An excursion into the heart of the Everglades 40 miles west of Clewiston is a unique “place to learn” (translated from the Miccosukee), the namesake of the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum.   Walking through tall glass doors, the visitor is greeted by a large inscription depicting the purpose of the museum:  “The museum collects, preserves, protects and interprets Seminole culture and history, inspiring an appreciation and understanding of the Seminole people.”   The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, located in the middle of a 64-acre swamp on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation, demonstrates and displays in their own words their story of survival in the unforgiving Everglades.

Click to order via Paypal directly from the author and receive a personal inscription: Choose Hardbound/Softbound: Softbound $19.95 Hardbound $28.95

Click to order via Paypal directly from the author and receive a personal inscription: Select Softbound/Hardbound: Softbound $19.95 Hardbound $28.95

The true Legacies of Florida’s “cow hunters” who tamed the last frontier is recorded in their historic lessons and lifestyle, working the land as they knew it, and learning its ways. The pioneers respected the land and wildlife that gave them spiritual and economic sustenance; the gift of a unique lifestyle in an era that will never return, yet their heritage continues.

“Would Do, Could Do and Made Do,” was a way of life as the cow hunters lived through struggle and forbearance. As told in their own words and pictures, this book is a living tribute and memorial to the lessons they inscribe for future generations.

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Today, more people than Palmdale’s entire population are moving into Florida each day.

Click to order via Paypal directly from the author and receive a personal inscription: Select Softbound/Hardbound: Softbound $19.95 Hardbound $28.95

The pioneer culture and Florida’s last wilderness is threatened by growth that exploits “blue gold” water and the land. The sprawling ranches set amidst tall cabbage palm prairies are disappearing. The cost to stay is more than the price to sell with high inheritance taxes and the evaporation of a cattle based economy.

The early pioneers forecasted Florida’s future in their own lifetime as they struggled to hold onto a way of life in a place where few chose to carve a living.

Their stories predict the high premium of development: light pollution, traffic, sewage, crime and the “napalming” of native trees replaced by “ornamental” shrubs, cement, and gated communities. They foresaw the destruction of natural eco-systems, water shortages and communities where wildlife extermination businesses spring up to destroy “pesky” intruders such as squirrels, woodpeckers, snakes and other Everglades species.

The story of Palmdale, Florida, and its people reflects a proud cultural heritage living on the edge of civilization. Palmdale is a ghost town today with only a few ranches left and the Seminole Indian Tribe living off a small market economy against the odds of metropolitan growth, dollars and political power.

This story reflects a tragic national trend threatening the survival of rural America.

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“I am a true ‘Florida cracker’ but with a little extra salt!”

Whether it is hunting “piney wood rooters,” parting cows, rounding up wild horses, hunting alligators or heading-up the six family owned W&W Lumber Yards, Iris Wall is at home in what she says “is the best town on Earth” Indiantown, Florida.

A soft breeze feathers through thatches of palmettos spiking a crimson horizon, as dragonflies “toe-dance” from peak to peak, flashing their turquoise iridescence along a whimsical path. Beams of sunlight stream through waving cabbage palms tracing their graceful stalks into native scrub. Quietly, the morning awakes in this small crevasse of Glades County, nestled on the western shore of Lake Okeechobee in the vast Everglades prairie; a living spectacle of Nature’s unobtrusive Beauty that captures the senses and stamps its unique imprint upon space, time, and those who carry their weary bodies from the bustle of city drama into the fresh air of the pristine wilderness.

Celebrating National Day of the Cowboy

published in Florida Cattleman’s Magazine

The 1800s cattle drives are carved deeply into the legends of Florida history when “cow hunters” drove their herds over hundred of miles on the old “cracker trail” to markets in Punta Rassa, shipping them aboard paddle boats to Cuba and Key West to replenish the beef supply after the Civil and Spanish American Wars, and by train from Ft. Pierce north to the breadbasket of the country.

Culminating six months of interactive workshops and seminars, twenty graduates of the inaugural leadership class of Glades/Hendry County Economic Development Councils received their diploma June 16, 2007 at the Clewiston Country Club with more than one hundred guests in attendance. Janice Groves, Hendry EDC Executive Director and Emcee Dan Regelski, Director of the Small Business Development Center at Florida Gulf Coast University, congratulated the graduates and encouraged them to take the foreground in leadership for the community.