September 2017 baldwin

Stories | Recipes | Events | People | Places | Things | Local News September 2017

Baldwin Electric Membership Cooperative

Mascot mania Life behind the mask for Aubie, Big Al and company

Get saucy

Perk up meats, veggies with Alabama sauces

www.baldwinemc.com

BALDWIN EMC is a member-owned electric cooperative serving more than 74,000 accounts in Baldwin and Monroe Counties in southwest Alabama.

MAILING ADDRESS:

P.O. BOX 220 SUMMERDALE, AL 36580 PHONE:

(251) 989-6247 ALABAMA LIVING is delivered to some 420,000 Alabama families and businesses, which are members of 22 not-for-profit, consumer-owned, locally directed and taxpaying electric cooperatives. Subscriptions are $6 a year for individuals not subscribing through participating Alabama electric cooperatives. Alabama Living (USPS 029-920) is published monthly by the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Alabama, and at additional mailing office.

Outdoors encouragement Many students keep a tradition of leaving school to go hunting or fishing whenever they can. However, for some young people attending the University of Montevallo, the school not only allows them to take great outdoors adventures, but even encourages – and pays them!

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VOL. 70 NO. 9 n SEPTEMBER 2017

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POSTMASTER send forms 3579 to: Alabama Living, P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, Alabama 36124-4014.

ALABAMA RURAL ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION

AREA President Fred Braswell Editor Lenore Vickrey Managing Editor Allison Griffin Creative Director Mark Stephenson Art Director Danny Weston Advertising Director Jacob Johnson Graphic Designer/Ad Coordinator Brooke Echols Communications Coordinator Laura Stewart

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NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE:

National Country Market 611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504 Austin, Texas 78704 1-800-626-1181 www.nationalcountrymarket.com www.alabamaliving.coop USPS 029-920 • ISSN 1047-0311

Al u

Online

Look for forthis this logo logo Look tosee seemore more to content online! online! content

Get our FREE monthly email newsletter!

Sign up at alabamaliving.coop Printed in America from American materials

Baldwin EMC is honoring teachers and students with a little help from our members.

Pass the sauce

Alabama-made marinades and sauces are an easy way to amp up the flavor factor of your food while supporting our state’s own talented entrepreneurs.

Say cheese, please

You can’t ever have too much cheese, as our reader-submitted recipes prove.

D E PA R T M E N T S

ADVERTISING & EDITORIAL OFFICES:

340 TechnaCenter Drive Montgomery, Alabama 36117-6031 1-800-410-2737 For advertising, email: advertising@areapower.com For editorial inquries, email: contact@alabamliving.coop

Seeing stars

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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! ONLINE: www.alabamaliving.coop EMAIL: letters@alabamaliving.coop MAIL: Alabama Living 340 Technacenter Drive Montgomery, AL 36117

In this issue: Page 11 Page 28

9 Snapshots 22 Gardens 29 Around Alabama 30 Outdoors 31 Fish & Game Forecast 34 Cook of the Month 46 Hardy Jackson’s Alabama ONLINE: alabamaliving.coop ON THE COVER: Big Al and Aubie are just two of the college mascots who don costumes to inspire football fans in Alabama. See story, Page 12.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: Mark Stephenson

SEPTEMBER 2017 3

years

BALDWIN EMC Board of Trustees Peggy Vanover Barnes President District 6

Tommie Werneth Vice President District 4

Jimmy LaFoy Secretary/Treasurer District 7

Chad Grace District 1

Joe Coleman District 2

Aubury Fuller District 3

Robert Kaiser District 5

Chief Executive Officer Karen Moore

4 SEPTEMBER 2017

From the Board of Trustees Member engagement saves co-ops

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aldwin EMC is a member-owned, member-governed cooperative. When the co-op was founded back in 1937, members of the community knew that we were a locally owned business – likely because they or someone they knew played a part in helping organize the cooperative. Over time as the novelty of receiving electricity waned and the founders passed on, new people moved into the community, viewing the electric co-op like any other energy provider.

But we are different and the key to that difference is you, the member-owner of our cooperative. Without your support and commitment, we would not exist.

Research proves that when people own something they treat it differently, which is why we encourage Baldwin EMC members to act as an owner rather than a customer.

As an owner, you play a critical role in our success. Each year, if our revenue exceeds our expenses (which is always our goal), a certain percentage is allocated back to you – because you are a member of the co-op.

With that ownership comes certain rights like the opportunity to seek election to serve on the board of trustees. If that seems

like too big a commitment, we still want and need you to participate in the annual elections.

We welcome your advice and counsel as we continually look for new ways to help you use energy efficiently and in a more cost-effective manner.

Thanks to your participation in innovative programs like Cent$ible Power, paperless billing and Prepay Power, we’ve been able to trim our costs significantly over the years, while helping our members to do the same.

As a local business, we have a real stake in the community, just as you do. That is why we seek opportunities to engage with local organizations like the Guardians of the Ribbon, Ecumenical Ministries and all five of our local Chambers of Commerce. While electric power is the commodity that your co-op sells, the real power is that together, we empower this local community. When people feel empowered they accomplish great things.

True, the world is different today than it was in 1937 when Baldwin EMC was founded, but our mission of serving you and our community is constant.

Working together with your active, inspired engagement, we can continue to accomplish great things.

In honor of all laboring men and women, Baldwin EMC offices will be closed Monday, September 4, 2017.

As always, our control center will be staffed around the clock and line crews will be on standby in case our members need us.

www.alabamaliving.coop

Outage reporting Go paperless, win a $500 credit has come a long way I P

aperless billing is exactly what it sounds like: a paper-free way to get your bill from Baldwin EMC every month.

When you sign up, we'll discontinue the paper bill that used to show up in your mailbox.

Instead, we'll send you an email with a link to your bill. Then you can pay using whatever method you choose. Paperless billing saves you time and saves your co-op money. Those savings are passed right back to you, our members.

Everyone enrolled in paperless billing by October 17, 2017, including those who've already signed up, will be entered into a drawing for a $500 bill credit. (Baldwin EMC employees, trustees and members of their immediate families are ineligible for the contest.)

n his 28 years with Baldwin EMC, Doug Byrd, manager of system communications and control, has seen the way members report outages change quite a bit.

“There was a time many years ago when people would notify us of outages by sending in a postcard.

Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since then,” Byrd says.

Now the latest option for reporting outages is one Byrd definitely did not see coming a decade ago. “We’ve had to keep up with the way members communicate, which has evolved so much in the past ten years. That’s why we’ve introduced text messaging.”

The process for texting to report outages is simple. To get signed up you’ll first need to: •

Text Baldwin to 85700. You will get a response confirming your signup for texting that includes your service address.

•

If you have more than one account you will be given the option to choose. (The number you send your text from must be one of the phone numbers associated with your account.)

After that, to report an outage, you can: •

Text Outage to 85700 and confirm the address where the outage is occurring.

Update your contact information Did you know that by updating your contact information with us, you can more quickly and easily report a power outage?

When your contact information is up to date in Baldwin EMC’s information system, it’s easier for you to report outages and makes the restoration process more efficient.

If your phone number is different now than it was when you first established service with Baldwin EMC, please do one of the following to update our records:

Alabama Living

•

Go to www.baldwinemc.com and click on My Account, then select the link to Update Contact Information.

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Contact our member service center at (251) 989-6247 or member.service@baldwinemc.com.

•

Write the corrected contact information on your monthly bill in the space provided.

SEPTEMBER 2017 5

PENNIES WITH A PURPOSE Member contributions to Operation Round Up make a difference.

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n the past year, you’ve helped provide fishing trips for local disabled veterans. You’ve helped give low-income families access to much-needed healthcare. You’ve made it possible for dozens of students to attend college and stocked the shelves of a local food pantry.

You’ve done all that and more just by participating in Operation Round Up. By allowing Baldwin EMC to round up your power bills to the next highest dollar amount, you’ve helped contribute more than $4 million in grants to individuals in need and organizations that provide assistance in the community.

On average, each Baldwin EMC member only donates about 50 cents per month to Operation Round Up. It might not seem like much, but those pennies add up to make a difference.

Change that Changes Lives Just ask Brian Carson, coordinator for the South Alabama Chapter of Heroes on the Water, which helps wounded veterans relax and rehabilitate through kayak fishing and the outdoors. Carson accepted a grant from Operation Round Up on behalf of the organization in July. The funds, he says, will be used to buy much-needed equipment

to serve wounded warriors. “This equipment will help hundreds of local veterans over its lifespan to receive the therapy and stress relief kayak fishing provides,” Carson says. “We would like to say a special thank you to the generous members of Baldwin EMC who made this grant possible to serve the veterans of their community.”

Laurie Kittrell, executive director for the Alabama Free Clinic in Bay Minette, echoes that appreciation. The clinic, which provides medical services at no-charge to people in Baldwin County who can’t afford healthcare, received a grant from Operation Round Up in April. “[Baldwin EMC members] made a difference,” Kittrell says. “[They] have helped us continue providing hope to the chronically ill, uninsured, working poor in our community that otherwise would go without medical care.”

Your Co-op Cares

Operation Round Up FAST FACTS: • Baldwin EMC was the 200th cooperative nationwide to adopt Operation Round Up, created in 1989

by Palmetto Electric Cooperative.

• Grants distributed must provide assistance in one of the following categories: food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education and the environment.

Stories like those are the reason Baldwin EMC adopted Operation Round Up 13 years ago - to give members an easy way to give back to their community.

• The Operation Round Up program is managed by the Baldwin Electric Membership Charitable Foundation Board.

If you need assistance or if you know of an organization that could benefit, please visit our website, www.baldwinemc.com, or call (251) 989-6247 and find out how Operation Round Up might be able to help you.

• In a typical year, a Baldwin EMC member only contributes an average of $6 to Operation Round Up.

Baldwin EMC is seeing stars

Or at least, we’d like to. That’s where you come in.

Hey teachers, this one’s for you:

Here’s one for students:

Operation Round Up Star Light Awards

BEMC’s Shining Star Student of the Month

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Nominate an outstanding student to be Baldwin EMC’s Shining Star Student of the Month. Go to our website to submit nominations from now until May.

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Alabama Living

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Students must be in middle school in Baldwin County and can be nominated by school faculty members. Nomination forms can be found on our website, www.baldwinemc.com.

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October 3, 2017 is the deadline to submit an application for Operation Round Up’s Star Light Award grants.

Through our partnership with WALA-TV, a FOX10 meteorologist and videographer will accompany our Baldwin EMC representative to help recognize each Shining Star Student.

The meteorologist will also give a weather presentation to the winner’s class, and the winner will be featured on air.

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Star Light applications must be received at Baldwin EMC by close of business on October 3, 2017. Applications are available at www.baldwinemc.com and all Baldwin EMC offices.

Winners will be rewarded at school by a Baldwin EMC representative with a certificate, $50 Visa gift card…and even a little TV coverage.

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Since the Star Light awards were created in 2011, more than 100 grants have been awarded to local teachers. Thanks to these funds, local students have gotten up close and personal with insects, improved their math skills and learned to play new instruments among many other things.

From now until the end of the school year, we’ll be accepting nominations for the Shining Star Student program.

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The award supplies grant money to teachers for the purpose of supporting innovative and creative classroom projects. The grants are made possible through Baldwin EMC’s Operation Round Up program, which collects money for charitable causes by rounding up participating members’ power bills. Grant funds are administered by the nine members of the Baldwin County Electric Membership Charitable Foundation board.

ccountability, integrity, innovation and commitment to community - these are all qualities that characterize outstanding young people. Baldwin EMC wants to shine a light on these students as part of our Shining Star Student of the Month program.

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indergarten through 12th grade teachers in accredited public or private schools within Baldwin EMC’s service area are encouraged to apply for a Star Light Award.

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SEPTEMBER 2017 7

| Celebrating 80 Years |

THEN AND NOW: 80 Years of Baldwin EMC Retirees reflect on Baldwin EMC’s 80 years of progress. say hello. I loved seeing the guys when they all came to Summerdale for their safety meetings.

There’s just nothing like face-to-face contact.

For years, Bobbie Madaris was the first person you talked to when you called Baldwin EMC. Now, in her retirement, she reflects on years of changes.

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rs. Bobbie Madaris retired from Baldwin EMC’s call center in 2004. Now at home in Gadsden, Ala., she spoke to us over the phone about her experiences during her 15-year career.

Baldwin EMC: Today we have an entire department dedicated to the calls, payments and inquiries of our members, but I understand you were the sole telephone operator for several years during your tenure here.

Bobbie Madaris: My goodness, yes. Before I came on board in 1990, the ladies at the window answered the phone when it rang, in between opening mail and taking payments. So when I started out, I was up there with them to give them some relief. Before long I was told we were getting a switchboard and I was going to be the one operating it.

EMC: That sounds like quite a task for one person!

B.M.: It was, and I was fielding calls for all three offices, but I absolutely loved it. It didn’t take me long to learn who everybody was and that was the best part, because I love talking to people. My office was right by the back door and just across the hall from the break room. I kept a big jar of candy on my desk at all times so there were no excuses not to pop your head into my office and 8 SEPTEMBER 2017

EMC: What was your favorite part of working at the co-op?

B.M.: Being a part of a growing company was something really special, and I enjoyed learning all the aspects of the power industry. I learned a lot on the switchboard because I had to help the (members) with their questions and direct them to the correct department. Any chance I had to go out in the field, I took it. I remember going out with the (metering department) one day to see how they read the meters. About the only thing I never did get to do was go out and watch the crew set a pole.

EMC: You were here during the nineties, when computerized technology was really taking off.

How did your job change over that time?

B.M.: Well the biggest shift, I guess, was the introduction of the call center. I had been on the switchboard about eight years at that point.

It went from me taking all the calls to having a whole department. All of the sudden we were able to take credit card payments over the phone using these little machines, and we took outage calls. The computer systems just changed everything so much.

EMC: What was your greatest takeaway from 15 years at Baldwin EMC? B.M.: Well, that’s easy. I worked with the best people in the world and loved them just like family – I still do! When I moved to Baldwin County (from Gadsden) I hardly knew anybody, but then everything just worked out and all of the sudden I knew tons of people. I met and married a wonderful man, and I am even responsible for setting up five couples at that co-op! After I met the love of my life, I wanted to be sure no one else passed up an opportunity.

A Piece of History Getting Around

By the time Baldwin EMC opened its doors in 1937, more than 10,000 of Henry Ford’s Model T automobiles had been produced.

But they weren’t for everyone.

Many residents of rural Alabama, including Baldwin County, still opted for more “traditional” methods of transportation, well into the 1970s.

Check out these snapshots of Mr. E.A. Blackburn (pictured above, circa the 1950s) and Mr. Grady Brashier (pictured below in 1976) from Baldwin EMC’s archives.

Did you know?

Approximately 40,000 members use Baldwin EMC’s drive up windows each month.

www.alabamaliving.coop

| Alabama Snapshots |

Herman Hickman and great grandson Zander Taylor. SUBMITTED BY Emily Martin, Sylacauga Martha Mercer and her great grandchildren.

SUBMITTED BY Martha Mercer, Elmore

Parker Smith.

Lena Belle Smith and grandson Troy th, Smi SUBMITTED BY Edith

Carl and Debbie Clark with granddaughters Karleigh, Rylee, Avarey and Presley Sanders.SUBMITTED BY Jennifer Sanders, Andalusia

nton. granddaughter Ellyott Sta Papa Steve Stanton and nton, Loxley.

SUBMITTED BY Elliott Sta

Woodie Glenn and granddaughter Danielle Hickman.SUBMITTED BY Woodie Glenn, Rockford.

Grandparents

Submit Your Images! November Theme: “Heirloom Quilts” Deadline for November: September 30 SUBMIT PHOTOS ONLINE: www.alabamaliving.coop/submit-photo/ or send color photos with a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Photos, Alabama Living, P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124

RULES: Alabama Living will pay $10 for photos that best match our theme of the month. Photos may also be published on our website at www.alabamaliving.coop and on our Facebook page. Alabama Living is not responsible for lost or damaged photos.

Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017 9

| Power Pack | SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Q&A

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ver the next two issues, I would like to share with you some common Social Security questions I receive on a variety of topics and my answers.

Question: My child, who gets Social Security, will be attending his last year of high school in the fall. He turns 19 in a few months. Do I need to fill out a form for his benefits to continue?

Answer: Yes. You should receive a form, SSA-1372-BK, in the mail about three months before your son’s birthday. Your son needs to complete the form and take it to his school’s office for certification. Then, you need to return page two and the certified page three back to Social Security for processing. If you can’t find the form we mailed to you, you can find it online at: www.socialsecurity.gov/forms/ssa-1372.pdf.

Question: I’m trying to figure out how much I need to save for my retirement.

Does the government offer any help with financial education?

Letters to the editor

Answer: Yes. For starters, you may want to find out what you can expect from Social Security with a visit to Social Security’s Retirement Estimator at www.socialsecurity. gov/estimator. The Financial Literacy and Education Commission has a website that can help you with the basics of financial education: www.mymoney.gov. Finally, you’ll want to check out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which offers educational information on a number of financial matters, including mortgages, credit cards, retirement, and other big decisions. Visit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at www.consumerfinance.gov.

Kylle’ McKinney, SSA Public Affairs Specialist, can be reached by email at kylle.mckinney@ssa.gov.

ALABAMA'S HEALTH

Rural hospitals need new revenue sources

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hirty-two of Alabama’s 46 rural hospitals are operating at a loss. That’s according to information recently developed by iVantage Health Analytics for the National Rural Health Association. Six rural Alabama hospitals have closed since 2009, tied with Georgia for the most closures in any state. An additional 14 rural Alabama hospitals have been identified as being at risk of closure.

Simply by being there, rural hospitals attract additional health care services and provide vital economic development opportunities for their service areas. With 41 of Alabama’s 67 counties projected to lose population between 2010 and 2040, our rural areas cannot afford a more threatened economic future by losing their local hospital.

The struggle to keep rural hospitals open is very complex. Rural hospitals receive lower reimbursement for the same service than hospitals in more urbanized areas.

Dale Quinney is executive director of the Alabama Rural Health Association, 1414 Elba Highway, Troy, 36081.

10 SEPTEMBER 2017

This poses a constant financial challenge.

Continuing to offer health care services, such as obstetrics, that consistently cost more to provide than is reimbursed, is very important to the perception of local health care. Such consistent losses cannot be sustained forever.

In addition, government programs and private insurance have established admission and length of stay requirements that place many rural hospitals in a position of having daily inpatient censuses below the number of beds available for inpatient services.

Rural hospitals do not exist only to serve the local population. They provide a front line of health care defense for residents and visitors going through our rural areas who need immediate and critical health care services.

In response to financial threats, some rural hospitals are being innovative in welcoming and developing new sources of revenue. The Bibb Medical Center in Centerville and its administrator, Joseph Marchant, are an example. This medical center has 35 authorized beds with an average daily inpatient census of around 14 or 15.

This facility operates an affiliated rural Continued on Page 31

E-mail us at: letters@alabamaliving.coop or write us at: Letters to the editor P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124 Nurse practitioners article appreciated Thank you so much for highlighting the situation in our state that nurse practitioners face in practice. Your article (August 2017) was right on target. We have several schools in our state who graduate very qualified nurse practitioners who are excited and ready to care for the patients in Alabama and they can be a very significant part of the solution for inadequate healthcare in our state. They are willing to live and work in very rural areas, and many already do so. Statistics strongly support patient satisfaction with the care nurse practitioners provide.

Why do we continue to ignore the resource for healthcare that they provide? Thank you for such a timely and important piece!

Susan Holmes, EdD, MSN, CRNP Troy University School of Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner Program Whereville thanks What a pleasant surprise to open the (August) issue of Alabama Living to discover the photo of Jasmine Hill Gardens in your Whereville photo contest! Thank you for all you have done to help our attendance at Jasmine Hill!

Jim Inscoe, Proprietor, Jasmine Hill Gardens and Outdoor Museum Photo contest I want to thank Alabama Living magazine for sponsoring the reader photo contest (July 2017) and especially for the honor of placing second along with the $50 award.

I am not a native of Alabama but have always claimed Ozark as home.

I returned to Ozark nearly 20 years ago for family reasons and have been here ever since. My friends are steeped in Southern tradition and its culture has enriched my life.

I’ve learned to love grits, cold sweet tea and “Steel Magnolias!” I guess you could say I’m Northern by birth and Southern by choice.

We are fortunate here in Ozark to have the Dowling Museum/Ann Rudd Art Center downtown on the Square. It has been a cultural outreach to artists, amateur photographers and writers for more than 16 years and a place to express our vision and ideas through the arts.

Thanks again for the recognition and for providing the opportunity to share the view through my lens!

Carol Luckfield Ozark www.alabamaliving.coop

SEPTEMBER | Spotlight

Whereville, AL Guess where this is and you might win $25!

USDA provides food safety, ‘kitchen confidence’ tips Do you need a little “kitchen confidence?” The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service invites home cooks to gain some confidence in the kitchen by refreshing their perspectives on food safety.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year, approximately 48 million Americans suffer from foodborne illness, leading to 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. Many of these illnesses can be prevented by changing behaviors in the kitchen.

Be confident in your food safety skills by visiting www.

FoodSafety.gov, by calling the Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline or downloading the FoodKeeper app on your digital device.

You can also chat live with a food safety specialist in English or Spanish at AskKaren.gov, available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday.

This month in

Alabama history Identify and place this Alabama landmark and you could win $25! Winner is chosen at random from all correct entries.

Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. Send your answer by Sept. 6 with your name, address and the name of your rural electric cooperative. The winner and answer will be announced in the October issue.

Contribute your own photo from an upcoming issue! Send a photo of an interesting or unusual landmark in Alabama, which must be accessible to the public. A reader whose photo is used will also win $25.

Submit by email to whereville@alabamaliving.coop, or by mail: Whereville, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124.

AUGUST’S ANSWER

Jasmine Hill Gardens and Outdoor Museum near Wetumpka features more than 20 acres of year-round floral beauty and classical sculpture, including statuary that honors Olympic heroes. Learn more about “Alabama’s little corner of Greece” at www.jasminehill.org (Photo submitted

by Dayna Coker.)

The random drawing winner is Beverly Trawick of Dixie EC.

Alabama Living

September 14, 1964 The USS Alabama arrived in Mobile after completing a 5,600-mile voyage from Bremerton, Washington. The voyage was the longest nonmilitary ton per mile tow in history. The ship returned home to Alabama after a statewide fundraising campaign that collected more than $800,000, including $100,000 donated by schoolchildren. On January 9, 1965, the USS Alabama Battleship Park opened to the public in Mobile, eighteen years after the ship was decommissioned on the same day in 1947. More than 2,000 people, including schoolchildren, politicians, and veterans of World War II, attended the opening ceremonies as Gov. George Wallace received the ship on behalf of all citizens of the state.

www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2960

SEPTEMBER 2017 11

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College mascots say life behind t They lead us in victory, console our defeats, and comfort with unwavering support. They are the mascots of college football.

Requiring good grades, excellent physical conditioning, and the ability to ham it up in front of thousands, life is challenging in mascot mania. But life is good for those who don the suit. They love it. Here are some of Alabama’s favorites.

By Emmett Burnett

Blaze the Dragon

It’s not easy being green. It’s not easy walking on campus with wings and a tail either. But at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Blaze the Dragon does just fine.

UAB’s reptile of renown originated in 1995. But the name “Blaze” was predestined, from 1978, after the school’s sports teams were nicknamed by student vote. “They tried other mascots,” recalls Ryan Martin O’ Connor, coordinator of cheerleaders. “We considered a rooster, and Viking, but finally felt Blaze was best.”

She adds, “No mascot has a suit like ours.

The wings are huge and if not careful, his tail can knock you down.” He has to be very careful in a crowd. And he is always in a crowd.

Everybody wants to be around him.

And Blaze rocks. “Most people think mascot performers are extraverts,” says Ryan, “but that’s not necessarily the case. Many are more comfortable in the suit than out of it when it comes to performing crazy antics.”

For a bulky winged serpent, this leaping lizard can cut the rug. Blaze owns the dance floor.

UAB sources confirm, when performing “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae,)” no dragon is better.

Big Al

Named by University of Alabama student vote in 1979, Big Al the elephant is one of the most recognized sports mascots in America. His first public appearance was at the 1980 Sugar Bowl.

Today he appears everywhere.

“When donning the elephant suit you become more than a mascot,” explains Big Al coordinator and former Alabama cheerleader Jennifer Thrasher. “You are an ambassador of the University. You must represent us in a positive way.”

Bama’s elephant is known for football games but sports are just part of the job description. He makes hundreds of public appearances annually and encounters situations from jubilant to sadness. “Big Al visits a lot of children’s hospitals,” Thrash12 SEPTEMBER

er says.

She related one such visit: a young child stricken with cancer too weak to offer little more than a feeble smile.

“Big Al sat at the little girl’s bedside, quietly holding her hand in silence,” Thrasher says. Later in private, the mascot removed the elephant head, revealing a college student with tears streaming down her face.

And then there is game day. “Every time you put on that massive head you are part of something bigger than you,” recalls Justin Sullivan of Nashville, mascot from 2011 to 2016. “I had no experience when selected as Big Al. I went from nothing to Bryant Denny Stadium, in front of 150,000 people.

Even today it seems surreal.” www.alabamaliving.coop

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d the mask rewarding SouthPaw and Miss Pawla Love is in the air at the University of South Alabama, Mobile: SouthPaw and Miss Pawla are engaged, in a classic tale of jaguar romance.

OK, it’s probably the only tale of jaguar romance, but earlier this year, at a USA pep rally, SouthPaw proposed to fellow jaguar mascot, Miss Pawla. She nodded yes. The affirmative came as little surprise because Miss Pawla has flirted with SouthPaw since she has known him, just like she does with most males. It is who she is and part of why USA loves them both.

“South Paw is the strong silent type,” says USA Cheer Coach Bre Kucera. “He is athletic, 7 feet tall, and dresses in accordance with the sporting event represented.” Pawla is

shorter and a prissy–flirty feminine feline.

They are cool cats, and in South Alabama, “cool” is not easy.

“It takes heat endurance to be our mascot,” Kucera says. “A football game down here can be 100 degrees on the field.”

Try being in that heat totally encapsulated in simulated jaguar fur.

Not a problem for SouthPaw and Miss Pawla, because love conquers. And the only heat these two are concerned with are the warm hearts they have for each other.

Cocky the Gamecock

For the last five years, Niki Martin has been Cocky the Fighting Gamecock of Jacksonville State University. Martin graduated in April, relinquishing her title as rooster with an attitude.

But as all costumed performers say, even after you’re gone, the mascot lives on.

“Oh yes, I was a crying mess,” Martin laughs, about giving up her feathered friend. “But it has been so rewarding. To put a smile on someone’s face, even for five seconds, helps them and helps me.”

Cocky goes beyond mascot. This bird is hilarious. “He is always in trouble, always doing something he should not be doing,” adds head cheer coach Dave Almeita. “That’s why people love him.” But despite the rooster’s rants, no one cries

fowl.

“He’s a prankster but not a jerk,” Martin s a y s .

“A f t e r pulling a joke on someone, I always offered a handshake or hug, to show it’s all in fun.” Martin is credited for developing Cocky’s signature strut and personality. “Cocky is the guy the girls love and the guys want to be like,” she says.

Few people know for the last five years Cocky was a woman. Even less know Cocky was Martin. When asked what is it like being famous yet anonymous inside a mascot suit, Martin says, “It’s like being Clark Kent and knowing you are Superman.”

SEPTEMBER 2017 13

Tuskegee’s Golden Tiger Herschel Freeman has a dilemma. He loves children but also portrays the feisty Golden Tiger for Tuskegee University. Kids and giant cats don’t often mix and Herschel is caught in the middle.

“It happens at almost every game,” the sophomore business major and mascot says. “I’ll be standing there in the costume and here comes a parent with a baby to thrust in my arms for a picture.” The child is terrified.

“Mascots can’t talk in uniform,” Freeman laughs. “But

sometimes I want to shout to the dad, Oh, come on, man! I’m a 6-foot tiger standing on two legs! What do you expect this baby to do?”

Like all good mascots, Freeman excels at reading situations. “I always let young children approach me. I don’t walk up to them.”

And though he cannot speak, “I nod and make gestures. With experience, you become good at it.” Also like all good mascots, actions speak louder than words.

Aubie the Auburn Tiger

In 1979, Auburn University student Barry Mask was selected as the first Aubie the Tiger. “I wanted Aubie to be four things,” recalls Mask, who today is a Montgomery banker. “He had to be a good dancer, prankster, a ladies man, and love children.” Oh, how the tiger roared.

Today Aubie holds 9 UCA National Championships, more than any college mascot. He was the first inductee into the Mascot Hall of Fame, and is a state legend.

The 1979 Iron Bowl solidified Auburn’s mascot as a cat to reckon with because, of all people, Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

During the pre-game, Coach Bryant leaned against a goal post. Barry was Aubie. Wearing a crimson jacket and houndstooth hat, just like Alabama’s coach wore, Aubie sneaked up behind Bryant.

Curious as to why

T-Roy, Trojan of Troy

All hail mighty T-Roy: Warrior of the Wiregrass, gladiator of goodwill, and Trojan of Troy – now new and improved.

“He has a new and improved head and facelift,” says Kyle George, Troy University’s associate athletic director for marketing and sales. T-Roy first appeared in the mid-1980s. The upgraded one was seen throughout Alabama this summer on a state tour, but his official debut is September 9 at Troy’s first home football game.

The big noggin now allows better visibility through the eyes and improved neck support for the mascot’s interior human. And not a moment too soon. Because when it comes to big man on campus, T-Roy rocks.

“One cool thing about mascots is they can go where a live person can’t,” adds Kyle. “They lift spirits and make people happy just by being around them.” The red-capped wonder frequently appears at children’s events, birthday parties, hospitals, alumni gatherings and almost anywhere his schedule allows.

But he walks a fine line between muscle-bound warrior and helmeted loveable softie. T-Roy is a powerful warrior through and through but a friendly one. He is stern yet fun. Toddlers are

14 SEPTEMBER 2017

the crowd was cheering, the Bear turned to the Tiger, and did a double-take. Barry remembers, “In front of thousands, I was face to face, looking into squinting steel blue eyes of a legend glaring back at me.”

Seconds later, Coach Bryant’s stare transformed into a smile. Pointing at the tiger’s houndstooth headwear, he chuckled, “Nice hat, Aubie,” and walked away.

Aubie has been cutting edge ever since. Mask, who later served in the Alabama House of Representatives, occasionally meets current mascots, and offers advice: “If you are not pushing the limits, you are probably not a good Aubie.”

as comfortable with him as adults.

Typically, three to 5 students are helmet–ready at any given time. One wears the suit. The others attend the mascot. They are trained in the ways of Troy and Trojan spirit, ready to lead in battle or hug sweet babies.

See ya’ later, gladiator.

Here’s to those who push the limits, wear the suits, and bring fantasy to life for the joy of all the fans of  College Town, Alabama.

Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017  15

State of sauce Alabama-made sauces perk up meats, veggies and more

By Jennifer Kornegay

E

ven most novice cooks know that marinades and sauces are easy and effective ways to amp up the flavor factor of a variety of foods. Meats, seafood and veggies all benefit from a pre-cooking soak and a slather, sprinkle or dip afterwards.

Lots of folks like to make their own, but there are plenty of Alabama-made products to choose from, too. These tasty options range from classics like salty steak saturators to innovative creations that rely on more exotic influences. Here are a few favorites from around the state.

Berdeaux’s Since he was old enough to eat table food, Jim Berdeaux has been enjoying the thick, tangy steak sauce and the tomato-based, slightly sweet barbecue sauce his grandfather whipped up when he was the chef at Montgomery’s Pickwick Café in the 1940s.

“We made his sauces for every family get-together, and when I was in the paper business, I started making them and giving jars to clients as gifts,” he says. Once the sauces were tasted outside of the Berdeaux family, the positive response was overwhelming.

When he retired from the Air Force, Jim decided to base a business on the recipes (and the clamoring requests for them) and created Berdeaux’s Sauces in 2010. The company is based in

16 SEPTEMBER 2017

Montgomery, and the sauces are made in Chancellor, Ala. Today, in addition to the steak and barbecue sauces, Berdeaux’s produces Sweet Island Dipping Sauce, a lively blend of pineapple and pungent horseradish. All the sauces are completely natural, with no MSG, high-fructose corn syrup or liquid smoke, a point Jim’s really proud of. “My sauces’ purity is what makes us stand out,” he said. “You can taste the difference.”

Get some: At shows and special events around the South, specialty stores in central Alabama like Derk’s Filet & Vine, Queen’s Steaks ‘N Wines, Tucker Pecan and more and online at berdeauxsauces.com.

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Pilleteri’s Pilleteri’s Liquid Marinade was born out of necessity. The patrons of owner Charles Pilleteri’s Birmingham butcher shop and deli, Mr. P’s, wanted something to flavor the steaks and chops they bought from him, and so he created a dry seasoning blend and then a robust marinade based on the same flavors.

“The original inspiration came from a Montgomery butcher shop that’s now closed, but I modified the recipe and added my own spin,” he says. The dark marinade is low in sodium (only 17 percent), yet it has just the right sharp, salty punch, with notes of garlic, black pepper and Worcestershire too. Charles has since added other sauces (hot sauce and wing sauce) and products like rubs and seasonings, but the original marinade is still his bestseller.

He’s now also distributing other Alabama-made sauces, like Ollie’s Bar-B-Q sauce.

Get some: at Mr. P’s Butcher Shop and Deli, 813 Shades Crest Road in Birmingham; select Publix, Food Giant and Piggly Wiggly locations; and online at pilleteri.com.

Charles Pilleteri’s Mr. P’s Original Marinade is still his best seller.

PHOTO BY RAY MARTIN

Super Turnip Green Super Turnip Green Pepper Sauce is one-upping the bottles of soggy, faded-green peppers that are standard sights on tables at Southern restaurants. With its Serrano pepper base, it’s sweet on the front end, combusts with a pop of well-rounded heat in the middle and ends with a blast of vinegar zipping across your tongue, combining the sensations into an unforgettable bite.

The sauce’s namesake and mascot, a Southern hero named Super Turnip Green (STG) – who sports overalls and a full-

face mask – is just as memorable, and that’s by design, as Drew Folsom, owner of the Birmingham-based company (and STG’s “agent”), explains.

“The sauce is all about a love of South, Southern foods and the country lifestyle, and STG embodies that. He’s a good ole country boy with just a little edge.”

Legend says the sauce recipe is STG’s, but that he wanted to keep his identity a secret, so he gave it to Folsom to bottle and sell. True or not, one thing is certain: Just a few dashes of this concoction added to anything from greens and peas to fish and fried chicken (STG’s favorite way to use it) will wake up your food’s flavor potential.

STG just launched a new product, Super Turnip Green Presents: Colt Ford Pepper Sauce, a fiery, full-bodied liquid created by country music artist Colt Ford.

Get some: in select Winn-Dixie, Piggly Wiggly and Western Supermarkets in Central Alabama and Publix locations in and around Birmingham. Check your local store too; STG is currently expanding distribution.

Front-door delivery In recent years, Alabama has become known for its barbecue, including the sauces served in some of our most storied ‘cue institutions. With a just a few clicks and a credit card, you can have them shipped right to you and add the work of masters to your creations.

Dreamland Bar-B-Que, dreamlandbbq.com Costa’s Famous Bar-B-Q, alabamagoods.com Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, bigbobgibson.com Bob Sykes Bar-B-Q, bobsykes.com Full Moon Bar-B-Que, fullmoonbbq.com Alabama Living

Jim N’ Nick’s Bar-B-Q, jimnnicks.com Saw’s BBQ, sawsbbq.com Ollie’s Bar-B-Q, pilleteri.com Demetri’s BBQ, alabamagoods.com SEPTEMBER 2017 17

Howton Farm’s

More to love

In tiny New Hope in north Alabama, Steve Howton has been playing with spice combos and cooking up his Howton Farm’s sauces since 2003. He’s worked in construction for years but was always making his own barbecue sauce.

And he still is; while he has a “day job,” he makes every batch of his savory sidekick for slow-smoked meats as well as his newer offering, a zesty, ginger-infused, sesame-seed-studded Salmon & Sushi Sauce (which also adds pizazz to chicken) by hand, using the best ingredients he can find.

“Lots of folks ‘cheap out’ in the sauce industry, but the product suffers when you do that,” he says. “That’s why I’ve kept everything in my control, so I can ensure the quality is high.”

Check out his selection of dry seasonings too.

Get some. Order at howtownfarms.com or on eBay.

Alabama’s a pretty saucy state, boasting so many homegrown sauces we can’t adequately cover them all in one article. Here are a few other condiment companies worth checking out. Learn more about them and where to get them on their websites.

Sweet Melissa’s spicy sauces, Birmingham Sweetmelissassauces.com Alabama Sunshine hot sauces, Fayette alabamasunshine.com T-Lish dressings and marinades, Birmingham tlish.com SlapHappy BBQ Sauce, Birmingham slaphappybbq.com Daddy Natty’s Bar-B-Q Sauce, Birmingham daddy-natty.com Sneaky Pete’s hot dog sauce, Birmingham sneakypeteshotdogs.com Simmering Sensation Cooking Sauces, Killen simmeringsensation.com Jala Jala BBQ Sauces, Huntsville jalajalafoods.com

Moore’s Marinades & Sauces The smoky, piquant jolt of Moore’s Original Marinade has been charming taste buds for a long time, starting with diners at Moore’s Landing restaurant in Jasper, who couldn’t get enough of the house marinade and started buying it by the Styrofoam-cup-full to take home.

The eatery closed years ago, but thanks to the LaRussa family, who purchased the restaurant’s recipe, the name and taste live on in Moore’s Marinades & Sauces, the company they founded in Birmingham. Today, Moore’s has expanded to include three marinades and six wing sauces that are distributed nationwide.

18 SEPTEMBER 2017

Dale’s Seasoning sauce, Birmingham dalesseasoning.com

The company’s brand manager, Garland Reich, outlined what she thinks has fueled its success and continued growth.

“We are a family-owned company, and we make real Southern products,” she says. “Moore’s really captures the flavor of the South.”

While the marinade that built the company is still beloved, Moore’s most popular product (out of nine) is its Buffalo Wing Sauce, a pout-puckering, blazing orange elixir that will electrify your mouth.

Get some: in major grocery stores around the country.

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Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017  19

| Worth the drive |

From waitresses to restaurant owners

Sisters attracts customers from across Alabama Go with us as we visit Sisters at Story and photos by Ben Norman

W



hen sisters Pat Rogers and Geraldine Golden decided to leave their jobs and open Sisters Restaurant in Troy, they both had a lot of apprehension. Geraldine was working as a waitress at a local restaurant and Pat was in the insurance business, although she had worked as a waitress before.

The former owners of the property that is now Sisters Restaurant approached Pat and Geraldine about buying the property and opening a restaurant. “They said they would work with us any way they could and encouraged us to give it a try. I was all for it but Geraldine was holding out. I finally convinced her to let’s give it a try, so we rented the building for the first year then bought it,” Pat says.

“To get started, we borrowed $10,000 from Jeff Kervin at Troy Bank and Trust. He had faith in us, and has stuck with us. The business did well from the start.

“My mother, Juanita Golden, had taught Geraldine and me to cook when we were girls. We just didn’t know how to cook for so many, but we learned fast. I did most of the cooking to begin with and Geraldine helped out when needed. We wanted to serve food just like our customers ate at their mother’s and grandmother’s house.”

Sisters Restaurant opened serving country cooking, and the ladies intend to continue that style. Its specialties are corn, peas, butterbeans, squash, turnips, collards, and they still use their mother’s recipe for chicken and dressing.

Customers drive from Dothan, Montgomery, Luverne and all around to eat lunch with them, which they consider quite a compliment. “We haven’t forgot what made us successful, and that is our customers,” Pat says.

The restaurant Sisters Restaurant also has become 13153 U.S. Highway 231 in Troy, known for its desabout two miles south of serts, such as its Walmart; 334-566-0064 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday; all-you-can-eat buffet starts at 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday; Troy closed Saturday; all-you-can-eat buffet from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday Email: sistersrestaurantllc@yahoo.com

20 SEPTEMBER 2017

alabamaliving.coop!

Customer favorites: Geraldine Golden, left, and Pat Rogers hold pans of bread pudding and banana pudding.

homemade banana pudding. It is on the “One Hundred Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die” list and has been featured in Southern Living magazine. Another favorite is the bread pudding, made from a secret recipe.

“We always buy quality products in order to maintain our delicious country style of cooking. The first day we opened we had rice on the menu. It was an off brand and stuck to the pan and didn’t taste good. I told the customers that day that if they would stick with me I’d promise never to serve anything like that again.

From then on we have only used Uncle Ben’s rice,” Pat says with a chuckle.

Both Pat and Geraldine laugh when they discuss Geraldine’s reluctance to go into business for themselves. “Pat came back all excited when she went and looked at the building the first time,” Geraldine says. “She was ready to get started, but I wanted no part of it. She finally got me to go look at it, but I told her I didn’t want any part of it. I found all kind of excuses not to do it but she talked me into it. I would go home and cry after work for a month or two. But our customers really supported us, and I relaxed and then began to enjoy the work and all the customers we saw every day. It was just fear at first, but I got over it.”

Sisters Restaurant celebrated its 20th anniversary in March.

They have completed several additions to accommodate the growing number of customers and the kitchen has been completely remodeled.

Sisters Restaurant offers a country buffet on Thursday night, with the main attraction the white meat or fatback and tomato gravy. They also serve a seafood buffet on Friday night. Sisters is open for lunch every day but Saturday.

One customer asked if he could look in the kitchen. When asked why, he said, “With food this good, I just thought my grandmother might be back there doing the cooking.” It’s hard to top a compliment like that. Ben Norman is a writer from Highland Home, Ala.

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Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017  21

| Gardens |

The roots of fall flavor: Carrots, radishes, beets and more

I

grew up watching Bugs Bunny go to great lengths for some carrots. Me, though, I didn’t “carrot all” for them.

That is until I tasted the sweetness of a crisp, garden-fresh carrot and began to appreciate Bugs’ infatuation with them.

If you’re fond of fresh carrots, you’re living in the right state. Alabama’s climate allows us to grow carrots and many other root vegetables as both spring and fall crops.

And now is the ideal time for a fall planting.

There are lots of reasons to love root vegeta- Root vegetables are easy to grow and have few disease or pet issues. bles, but it’s their diverse array of flavors — from sweet to zesty to they are perfect for gardeners of all skill earthy to nutty — that make them espelevels. In addition, root vegetables don’t cially appealing on salads and as cooked need a lot of room to spread out their root dishes. And these days they are available in systems so they are ideal for small garden an equally diverse array of colors, shapes areas or for planting in containers (just and sizes. make sure the pots are deep enough for Take color for example. In addition their taproots to fully form). to the familiar orange carrot that Bugs Root vegetables can also be inter-plantadores, we can also nibble (or chomp) on ed with one another or with other crops, red, purple and yellow carrots. Today’s and they are easy to grow in succession radishes range from the standard reds plantings — sow a few seeds every couple and whites we all know and love to radof weeks and you’ll always have a new crop ishes with pink and black skins and yellow, coming on. pink and green inner flesh. The same goes Best of all, root crops have few disease for beets — think beyond the typical puror pest issues (yes, wild rabbits can be plish-red beet to golden, pink and striped a problem, but they can usually be conoptions. trolled with repellents — no Elmer Fudd Then there’s shape. How about a little or Mr. McGregor techniques needed) and round carrot that looks more like a beet require little pampering. or a radish, or radishes and beets that For optimal production, they need six look more like carrots? Or maybe a giant to eight hours of sunlight each day, about daikon radish that weighs more than a an inch of water each week and a loose pound? The options are abundant! (“fluffy”), well-drained soil that is free of Because root crops are easy to grow, weeds and of rocks, dirt clods or other debris that might hamper their growth.

The soil should be rich in potassium and phosphorus (but not too much nitrogen) and have pH levels between 5.5 and 7, so Katie Jackson is a freelance writer and for best results test your soil and make editor based in Opelika, amendments to it before you plant.

Alabama. Contact her The easiest way to grow root vegetables at katielamarjackson@ gmail.com. is from seed, and most of these plants have 22 SEPTEMBER 2017

small, sometimes tiny, seeds so it can be hard to nail their ideal plant spacing. If you end up with overcrowded seedlings, simply thin them but don’t throw those seedlings away! They, like the leafy tops of most root vegetables, are edible and can be used to add fabulous, interesting flavors to salads, stir fries, pastas and other dishes.

While the season for spring-planted root vegetables is limited by hot weather, which can make them tough and bitter, many fall-planted root crops can be left in the ground and harvested well into the winter months. Cover them with a thick layer of mulch during the cold months and you may well get to enjoy them until its time to plant the spring crop.

Imagine, garden-fresh carrots for months on end … just don’t let Bugs know.

September Tips   

  

   

Harvest and preserve late summer herbs, vegetables and fruits.

Start collecting instructions and supplies for winter garden projects.

Begin keeping an eye out for sales of garden and outdoor equipment and furniture.

Test your garden and lawn soils.

Spend some time outside at night to determine any outside lighting needs.

Plant fall crops such as cabbage, collards, celery, garlic, onions and root crops.

Keep mowing the lawn and irrigate if needed.

Plant perennials and biennials and spring-flowering bulbs.

Divide perennials and thin or transplant irises and daylilies.

Clean up garden and landscape areas and keep those bird feeders and birdbaths clean and filled. www.alabamaliving.coop

Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017  23

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Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017  25

Cast your vote for the Best of Alabama for the chance to win

Vote online for a chance to win an extra

250

$

$

2018

Deadline to vote is Oct. 31, 2017.

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It’s back! Once again, Alabama Living readers have a chance to vote on the places and things that make our state great! We’ve got some new categories this year. So check out the questions, write in your answer for each one and tell us what’s your choice for the “Best of Alabama!”

FOOD 1 Best seafood restaurant

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2 Best Alabama-made burger

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3

Best recipe from “The Best of Alabama Living” cookbook

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OUTDOORS 4

Best game to hunt/fish/trap in Alabama

5

Best hiking/biking trail

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TRAVEL 6 Best historic hotel

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7

Best “living history” experience

8

Best small town for unique shopping

9

Best day trip in Alabama

10

Best Alabama souvenir

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EXTRAS

11

Best article you’ve read in Alabama Living in the last year

12

Best thing about living in Alabama

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Name: ____________________________________________________________________________________ Remember, if your name is drawn and you voted online

Address: ___________________________________ City: _________________ St: _______Zip: _________ at www.alabamaliving.com, Phone Number: __________________________ Co-op: _________________________________________ Email: _____________________________________________________________________________________

you’ll win

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Vote online at www.alabamaliving.com or mail to: Alabama Living Survey • P.O. Box 244014 • Montgomery, AL 36124 No purchase necessary. Eligibility: Contest open to all persons age 18 and over, except employees and their immediate family members of Alabama Rural Electric Association, and Alabama Electric Cooperatives; and their respective divisions, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising, and promotion agencies.

26 SEPTEMBER 2017

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Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017  27

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September | Around Alabama daily schedule of events, visit evafrontierdays.weebly.com.

Photo courtesy of Tamra Trull.

23

Winfield’s Annual Mule Day Parade begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23.

4

Section, Section Labor Day Festival. Musical entertainment featuring gospel, bluegrass, country and rock and roll.

Children’s games and rides. Food available. Volleyball, horseshoes and dominoes. 256-228-3414

nection near Fred’s. 5-7:30 p.m.

Restaurants and caterers from Chilton County will be available with samples of their food. Tickets $25. Proceeds benefit the Rotary Club of Chilton County and Senior Connection.

9

15-16

Arab, Arab Community Fair at Arab City Park, 844 Shoal Creek Trail NE. Free. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

50 vendors selling various goods.

Music entertainment and family-oriented activities.

Arabhistoricvillage@gmail.com

9

Courtland, Celebrate Gen. Joe Wheeler’s birthday at Pond Spring. Entrance to the grounds, re-enactment and concert is free. Admission to the Wheeler house is $8 for adults, $5 seniors/college students/ military, $3 children 6-18 and free for children under 6. Tours offered from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Facebook-Pond Spring, The General Joe Wheeler Home.

9-10

Cullman, Bernard Blues and BBQ Festival. Arts and crafts and music festival from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at St. Bernard Abbey and Prep School.

Homemade quilts, brooms, pottery, jewelry and other various art crafts available. Food and drinks also available. Admission $5. Stbernardprep.com

11

Clanton, Taste of Chilton County at Senior Con-

Bridgeport, 24th Annual Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride. Kickoff rally Friday downtown featuring live bands, vendors, Indian dancers and drummers. Free. Motorcycles line up at 7 a.m. Saturday morning for the ride from the Alabama-Tennessee line to Waterloo. al-tn-trailoftears.net

15-16

Troy, Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe of Alabama Pow Wow. Early history and culture of Southeastern Indians.

Demonstrations of beading, basket making, flint knapping, and canoe making. Native and non-native foods and arts and crafts available. Free. Troy University, 600 University Ave. machispowwow@gmail.com

16

Alabama Gulf Coast, 30th Annual Coastal Cleanup. Support Alabama’s waterways by participating in the Alabama Coastal Cleanup. Meet at one of the 30 clean-up sites as we work to make Alabama beautiful. 8 a.m.-noon. For more

information and a list of cleanup locations, visit alabamacostalcleanup.com.

18

Cullman, 3rd Annual Caring for Cullman Concert benefitting the Good Samaritan Health Clinic. Featuring Triumphant Quartet and Bama BluGrace. 6 to 9:30 p.m. at Cullman High School auditorium. Doors open at 6 p.m. and general admission tickets are $15. A love offering will be received.

256-255-5965

21

Dothan, Low Country Boil at Landmark Park. 6-9 p.m. Shrimp boil to help maintain and operate Landmark Park.

Shrimp, corn, sausage and potato boil, music and silent auction. landmarkparkdothan.com

22-25

Winfield, 43rd Annual Mule Day. Friday night is Mule Night Madness, with live music, vendors and local stores will be open late.

Parade begins at 11 a.m. Saturday. Vendors, arts and crafts, live music and dancing, car show and more. The Skirmish at the Luxapalilla, a Civil War battle re-enactment, will take place at the city park Saturday and Sunday. winfieldsmuleday.com

23

Jasper, 4th Annual Fishing 4 a Cure 4 ALS Bass Tournament at Smith Lake Dam. Launch from safe daylight until 3 p.m. Registration begins at 4 a.m.

Guaranteed first place payout of $5,000. All proceeds donated to the Alabama ALS Chapter.

Dharris326@bellsouth.net

23-24

Falkville, 20th annual Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama Festival, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Native American arts and crafts vendors, dancers, drummers and John T. Wayne, “The Duke’s” grandson. $5 for adults, 6-14 $3, 65 and older-$3. 256-734-7337

29

Opp, 10th Annual Scarecrows in the Park Ribbon Cutting at Frank Jackson State Park, 100 Jerry Adams Drive. 12 p.m. Scarecrows will be on display during October and November. Park admission is $4 ages 12 and up, $2 ages 4-11 and seniors.

Golf cart tours avaliable for senior adults. For more information or to schedule a tour, call 334-4885033 or 334-493-3706. For information regarding the ribbon cutting, contact the Opp Chamber of Commerce at 334-4933070.

30

Titus, 17th Annual Titus Bluegrass Festival.

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Bluegrass music, barbecue and crafts. Admission $5, children 12 and under free. Titus Community Center, 5879 Titus Road.

Tituscommunitycenter.org

22-30

Eva, Eva Frontier Days. Craft fair, beauty pageant, hayride, community singing and more. For

To place an event, e-mail events@alabamaliving.coop. or visit www.alabamaliving.coop. You can also mail to Events Calendar, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124; Each submission must include a contact name and phone number.

Deadline is two months prior to issue date. We regret that we cannot publish every event due to space limitations.

Alabama Living

Evergreen, Conecuh County’s second annual “Paws in the Park” at Evergreen Municipal Park. Live entertainment, vendors, children’s activities and dog parade. “Paw Patrol” will be on hand for a meet and greet and photos. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

251-227-9860

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SEPTEMBER 2017 29

Al

| Outdoors |

Montevallo encourages students to get outdoors

M

any students keep a tradition of riodic lectures related to the outdoors. trips aren’t just to a museum. Since 2015, leaving school to go hunting or “It’s a scholarship for students who have students fished for redfish and speckled fishing whenever they can. Howa passion and desire for the outdoors,” says trout in Venice, La., and caught blue marever, for some young people attending the William Crawford, program director. “We lin in the Bahamas. In Alabama, the stuUniversity of Montevallo, the school not have scholarships for people with athletdents hunted ducks, deer and quail as well only allows them to take great outdoors ic skills or music skills. Why not have a as caught largemouth bass. adventures, but even encourages – and scholarship program for students who love “Anything we can do to introduce our pays them! the outdoors and are good at it? students to the outdoors, we try to do it,” Dr. John W. Stewart grew up exploring “We’re educating our students on differCrawford says. “Most of our students grew the salt marshes of Delaware, but missed ent career opportunities in the outdoors up hunting white-tailed deer and bass fishthe outdoors when he attended college industry by bringing in different speaking. We’re trying to introduce them to new away from home. Now the University of ers. As part of the program, the students things as well as let them do the things Montevallo president, he began the UM also get involved with doing conservation they’ve grown up doing. It’s so fascinating President’s Outdoor Scholars Program in projects to try to teach them how to put to see these students start to love and un2015 to encourage students derstand the importance of to learn about future emeverything in nature.” ployment opportunities in Any high school senior the outdoor industry with with a desire to become inan emphasis on conservation volved in the outdoors or go and game management. into an outdoors-related in“The University of Mondustry can apply for a scholtevallo’s President’s Outdoor arship. Students can also Scholars Program is comtransfer in from community mitted to educating the next colleges. The scholarship generation on the values of money comes from various work ethic and conservation individual, corporate and to lead the way in protecting foundation donors. our heritage for the benefits “We’re looking for any of our wildlife, lands and natstudents who want to furural resources,” Stewart says. Students enrolled in the University of Montevallo’s President’s Outdoor Scholars ther their education and be The program awards Program participate in various outdoors activities including fishing and hunting. associated with a program scholarships averaging Here, Ashley Hawk, J.T. Russell and Porter James learn shooting skills and tied to the outdoors,” Crawabout $2,500 a year toward gun safety at a firing range. (Photo courtesy of the University of Montevallo’s ford says. “We appreciate any President’s Outdoor Scholars Program) their education for up to help we can get from donors four years. In the first year, the program back something in the lands and natural who want to support the program and help provided eight students with more than resources and make things better.” these students stay connected to the outThe outdoors scholars and the UM bass $20,500 in scholarships. In the second doors. If not for them, we wouldn’t be able fishing team participated in the “Gone year, 22 students received $43,000 in to do this.”

Fishin’, Not Just Wishin’” event at Oak scholarships. This year, about 40 scholarIn August 2017, the Alabama WildMountain State Park. The students taught ship recipients began the 2017 school year. life Federation honored the University of The outdoors scholars must maintain about 1,000 young people from Jefferson Montevallo President’s Outdoor Scholars at least a 2.5 grade point average. In addiand Shelby counties how to bait hooks, Program with its Conservation Educator tion, they must attend monthly on-camcast rods and catch fish. They also released of the Year award. The university also plans pus meetings and other activities related about 2,000 fish. to build a lodge on campus to house scholto hunting and fishing. They must also The outdoors scholars also participated arship students. It should open in 2018.

“The lodge will be our little hangout complete coursework on the outdoors and in a Kidz Outdoors event at Soggy Bottom where we can have meetings and students the environment, learn how to prepare fish Lodge in Linden, Ala. The event helped can store their outdoors equipment,” and wild game for the table and attend pechildren with disabilities take part in variCrawford says. “It will also have a boatous outdoors activities. The Kidz Outdoors house where our fishermen can store their event raised $54,000 to be used to take terJohn N. Felsher is a boats. We’ve very excited to have that adminally ill children on a hunting trip of a freelance writer and dition.” lifetime. photographer who writes For more information, contact CrawProbably the most popular part of the from Semmes, Ala. Contact him through ford at 205-665-6216 or email Wcrawprogram, besides receiving money to athis website at www. ford1@montevallo.edu. Visit outdoortend school, is that the students take varJohnNFelsher.com scholars.montevallo.edu. ious “field trips” through the year. These 30 SEPTEMBER 2017

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Continued from Page 10

Tables indicate peak fish and game feeding and migration times. Major periods can bracket the peak by an hour before and an hour after. Minor peaks, half-hour before and after. Adjusted for daylight savings time.

health clinic to offer patients an option to the emergency room where care and reimbursement options may better benefit the patient and hospital. Approximately 24,000 primary care encounters were seen in this clinic last year. There is also an affiliated 131-bed nursing home with a current 92 percent occupancy rate.

However, this facility has established a 79unit senior retirement community as a part of the hospital campus with 100 percent occupancy and a waiting list. This service has long-term benefits for the medical center since the majority elect to become residents in the affiliated nursing facility when independent living is no longer possible.

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Alabama Living

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One of Bibb's garden homes.

Residents are typically 55 or older and have underlying health care needs that prompt them to live near a medical center. The garden homes and apartments are available at highly impressive rates that include utilities, high definition Direct television, and lawn care. Other services such as meal delivery, laundry, etc. are available on a fee-for-service basis. Local physician care, dental care, Federally Qualified Health Clinic services, the cafeteria, and other services are readily available for community residents. The hospital offers health care advice and assistance in matters such as Medicare plan selection.

In addition to a new revenue stream that contributes to the financial stability of the medical center, the services of this retirement community are resulting in savings to individuals, families, and programs by delaying long-term facility residence for several years.

Another new revenue stream involves its cafeteria service, now named the Cahaba Lily CafÊ, which has become one of the community’s favorite eating establishments, serving more than 24,000 non-patient meals last year.

With an uncertain reimbursement future, our rural hospitals and medical centers are encouraged to respond with innovation by developing additional revenue streams that may make the difference between remaining open or closing.ď Ž SEPTEMBER 2017 31

ALABAMA BOOKSHELF In this periodic feature, we highlight books either about Alabama people or events or written by Alabama authors. Summaries are not reviews or endorsements. We also occasionally highlight book-related events. Email submissions to bookshelf@alabamaliving.coop.

Poles, Wires and War: The Remarkable Untold Story of Rural Electrification and the Vietnam War, by Ted Case, $15.95 (history) During one of the hardest chapters in American history, electric co-ops volunteered to win the war in Vietnam. They didn’t win the war, but in his new book, the author tells a riveting story of how they tried. He argues that the success electric co-ops had in the conflict that divided our nation just might have helped that southeast Asian nation recover more quickly by demonstrating the value of bringing electricity to the countryside.

What followed was a classic battle of enormous personalities, foreign and domestic political and military maneuvering, and a determined band of people who brought electricity to the American countryside, fighting the odds to bring light to a war zone halfway around the world.

Case creates a fast-paced narrative as crews race the collapsing war to pass bylaws, organize the co-ops and tangle with corruption, bureaucracy, in-fighting, and oh yes, Viet Cong soldiers determined to destroy what they were creating. In the end, in less than four years, three electric co-ops were bringing electricity to more than 8,000 members.

Order online at TedCaseAuthor.com.

Here We May Rest: Alabama Immigrants in the Age of HB 56, by Silvia Giagnoni, NewSouth Books, $29.95 (current events) Alabama’s 2011 Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, also known as HB 56, sought to criminalize the lives of undocumented immigrants. The law triggered lawsuits and brought widespread criticism; federal courts later gutted much of the bill.

Author Giagnoni, herself an immigrant, wrote the book to explore the needs and relationships of others who shared the experience of immigration. She frames the bill in larger political, social and cultural contexts to help explain the current sentiments toward new immigrants in Alabama.

Once in a Blue Moon, by Vicki Covington, John F. Blair, Publisher, $26.95 (novel) Against the background of Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign, a group of struggling individuals are thrown together, tenants of a benevolent landlord in a Birmingham, Ala., neighborhood that has seen better days. The neighbors form their own brand of community, lifting each other up and bringing hope for a better future back into their lives.

The author, who grew up in Birmingham, asks questions about family, faith, race, class, and ultimately, hope.

The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry: Auburn Vs. Georgia, by Douglas Stutsman, Arcadia Publishing and The History Press, $21.99 (Southern sports history) The rivalry between Auburn University and the University of Georgia began in 1892 and has largely been a competition more brotherly than bitter. According to one legend, Auburn’s “War Eagle” battle cry originated at the first game between the two schools. Renowned UGA coach Vince Dooley graduated from Auburn, while Auburn coach Pat Dye was an All-American at UGA. Journalist Stutsman recounts the unforgettable games, moments and personalities on the 125th anniversary of the Deep South’s oldest rivalry.

32 SEPTEMBER 2017

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| Alabama Recipes | Cheese Buttons prepared by Jessica Stephenson.

Cheese, please These cheese-centric dishes are sure to make you smile

By Jennifer Kornegay, photos by Mark Stephenson

W

hen you hear that a casserole or a dip is cheesy, that’s good. You happily pay more for extra cheese on a pizza. When someone wants you to smile for a photo, they tell you to say “cheese,” knowing that the word alone will bring such joy to your heart that it will shine through on your face. (And also, the way you must move your mouth to form the word forces it in the direction of a smile. But the word “fleas” would do the same thing, and you don’t hear photographers using that prompt.)

when the word “cheese” moved from slang denoting wealth to a derogatory word for something or someone that was “showy” or “gaudy.”

The point is, the word cheese and its variations are often positive. Until they’re not. If someone tells you a lampshade, television show, outfit or anything not food-related is cheesy, that’s negative. So how and when did this use of the word enter our lexicon?

No matter what things outside of the food world earn the title “cheesy” in your book, when it comes to eating, we flip the adjective back to affirmative, so much so it’s a safe bet that most of us don’t just say “cheese, please,” but “more cheese, please.”

A quick Internet search reveals several possibilities, but most trace its origins back to England in the mid- to late-1800s,

And as our taste buds know and some of our reader-submitted recipes show, you really can’t have too much cheese.

34 SEPTEMBER 2017

Over time, its meaning has broadened. Folks today can use it as described above, but also as a synonym for tacky, sappy, inauthentic and more. And the term is highly subjective. What one person deems cheesy could just as likely be adorable, sentimental, fashionable or funny to someone else.

www.alabamaliving.coop

Fan favorite

According to info compiled by the USDA, Americans consumed more mozzarella in 2016 than any other type of cheese. The stringy, stretchy “pizza cheese” has held the top spot for the last six years, with cheddar coming in second.

Cook of the Month

Harper Reed

Tallapoosa River EC

Ten-year-old Harper Reed has always been interested in cooking, thanks to his family. “We have a small organic farm and grow a lot of our own food,” his mom Anna says. “And his dad does most of the cooking and always has the kids in the kitchen helping out.”

His Cheese Buttons are treats he developed while cooking with his grandmother, and they offer a fresh take (and shape!) on the classic cheese straw with the addition of Rice Krispies.

“He just loves them, and we all love the crunch from the Krispies,” Anna says. “It’s different.”

Harper knew the recipe was a hit with his loved ones, but he didn’t think about submitting it until his mom suggested he practice his typing skills. “I thought he could type up some recipes to brush up, and if they were typed, why not send some in to the magazine.” So he did.

He was both surprised and thrilled to be named Cook of the Month.

“He’s so excited,” Anna said. “It means a lot.”

Alabama Living

Cheese Buttons 1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated, at room temperature 2 cups plain flour ½ pound butter, melted ½ teaspoon red pepper 2 cups Rice Krispies Sprinkle of salt ¼ cup chopped pecans Sprinkle flour on cheese and pour on melted butter.

Add red pepper. Add Rice Krispies to mix, and knead by hand until well blended. Roll into marble-sized balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Flatten with fork. Sprinkle with salt and chopped pecans. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Cut oven off and do not open door for two hours. If they become soft they can be heated in a 200-degree oven for a few minutes.

SEPTEMBER 2017 35

Tangy Cheese Ring 1 pound grated extra sharp cheddar cheese 1 cup chopped pecans ¾ cup mayonnaise 1 small onion, finely chopped ½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce 1 ⁄8 teaspoon garlic juice or garlic paste 1 small jar of strawberry preserves Mix all ingredients and make into a circle and pour the preserves in the middle. Serve with your favorite crackers.

Tangy Cheese Ring prepared by Allison Griffin.

Jill Coale Wiregrass EC

Stuffed Mushrooms 1 3 4 4 1⁄3

package of mushrooms, stemmed tablespoons olive oil ounces cream cheese, softened slices bacon, cooked and chopped cup mozzarella cheese Parmesan cheese

Cheddar Salsa Biscuit Bites Cheese Frenchies 12 6 12 2 1 1 2

slices white light bread teaspoons mayonnaise slices cheese cups milk egg package cracker crumbs cups cooking oil

12⁄3 1 ½ ¼ ¼

cups self-rising flour cup shredded cheddar cheese cup salsa cup margarine, melted cup water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean mushrooms. Place them in a dish, cup side up, and drizzle with olive oil.

Roast in oven 12 minutes. Microwave the cream cheese until soft and mix in bacon. Remove mushrooms from oven, sprinkle with salt and pepper, turn them over and salt and pepper again. Stuff mushrooms with cream cheese mixture.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake 5 more minutes.

Spread mayonnaise on six slices of the bread. Place two slices of cheese on top of the bread and top with the remaining bread slices. Cut each sandwich into triangles. In a mixing bowl, beat egg with milk. Dip each triangle into the milk-egg mixture and then dredge in cracker crumbs. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry each triangle until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Generously spray large cookie sheet with vegetable spray. In a large bowl, combine flour and cheese; mix well. Add salsa, melted margarine and water; stir until just combined. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently just until smooth. Press or roll out dough to 12-inch by 6-inch rectangle. With sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into 2-inch by 1-inch strips. With thin spatula, place strips about ½ inch apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes or until light golden brown.

Serve warm. Yields 36 biscuit bites.

Summer Watson Cullman EC

Julia C. Fleming Southern Pine EC

Peggy Key North Alabama EC

Please send us your original recipes, developed by you or family members, and not ones copied from a book or magazine. You may adapt a recipe from another source by changing as little as the amount of one ingredient. Cook of the Month winners will receive $50, and may win “Cook of the Month” only once per calendar year.

Coming up in October...Pies!

36 SEPTEMBER 2017

Send us y ur recipeso !

Online: alabamaliving.coop Email: recipes@alabamaliving.coop Mail: Recipes, P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124 Please include a phone number and co-op name with submissions!

Alabama Living reserves the right to reprint recipes in our other publications.

www.alabamaliving.coop

Three Cheese Fondue 8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese 8 ounces shredded Swiss cheese 8 ounces shredded Gruyere cheese 2 tablespoons flour Dash hot sauce 1 12-ounce bottle of good beer Pinch of salt and pepper For dipping: Granny Smith apple slices Soft German pretzels Sourdough bread pieces Combine all ingredients. Heat over low heat, stirring until melted through. Keep warm and dip apples, pretzels and bread pieces.

Kirk Vantrease Cullman EC

Mini Pizzas 1 six-count package English muffins 2 cups shredded cheese, any kind 1 cup mayonnaise 1 bunch green onions, chopped fine 1 teaspoon garlic salt Slice each muffin in half and place on an ungreased, foil-lined baking sheet. In large bowl, hand mix the cheese, onions, garlic salt and mayonnaise. Evenly divide the mixture onto each muffin half. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven. Cut each muffin into four pieces and serve.

Linda G. Morton Pioneer EC

Recipe Themes and Deadlines: Nov. Sweet potatoes Sept. 8 Dec. Edible gifts Oct. 8

Homegrown

Here are a few Alabama cheesemakers worth checking out.

Belle Chevre, Elkmont At her creamery in north Alabama, Tasia Malakasis turns goat milk into silky, tangy artisanal cheeses and cheese spreads whose textures and tastes have racked up more than 100 national awards.

Eat: The sweet-tart fig and honey breakfast cheese Bellechevre.com Dayspring Dairy, Gallant This family farm raises sheep, and the fuzzy, fluffy ladies in the flock provide the main ingredient for Dayspring’s sheep-milk caramels and a selection of rich and flavorful sheep-milk cheeses.

Eat: Ewetopia Aged Gouda Dayspringdairy.com Sweet Home Farm, Elberta This spot in south Alabama was the first licensed cheesemaker in the state, beginning operations in 1984. Every ingredient for every cheese comes straight from the farm, from the milk harvested from their pasture-raised herd of Guernsey cows, to the herbs and garlic grown in the onsite garden.

Eat: The Bayside Blue facebook.com/sweet-home-farm

Editor’s Note: Alabama Living’s recipes are submitted by our readers. They are not kitchen-tested by a professional cook or registered dietician. If you have special dietary needs, please check with your doctor or nutritionist before preparing any recipe.

South of the Border Cheese Pasta 1 pound pasta (can use elbow, penne, ziti or your favorite macaroni) 1 16-ounce jar cheese sauce 2 cups tomato salsa (mild, medium or hot) 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

South of the Border Cheese Pasta prepared by Lenore Vickrey.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions.

Drain, cover and set aside. In large saucepan, combine cheese sauce, salsa, and ½ cup Parmesan cheese. Heat through, stirring until well mixed. Add cooked pasta to cheese mixture, stir. Put in casserole dish and sprinkle with remaining ½ cup Parmesan cheese.

Bake 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Janice Bracewell Covington EC Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017 37

| Classifieds | How To Place a Line Ad in Marketplace Closing Deadlines (in our office):

November 2017 – September 25 December 2017 – October 25 January 2017 – November 25 Ads are $1.75 per word with a 10 word minimum and are on a prepaid basis; Telephone numbers, email addresses and websites are considered 1 word each. Ads will not be taken over the phone. You may email your ad to hdutton@ areapower.com; or call (800)4102737 ask for Heather for pricing.; We accept checks, money orders and all major credit cards. Mail ad submission along with a check or money order made payable to ALABAMA LIVING, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124 – Attn: Classifieds.

Miscellaneous 18X21 CARPORT $795 INSTALLED – Other sizes available - (706) 226-2739 METAL ROOFING $1.59/LINFT – FACTORY DIRECT! 1st quality, 40yr Warranty, Energy Star rated. (price subject to change) - (706) 226-2739 WALL BEDS OF ALABAMA - SOLID WOOD & LOG FURNITURE – Outdoor Rockers, Gliders & Swings, HANDCRAFTED AMISH CASKETS $1,599 - ALABAMA MATTRESS OUTLET – SHOWROOM Collinsville, AL – Custom Built / Factory Direct - (256)490-4025, www.wallbedsofalabama.com, www.alabamamattressoutlet.com KEPLINGER ALUMINUM BURIAL VAULT CO. in Gardendale, Alabama sells water tested burial vaults to the public saving up to $3000 or more per vault versus funeral home prices. Our vaults protect the contents against water and last indefinitely. Cardboard wrapped, standing up requires 6 1/2 sq. ft. to store and take to cemetery when needed. Alabama made with American materials. $1400 cash, includes local sales tax. Call 205-285-9732 or 205-5400781 or visit www.keplingeraluminumburialvaults.com ANTIQUES & STUFF at CRENSHAW FARMS – Plenty of unique stuff!

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38 SEPTEMBER 2017

Vacation Rentals GATLINBURG – DOWNTOWN LUXURY CREEKSIDE CONDO – 2BR / 2BA, sleeps 6 – aubie552@gmail.com, (256)599-5552 2 CONDOS WEEKLY RENTAL – 2 Bed, 2 Bath, 200 feet to ocean w/ pool – Peachtree II, sleeps 4-6; www.vrbo. com/467693, (850)573-2182 PIGEON FORGE, TN: 2BR/2BA, hot tub, air hockey, fireplace, swimming pool, creek – (251)363-1973, Homeaway#241942 GULF FRONT PANAMA CITY CONDO – Splash Condominiums – OWNER RENTAL – 1BR / 2BA w/ hallway bunks, sleeps 6, 18th Balcony View of Ocean – (706)566-6431, bjeffers3@ hotmail.com AFFORDABLE BEACHSIDE VACATION CONDOS – Gulf Shores & Orange Beach, AL – Rent Direct from Christian Family Owners – Lowest Prices on the Beach – www.gulfshorescondos.com, (205)556-0368, (205)7521231, (251)752-2366 PANAMA CITY BEACH CONDO – Owner rental – 2BR / 2BA, wireless internet, just remodeled inside and outside – (334)790-0000, jamesrny0703@comcast.net, www. theroneycondo.com SMOKIES TOWNSEND, TN – 2BR/ BA, Secluded Log Home, Jacuzzi, Fireplace, Wrap-Around Porch, Wheelchair ramp – (865)320-4216.

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Real Estate Sales FOR SALE: LAKESIDE CAMP in WEST BEND, AL – 3BR / 2.5BA, Kitchen, Living Room, 1.5 Acre Lot – (251)2462379 – 100% Furnished Power and City Water.

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Box 171, Coy, AL 36435. 334-3374503

Education WWW.2HOMESCHOOL.ORG – Open Year Round K-12 enrollment. Contact Dr. Cerny (256)653-2593 SOON CHURCH and GOVERNMENT uniting, suppressing “RELIGIOUS LIBERTY”, enforcing a “NATIONAL SUNDAY LAW”, leading to the “MARK of the BEAST. Be informed! Need mailing address only. TBSM, Box 99, Lenoir City, TN 37771 – thebiblesaystruth@yahoo.com, (888)211-1715 FREE BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE – write to P.O. Box 52, Trinity, AL, 35673

Pets CHIHUAHUA PUPPIES. Registered, guaranteed healthy, raised indoors in loving home, vet records and references. (256)796-2893 AKC BEAGLE PUPPIES FOR SALE – Northwest, FL area – Cell# (850)5541062, Email allenmanning59@gmail. com, www.thebeagleman.com

Fruits / Nuts / Berries GROW MUSCADINES AND BLACKBERRIES , half dollar size – We offer over 200 varieties of Fruit and Nut Trees plus Vines and Berry Plants .

Free color catalog. 1-800-733-0324.

Ison’s Nursery, P.O. Box 190, Brooks, GA 30205 Since 1934 www.isons. com

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Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017  41

SAFETY MATTERS Keep Food Safe

Before, During and After a Power Outage Unfortunately, power outages do occur from time to time. It’s important to know how to keep your food safe during an outage. Use these tips from USDA to help minimize food loss and reduce your risk of illness.

Before

power outage

During

power outage

After

power outage

Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed!

Keep refrigerator at 40° or below. Freeze items like fresh meat and poultry that you won’t use immediately.

Keep freezer set to 0° or below. Group frozen foods to help items stay colder longer.

If you anticipate an extended power outage, buy dry or block ice to keep the fridge and/or freezer cold.

If the doors stay closed during the length of the outage:

12

Check the temperature inside your refrigerator and/or freezer.

A full freezer will hold its temperature for 48 hours.

If the temperatures are safe, the food should be safe to eat.

A refrigerator will keep food safe for four hours.

Food that should be thrown out after an extended power outage: •

Meat, poultry or seafood products

•

Milk, yogurt and other dairy products

•

Cooked or sliced produce

•

Eggs and egg products

•

Soft and shredded cheese

•

Opened baby formula

•

Dough and cooked pasta

Remember, don’t taste test questionable food to find out if it’s spoiled or not. If you can’t tell by its appearance or scent, it’s best to just discard it.

Foods that should be thrown out after an extended power outage:

Don’t forget these overlooked steps Meat, poultry or seafood products

Eggs and egg products

Milk, yogurt and Power outages areand some tips to make weathering other dairy productscan make life pretty tough. HereSoft shredded cheese them a little bit easier.

Opened baby

Cooked or sliced produce hen power goes out, grabbing

W

a flashlight, keeping the fridge closed and powering up your generator are some pretty obvious steps. But there are a few tasks you might not think of that could make an outage easier to bear: •

Leave one light on inside so you can tell when power is turned back on.

•

Turn on an outside light that is visible from the road so that

42 SEPTEMBER 2017

formula Baldwin EMC crews can see your • power has been restored. Dough and

•

•

cooked pasta

Know how to manually override your electric garage door opener.

If it’s warm outside, stay on the • Conserve hot water. Water will lowest level of your home, Source: since USDA keep hot in your water heater’s cool air falls. Wear lightweight tank for up to three days. clothing.

After the outage has passed, don’t Close all doors, windows, and curtains, even doors between rooms if temperatures outside are cold. This will help your home retain heat.

forget to restock your emergency kit with the necessary items like batteries, flashlights, non-perishable food and water.

www.alabamaliving.coop

Retired Baldwin EMC vehicles to be auctioned off this month The following Baldwin EMC vehicles will be auctioned off this month: • 2006 International 73004x4 Digger Truck (78,930 miles) • 2007 International 7400 4x4 Bucket Truck (109,657 miles) • 2008 International 4300 4X2 Bucket Truck (161,374 miles) • 2008 Ford F-550 4x4 Bucket Truck (114,937 miles) • 2012 International 43004x2 Bucket Truck (120,134 miles)

The auction will be held on September 21, 2017 at: J.J. Kane Auctioneers 100 Liberty Road, Villa Rica, GA (678) 840-5508

Co-op Connections Businesses of the Month Butler Promotional Media Discount Offer: 15% discount plus one free screen charge not to exceed $50 value Location: Gulf Shores, AL Phone Number: (251) 968-5593

EcoView Windows/ Sunbelt Building Products Company

Mobile Symphony

Discount Offer: 20% off 7700 series R-5 replacement windows, 20% off doors to $500

$5 off all adult tickets Not valid for special events

Location: Daphne, AL Phone Number: (251) 621-8787

Discount Offer:

Location: Mobile, AL Phone Number: (251) 432-2010

Don't forget about the Co-op Connections pharmacy discounts, which can save you money on prescription medications.

If you're a Baldwin EMC member and you don't have a Co-op Connections Card, please call (251) 989-6247.

Co-op Connections is a free benefit program for Baldwin EMC members.

For a list of all Co-op Connections discount offers, go to www.baldwinemc.com.

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at http://www.ascr. usda.gov/complaint_ filing_cust.html and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: program.intake@usda.gov. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Alabama Living

SEPTEMBER 2017 43

| Our Sources Say |

More transparency

A

few weeks ago, an article about the California Legislature caught my attention. They have passed a bill establishing a requirement that 60% of the state’s electricity be renewable by 2025 and 100% to be renewable by 2045. I know California has a lot of renewable energy, but I was interested in how such aggressive goals could be achieved.

I looked further and found that Hawaii has made a similar commitment to be 100% renewable by 2045. Also, San Francisco; San Jose; San Diego; Rochester, Minnesota; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and East Hampton, New York, have made commitments to be 100% renewable between 2020 and 2035. More interestingly, three cities – Aspen, Colorado; Burlington, Vermont; and Greensburg, Kansas – claim to already be 100% renewable.

These accomplishments and goals are interesting considering that electricity generation in the U.S. in 2016 was comprised 30% from coal, 34% from natural gas, 20% from nuclear, 1% from oil, and 15% from renewables. The renewable distribution was 6.5% from hydro, 5.6% from wind, 1.5% from biomass, 0.9% from solar, and 0.4% from geothermal.

How do three cities get 100% of their electricity from renewables if only 15% of the country’s electricity is renewable?

Solar has natural obstacles like night and clouds. The wind doesn’t always blow, especially in Vermont. Biomass burns up an awful lot of trees. Geothermal works pretty well if you have a volcano. Hydro works well when rivers run, but it has just about been thrown out of the renewable club because of alleged damage to fish and mussels.

The trick is – and it is a trick – the cities claiming and states desiring to be 100% renewable use the electric grid to supply their electricity with non-renewable electricity when renewable electricity is not available and use renewable credits to cover the difference.

The purchase of renewable credits to cover the shortfall of renewable electricity doesn’t mean the states or cities are being served by renewable power 100% of the time. If the sun is not shining, the wind is not blowing, or the rivers are not running, then there is not enough renewable power to serve all those that claim to be 100% renewable. Those states and cities are instead being served by coal and natural gas generated electricity from the electric grid, yet claim to be 100% renewable. It is just labeled “renewable.”

Simply, this is how it works. Electricity supply is real-time, at the speed of light. If you have a light on in your house, an electric generator is producing electricity right now to keep that light

shining.

Electricity cannot be stored in volumes approaching utility scale. PowerSouth’s Compressed Air Energy Storage Unit converts electricity to compressed air during off-peak periods and uses the compressed air to generate electricity on peak. A few other utilities have pumped-storage hydro generators that use off-peak electricity to pump water back over dams so it can be used on peak to generate more electricity. However, those projects are insignificant compared to the volume of electricity on the grid at any moment. Batteries are not effective at utility scale and provide no significant electric storage application. Practically, all electricity is generated at the time it is needed.

Renewable power suppliers generate electricity when the renewable resources are available – the wind is blowing, the sun is shining, the rivers are running. They sell their electricity onto the grid for the market price but retain the renewable credits and sell them to the renewable cities and states. The cities and states purchase some electricity directly associated with the renewable credits but also purchase additional energy credits that are paired with non-renewable electricity from the grid when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow to create the illusion that all their electricity is renewable through the credit purchase.

The irony is that the renewable labeling process would not be possible and would not work without the presence of reliable fossil-fuel generated electricity that is always available from the grid. Fossil-fueled generation is the foundation of reliable electric service, and it will remain so. The process also has a price.

The renewable cities and states pay the normal price for electricity off the grid plus a premium for the renewable credits to create the renewable illusion. And it is an illusion. Renewable cities and states will have more renewable electricity than average, but at no time will 100% of the electricity its citizens consume be renewable.

Using the electric grid to create this illusion is a treat for the renewable cities and states. Cities that won’t let you park your car in a downtown parking spot without paying a fee use the grid to displace renewable power with non-renewable power, but they don’t pay a fee to the grid for the right to call on reliable power when its renewable electricity is not available.

Renewables have an important role in the country’s power supply mix. However, an approach without the political posturing and false, misleading claims would be much more productive. We need more transparency and less renewable lies.

I hope you have a good month.

Gary Smith is President and CEO of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative

44 SEPTEMBER 2017

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SEPTEMBER 2017 45

| Hardy Jackson's Alabama |

Illustration by Dennis Auth

Football in Dixie

Fall approaches.

Football season.

You can argue, as many do, that in different parts of our nation different sports are more special (Indiana and basketball come to mind) but down in Dixie, football has few competitors.

Now, I’ll grant you that NASCAR runs football a good race – pun intended.

NASCAR is a sport with roots in the pleasures of regular folks, of which we have a bunch. All along a line beginning around Birmingham and running up into Virginia, a line that followed the hardscrabble farms and mill towns of the Piedmont, folks souped up their beat-up cars and ran whiskey from still to town. And when they weren’t racing “revenuers” they raced each other.

On the other hand, football began as the sport of Southern elites – the ones who could afford college. And there weren’t many of those.

But once it got started (in 1877, Washington and Lee took on Virginia Military Institute in the first football game in Dixie) it did not take long for the sport to filter down to high schools.

It helped that football enjoyed a seasonal advantage. Cotton was picked, tobacco harvested and corn pulled, so country kids and town kids could play together.

46 SEPTEMBER 2017

Class distinctions blurred.

Lots of folks participated. Eleven on a team. Substitutions were frequent. And there were auxiliary groups – cheerleaders, bands, pep clubs – which made football a true school event.

Football was also a measure of a community.

How do you know local schools are good? The football team is a winner.

Where is evidence of civic pride? In the stands on Friday night.

The sport drew in parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends of the family, and just plain fans.

The following was equally intense among African Americans, for in the pre-integration South, teams and schools were the pride of the black community.

The advent of radio spread the game even more. The University of Alabama’s 1926 Rose Bowl victory put Dixie on the map, especially in the minds of Southerners.

Other events further broadened football’s appeal – the GI Bill sent more Southern boys and girls to college where they developed institutional loyalties that included loyalty to a football team. Then came TV. When ABC began broadcasting football, the pageantry and excitement was beamed right into Dixie’s living rooms.

Come September, everything fell into place. At the end of the work-week, small towns across the South closed down for the high school game, and on Saturday afternoon friends (and foes) gathered around the TV to watch a college contest.

Football also followed the trajectory of Southern history. In 1960, when an integrated University of Southern California football team whipped the Crimson Tide, that defeat, (according to Alabama assistant coach Jerry Claiborne) “did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years.” Of course, integration was more complicated than that, but when football fans at white schools began to believe that winning was more important than segregation, segregation didn’t stand a chance.

So, it seems to me, because of football, Dixie is a better place than it might have been.

That says a lot.

wv

Harvey H. (“Hardy”) Jackson is Professor Emeritus of History at Jacksonville State University. He can be reached at hjackson@ cableone.net.

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