Life in Our Foothills - October 2023

CONTRIBUTORS

Mark Levin, Writer and Photographer

Mark is retired from a career in education, both in and outside of the classroom. He enjoys traveling in his campervan and finding stories about the people and places encountered along the way. You can follow his blog at FoothillsFaces.com as well as at youtube.com/ TheCountryLifeWithColumbusMark.

Linda List, Writer and Photographer

Linda List’s career was spent in the food industry, often surrounded by chocolate and candy. Retirement and the Tryon Daily Bulletin have provided the opportunity for her to share her writing. Growing up in New York on the Canadian border, she lived most of her adult life at the foot of the Rockies in Golden, Colo. And is now enjoying life in Landrum the foot of the Smokies.

Clay Johnson, Writer and Photographer

Clay is an award-winning documentary producer and writer as well as a contributing producer for PBS NC’s “North Carolina Weekend” show. He also produces educational videos and writes magazine and newspaper articles. Johnson and his wife Debra moved to Tryon in June 2021 and enjoy exploring the outdoors. He can be reached at cj@ clayjohnsonproductions.com.

Claire Sachse, Writer and Photographer

Once the editor of the Tryon Daily Bulletin, Claire Sachse now manages several freelance side-hustles in the public relations and publishing arena. She’s also working on writing a mystery novel in which an editor solves crimes in a fictional (maybe) mountain railroad town. Raised by a painter and a diplomat, she considers herself immensely lucky to have a home full of weird and wonderful art, and a passport full of stamps.

Storme Smith, Writer and Photographer

Storme Smith is a writer who lives in the Foothills of North Carolina. He is the co-founder and publisher of Buno Books, and has a passion for the arts. He also enjoys writing about the history, sports and unique people and places of our area.

Pebbles, Writer

Pebbles is the “spokespony” for HERD, or Helping Equines Regain Dignity, a local nonprofit that saves equines from dire conditions and in many cases slaughter. She dictates her monthly columns about her adventures, and what a rescue organization does, to Heather Freeman. Pebbles and Heather can be reached through HerdRescue.org

ON THE COVER

There’s nothing quite like autumn in the Foothills! As the cooler weather brings an enjoyable crisp to the air and the magnificent golden-yellow and auburn leaves reveal their true beauty, now is the perfect time to get out and experience all that our area has to offer. This is also a perfect time to get out and meet interesting people who call the Foothills home.

This month, we visit with an iconic illustrator, Kevin Sprouls. When Kevin isn’t playing drums in a local rock band or bustin’ out the bagpipes for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Tryon, he is putting pen to paper as a prolific artist. Known as the creator of a distinctive art style he began using at the Wall Street Journal in the late Seventies, Kevin continues to work as a freelance illustrator.

Also, we meet Keith Troutman, who shares his passion for music, entertaining folks in downtown Tryon and Landrum with his guitar in hand. Keith, who played professional baseball, still works as a freelance coach, when he isn’t impressing passersby with his musical skills.

As the “spooky season” is officially here, we’ll hear from Linda List as she ruminates on a few of the old, abandoned houses in the area, dreaming of the spirits that possibly remain there. And we also hear from Pebbles, our resident spokespony, as she introduces us to a HERD horse who found triumph over the trauma of its early life.

You’ll find all this and more in this month’s edition! We hope you enjoy what we’ve put together for you this month, and as I do each month, I encourage readers to reach out and help us share your story. Email me at jeff. allison@tryondailybulletin.com with any thoughts or ideas for upcoming issues. As always, thanks for reading!

Jeff Allison Editor

(Story on page 18)

Story by Storme Smith

Jeff Allison Editor

the Magic Keith Troutman

of the Past Spirits of Abandoned Houses

Over Trauma Meet Ishmael

General Manager

Jeff Allison Graphic Design

Caitlin Schlemmer

Marketing

Kevin Powell Audrey Mills Distribution

Jamie Lewis

Sydney Wilkie

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Tryon Painters & Sculptors

All Members Exhibit: We’ve Got Rhythm Through Nov. 11

Tryonpaintersandsculptors.com

Exhibit: Animals in Art Through Nov 2

TryonArtsAndCrafts.org

Play: Ted Swindley’s Honky Tonk Angels”

October 1, 3pm

TLTinfo.org

Tryon Concert Association presents Johannes Moser & Marc-Andre Hamelin

October 5, 7:30pm

TryonConcerts.org

Movie: “Chasing Coral”

October 6, 3:30pm

Landrum Library

WCRA Rodeo CarolinaRichest Rodeo East of the Mississippi!

October 6-8, 9am-8pm Tryon.com

Empty Bowls

October 6, 4pm

TBOutreach.org

Artists & Writers Coffee

October 7, 9am

TryonArts.org

Movie: “The Biggest Little Farm”

October 12, 5:30pm

Landrum Library, 864-457-2218

Westside Mixer

October 13, 6pm

TryonArtsAndCrafts.org

OCTOBER 7

Music at the Market: Rutherford County Line

7pm

Landrum Farmers Market

Rutherford County Line to perform at Landrum Farmers Market

OCTOBER 6-8

Tryon International Film Festival

TryonInternationalFilmFestival.com

Poster by Laurie Sullivan

UpstairsArtspace.org

first

OCTOBER 20

Owl Prowl

6:30pm Fence.org, 828-859-9021

Halloween Community Campfire

October 13, 7pm Harmon Field

Ache Around the Lake

October 14, 8am Foundationslh.org

Quarterly Breakfast for Veterans

October 14, 8:30am

TryonPresbyterian.org, 828-859-6683

Concert: Myron Hyman

October 15, 4pm Fence.org, 828-859-9021

Speaker Series: Quail and Grouse Corridors in South Carolina

October 17, 6pm

ConservingCarolina.org

Saluda Depot Train Tales: 1880 Another Mountain

Passage Swiss TransAlpine

October 20, 7pm

SaludaHistoricDepot.com

The History of Forestry and Ecological Practices of the Cherokee

October 21, 10:30am

ConservingCarolina.org

Music at the Market: Silver Travis

October 21, 7pm

Landrum Farmers Market CityofLandrumSC.com

Equestrian Conversation Group

October 23, 6pm 828-505-9221

Facebook.com/ sacredconnectionshorsemanship

Chamber Business After Hours

October 26, 5:30pm CarolinaFoothillsChamber.com

Fourth Fridays in Tryon

October 27, 5pm

Trade Street, Tryon

Landrum Halloween Stroll

October 28, 5pm 864-457-3000 CityofLandrumSC.com

Sip & Paint Sunday

October 29, 2:30pm MountainBrookVineyards.com

Bingo to the Rescue

October 31, 5pm

Landrum Depot 864-457-3694

-

THROUGH OCT. 8

Exhibit: Connie Bostic “Walking Naked Through the World”

and Steve Mann “Indian Relay”

America’s

‘extreme sport’

Indian Relay - was photographed by Steve Mann and is on display at Upstairs Artspace

Join the Owl Prowl at FENCE

“I JUST DRAW WHAT I SEE”

Illustrator Kevin Sprouls, creator of the Wall Street Journal’s hallmark portrait style

Illustrator Kevin Sprouls might be known in the Foothills area for breaking out his bagpipes in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade or being an occasional drummer in the Rich Nelson Band, but he’s best known for being a Society of Illustrators Gold Medalist and introducing the hallmark portrait style to the Wall Street Journal in

1979.

Kevin, now of Tryon, worked on staff for the Wall Street Journal from 1979 to 1987, where he was in charge of the in-house artists at the newspaper. During his time at the Journal, he hired and trained the artists in the hallmark portrait style, also known as a “hedcut,” an old newspaper term.

The hallmark portrait

style is a unique style of drawing used by The Wall Street Journal to create half-column portrait illustrations. The drawings are made up of tiny dots and lines and are designed to look like woodcuts from old newspapers. The phonetic spelling of “hed” may be based on newspapers’ use of the term hed for “headline.”

Kevin approached the

Story and photography by Storme Smith

Wall Street Journal with some ink dot illustrations he had created, and the front page editor felt that the drawings complemented the paper’s classical feeling and gave it a sense of stability.

“My first boss was longtime WSJ editor Lynne Mapes, and he gave me a shot at the time they were looking to create an art department from scratch,” Sprouls says. “When they added the new section, they gave us a lot of newer and more interesting subject matter. As Assistant Art Director, I was in charge of the in-house artists at the Wall Street Journal, which numbered four or five staff artists and two to three parttimers.”

Kevin’s style is notable for its high level of detail and traditional, engraving-like effect. His work has been featured in the Smithsonian magazine, a web exhibit of the

National Portrait Gallery, and a major exhibit celebrating Columbus Day, which was mounted in Grand Central Terminal, New York, in 2005. He was the portraitist for the popular Infiniti “Drivers” ad campaign, which appeared weekly in the Wall Street Journal. In addition to various corporate and advertising projects, Kevin’s recent work has appeared in Worth, Forbes, Runner’s World, Sports Illustrated, Time (International Edition), Euroman and Esquire magazines. Recent book projects include the Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures, The Art of Demotivation, The Executive’s Almanac, and The Anthology of Really Important Modern Poetry. His work is featured and discussed in Matthew May’s latest book, The Laws of Subtraction. His pen is housed in the Newseum in

Washington, D.C.

Originally from New Jersey, Kevin and his wife Roe, a poet, potter and retired professor from Stockton University, relocated to Tryon from Newbern, North Carolina, about four years ago after quickly searching the top ten cities to live in North Carolina. The parents of two grown children made one visit to Tryon and felt no need to visit the other nine. They quickly fell in love with their neighborhood and neighbors and the hiking trails at the Blue Wall Preserve and Pearson’s Falls.

As for his musical background, he says, “I picked up the bagpipes when I was 40, and my son was 12, and we learned it together. However, he is a much better bagpipe player. I already had a background as a drummer. And I’ve played drums with the Rich Nelson Band on

LEFT: An illustration showcasing the rise in automation in the modern workplace

BELOW: Another example of a color illustration from Kevin’s studio

Kevin works comfortably and patiently from his home studio, often with the family Jack Russell, Birch, comfortably seated in his lap. His studio is filled with beautiful art created by him and other artists, including his daughter, a children’s book author and illustrator, and even a pair of paintings from his Uncle’s Italian restaurant in New Jersey.

“It’s always a challenge getting a likeness. I just draw what I see,” Kevin explains. He uses photographic references for most of his work except for the conceptual drawings, which he pulls from his imagination. Kevin has used the same style of pen for years, one with a 1 mm width to produce his unique pieces.

“I’ve been drawing since I was a little kid, and I went to art school at Tyler School of Art, part of Temple University,

A front page illustration drawn for the Daily News

ABOVE: An engine drawn for the Saturn Car Company LEFT: An illustration showcasing both his intricate style and vast imagination

to get away from home, and it was probably the easiest school to go to.” The summer after graduation, he went to work for Dow Jones, the owner of the WSJ.

Many headline-making people or things have crossed his drawing board over the years. Presidents. Currency. Cars. If it was in the news, he has probably sketched it in his distinct and easily recognizable style.

Kevin has been prolific in the freelance illustration world, contributing to advertising, publishing,

editorial, and corporate projects.

As a Society of Illustrators Gold Medalist and the man behind the hallmark portrait style, Kevin Sprouls’ impact on the world of illustration cannot be overstated. His unique style and incredible attention to detail make him a sought-after illustrator across numerous industries. His work is instantly recognizable and always impressive, whether it’s a portrait of a president, a foreign currency, or the engine of the latest automobile.

TOP LEFT: Kevin Sprouls at his drawing board in his home studio ABOVE: A current portrait project on Kevin’s drawing board

Currency is one of the countless subjects Sprouls has drawn over his career

Keith Troutman

Finding Magic in Music and Baseball

If you’ve spent any time in downtown Landrum or Tryon you’ve probably seen Keith Troutman with his long beard and shades out on a sidewalk playing guitar.

“People love music,” says Troutman. “Everybody has some kind of affection for music and I think that’s one reason why it’s a universal language.”

Troutman loves music too, of all kinds, but his other passion is baseball where he worked his way all the way up to the professional level. It all started in Troutman’s backyard in his hometown of Candler where both of his parents

worked to provide for him and his sister.

“Dad would always come home and spend time with me no matter how tired he was from work and found that I had a spiritual gift of throwing things really fast and he was wise enough to culture and grow that and work with me on that,” says Troutman. “He knew that I enjoyed it so we’d always pitch and spend time at the ballfield.”

At age six, Troutman’s parents enrolled him in a youth baseball league where he played for the Hominy Valley Bears. He says it was a rough start, losing every

Story and photography by Clay Johnson

“Everybody has some kind of affection for music and I think that’s one reason why it’s a universal language.”

game their first season except the last one, but he kept at it working with his coaches on his technique. He went on to Enka High School where he was the starting pitcher for four years straight. Troutman thought he’d be drafted by the pros at the end of his senior year, but he had overworked his pitching arm and was never drafted. He says he then contracted mononucleosis, which forced him to spend two and a half months in bed, but the rest allowed his body to recuperate, including his throwing arm and shoulder.

“At first it was a negative, but looking back now it was a major blessing,” he says.

Troutman was recruited by Spartanburg Methodist College in 1991. That year scouts from 28 major league baseball teams came with video cameras in hand to watch him pitch. The following year the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him.

“That was a childhood dream,” he says.

Troutman played for the Dodgers’ minor league farm teams, working his way up from Single A to Triple. In 1996 he was acquired by the Philadelphia Phillies. He was at spring training in Clearwater, Florida, when the team called him to say he’d be playing with the Phillies against the Toronto Blue Jays in an exhibition game in the nearby town of Dunedin, Florida.

“So that meant that I was going to play a major league spring training game,” Troutman says.

“It was a major accomplishment. I called my dad and I said ‘Hey man, I made it.’ I did it and nobody will ever take that away from me.”

Troutman played nine years but never got called up to play in a major league game. He walked away from professional baseball in 2001.

“When I left I was disappointed that I didn’t make it to the major leagues, have a long career and that sort of thing but I could look back in peace because

ABOVE: Troutman jams in downtown Tryon BELOW: Troutman baseball card

A couple dances to Troutman’s music in downtown Tryon

I did everything that I could do,” says Troutman, who adds that he gave the game everything he had. “At that point, I didn’t really know who I was or what I was since I was no longer a baseball player.”

Troutman took a job at BMW in Greer and worked there for nine years. While he says he loved the job and BMW was a great place to work, something was missing. Troutman had acquired so much knowledge and skill playing professional baseball and he wanted to put it to use.

“When you’re having to get Derek Jeter out to survive, that forces you to study the game at a microscopic level, so nine years of studying the game at a microscopic level I learned the game, I learned the mechanics, I learned how to think,” he says.

Troutman says he felt a spiritual calling to take that knowledge and skill and use it to coach youth baseball. He moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and started a business teaching baseball for four years before

moving back to western North Carolina to coach baseball at an Asheville high school. Troutman was then hired by Belmont Abbey College near Charlotte where he was an assistant softball coach for three and a half years. He later moved to his current home in Landrum and continues to work as a freelance coach giving private lessons in pitching and hitting.

Since his youth, Troutman says his second love has been music, in part inspired by watching MTV in the 1980s. He used the allowance his dad gave him to buy albums and then CDs.

“When I played them it was like going into another world,” he says. “It was just magical and I knew it was magical and I knew I loved it.”

Troutman’s dad bought him a guitar and an amplifier.

“I knew when I played that thing there was something magical that resonated in my soul,” he says.

But baseball was always first. Troutman tinkered with guitar off and on until he left his full-time

coaching job at Belmont Abbey College in 2016 and decided to dedicate himself to learning to play guitar.

“At the time I was 42 years old, just starting guitar basically and I’m reading these articles in guitar forums about how you need to start by 13 or start when you’re eight,” he says. “I like it when people say I can’t do things so I started sitting on the couch playing guitar every day.”

Troutman did that for eight years, getting some professional instruction along the way. He says that, like coaching baseball, playing music is was a spiritual calling and while he may never sound like any famous professional musician, Troutman says he’s been developing his own sound that comes from deep inside of him.

“When you listen to a Lynyrd Skynyrd song you’re listening to Ronnie Van Zant’s heart,” he says. “You’re not just listening to drums and guitar and hooks, that are addictive to people. When you

listen to a Lynyrd Skynard song you’re hearing Ronnie Van Zant’s soul. You’re hearing his mind.”

Troutman plays a wide range of styles and uses a technique called amp modeling to help enrich his sound since he plays solo. One day Troutman went into the Tryon Coffee House and asked if he could play and he says owner Kevin Parker welcomed him with open arms.

“I love Tryon,” says Troutman, who can often be seen playing in front of the coffee house and Marengo’s. “That place has community. That place has a love. That place has known locals that care about it and that’s special.”

The Tryon Coffee House gig led to more at other coffee shops and restaurants in the area and Troutman still coaches baseball on the side. While his career has followed a long and winding road of peaks and valleys Troutman says it’s led him to a place of peace where he is able to do what he loves.

ABOVE: Troutman interacts with on-lookers in Tryon

LEFT: Troutman with Yakima Bears, a Dodgers farm team

Echos of the Past

Spirits of Abandoned Houses

“Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie Track

I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black.

I suppose I’ve passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute

To look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it.

I never have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things; That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowing.

I know this house isn’t haunted, and I wish it were, I do;

For it wouldn’t be so lonely if it had a ghost or two.”

…….“The House With Nobody

In It” by Joyce Kilmer

It’s the time of year we talk about haunted houses, the scary kind that are rumored to be haunted, or the commercial haunted houses, set up just before Halloween for people who enjoy screaming when a man-made ghost or goblin jumps

Story and photography by Linda List

out at them. I must admit I’ve never been one for that type of thrill. I scare too easily and never forget. I remember the first scary movie that I watched on a neighbor’s TV. I was about six. It was called “The House Of The Thirteenth Guest,” and it still gives me nightmares.

But the house in Joyce Kilmer’s poem isn’t inhabited by floating ghosts that “ go bump in the night.” It’s a sad, forlorn house once filled with laughter and love. It’s a house that sheltered a family; a safe, warm place that someone once called “Home Sweet Home.”

I often pass these houses driving down back country roads. They exude a certain character that calls out, saying, “I was loved once.”

I like to imagine the spirits still embedded in the walls and floors. Did a mother sing

her swaddled baby to sleep?

Did a father help build the house to secure his growing family? Did children gather around the stove and kitchen sharing meals and chatter? What sadness happened in the house? Is furniture still inside that witnessed the lives and loves of the family? What about pots and pans and dishes? Was there a child’s bed where a fever moved in and took a child away?

And why is it abandoned? What happened to the last person living there? Did they just desert one day, packing up a battered suitcase, catching a bus? Or maybe greener pastures were down the road and it was time to move on. Did the last owner die in old age, leaving no one to take ownership?

I’m often reminded of our old family house in the hills of Pennsylvania. My great-

I feel spirits on the porch, shelling peas, strumming a banjo or enjoying the warmth of the day…

The chimney still stands in this lonely, forlorn, deserted house. “It wouldn’t be so lonely, if it had a ghost or two.”

Great-grandmother Miller’s House, Millerton, Pennsylvania

grandmother lived there raising children. Her husband died young and she made a living selling eggs from her chickens and farming some of the land. The old house was empty most of the year, sitting on the hillside, overlooking fields and trees. Each summer for several years, we would find ourselves driving up a

bumpy, dirt road, past the family cemetery, to spend a week or two in the old house. We didn’t know the spirits but we felt them.

The house had no electricity or running water. We pumped the water in the yard, using the same handle the many generations before us did. We searched

out the square-headed nails in the boards that held the house together, hammered by long-ago ancestors. An old cushioned rocker displayed the worn seat cover, accompanied by an oak side table with a green candy dish that was quickly filled with the same style of pink peppermint candies enjoyed

by the old-timers.

For more than a hundred years, oil lamps lit the night’s darkness and a wood stove provided warmth in the cool mountain air. When we played old hymns on the piano in the parlor and sorted through the stereoscopes with scenes like Niagara Falls and the unexplored wild west, we

Is mail still delivered to the “145 address” on this old, empty house?

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Have your Primary Care Provider send an order to St. Luke’s Hospital today.

(828) 894-0990

“I never have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things”

would be experiencing the same joys as the children of an earlier time growing up in these rooms. We would imagine weddings and funerals happening in the old parlor and wonder about the clothes and styles they wore.

Eventually, the house burned down, taking the antiques, and memories with it. Today the pump still flows with cold water, the outhouse still stands and a stone outline shows through the mossy grass outlining the base of the old house. Maybe this is why Joyce Kilmer’s poem has always spoken to me. Maybe I feel the spirits resting in these abandoned houses.

There are locations that are famous for being haunted. If you are searching nearby for renowned ghosts, plan your Halloween with a trip to the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, S.C. Before becoming the museum, it was occupied by Columbia Mills Co., which was notably the first textile mill ever to be powered by only electricity.

It’s known for a ghost called Bubba. According to the retelling, watch out for him when the elevator doors open on the 4th floor.

Perhaps a Halloween visit to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville will bring forward George Vanderbilt’s image. Many believe that the founders of the Estate haunt the home and have reported seeing a “shadowy figure,” believed to be George, in the Estate’s library, and others have reported his wife, Edith, whispering “George” through the halls. Workers and visitors to Biltmore have heard sounds of clinking glasses, laughter, music and splashes from a swimming pool that is now empty. I will admit to experiencing chills whenever I walk past the swimming pool in the basement of the estate.

Maybe an afternoon Halloween picnic at The New Salem Church Cemetery in Taylors, South Carolina, would provide a paranormal experience. Visitors have reported unexplained moving lights, voices, temperature anomalies, eerie feelings, touches from something unseen, and other strange phenomena.

On a cool October Day, when trees and bushes are sporting their fall clothes, I might go on a haunted house hunt. But not to a scary house filled with skeletons, witches and eerie sounds. I’ll drive some old roads, searching for those abandoned houses that Kilmer describes in his poem.

“Now a new house standing empty, with staring window and door, Looks idle, perhaps, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store.

But there’s nothing mournful about it; it cannot be sad and lone

For the lack of something within that it has never known.

But a house that has done what a house should do, A house that has sheltered life

That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife, A house that has echoed a baby’s laugh and held up his stumbling feet, Is the saddest sight when it’s left alone, that ever your eyes could meet.”

……Joyce Kilmer (18861918) was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled “Trees”, which was published in the collection “Trees and Other Poems” in 1914. He was killed in 1918 in France while serving in the Great War.

TRIUMPH Over TRAUMA

The Inspiring Tale of Ishmael

By Pebbles

It is hot today, so I have decided to stand in the shade and assess life here on the ranch. I spend a good portion of my day grazing and being lazy this time of year. I use this time wisely to contemplate which is the best form of exercise for me. This is one of the merits of being in a good home; one has time to ponder.

So much of the time I devote my column to horses that are in training to leave us. Many of these equines go on to do remarkable things. Did you know that one of the first ponies Helping Equines Regain Dignity saved, Stanley, went to the USEF Pony Finals in

Kentucky this year? This is a very big deal. The Oliver family made that all possible by adopting him and investing in his exceptional training with Amelia Nowicki at Hidden Valley Farm in Inman, S.C. Grace Cashman has been his partner in the show world and the two are quite a team. Stanley is dashingly handsome. He is jet black in color, a head-turner, and an incredible mover and jumper. We have another horse, also jet black, with four white legs and a huge blaze. He is also stunningly beautiful. His name is Ishmael. We saved him the same year as Stanley but he is much larger, at

15.1 hands. Unlike Stanley, he will not be going on to find a new adoptive home. Ishmael is staying put. He finds it good to be home, right here on the ranch with me.

Why, you ask, is such a beautiful horse in his prime a permanent fixture? This is because Ishmael was let down by humans when he was younger. He does not trust people. He is brave about scary situations, even big storms, which do not involve a person, but once that human element is added to the mix he freezes in fear.

When we saved Ishmael from a Louisiana kill lot, his coat was marred with recent burns. We learned that a person had thrown blistering agents at him to teach him a lesson.

We originally thought Ishmael was a heritage breed, the Marsh Tacky. That is how they identified him at the kill lot.

Ishmael sports a big brand with a large J over a 10, over a five, on his right shoulder. When we contacted the Marsh Tacky

Association, we got an immediate response that this brand was not a match. His size was also too large. Their director believed he was a similar type of rare breed horse with Spanish ancestry and put us in touch with the Florida Cracker Association. This is a gaited breed prized for its agility and speed imported here in the early 16th century; as colonial settlement progressed, they used the horses for herding cattle.

Currently age 13, Ishmael was born on March 29, 2010. His sire was Tequila and his dame CJR Bonnet 1. We saved him from going to slaughter in 2017. Through the brand and the Florida Cracker Association, we were able to track down his history and his registration papers. This magnificent horse was born and raised in St. Cloud, Florida by a breeder, Allen Broussard of the Crescent J Ranch. Broussard focused on maintaining the historical unique ranching heritage of Florida. His

Stanley in HERD care after saving his life

ABOVE: Ishmael

RIGHT: Scott Homstead bonding with Ishmael

ABOVE: Ishmael six months later enjoying the foothills grass

FAR

RIGHT: Stanley with Kim Oliver and show ring partner Grace Cashman

spread was home to the largest herd of Spanish Colonial horses, also known as “Cracker” horses, as well as a large herd of Spanish Colonial cattle. Well-broke to ride and used to work cattle as a young horse, Ishmael ended up in a kill lot because he was sold at an auction when the ranch downsized their herd. Someone who bought Ishmael thought they could make him gait higher, more like a walking horse, if they practiced the cruel art of soring his feet and legs.

Soring involves the intentional infliction of pain to a horse’s legs or hooves to force the horse to perform an artificial, exaggerated gait. Caustic chemicals—blistering agents like mustard oil, diesel fuel and kerosene—are applied to the horse’s limbs, causing extreme pain and suffering. Soring has been a widespread practice in the Tennessee walking horse show industry for decades. Today, judges continue to reward the artificial “Big Lick” gait. This sadly encourages participants to sore their horses, allowing the cruel practice to exist.

When Ishmael reacted by rearing from the repeated soring applications, in anger his owner beat him. He then threw the blistering agents onto Ishmael’s neck and back, burning him harshly. This ruthless person then disposed of him at a local livestock auction, where only the kill buyer

wanted him.

This is how Ishmael, a registered rare breed, cattledriving horse, made his way to us.

Upon his midnight arrival, the hauler unloaded him off the trailer at our farm in Campobello. Ishamel trembled. He had traveled well and quietly. Now he was frozen in fear. He was so thin and frightened. This horse did not want to be touched. Scott, Heather’s husband, led him to a comfortable stall for the night to rest. In the morning, he was still cowering when a human entered his space. Scott coaxed him out to a private paddock.

I looked over at him from my stall with utter sympathy. I too had come from a terrible place, but I had never known this level of abuse.

Today, Ishmael is in excellent condition. He lives happily sharing a 10-acre pasture, with a big run-in shelter and a lovely canopy of trees, with young Ming 6 and Joe Black. Volunteer Bill McClelland feeds him each morning and spoils him with treats. We can have his hooves trimmed and vaccines done, but it is not easy. His fear of humans is so ingrained that he trusts few people and is reluctant to accept kind gestures. Ishmael will remain safe here with us. No more harm will befall him in our care. If asked, he would tell you it is good to be home.

ADD SAVORY SPICE TO GAME DAY CELEBRATIONS

Powering up for a successful game day starts with a pregame spread, and no tailgate or homegate is complete without a spicy dip that brings the heat.

This Game Day Buffalo Chicken Dip is a perfect solution for firing up your crowd as it requires little preparation so you save precious time before kickoff. Whether you bake

shortly before the game begins or make it ahead of time for a parking lot party, simply keep it warm and serve with chips or veggie sticks for a quick, shareable appetizer.

GAME DAY BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

Servings: 3-4

INGREDIENTS

2 cups shredded chicken

8 ounces cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, plus additional for topping, divided

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 heavy pinch dried dill

1/2 cup hot sauce

2 green onions, chopped blue cheese crumbles chips vegetable sticks

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400 F.

In bowl, mix shredded chicken, cream cheese, sour cream, 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, onion powder, garlic powder and dried dill until combined. Add hot sauce; mix until combined.

Transfer mixture from bowl to oven-safe dish. Top with additional shredded cheese,

to taste.

Bake until cheese is melted, approximately 15 minutes.

Top with blue cheese crumbles and chopped green onion.

Serve warm with chips and vegetable sticks.

Ribeye Steak, Grape Tomato and Mushroom Kebabs

Total time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2cloves garlic

1/2 small bunch Italian (flatleaf) parsley

1/4 cup O Organics extra-virgin olive oil

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons O Organics Dijon

mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 pound O Organics ribeye

steak

1/2 pint O Organics grape

tomatoes

1/4 pound O Organics white

mushrooms

green pepper, sliced (optional)

1/2 medium red onion

6 skewers

DIRECTIONS

Peel and mince garlic. Wash and dry parsley. Shave leaves off stems; discard stems and mince leaves.

In large bowl, whisk minced garlic, half the minced parsley (reserve remainder for garnish), olive oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.

Cut steak into cubes; transfer to marinade bowl and toss to coat.

Wash tomatoes, mushrooms and green pepper. Halve mushrooms. Add tomatoes, mushrooms and green pepper to marinade. Peel onion and cut into chunks; add to marinade. Toss beef and vegetables until well coated.

Heat grill pan, outdoor grill or skillet to medium-high heat.

Thread steak and vegetables onto six skewers.

Cook kebabs in batches until steak is browned and vegeta-

bles are tender, 3-5 minutes per side. Transfer to plate and repeat with remaining kebabs.

To serve, plate kebabs and sprinkle with remaining minced parsley.

BRING BACK FAMILY BONDING THIS FALL

Busy fall schedules often leave little time for the things that matter most - sharing special moments with those you love.

Ham and Swiss Sliders

Total time: 25 minutes

Servings: 4-6

INGREDIENTS

1 stick butter

1 package (12 rolls) King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

1 pound shaved deli ham

1 pound thinly sliced Swiss cheese

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 350 F. Melt butter and set aside.

Cut entire pack of rolls in half horizontally, keeping all top and bottom halves intact.

In 9-by-13-inch pan, place bottom halves of rolls and cover with ham and cheese.

Cover ham and cheese stacks with top halves of rolls. Drizzle butter mixture over tops of rolls.

Bake, uncovered, 15-20 minutes. Separate rolls for serving.

Peanut Butter, Jelly and Banana Sliders

Prep time: 5 minutes

Servings: 4-6

INGREDIENTS

1 package (12 rolls) King’s Hawaiian Original Sweet Rolls

4 tablespoons salted peanut butter

4 tablespoons strawberry jam

2 bananas, sliced

DIRECTIONS

Cut entire pack of rolls in half horizontally, keeping all top and bottom halves intact

Spread peanut butter on bottom halves followed by strawberry jam. Top with banana slices then top halves of rolls.

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