beach Boulevard, about 11 miles east of Interstate-75 in Florida country, lies a landmark you've no doubt seen when passing that way. The Alva Country Diner has been a favorite of locals and travelers for years. Since it’s painted barn red with white trim, and has a giant coffee-cup sign plopped right in front, it’s hard to not miss. But it’s the great food and family atmosphere that have been bringing us since 1996. Outside the cozy diner, massive Florida oaks drip with Spanish moss that add shade and interest to the patio of picnic tables and fresh flower baskets. Inside, there’s everything you’d expect from a country diner—pictures of the local soccer team to old-fashioned country décor of wooden chairs and tables, floral curtains and tablecloths. The smiling staff makes it even more inviting to want to sit and enjoy one of the diner’s many favorites such as broasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, or a Reuben with onion rings.
The diner is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7 a.m-8 p.m., except holidays, when it closes at 2 p.m. And if you stop by during the breakfast hours (Monday-Saturday until 11 a.m., and Sunday until 11:30 a.m.), plan for favorites such as corned-beef hash and eggs or a yummy ham-and-cheese omelet. Families with little ones get an affordable menu for children with breakfast, lunch and dinner items ranging from French toast to fried fish, each just $2.99. The Alva Country Diner started off as a gas station back in 1952. Steven and Jeanne Sexton took ownership in 1996. A Purdue University graduate, Steven is often in the kitchen preparing Alva Diner favorites, while Jeanne “pitches in wherever help is needed,” she says. The couple’s daughters also keep busy here. “Alexandra [19] and Samantha [26] have both worked at the diner, starting when they were 4 years old,” explains Jeanne. “There’s a lot of local flavor served up,” adds Steven. “It’s a friendly, cozy spot to meet.”
The red Alva Country Diner has been on everyone's menu since 1996, with great food and a fun family atmosphere.
IT’S A FRIENDLY, COZY SPOT TO MEET.
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PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE BY AVA ISABEL GRACE
LOCAL FLAVOR
Alva Country Diner is about tasty home-cooked meals, awesome desserts (pies!) and a free side order of friendly.
IT’S THE PIES THAT MAKE THEIR WAY TO MANY A MEAL TICKET, NO MATTER WHAT TIME OF DAY. In a small community such as Alva, many believe in giving back. The Sextons follow that code, sponsoring Little League teams, soccer clubs and local school events. Additionally, they’ve given away a lot of chicken—thousands of pounds, in fact, donating to the Community Cooperative in Fort Myers. Donna Nix has worked Alva Country Diner tables for 16 years. She knows what the regulars like, what firsttimers might love, too. And whether it's country fried steak and eggs for breakfast, bacon cheeseburgers for lunch or fried sea scallops for dinner, it’s delish pies that make many a meal ticket, no matter what time of day, she says. “Our pies—like cherry, blueberry, Key lime and even the Southern favorite, peanut butter— are always delicious,” adds Nix. A piece of pie, along with a cup of hot coffee, is the perfect way to end any meal at the Alva Country Diner. Ava Isabel Grace is a Southwest Florida resident who loves the country.
ROUNDUP Alva Country Diner 239-728-3366, alvacountrydiner.com Hours Seven days, 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Closes at 2 p.m. holidays Note: Cash only F LO R I D A C O U NTRYM A G A Z I N E . C O M
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FLORIDA HARVEST
MINESTRONE WITH LATE-SUMMER VEGETABLES ABOUT LAYERING AND BUILDING FLAVORS, YUMMY SEASONAL STEWS Written by: Michael Bohn
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right, beautiful and bursting with flavor as well as nutrition, minestrone is a fantastic way to make use of all those delicious late-summer vegetables. Look at it as a farewell celebration for your favorite summer veggies: sweet corn, zucchini, summer squash, green beans and tomatoes, the list goes on ‌ learning to make a good stew is all about layering and building flavors with each step and each additional ingredient. Recipe serves 8
INGREDIENTS
VEGGIES 3 carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch rounds, larger rounds halved (1 cup), 2 celery stalks, cut crosswise into 1/4inch pieces (1 cup), 1 medium-size yellow onion diced, 3 large
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cloves of garlic roughly chopped, 3 medium-size tomatoes, 1 can (15 oz.) of cannellini beans, 2 medium zucchini or yellow squash, or a combination, cut into a 1/2-inch dice (3 cups), 2 ears of corn (cut off cob) or 1 cup frozen, 8 ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (2 cups) MEAT (OPTIONAL) 1 pound grass-fed, lean ground beef 2 chicken or pork sweet Italian sausages, taken out of casing LIQUIDS 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock HERBS Fresh thyme, torn from stems and roughly chopped Fresh basil, torn
EXTRAS Extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon honey Salt and freshly ground pepper HARDWARE One large stockpot 2 wooden spoons (switch to a new spoon after browning meat)
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PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE BY MICHAEL BOHN
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INSTRUCTIONS Prep the veggies: Cut into the specified length and throw into a big bowl, all except the garlic, corn, zucchini or yellow squash and tomatoes. Put those each in a separate container. Brown the meat (if using). Place the stockpot on mediumhigh heat and add a few glugs of extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom. Also, brown the meat in small batches as to not drop the temperature of the pan too much, and add a little salt and pepper to each batch. Scoop browned meat, place in a separate bowl with paper towel at the bottom to catch excess fat. Set aside. Place the pan you browned the meat in back over the heat and turn to high. Take 2 cups of stock (either vegetable or chicken) and add the 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, the 1 tablespoon of honey and add it to the pan to deglaze it. Scrape up all those little brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Let it bubble, all the while scraping the bottom until you get every last little bit off the bottom of the pan. Take the paper towel out of the bowl with the meat in it and pour the deglazing liquid into the bowl with the meat. Place your clean stockpot on medium-low heat, add a few glugs of extra virgin olive oil, add the celery, onion and carrots, salt and pepper to taste. Sweat this mixture (uncovered) until onions are translucent and vegetables have reduced by at least a third, 7-10 minutes. You are trying to evaporate the water, concentrating the aromatic qualities of the onion and celery while enhancing the sweetness of the carrots. When veggies have reduced by a third, add the garlic, cook for 1 minute, then add chopped tomatoes, cooking another 2 minutes. Add meat to stockpot along with the deglazing liquid. Add the remaining chicken or vegetable stock and gently simmer (with cover tightly secured) on low heat for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour, along with the fresh thyme and torn basil leaves. After at least 30 minutes, add the remaining veggies. Let simmer for another 10 minutes, then add the can of drained cannellini beans and take off heat. Let stand for 10 minutes and add water if it’s too thick for your liking. Taste one last time, add salt and pepper to taste. Divide into bowls and sprinkle with parmesan cheese (optional).
FOOD LESSON
There really is no set recipe for this stew, since it’s usually made out of whatever vegetables are in season. It can be vegetarian, or contain meat along with a meat-based stock, either chicken or beef.
VARIATION
Add cooked noodles to the final product for some extra carbohydrates. Cook them separately or they will absorb too much of the stew's liquid, making it too thick! Any noodles will work. F LO R I D A C O U NTRYM A G A Z I N E . C O M
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THE WATERING HOLE
AMERICAN BARRELS BOURBON FLAVOR THAT WASHES DOWN AS EASILY AS YOU PLEASE Written by: Jack Collier
“On the wall behind the bar was a tattered poster from the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, between a Gadsden flag and a sign that read: “Come and Take It.” In that moment, [Michael] Reed put pen to napkin and sketched the first image of the next iconic brand of bourbon whiskey—a shotgun shell guarded by a rattlesnake, filled with the smoothest 90 proof on the shelf.”
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ichael Reed is on a mission.
Which sort of fits the theme of his American Barrels brand bourbon, a tribute to Americana, a dog-tag label, a “Don’t Tread on Me” rattlesnake wrapped around the shotgun-shell shaped bottle of 90 proof whiskey imagined and marketed by Reed, an artful 26-year-old, a former elite athlete in Fort Myers. The bottle’s initial design, he writes on the brand’s website, is to those “who defend liberty day in and day out.”
learning,” he says, now on the phone discussing the rollout of American Barrels bourbon back in 2014.
And the original idea for bottling small-batch bourbon “came to me one night … I have a passion for fun and
Like many successful people and their sometimes unlikely stories, Reed bumped into an idea. But the passion for his
THE STORY IS THAT IT WAS BATCH NUMBER 1,112 THAT DID THE TRICK, THE ONE THAT BECAME AMERICAN BARRELS.
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Michael Reed (below) says American Barrels has performed well in Florida, is getting noticed in other states. He expects to compete with Jim, Jack and Crown Royal.
ROUNDUP American Barrels bourbon, 90 proof, about $28 per 750 ml “A full, rich caramel aroma with a hint of vanilla and rye spiciness. Youthful and balanced bourbon, with a lingering caramel sweetness and subtle oaky finish.” americanbarrels.com
product was quite real, he says, finding as a college hockey player that he enjoyed the taste and effects of whiskey, neat, throwing back a few after games. Why not produce and sell a product that I so much enjoy, he at one point wondered.
PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF AMERICAN BARRELS, LLC
Back in Fort Myers and playing club hockey with Florida Gulf Coast University, Reed jumped on the whiskey culture sweeping the world. For the first time, whiskey scooted past vodka as a favorite beverage in 2014, largely because those in Reed’s age group have adopted the spirit, driving demand and forcing some distillers to double up production, according to trade publications. The refined Scottish distiller Macallan by next year, for instance, promises a second production line. But it won’t be releasing immediately, as Scotch whiskey by law is aged a minimum of three years, a criticism of brands such as American Barrels and others. American whiskey sales this year could reach $10 billion, in fact. It’s so crazy that major brands test their vintage whiskeys for imposters, or forgers. A bottle of authentic Macallan Fine & Rare 1937, for instance, sells for around $40,000. The story is that it was batch number 1,112 that did the trick, the one that became American Barrels. Reed says he sampled a thousand or so recipes before striking on the perfect blend for his bourbon. American Barrels is selling well in Florida, is gaining traction into the rest of the country, he says. Someday, he adds, “I want to be in the same breath as Jim [Beam], Jack [Daniels] and Crown Royal.” Jack Collier is the editorial director for Florida Country Magazine. F LO R I D A C O U NTRYM A G A Z I N E . C O M
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FLORIDA CHARM
OLD HENDRY COUNTY COURTHOUSE RESTORATION WILL GIVE VISITORS A LOOK AT LIVING HISTORY
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ost of us don’t know this tiny central Florida town unless passing though on a back road. But LaBelle is a city full of charm and rich history that includes the Old Hendry County Courthouse. Located along Florida State Road 80, Hendry County is restoring the grand old building that has survived the Great Depression, floods and town modernizations. Courthouse restoration will give visitors a look at living history. Courthouse plans began shortly after Hendry County’s establishment in 1923. Town officials in the 1920s had rented space in the Everett Hotel (owned by Edgar Everett Goodno and later Henry Ford at the present-day site of the Barron Library) for $100 a month. Land donations were sought and design bids issued. Many townspeople readily donated private property; others had to be coerced (board members, fearing that they would upset Henry Ford, appointed someone to ask for his donation of land). A design was accepted from Edward Columbus Hosford, a Lakeland architect. As the county celebrated its second
The Old Hendry County Courthouse was designed in the Mediterranean Revival-Mission Revival styles by Lakeland architect Edward Columbus Hosford.
PLANS FOR THE NEW COURTHOUSE BEGAN SHORTLY AFTER HENDRY COUNTY WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1923.
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PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGES COURTESY OF LABELLE HERITAGE MUSEUM
Written by: Keitha Daniels
birthday in July 1925, however, the courthouse was still on the drawing board, as all bids were over budget. Commissioners went back to find additional funding. The courthouse cornerstone became the center of attention that August. It was determined that cornerstone placements were traditionally done by Masons. Since LaBelle did not have a Masonic Lodge at the time, the Fort Myers Masons handled the duties. In early October 1925, Marshall Jackson Co. of Lakeland was awarded the construction contract. The lowest of four bidders at $129,000, Marshall Jackson guaranteed work to begin within 15 days. In reality, construction was held up until January 1926, because of an embargo on the Jacksonville docks, where building supplies lay piled.
THE TOWN CELEBRATED LAYING OF THE CORNERSTONE ON MARCH 25, 1926.
The town celebrated laying of the cornerstone on March 25, 1926. It was set for that date in order to accommodate Gov. John W. Martin. Mayor D. A. Mitchell called for a special clean-up day and ladies were asked to bake pies and cakes to accompany the big BBQ feast. An editorial from The Florida Press, dated March 19, 1926, pointed out the importance of the new courthouse. Years from now when this pioneer county has been developed and a richer, greater, more useful, thickly populated Hendry County builds a bigger courthouse these stories will serve to mark the first decisive step in the passing of the primitive time of cattle paths, coon trails and alligator crawls and the entrance of the modern things of civilization into one of Uncle Sam’s last and most beautiful frontier towns–“LaBelle Among the Palms.” The cornerstone supposedly contains documents, newspapers and photos from the time. The Old Hendry County Courthouse in 1984 was listed with the National Register of Historic Places. The Old Hendry County Courthouse, a reminder of the strength and perseverance of its townspeople, is at 25 E. Hickpochee Ave. It is open Mondays through Fridays, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Keitha Daniels is vice president of the LaBelle Heritage Museum. Details are at labelleheritagemuseum.org.
Architect Edward Hosford designed seven Florida courthouses, all standing and listed as historic. The closest is in Glades County in Moore Haven.
ODD FACT A LaBelle Heritage Museum wall hanging appears to be an original architectural drawing of the Hendry County Courthouse. Careful examination revealed measurements drawn into the cardboard by pencil, measurements that could have been an architect’s notes. The county is currently seeking restoration services for the old drawing and would like to place it in the courthouse once renovations have been completed.
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THE HOMESTEAD
YOUR DREAM COUNTRY HOME
PHOTO CREDIT
FENCED AND SITUATED ON 7.5 ACRES, REFINED FLORIDA LIVING, A PRIVATE RANCH SETTING
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arketed as an equestrian’s dream, this Alva home on almost 7.5 acres seems to fit the hype. It was custom built in 2009 and features a ranch setting of five fenced, individual pastures with a seven-stall barn, four walk-in stalls and three outbuildings housing tack, hay and storage space, all air-chilled. The fenced layout is snugged up to a sweeping home of some 4,000 square feet, a broad patio of cypress ceilings, stone flooring and an outdoor kitchen hookup overlooking the barns and outbuildings. There’s also a billiards room, an office, bamboo hardwood flooring, plantation shutters, mahogany doors, a giant master closet, design and geography defining country living. The three-bedroom, four-bathroom property on Scout Camp Road in Alva lists with Belle Realty in LaBelle at $1.5 million. Broker associate Lisa Andrews is at (863) 675-7522, bellerealty.com. The 4,000-square-foot custom home brings an outdoor kitchen, comfy interior spaces for your family.
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PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF JOHN NAUMANN AND ASSOCIATES
Separate outbuildings and a large modern stable (below) define this dream equestrian property.
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THE HOMESTEAD
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN NAUMANN AND ASSOCIATES
Interior touches include a billiards room, an open country kitchen and other refinements in an ideal and private setting.
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STARS & GUITARS presented by
MEET MR. BOBBY BONES COUNTRY RADIO SUPERSTAR’S GREAT SUCCESS, SHARES WITH FLORIDA COUNTRY MAGAZINE
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Heart Media’s “The Bobby Bones Show” is pegged as “the biggest thing in country radio,” broadcasting in Southwest Florida on Cat Country 107.1 during its morning drive starting at 6 a.m. A combo of talk, interviews and music, the show runs on some 100 radio stations, reaching more than 5 million listeners. Its host, Bobby Bones, at 37 the youngest radio performer inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, also works at standup comedy. He headlines for Bobby Bones & The Raging Idiots, a band that has shared the stage with country performers such as Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Florida Georgia Line. And he's written Bare Bones: I’m Not Lonely If You’re Reading This Book, released in 2016. National Radio Hall of Fame is huge, considering Bobby Bones joins legends such as Howard Stern and Dick Clark. The ceremony in November is in Chicago. It’s rumored that he’s paid more than a $1 million per year to run a country radio show that, on the surface, seems like fun—mostly light banter and peeks behind the curtain at Bobby Bones, Amy and Lunchbox (Moffett Brown and Dan Chappell), their interns and sidekicks. Bobby Bones, for instance, talks on the show about the poverty he endured as a kid, his mother’s drug troubles, that he imagined radio as a salvation … at age 6. He’s says poverty can toughen its victims, allow them to better appreciate success. He funds scholarships for the kids in similar circumstances in his Arkansas hometown. Yet the show originating from Nashville is as cheerful and compassionate as any on American radio, each
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Bobby Bones
"The Bobby Bones Show" will host performers such as Little Big Town (top left) Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (left) and country superstar Garth Brooks. The show based in Nashville brings about 5 million weekly listeners.
PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF THE BOBBY BONES SHOW
on-air performer exceptional, an amusing storyteller. The hosts and their many entertainment ventures have also raised millions for charities and for children. But on this Thursday Bobby (Estell) Bones is heading to the dentist. Like anyone, the idea of an oral construction zone isn’t stirring much enthusiasm. He's on the phone with Florida Country Magazine's Jack Collier, could no problem stiff-arm his caller, yet he's easy and breezy about random stuff—a Garth Brooks concert he recently attended (anonymously in "crappy" seats), radio time with Shania Twain (surprising Canadian lilt), surviving poverty (toughed him), his first Air Jordan sneakers (all white, first big paycheck, “man, made it now"), that he thrives on pressure (the adrenaline rush), very much likes stand-up comedy (“have to win them over”), that he’s about 6 feet in socks, 165 pounds, works to keep trim. He played wide receiver in high school, was a left-handed first baseman, credits a youthful persona at age 37 to not having been married and no kids. Bobby Bones, the National Radio Hall of Fame inductee, shared more with Florida Country Magazine on the drive to the dentist, his musical “Hi, this is Bobby,” in answering his call. FCM: “What are you driving?” Bobby Bones: “A Jeep Sahara Unlimited. Black. It’s new.”
to be as human as they can be, not to be radio people. These are all my friends.” FCM: “You’ve come a long way from Mountain Pine [Arkansas].” BB: “I feel like I’m the same person. I try to get back. There are no red lights and the graduating class was 25 [students].” FCM: “You’ve done a lot to help the less fortunate.” BB: “I feel like I was a kid raising myself. But I was helped a lot, church youth groups, football coaches. I grew up [at home] with nothing, and that’s OK. People gave me something.” FCM: “Critics wonder if you’re ‘country’ enough. What’s the secret to finding the right mix?” BB: “You never make everyone happy. Some judge ‘what shall be country.’ I know who I am … and I let [listeners] judge. I’m fine with being exactly who I am.” FCM: “Favorite performer or style of country music?” BB: “I was raised old-school, Johnny Cash, Andy Griffith. I thought that was the current stuff, they were the coolest. My first band as a 16-year-old was a CCR [Creedence Clearwater Revival] cover band. But I still like Garth Brooks.”
FCM: “Dentist?” BB: “I didn’t go to a dentist until my 20s. You get caught [with teeth issues] if you do that.”
FCM: “You have it all, radio, comedy and music. Ever think about backing up [Tennessee Titans quarterback] Marcus Mariota?” BB: “Zero chance” (Laughs.)
FCM: “How do you work the radio show?” BB: “Wake up at 3 a.m., figure out the news cycle. The best thing is for [his on-air team] not to know [what he’s planning],
FCM: “Ever see retirement on the horizon?” BB: “I enjoy what I’m doing so much. I guess [you] hit it for as long as you can, as long as the window is open.” F LO LO R R II D DA AC CO OU U NTRYM NTRYM A AG GA AZ Z II N NE E .. C CO OM M F
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STARS & GUITARS presented by
THIS IS SHEENA BROOK PERFECT BLEND OF HUMBLE COUNTRY SPIRIT WITH A ROCK EDGE
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Written by: Stacie Adams
heena Brook’s star is soaring as Florida’s hottest country singer/songwriter. Brook, 33 and from Fort Myers Beach, appeared this year as a contestant on NBC’s The Voice, will again perform this Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at the Island Hopper Songwriter Fest that's staged in Fort Myers, on Captiva and on Fort Myers Beach. It’s only the beginning for this Florida-bred gal. She’s the perfect blend of humble country spirit with a rock edge. Florida Country Magazine caught up with Sheena Brook and asked her to share thoughts about her hometown, her success thus far and what’s next. FLORIDA COUNTRY MAGAZINE: Who’s in your music collection? SHEENA BROOK: Man, this is always a tough one for me, because I like all types of music. Currently, I’ve been jamming out to “Girl Next Door” by Brandy Clark, “Jack is Back” by Sonia Leigh, “Tin Man” by Miranda Lambert, “The Weekend,” Ed Sheeran, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” I could go on and on! FCM: If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing? SB: I have no idea! I do really love people. We are all so diverse yet so similar. All searching for love and truth in our own way. I guess I would probably study psychology or social anthropology. FCM: Any other hobbies? If so, what? SB: Other than living on the beach ... ha-ha! I would say home
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Sheena Brook
improvement projects. My wife and I like to customize our house. We take pieces apart and rebuild them … or I like to paint my own art for the walls, etc. FCM: Describe your experience on The Voice vs. living on Fort Myers Beach? SB: The Voice was amazing! The Voice crew really want you to be yourself and succeed. I didn’t feel this huge difference, other than the whole being on national TV thing and now being recognized in public. I do like L.A., but nothing compares to Fort Myers Beach. I’m a Florida girl, through and through. FCM: You’ve come a long way in a short time, now it’s time to … SB: I’ve actually been playing and doing music for about 11 years but it wasn’t until I met my wife, Summer, 2 1/2 years ago, that my career catapulted. Not only is she the left brain, business type, but she taught me to invest in my passion and to be myself and surround myself by positive, good people, which is so important. Before I met her I was spinning my wheels a lot. I had people in my life that only loved me conditionally. Now it is time to keep pushing forward, writing music, playing shows, meeting people and living this beautiful life I have with my wife. All artists are made up by the people who love and support them and their music. It’s one download, one Facebook like or Twitter follow at a time. It’s easy to forget that in the sea of social media. I like that I am growing organically … and I don’t forget that!
PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF SHEENA BROOK
FCM: Is there a second EP already in the works? SB: Actually, I am about to start planning a full record for the next release. I’m doing a lot of writing right now, to prepare, and I’m really excited! FCM: You’re performing in this year’s Island Hopper Songwriter Fest. Tell us how you got into that venue and what we can expect to hear from you there. SB: I’ve had the privilege of being a part of the Island Hopper from the beginning when I opened for Kristian Bush. The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau, Cat Country [107.1] and BMI have been very supportive of me and have allowed me to perform and share my original songs. You can expect new originals as well as old favorites with all the juicy stories to go along with them. I can’t wait! FCM: When I say Florida country, what comes to mind? SB: You know Florida is a very special place! We are this diverse state made up of people from the north and south, old and young, wild and traditional … and we like our country music that way, too. Most people want me to get some classic pedal-steel sounds, but they also love it when I throw a beat-box loop on a song, too. It’s very special!
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STARS & GUITARS presented by
UNFORGIVEN PURE COUNTRY, THE BAND’S CLASSIC AMERICAN SOUND
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Unforgiven is Steve Hatt (left), Kat Gracie, Todd Verdun, Damon "D.W" Weissinger, Reid Sammons and Michelle Williams.
he country band Unforgiven has been kickin’ it for about five years. The band’s sound is a blending of styles and musical appreciation from its members: Steve Hatt (lead guitar/back-up vocals), Todd Kenneth Verdun (keyboards/acoustic/rhythm guitar/mandolin/vocals), Reid Sammons (bass/banjo/harmonica/back-up vocals), Kat Gracie (lead singer/back-up vocals/piano/tambourine/ukulele), Damon "D.W." Weissinger (lead vocals), Michelle Williams (drummer/band founder).
Country music, more so than other genres, takes the time to tell a story. The Unforgiven band members understand this, and bring their vast musical experiences together to entertain audiences. Florida Country Magazine asked band members about music and their back story. FLORIDA COUNTRY MAGAZINE: Modern country seems to have lost its edge. What happened? MICHELLE WILLIAMS: The new, younger generation seems bent on the idea of “change.” Family traditions such as eating a meal together as a family have gone by the wayside. Country music is no exception. The classic country band sound consisting of acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, banjos, upright basses and simple storytelling lyrics has been replaced with electric guitars, electric basses, drums, synthesizers and lackluster lyrics which take a backseat to loud, driving dance rhythms. Some of today’s country artists have completely strayed away from the true roots of the country sound and have put way too much hip-hop sound or rap into their music.
FCM: What do we misunderstand about musicians? MW: The amount of time and effort that goes into making a band work. Everyone has a life outside of the band, jobs, family life, schedules, people getting sick … it takes a certain level of commitment by each person involved, from the performers to managers to sound personnel, to make it really work well. FCM: In a perfect world, where would the band choose to perform? MW: Anywhere a great crowd is having fun and appreciates our musical talent and effort that we put into our music. As musicians, we would love to play along other country artists that appreciate the roots of true country music. We would also love to play the Grand Ole Opry!
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PHOTO COURTESY OF UNFORGIVEN
FCM: Who did you listen to as a kid? TODD: I grew up listening to bluegrass music. I began playing the piano by ear to such greats as The Beatles, Billy Joel, and then later on Styx and Journey, Kansas and the Eagles. MICHELLE: I grew up to originally country, then discovered KISS, and as a teenager was really into the rock scene. I still enjoy rock, Marilyn Manson, Disturbed, Korn, etc. But my love is country. DW: I grew up originally to country, then discovered KISS and as a teenager was really into the rock scene. REID: Loved listening to pop music and grew to love classic country and the new country out today. STEVE: Some of everything blues, Southern rock, classical, but have always loved country. KAT: All kinds of music … but I have always listened to and absolutely love country music.
TRACTOR TALK
LOVIN’ OUR MACHINES PHOTOS COURTESY OF GRAVELY
GOBBLING GREENERY, MAKING THE GRADE WITH BIGGER JOBS
Barry’s Gravely Tractors, Fort Myers barrysgravely.com
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ARRY’S GRAVELY TRACTORS, FORT MYERS Florida country homes mostly sit on small acreage. Which can mean LOTS of mowing, especially in summer. Zero-turn riding mowers are best for getting the job done. These machines that date to the 1940s can stop, spin on the spot and glide off, gobbling up commercial and/or residential greenery at an amazing clip. Pricing, accessories and brands are diverse, the machines designed to meet the demands of the individual. Barry’s Gravely Tractors in Fort Myers, for instance, carries the pro-grade Gravely, Scag and Wright zero-turn mowers, pricing
determined by your property needs and other considerations. The basic Gravely ZT model, for instance, has widths from 34 to 50 inches, maintenance-free front caster fork bushings, a heavy-duty steel frame with welded joints and a deck washout port to keep things tidy and to endure the work. The higher-end Gravely Pro-Turn 400 is outfitted with air-ride suspension, 52-to-72-inch decks and Kawasaki or Kohler engines. It’s heavy duty—19 cutting positions—and zips along on flat ground. Meeting our needs and budget is what Barry’s Gravely Tractors has done since 1964. LOR RIID DAACCO OU UNTRYM NTRYMAAG GAAZZIIN NEE..CCO OM M FFLO
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ATT MILLER TRACTORS, FORT DENAUD Farm and ranch living means grading, hauling feed, dirt and brush, even digging and shoveling. The LS MT125 is considered your basic and most affordable option, a versatile and compact machine that’s also easy to move and to store. LS Tractor machines come with a loader and bucket. It also has an optional backhoe that is quickly attached, as well a box blade, finish mower, bush hog, landscape rake and other devices, again based on your needs and budget. Matt
Matt Miller Tractors Fort Denaud mattmillertractors.com
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Miller Tractors offers customizable package deals to make sure you get the proper attachments and implements. LS Tractor has been building tractors for over 35 years. The machines are part of the LG Group, the same firm that makes high-end appliances and televisions, a brand with a reputation for quality. Matt Miller Tractors sells and services these and other machines to keep our property mowed or cleared.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MATT MILLER TRACTORS
TRACTOR TALK
TRUCKS & TOYS
HERO PROJECT SAVAGE 4X4 THANKS FLORIDA TROOPS, PUBLIC SAFETY WORKERS
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SAVAGE 4X4
Written by: Jack Collier
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select few aim their resources to helping others. Jim and Linda Thompson are such people. The couple is sponsoring the Hero Project in Fort Myers, a program directed at military veterans and Southwest Florida’s first responders. Sponsorships, donor proceeds and funders at the Ranch Concert Hall & Saloon and other venues help cover Hero Project costs.
Three veterans this summer get a vehicle makeover courtesy of the Thompsons, the owners of Savage 4X4, a Fort Myers firm that customizes our trucks and cars. Savage 4X4 techs do the work and the Thompsons shoulder those costs. Winners are selected from social media submissions and other sources. A Jeep owned by one veteran gets a total makeover, lift kits and other goodies such as wheel, engine and sound upgrades. The retooled Jeep and its happy owner get introduced on
Jeff Kelly (pictured) was last year's Hero Project recipient. The Afghanistan veteran's Jeep was remade by shop techs (above) at Savage 4X4 in Fort Myers.
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TRUCKS & TOYS
Jim and Linda Thompson opened Savage 4X4 in 2013.
—Jim Thompson, Hero Project coordinator, owner Savage 4X4, Fort Myers Nov. 11, Veterans Day, a Saturday, at the Six Bends HarleyDavidson in Fort Myers. Two other vehicles chosen for the Hero Project undergo modifications by Savage 4X4 that each equal thousands of dollars. This is the second Hero Project undertaking, Jim Thompson says. “We’ve been so fortunate [in business], that you have to give back,” the race driver and electrical contractor says. “Giving to these special people, these heroes, makes you sleep better at night.”
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The Hero Project last year presented itself, Jim Thompson says. A soldier who had been in Afghanistan visited Savage 4X4. He wanted to lift his Jeep with a $500 budget. So Thompson covered the $1,200 cost of a modest lift kit, a salute to the soldier, on the spot formulating plans for what became the Hero Project, he says. That first custom package happened in April 2016, volunteers raising cash from car washes and raffles, he says. “I’ve heard a lot about [Hero Project],” says Tricia Glass, visiting Savage 4X4 as Thompson describes the program and how the prizes are awarded. “And it’s really special.”
PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE COURTESY OF SAVAGE 4X4
WE’VE BEEN SO FORTUNATE [IN BUSINESS], THAT YOU HAVE TO GIVE BACK.
Hero Project recipients this year are Jay Lamborn (left), Josh Golliher and Ed Vuolo (not pictured). Rollout is Nov. 11 at Six Bends Harley-Davidson in Fort Myers.
Florida, of course, isn’t alone in recognizing troops and first responders such as police, firefighters and rescue workers. South Florida alone has several nonprofits that will take these men and women deep-sea fishing, for instance. Of the 2.5 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 200,000 are from or live in the Sunshine State. Thousands of others had served in Vietnam, Korea and during World War II. A Fort Myers Toyota dealer in 2015 donated a truck to a Cape Coral soldier injured in Afghanistan, but a vehicle remake is rare. “It’s good for everyone involved,” says Thompson, who opened Savage 4X4 in 2013 after an amateur career in quarter-mile racing, in the beginning keeping his electrical contractor’s schedule while
modifying trucks in the evening. And once things caught fire, “Every year we’ve more than doubled our business,” he says, which in turn has also benefited Florida’s troops and our public safety workers. Jack Collier is the editorial director for Florida Country Magazine.
ROUNDUP
Hero Project savage4x4inc.com/Facebook
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MY RIDE
TOP TRUCKS YOU DECIDED THIS ISSUE'S WINNERS
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e’d like to introduce the top trucks and the owners chosen by our readers from those entered on the Lee County Black Smoke Facebook site.
PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE BY SCARLETT REDENIUS
We encourage you to post photos of your modified truck for our October/November My Ride section on facebook.com/floridacountrymagazine or email myride@floridacountrymagazine.com.
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1996 FORD F-350 DUALLY
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1 ST PLACE
Truck owner: Cyle Adcock, Cape Coral HAT HE SAYS “My dad and I put a lot of hard work into restoring my truck. I’ve had it for a little over a year and it didn’t stay stock for very long. I began the build in November 2016 and it was finished in March of this year. It has a fully custom interior out of a 6.0 Ford Powerstroke, 10 lug, 24.5-inch Alcoa wheels, 2017 super-duty front bumper and a lot of other goodies. Enjoy!”
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2 ND PLACE
2005 FORD F-250 6.0 TURBO DIESEL
TOP PHOTO BY MARSAY JOHNSON; BOTTOM PHOTO BY SCARLETT REDENIUS
MY RIDE
Truck owner: Nick Timiraos (aka Porkchop), Cape Coral
HAT HE SAYS “Custom work done, why you love it. It has a 12-inch lift on 16 x 18 wheels with 38-inch boggers [tires], bulletproof [6.0 blow] with a 68mm turbo Banks, inner cooler intake, exhaust and tuner. It’s wonderful to sit high, all the stares you get. I’ll probably keep [this] truck the rest of my life.” SIDE NOTE: Nick’s brother, Cody, owned this truck a couple of years ago when it was stolen. Nick working in Miami found the truck, the driver and two passengers pumping gas. The truck was recovered, the driver turned over to the police. “I called my brother, told him I was sitting in the front seat [of the truck]. He said, ‘Don’t mess with me.’ I said I got your truck. He just started crying.”
1996 FORD F-250
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Truck owner: Nick Gebhardt, Cape Coral
HAT HE SAYS I purchased this 1996 F-250 5 speed 7.3 [Ford] Powerstroke a little over a year ago. Three months after purchasing, I stripped all body panels off the truck and started the two months of repairs and paint [color is custom hand-mixed Tiffany blue]. It has 2012 F-250 seats and center console, custom suede headliner and new carpet. Dash was completely torn down and cut and reformed to fit a double DIN radio. Has all Orion XTR door speakers, Orion amp and two massive audio 6-inch subwoofers. I created custom brackets to install a 2017 F-150 front bumper, roll-pan rear and a F-350 axle conversion with Wicked Customs shocks. Wheels and tires are 16 x 16 real wheels on 37 x 13.50-16 Super Swamper M16s. The reason I love this truck so much is that it can be a normal daily driver workhorse towing trailers, boats, etc., or going to truck shows, and look good doing all of them. Every time I drive it, I have people taking pictures or giving thumbs up while driving by. Another reason I like it so much is that I can always be doing something on it to make it different from the other trucks out there.
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3 RD PLACE
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