As anyone who has ever tried to grow a plant knows, there is a science to it.
Local experts offer the following advice for creating and maintaining attractive landscapes and successful vegetable gardens.
The first three tips are so crucial that, together, they determine whether a plant will live through the first year.
Do not assume the soil is good. St. Clair County soil may contain clay or be compacted. Topsoil, compost and a supplement specific to that plant are likely to be necessary. (For soil-testing supplies and direction, check with St. Clair’s Alabama Cooperative Extension Service office, St. Clair County Soil and Water Conservation or St. Clair Farmer’s Cooperative.)
Be mindful of moisture requirements. Each week, plants need at least one inch of moisture that soaks down to the roots. If a plant dries out completely one time, it dies. Overwatering is just as detrimental as underwatering.
Place the plant in a hole that is neither too large nor too small.
Bury the plant to the same soil line as it had in the container from which it came. As a general rule, it is better to have the plant a little above the soil line than too deep into the soil.
Choose plants that are right for the climate zone. St. Clair County falls within zone “7” and “7B” of the climate map for plants. Plants acclimated to one zone might not thrive long in another. For example, a West Coast plant is not likely to survive in the South.
Select a plant that, at maturity, will fit the space allotted for it.
Choose a plant that is right for the amount of sunshine or shade it will experience. A plant meant for shade will not do well in direct sunlight and vice versa.
Distance plants from the house or building. When the plant matures, the homeowner should be able to walk between it and the house.
Replace bark or straw regularly. Bark lasts two to three years. Straw breaks down quickly and has to be replaced twice a year. Other possible “mulches” include shale, pea gravel, river rock and brick pieces.
Use weed barrier cloth and pre-emerge herbicide to prevent growth of weeds and germination of unwanted seeds. Weed barrier cloth and pre-emerge herbicide are especially needed with rock-type mulches.
Research how to cultivate and harvest vegetables and herbs. Successful vegetable gardening comes with knowledge and experience. It may take years to develop the expertise and to discern what grows best in the garden area.
Purchase plants from a nursery or garden center. Employees of nurseries and garden centers are knowledgeable about plants, trees, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides and can give advice on landscape issues and plant deficiencies. The information they provide is specific to the climate zone in which the homeowner lives. Nurseries and garden centers offer a large selection of trees, plants, fertilizers, supplements, bulk materials (mulch, sand, gravel etc.), statuary and decorative stones for pathways and hardscapes.
Understand that plants new to the market come with limited information. New plants are studied only three years before they are put on the market. Therefore, their growth potential beyond that may not be known initially, and they might outgrow the space allowed for them.
Buy mulch and other bulk material by the truckload. Buying by the bag is more expensive.
Periodically inspect plants and trees in the yard to see if they remain healthy. Lichens growing on a plant, for instance, can indicate poor health.
Learn how and when to prune each kind of plant. (Pruning a crape myrtle too severely is called “crape murder!”)
Editor’s Note:Sources for this story were Crawford Nursery, Odenville; Hazelwood’s Greenhouses and Nursery, Pell City; Landscapes by Shelly, Pell City; Warren Family Garden Center and Nursery, Moody.
In 2020, thoughts and energy turned to the outdoors in a big way.
Nature provided an outlet for exercise, enjoyment and escape.
Landscaping not only was an avenue for creativity, but also an opportunity to revive underutilized sections of the yard. Some projects even turned outdoor areas into comfortable, functional living spaces.
All this activity and renewed interest made 2020 a busy year for plant nurseries, garden centers and landscape artists.
Crawford has a large layout of greenhouses full of a variety of plants for any need.
“People who never gardened before wanted to do it,” said Michelle Warren, horticulturist with Warren Family Garden Center and Nursery in Moody. “… We definitely had a huge number of new people from all over Alabama to come see us. … There was a huge uptick in sales from spring right up to fall. … I think any garden center could say that.”
Geneva Jones of Crawford Nursery in Odenville agreed. Because people were home more, they devoted time to sprucing up their yard. She expects that to continue in 2021.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens this year,” said Will Crawford, owner of Crawford Nursery.
Another trend that came as a bit of a surprise was the surge in vegetable and herb gardening.
“That was a big trend last spring and through the summer,” said Warren. “… That was a big trend we didn’t expect.”
Warren believes fruit trees and blueberries are likely to see lots of interest this year.
Making a plan
Gardens have a specific purpose, whether it is to beautify, to attract birds or butterflies, or to reclaim some dead space.
Every successful landscaping project begins with a plan, say the experts.
They suggest photographing the area to be landscaped to give nursery or garden center employees an idea of the layout. Some nurseries and garden centers may even draw a landscaping plan for customers. These plans incorporate the customers’ wishes, while giving attention to essential details, such as the amount of sun or shade, available space, and growth potential of each plant.
John Hazelwood, owner of Hazelwood’s Greenhouses and Nursery in Pell City, said a landscaping plan also should take into account other plants and trees in the yard and the impact they will have on the new plants. He gave as an example water oaks and willow oaks, both of which are “heavy feeders.” Their presence can deplete the soil of water, fertilizer and nutrients that other plants need.
Emerald Green Arborvitae and Sky Pencil Holly at Hazelwood’s
Once the landscaping plan is drawn, the designer or employees at the nursery or garden center should be consulted if plant substitutions are necessary, said Hazelwood and daughter Shelly Martin of Pell City, owner and manager of Landscapes by Shelly. If the wrong plant is substituted, it may outgrow its allotted space and disrupt the whole design.
Hazelwood said homeowners can install landscapes themselves. They just need to be able to read landscape plans to know which plant goes where. Labeling is extremely important. The plants should be labeled before and after placement so that the homeowner knows what each one is.
Going for less
In the early 2000s, landscaping concepts centered on layering and mass planting, Martin said. In the past five or six years, the theme has been on the minimal and the contemporary, concentrating on the use of specific plants for a certain effect or focal point.
Two words – “low maintenance” – describe the kind of landscapes individuals have been wanting lately.
“Low maintenance is a big thing,” Jones said.
Hazelwood added, “They would really like no maintenance, but there’s no such thing.”
Even if the landscape is considered low maintenance, Martin said periodic attention is still necessary. “The landscape will look only as good as the maintenance.”
Modern landscapes, Jones explained, are “open designs, where everything is not so crowded. They use a lot of boxwoods and (ornamental) grasses and things like that.”
As for boxwoods, Jones noted that those landscape staples from the past – in addition to needlepoint hollies and dwarf yaupon – are receiving renewed interest.
Hazelwood said japonica and sasanqua camellia also “are hot right now.”
Homeowners are particularly interested in dwarf variations of plants because they think these will always remain small and need little to no pruning. Nonetheless, Martin said dwarf plants can grow to be sizable; they just may take longer to do it.
Martin noted that landscaping does not last forever. It will need to be redone periodically.
“Your landscape is basically like painting your house,” she said. The landscape should be revamped every eight to 10 years, and plants that require heavy pruning should be replaced after 12 to 15 years.
Seeking variety
In addition to low maintenance, other highly requested landscape features are colors and textures.
Martin said color and fragrance lend an air of welcome to a home.
Warren and Martin said golds, purples, greens, blues and chartreuse (such as Limelight hydrangea and Little Lime hydrangea) have been the colors of choice.
Ornamental grasses – pink muhly grass, adagio grass, dwarf fountain grass, carex, Sassy Grass, etc. – give texture to a landscape, said Jones.
A good landscaping design offers beauty for all seasons, Martin said.
By using a variety of plants, “you can design a landscape that has color, something happening year-round,” said Jones.
For example, a landscape including common azaleas (bloom once in spring), gardenias, Encore azaleas (bloom spring, summer and fall), hydrangeas (bloom in summer), camellia japonica (bloom in February) and camellia sasanqua (bloom around November) would provide bursts of color all year, Jones said.
Encore azaleas, Hazelwood said, “bloom more than once a year. … There are 33 varieties of them now.” In winter, flowering kale, flowering cabbage, pansies, snapdragons and sweet Williams show their colors.
Knock Out roses (a rose bush that blooms for months) have been and continue to be in much demand, Hazelwood said. “I don’t know how many thousands of those we have sold. They bloom their heads off, and they bloom all summer long.”
This year, the new Petite Knock Out roses are expected to be popular, said Jones and Crawford.
Hazelwood said new plant selections are being produced continuously to keep up with changes in trends. “The breeders are constantly striving to come up with something new.” Hydrangeas are a case in point. “There are so many of those, it’s unbelievable.”
Creating living space
One of the new trends in landscaping is hardscapes. Hardscapes are gardens, pathways, even outdoor living spaces.
“I love hardscapes,” said Martin, who was working on two such projects at the time of this interview. “I love to use natural stone to create fire pits and patios and retaining walls, … to create for the homeowner a secret garden.”
Shelly Martin tells her workers where some stones will go around a new fire pit on Logan Martin Lake.
Hardscapes might incorporate a swimming pool, pond, stand-alone fountain, wall fountain. A hardscape could be an outdoor room, so to speak, for grilling, dining, entertaining or warming by a fire.
“I love to design swimming pools and outdoor kitchens,” Martin said. “… They are fun spaces to create.”
During 2020, the number of hardscape projects she designed and installed grew exponentially. “I really saw a huge increase in the hardscape activity. We did more hardscapes last year than we have ever done,” Martin said.
She and her crew locally installed approximately 30 landscapes featuring hardscapes and designed more than that for builders and landscapers in the Birmingham area.
Thinking commercially
The concept for commercial landscaping is somewhat different from residential landscaping, Martin said.
Commercial landscapes need to have appeal, plus longevity. Junipers, dwarf yaupon and Chinese hollies are some of the possibilities, coupled with maples that give beautiful fall color.
Choosing the right trees is important in the commercial setting to avoid an invasive root system that eventually bucks the sidewalk, Martin said.
The landscaping plan also has to consider the clientele of the business. If, for instance, children will be going into the building, thorny plants would not be suggested.
On the other hand, thorny plants would be good for blocking access to a ledge, Martin said.
With commercial landscapes, the aim is toward beauty, functionality and durability without creating a “maintenance nightmare.”
Communitywide project finds new home in municipal complex
Story by Eryn Ellard Submitted Photos
When the doors opened six years ago to a Museum on Main Street exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution and Alabama Humanities Alliance, the Pell City and St. Clair County community didn’t know quite what to expect.
The Smithsonian component, The Way We Worked, was intriguing and compelling and drew an inquiring audience. But it was the local exhibit, Pell City Works, that pulled it all together to form a vision that is now becoming reality.
Actual Pell City Works exhibit section
In coming months, Pell City will have its own historical museum – Museum of Pell City – featuring the original Pell City Works exhibit, the Making Alabama bicentennial exhibit and countless other features and additions all under one roof in a 4,000-square-foot suite at the Pell City Municipal Complex.
The Way We Worked and Pell City Works debuted in 2014 and drew over 7,000 visitors from multiple states during its first five weeks of exhibition. The primary focus of the professionally designed Pell City Works exhibit was on the city’s local history and how Pell City came of its unique footing. It tells a story of growth, family and hard work through photographs, stories and local artifacts.
After seeing its popularity and success, project co-chairs at the time – Pam Foote, Deanna Lawley and Carol Pappas – began to research ways that it would eventually become more permanent or perhaps grow into something even more special for the community. The exhibit was preserved intact and stored in the basement of the Municipal Complex while they worked off and on over the years trying to find and fund a permanent home.
That grassroots movement evolved into a partnership with the Heart of Pell City, a local nonprofit, and the city council. The effort has led to the founding by Foote, Lawley and Pappas of a separate nonprofit dedicated solely to the museum and its operation in the future.
Fundraising so far is over the $15,000 mark with a goal of $100,000 initially. The city is providing the 4,000-square-foot suite as a permanent home for the museum, and the Making Alabama exhibit, worth about $100,000, has been awarded to the group as a permanent exhibit. Pell City is one of only five communities in the state to be so honored.
Making Alabama focuses on the 200-year history of the state, its working class, families and complexities of its heritage. Making Alabama will be the perfect complement to Pell City Works, valued at more than $40,000, and is a project that organizers are proud to make a part of the community permanently, Pappas said.
“These will be an ideal centerpiece for the museum – the making of Pell City and the making of Alabama together under one roof,” Pappas said. “We have been waiting on this moment for a long time.”
“Every year that passes, more history is lost about our town, especially the years before the lake and I-20 so drastically changed it,” Lawley explained. The local exhibit from 2014 generated all kinds of interest in those early years. “Emphasis was put on the primary industry, Avondale Mills. People would stay for hours looking at pictures, often shedding tears or laughter.”
Without such a movement for a museum to preserve and protect those moments in history, “there will soon be just a void as those who experienced them leave this earth,” she said.
Artwork and digital storytelling come together in state exhibit.
Foote, who served as the actual project manager, agreed. “There were so many people who thanked us for telling ‘their’ history. They had a father, a brother, an aunt who worked at the mill. They grew up in the mill village. Everyone seemed to connect.”
Even though upwards of 7,000 people saw the exhibit, “others to this day come up to me and tell me they were so sorry they missed it – that they had heard about it and wished they could see it now. Now, they can.”
The museum space has been prepared by the city, and museum organizers are preparing to open within the year. The new museum is being designed by Jeremy Gossett, a professional designer who helped create the Pell City Works exhibit, as well as others across the state. The museum showcases a hearty collection of local and state historical exhibits, as well as interactive learning tools for students and history buffs of all ages.
“Traveling exhibits and cultural programming also are part of the vision for this new museum, engaging audiences from near and far,” Pappas said.
Pell City Manager Brian Muenger said the space above the library is the perfect home for the new exhibit – thanks to its open concept and three separate offices, and he is excited to see the project come to fruition.
“My hope is that the museum will become a bridge between generations and a means for newcomers to Pell City to gain an appreciation for the fascinating history of how the city was formed, has grown and how it has evolved,” Muenger said. “The preservation and presentation of this information, specifically to the youth of the community, will ensure that the contributions of the generations before are not soon forgotten.”
Pappas said the museum will feature a children’s area with STEM skills featured for students. Upon completion, the museum also could be a regional, multi-county field trip destination for fourth grade students learning about state history.
Planned is an oral history recording studio, which will help preserve the community’s history even more as the years go by. There is space for presentations, lectures and the showing of documentaries.
Its location above the Pell City Library, which features a genealogy section, enables a solid partnership between the two entities for joint programming and other projects.
Several unusual artifacts have already been donated to the project, including an 1890s player piano and a 1926 Victrola console in mint condition, both of which will be used to showcase state and local music history. In addition, the project will also be home to many traveling exhibits to keep the museum fresh and compelling for visitors for years to come, Pappas noted.
Fundraising efforts for the museum have been fruitful and many local businesses and citizens have donated time and money to the cause.
Urainah Glidewell, president of the Heart of Pell City, said the outpouring of support has been graciously received thus far, and there are many opportunities to get involved along the way. For instance, any business or person wishing to donate $100 or more will be recognized as a founding member of the museum, known as Museum 100.
“Plans are to have a donors wall to honor those who helped make the museum a reality,” Glidewell said. “Of course, once the museum is open, we will continue to need donations for operating costs, bringing in new exhibits, etc. As of now, the plan is to have free admission for visitors, but donations will always be welcome.”
“We are so excited that this dream is finally coming to fruition,” Pappas said. “We’ve had a lot of help along the way, and we’ll continue to need that support. But the end result is going to be an impressive museum that preserves, honors and treasures our history. This is truly a community effort and will benefit generations to come.”
Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Kelsey Bain Submitted photos
Mandi King’s first attempt at decorating cookies was disastrous at best. The icing was runny, the colors were off and she had a big mess on her hands. Undaunted, she discovered that determination mixed with lots of practice turned out to be the perfect recipe for success.
These days, her cookie designs are nothing short of “a-dough-rable,” and King has started a thriving cottage business, Mad Batter Cookie Co., filling orders out of her home in Moody. It turns out that what seemed like a half-baked idea had some real merit, and King is one smart – and creative – cookie.
Her cookies come in all shapes and designs – everything from mittens to pencils to fish and trains. She has made edible versions of baby carriages, wine bottles, superheroes, sailboats, cartoon characters and ice cream cones. She’s even made cookies decorated like lipsticks, tubs of popcorn and the poop emoji.
Mandi relies very heavily on her tool of the trade — a Kitchen Aid mixer.
“My absolute favorite thing is when someone gives me free rein,” King said. “I love that challenge of being able to design my own ideas.”
The 30-year-old King is one of a number of St. Clair County bakers who are turning sugar, butter and flour into tiny works of art. The decorated cookie craze has taken off and King, for one, loves the opportunity it provides to explore her artistic side. “I’ve always loved doodling and drawing, so this has been a lot of fun,” she said.
Starting from scratch
The first step, though, was to learn how to bake a batch of cookies, much less decorate them. “I love to cook, but I’d never been a great baker,” she said. “I don’t have a sweet tooth, so I’ve never really had the inclination.”
So why even bother? Chalk it up to boredom, King said. It was September 2019, and she and her husband, Anthony, had lived in their new home for about a month. Theirs was the first house in the neighborhood, and they didn’t have access to cable or internet yet. “I decided I needed a hobby,” she said. “I looked at my husband and said, ‘I’m going to do this.’”
The next day, they bought cookie cutters, icing and the ingredients for a cookie recipe she found online. A few hours later, she had botched her first batch. “It was the biggest blob,” King said. “The icing was too runny and all of it was just a big fail.”
King is nothing if not determined, though. “I can be a perfectionist, so I’m going to keep doing it over and over until I get it right,” she said. “They tasted good, so I thought surely I could get the decorating down.”
She kept at it, and a few weeks later when the couple threw a Halloween party, she wowed their friends with her culinary creations. After making some cookies for a friend’s baby shower, she started getting more requests. Strangers began to reach out to her via social media. “I wasn’t charging people for the longest time, but my friends convinced me to make it a business and to really grow it.”
King can bake and sell her cookies from home under Alabama’s Cottage Food Law, and she has business licenses from the state and city. She officially started her business in February 2020 and has made thousands of cookies since then. Her smallest order has been a dozen, and she once made more than 300 cookies for a corporate order.
In addition to iced cookies, she offers cookie cakes, hot cocoa bombs and macarons, which are meringue-based cookies. “Macarons are incredibly hard to make,” she said, adding that she likes to experiment with different flavors like cinnamon sugar and bacon. “They’re incredibly temperamental.”
Cutting up
The iced cookies are her main draw, though, and she’s made them for birthday parties, wedding showers, baby showers, gender reveals, “promposals” and other events. They start at $40 a dozen, which includes up to four colors of icing, and more complex designs cost extra. “Each cookie takes about 20 minutes to decorate, and some take upwards of 40,” she said. “I’m definitely getting faster at it, though.”
She’s also added lots of flavors to the mix. After tweaking her original recipe many times, she now offers cookie dough in 14 flavors (including sugar, blueberry, red velvet, key lime and rum) and icing in seven flavors, such as cream cheese, orange, coconut, vanilla and banana.
Her cookie cutter collection has grown, too. “I’ve got well over 400 cookie cutters now, and I recently bought a 3D printer, so I can design and print my own cookie cutters,” she said. “I can make any kind of shape anyone is thinking of, and any size, too.”
Now that King has turned pro, she’s happy to share some of her secrets. She’s offered a few cookie decorating classes at Rails and Ales in Leeds, and she said she hopes to have more in the future. She shares a variety of techniques during the 2-hour class, which costs $45, and participants decorate six cookies they get to take home.
Although King, a sales representative for a security company, is loving her new business venture, she said juggling a full-time job and a part-time business can be tricky. “This is my 5-to-9 and weekends job,” she said. “I try to limit myself to three orders a week. I had no idea it would take off like this.”
Overall, though, the experience has been a sweet one. “It’s so much fun,” King said. “And my husband loves it. He gets to be the taste tester and eat all the reject cookies.”
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Graham Hadley
If a gaggle of giggly girls is any indication, Heathermoor Farm is the greatest place in the world to take horseback riding lessons. A visit to the farm any given hour on any given Saturday reveals at least a dozen young teens and pre-teens scattered about. Those who are not actually astride the horses are hanging out and hanging all over each other smack in the middle of the indoor arena. They are laughing, playing on their cellphones and, occasionally, watching their peers take lessons.
“I want to do a winter tournament, the fun shows and then the National Academy Finals,” says 10-year-old Evie Campbell, who lives in Hoover. She has been taking lessons since September 2020, having discovered Heathermoor through her good friend, Alex Mountz, who also takes lessons there. “She talked about it, I looked into it and told my mom.”
Evie has always liked horses and feels quite comfortable on the back of one. “My first time here, I was a bit nervous, but I was excited, too,” she says. “Now I take lessons twice a week.”
Katie Bentley of Trussville, who takes lessons Thursdays and Saturdays, also discovered horseback riding through a friend. She now owns a mare named Secret, a gift from her mother, Amy Jones, for Katie’s 12th birthday in November 2020. “I love it,” she says of riding. “It makes me feel calm and relaxed. I go there three times a week. I just ride for fun on the third (non-lesson) day or play with Secret.”
Riding classes in the large indoor arena
Heathermoor Farm can claim more than just the adulation of a bunch of young girls, though. With over 100 equestrians, both men and women ages five to 68, either taking lessons or training for horse shows, it is probably the largest horse-teaching facility in the state of Alabama.
“We’re the only American Saddlebred horseback riding academy in the Birmingham area with an indoor arena,” says co-owner Jennifer Fernambucq.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, “There’s something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man.” Jennifer knows exactly what Churchill meant and how the teenage girls feel about horses. “It’s an incredible thing, the way a horse touches a human being,” Jennifer says. “It’s such a gift.”
She was 10 years old when a friend in her ballet class took her to Heathermoor, where the friend was taking lessons. Started in 1965 by John and Anita Cowart, the farm was located off Highway 119 in Jefferson County then. It only took one visit to hook Jennifer for life.
Later, when she was in her early 20s and working for a financial consulting firm, she received a phone call from Mrs. Cowart. She needed an instructor, was Jennifer interested? “I had not ridden in several years,” she says. “College, then becoming a working mom, kept me busy. But I quit my job and joined her. It worked well. I could stay with my babies mornings and teach in the afternoons.”
Five years later, the Cowarts retired, and Jennifer and a business partner bought the farm. That was in 1999. “In a few years, we dissolved the partnership, and my partner started her own stable, Stepping Stone in Columbiana,” Jennifer explains. “I’ve been at it 20 years now.”
She and her husband, Richie, who met through their love of horses, moved Heathermoor to its present, 16-acre spot on Carl Jones Road in Moody five years ago. They built a 42-stall barn and quickly filled it up. Constructed in a U-shape, with the 55-by-175-foot enclosed arena in the center and 200 feet of stalls along each side. The overflows are in the pastures, for a total of 55 horses.
On one side, the stalls are home to performance or show horses owned by individuals. On the other, which is the lesson or school side, some animals are owned by Jennifer and Richie and others by individual riders. The door to the center of the “U” features a long window with barstool seating that allows parents, grandparents and friends to observe the arena riders without disturbing them. An office and storage rooms flank the lobby.
“We lease our lesson horses out,” Jennifer says of the horses the facility owns. “I own them, but the riders treat them as theirs. They can come and ride them any time.”
For Richie and Jennifer Fernambucq and their children, running the farm is a family affair.
Performance riders take part in 10 shows a year all over the Southeast, she says. “We work the performance horses five days a week, and their owners ride once a week. However, they come in several times a week.” As for her and her husband’s respective roles, she says, “Richie teaches the horses, I teach the riders.”
She and employee Brittany Campbell (no relation to Evie) teach about 120 lessons per week, 40 of them on Saturday, their busiest day.
“Knees tight, don’t move your arms, and walk,” she instructs a rider one recent Saturday. “Heels down, hands up.”
Some riders take lessons in small groups, many in private lessons. The former costs $30 per half hour, the latter $40. Most advertising is by word of mouth.
“His head’s too low. Remember, his ears need to be even with your eyes,” Jennifer tells another student. “Use your left leg to push his body so he’s straight.”
Meanwhile, her husband demonstrates a maneuver for another student. “These horses are athletes,” Richie says.“We bring in farriers from Kentucky who specialize in American Saddlebreds. We also bring in chiropractors. We spend a lot of money to keep them healthy.”
They specialize in show horses, but Saddlebreds are also used as hunter-jumpers and sometimes for the trail, according to Richie. “American Saddlebreds are bred to be high-strung, and they’re supposed to give with everything they have in a short period,” he says. “Most of their competition performances last about 10 minutes.”
Brittany has been a full-time instructor at Heathermoor for two years. She started riding when she was 7, left for a few years, then came back to help Jennifer and Richie. In fact, she gave up a bank job to work at Heathermoor. “My mom, my sister and I all ride,” she says. “We’ve had three horses here for 10 years.”
Boys and girls, men and women take lessons from Brittany and Jennifer, but the females far outnumber the males. “I have ladies in their 60s, and one of the men is 68,” Jennifer says. “He started taking lessons a couple of years ago. You’re never too old to learn to ride.”
Local fishing star has a ‘big string’ of blessings
Story by Paul South Submitted photos
For most, in fishing terms, 2020 was an empty net, a snapped rod or a snarled line. But the past 12 months witnessed a string of blessings for Zeke Gossett.
As a member of the Jacksonville State University Fishing Team, Gossett was one of the nation’s top collegiate anglers. Teamed with fellow Gamecock Lucas Smith, he was part of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Team of the Year. In December, he received his degree in Recreational Leadership with a minor in Coaching. He joined the B.A.S.S. Pro Tour. And best tidings of all, his parents, Curtis and Laura, are recovering from the coronavirus.
“It was terrible,” Zeke told bassmaster.com about his parents’ illness. Curtis Gossett, who suffers from asthma, wound up on a ventilator. “One day, they tried to take the tube out, and it didn’t work. The next day, by the grace of God, his numbers went up to where he was strong enough to get the tube out. I just want to thank everyone for the prayers. Him and Mom are on the uptrend and doing a lot better.”
‘Gone fishing’ a way of life
On a windless day in early December, Zeke was in a boat on Logan Martin, working his craft. Fishing was slow, perfect for a phone interview. He recounted his unusual, but magical year.
Zeke and Lucas, Bassmaster College Team of the Year
Like many youngsters, his fishing journey began with his father, who also competed on the tournament trail. He was his coach at Pell City High School and now coaches at Briarwood.
“He was always real patient with me,” Zeke said. “I loved spending time with him, of course. But fishing has always been a part of my life and our family’s life for sure.”
He added, “Just having a dad that spent the time with me – junior fishing and high school fishing were just starting to become popular. I grew up in it. Doing it from a young age, I love the competition. No drug can get you as high as winning a tournament, big or small.”
His parents have been with him on this journey to the professional ranks, particularly Curtis, who has spent “countless hours” and at every tournament, every weigh-in on the journey.
“They’ve always supported me in my dream to become a professional angler,” Zeke said. “They’ve always wanted me to do this ever since I said I wanted to. They are definitely my biggest supporters, bar none, to this day.”
He didn’t disappoint. Zeke captured 12 state titles between ages 11 and 18 on the way to becoming a high school All-American. In fact, he won the first two tournaments he ever fished as a junior angler (B.A.S.S. And FLW). As you can guess, he was hooked.
At the collegiate level, Jacksonville State competed against SEC schools. There are no divisions, so schools compete against each other, regardless of size.
“We fished against everybody. Auburn, Alabama, people like that,” he said.
Competing first at Jefferson State, then for Jacksonville, his teams were nationally ranked four times in five years. Jacksonville’s best finish was 16th nationally.
Zeke fished his first tournament as a pro in December 2020, finishing in the middle of the pack among some 170 anglers in the B.A.S.S. Open Series on Lay Lake. But he won’t officially join the tour until the 2021 season. He’s come up through the B.A.S.S. ranks, from juniors, to college and now to the pros, fishing lakes from Upstate New York to Florida.
He will compete on the B.A.S.S. Pro Tour, and he laid out his reasons for joining B.A.S.S. “The people that work there, I love them to death. B.A.S.S. offers steppingstones from juniors to high school – then the college experience. Taking part in all they offer really taught me a lot – especially the college experience – I believe this is best way for an angler to learn. If you want to do this as a profession one day, that is the way to go.”
He added, “I really feel like B.A.S.S. prepares you the best of any of the organizations, and I feel like sticking with them is the right choice. Their grassroots are here in Alabama.”
After only one tournament, Zeke sees a difference between college and the pros. There’s a similarity between pro fishing and pro football.
A quiet fishing spot along
the shore
“It’s pretty much the same deal,” he explained. “Everybody’s bigger and faster. You can be pretty dominant in high school. In college, you’re fishing against your buddies. You get to kick around and stuff, and it’s a great time, and you don’t feel much pressure. When I sat down in the boat at the Open and I looked over, and Jason Christie is to my left, and he’s won about everything in the sport, and I look to my right, and there’s Scott Martin, who’s won about everything in the sport. The intensity level in a pro tournament is a lot higher than I expected it to be … The competitiveness of those tournaments is through the roof compared to where I’ve ever fished.”
Even as a rookie on tour, Zeke has landed endorsement deals from Xpress Boats®, Woods Surfside Marina, Daiwa rods and reels, Vicious Fishing®, Elite Tungsten and LakeLife 24/7®, the creators of Discover magazine.
Through it all, the Gossetts have been there. Professional fishing is a precision sport that in part requires competitors to consistently cast a lure in a spot the size of a paper cup and do it quietly without much splash. Zeke learned those techniques from his dad.
Experience on the water and not losing heart when that big bass gets away are critical. As a high school senior, he fished 43 of 52 weekends.
And as for the mental side, “When you lose a big fish in a tournament, don’t get down on yourself, that’s one of the biggest things you have to do when it comes to tournament fishing,” Zeke said. “That’s all between the ears.”
That’s a lesson Zeke learned well. He knows vision and goals are critical to long-term success on the tour.
What’s his vision for life on tour after five years on the water? “I’d love to see myself fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series. You can’t go any higher. I’d like to have won a tournament by then.”
Even at 24, he knows how tough the waters of pro fishing can be. “They did a study and determined the odds of winning a B.A.S.S. tournament is .05 percent, once you hit the water,” Gossett said. “So, it’s really hard. But maybe I’ll have a couple of wins and maybe an Angler of the Year title. You got to shoot high for sure.”
