St. Clair Living – Page 6 – Discover St. Clair

Tiny Prancers

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Bigger is never better for
several St. Clair farms

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Jerry Martin

Did you hear the one about the horse wearing tennis shoes?

No, that’s not the first line of a joke. It’s a reality for folks who have seen Jelly Bean, a miniature horse owned by Odenville’s Dana Dowdle. Once a greeter at Pell City’s Home Depot, Jelly Bean visits schools, nursing homes and hospitals, wearing the tennis shoes to keep him from slipping on slick floors.

One might think that Jelly Bean is a novelty, but this tiny prancer isn’t the only miniature animal around these parts. Ken and Donna Hale of Ashville raise miniature brahmas, or zebus, while Susan and Al Maddox of Springville have miniature goats.

With the exception of miniature horses, which can’t carry riders weighing more than 70 pounds, you can do just about anything with the little fellows that you can with their full-size counterparts. You can show them, train them to pull carts and do tricks, or simply sit and watch them romp around your yard. They take up less space than the standard versions and eat less, too. Their primary appeal, however, seems to be the cuteness factor.

Standing just 26 inches tall from bare hoof to the top of his withers, Jelly Bean is a micro-miniature horse who weighs about 100 pounds and thinks he’s a dog. “He lives in our barn, but romps through the yard like a dog,” says owner Dana Dowdle. “If he could, he would bark.”

He prefers dog biscuits and French fries to apples and carrots and rides in the back seat of Dowdle’s pick-up truck, sticking his head out the window when they go through fast-food drive-through lanes. He was the first miniature horse in Alabama to be certified as a service animal by Hand in Paw, a non-profit organization that provides animal-assisted therapy to children and adults with mental, physical, emotional and educational needs.

Dowdle’s brother, who died in 2011, raised miniature horses with the idea of training them as service animals. He gave her Jelly Bean in 2002, right after the horse was born. Dowdle took him into her house, cuddled him and rocked him like a baby, which helped to gentle him. She put diapers on him and made him underwear, because she was “too lazy to go through the house training process.” She has worked with several service minis over the past 10 years, but Jelly Bean is the only one that is certified.

“My brother made a ramp for him to climb up into my truck, and I made him outfits for different occasions,” Dana says. “He has a Bob the Builder outfit, a Scooby-Doo outfit, baseball and police uniforms and holiday outfits as well.”

Jelly Bean participates in Christmas parades and serves as a mascot for the St. Clair County Humane Society, the Moody Miracle League and the Margaret Police Department, where he is an honorary sergeant.

During the six years that Dana worked as a greeter at Home Depot, he often accompanied her to work. He’s so tiny, people sometimes mistake him for a goat. “Even though he’s a stallion, he’s very sweet and gentle,” says Dowdle, who is known as Jelly Bean’s mom.

Her helper at these events is 17-year-old Krissy McCarty, who gets credit from the Key Club at Springville High School for assisting Dowdle. “She helps by standing close to Jelly Bean, in case kids run up to him and spook him,” Dowdle says. “So far, he has never had a problem, but it’s nice to be prepared.”

Dowdle has trained Jelly Bean to bow, rear up and to lie down so children can pet him. She figures he has another 10-15 years of service left. “I’m doing this in memory of my daughter, Mandy, who died at the age of 4 from cystic fibrosis, and for all the mothers who are going through what I went through with her,” she says. “But I’m also happy that we could carry out my brother’s dream.”

MINIS HAVE LONG HISTORY

The result of 400 years of selective breeding, miniature horses draw on the blood of English and Dutch mine horses brought to the U.S. in the 19th century and used in Appalachian coal mines as late as 1950. They also draw upon the blood of the Shetland pony. It’s almost impossible to know how many minis are in this country, though, because many are unregistered pets in people’s backyards.

“All minis are not registered through us or other registry organizations,” says Stephanie Haselwander, events and promotions director for the American Miniature Horse Association (AMHA) in Alvarado, Texas. “We register minis that are 34 inches and smaller, measured at the last hairs of the mane. Right now, we have over 213,000 in our database. And that number doesn’t tell us much, since some of those horses could have been registered with us and died.”

TINY BRAHMAS TURN HEADS

Apparently, it isn’t quite as difficult to determine the number of miniature Brahma cows in this country. According to the website www.drdoolittle.net, there are just 2,000 registered zebus in the whole U.S.

In a normal week, eight to 10 strangers will stop by Ken and Donna Hale’s farm on U.S. 231 to look at their zebus, and four will come back and buy one. Most people just want them as pets, but the Hale zebus are registered and can be used as show animals. They can also supply beef.

“Some people look at me like I’m a cannibal when I talk about eating them, but a 400-pound bull will yield about 200 pounds of meat, enough to last most families all year,” says Ken Hale. “Zebu meat has less cholesterol than the meat of bigger cows, and their milk has a higher butterfat content — 8 percent — than the milk of larger Brahmas.”

Zebus top out at 42 inches, measured at the withers, and weigh 300-600 pounds when fully grown. Hale has always loved Brahmas, but claims he is too chicken to deal with the standard variety, which can reach 6 feet in height and weigh around 2,000 pounds. He found the first stock for his herd in Athens, Georgia, via an Internet search. He purchased four — two brood cows and two young heifers named Miss Peaches, Bonnie, Millie and Sara, respectively — in April 2011.

“They are one-person animals,” Hale says. “They will eat out of my hand, but crowd around my wife, Donna, who is the brains of our operation. Sara will nuzzle her and put her head on Donna’s shoulders. Three of the smaller calves will lie down with their heads in my wife’s lap. Yet they run from strangers.”

Despite their gentleness, they are animals that have horns when they are grown and know how to use them. “A momma gored my brother when he tried to pick up her calf,” Hale says.

They are easy to raise, requiring only half an acre per animal and about one to one-and-a-half pounds of feed daily. A standard-size cow needs 15-20 pounds of feed per day. Unlike large cows, their hooves must be trimmed regularly. They breed late, starting at the age of 3, and weigh about 15-16 pounds at birth.

“They look like fawns when they are born, and their mommas hide them,” Hale says. “Like fawns, if they’re under a clump of fescue, the calves won’t move. So unless you step on them, it’s hard to find them. I have to go hunting them down.”

But they grow fast, doubling in size in their first three months. They get more docile as they get older and are sometimes used in youth rodeos. “They can live up to 25 years, and most people keep them until they die, unless they’re raising them for food,” Hale says. “They’re nothing but muscle.” They are primarily gray in color, but also come in black, red, spotted or almost pure white.

Raising zebus is a business for the Hales, but the business brings them lots of pleasure. “I’m handicapped, I have emphysema, and I’m on a breathing machine,” Hale points out. “It’s so rewarding to go out to the pasture in my wheelchair and feed ‘em and watch ‘em eat and play. The calves are so much fun. It’s almost like watching a Norman Rockwell movie.”

GOT HER (DWARF) GOAT

That’s the way Susan Maddox feels about the Nigerian dwarf goats she and husband, Al, raise at their Old Farts Farm on US 11 in Springville. When Susan gets tired of feeding her chickens, peacocks, ducks, rabbits, pigeons, quail, alpacas and miniature horses, she goes and sits in the goat pen, and all is right with the world.

And despite the fact that Al didn’t want Susan to buy any dwarf goats in the first place, he often gets down on his hands and knees in their pen and lets them crawl on his back. “I’m their play-pretty,” he says.

Nigerian dwarf males get up to 28 inches in height, females 26 inches, according to Tara Maynard, who helps the Maddoxes with their farm chores. “Larger than that, they’re considered pygmies, not dwarfs,” she says. “Even though they’re little, dwarfs can supply enough milk for a small family daily.”

The Maddoxes have to buy food made especially for dwarfs, because the feed made for larger goats contains too much copper for their tiny systems. The dwarf nannies give birth once a year, and have one kid the first time and twins or triplets after that. So the Maddoxes usually have 12-15 dwarf goat babies every year. They weigh from one to two pounds at birth, and although they raise them to sell, sometimes Susan finds it hard to part with one. “Sometimes I cry, and the buyer feels guilty,” she admits.

Most people buy them for pets, but occasionally someone wants them for meat. Susan can tell the difference, and usually discourages meat-buyers by jacking up the price. “I normally get $75-$100 for a dwarf, but if I suspect they want to eat it, I’ll ask $500.”

As with all their animals, the Maddoxes put a lot of time into raising the dwarf babies. “We handle them and gentle them from the time they’re born,” she says. “I spoil ‘em. They’re no trouble to care for. If you ever get any, you’ll find yourself sitting out in the pen, just watching them play.”

For an additional story on Llamas in St. Clair, check out this month’s edition of Discover The Essence of St. Clair

Features

Pink Passion

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Friends celebrate defying odds

Survivor (ser-vahy-ver) noun:
1. Somebody who survives: somebody who remains alive despite being exposed to life-threatening danger.
2. Somebody with great powers of endurance: somebody who shows a great will to live or a great determination to overcome difficulties and carry on.

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Jerry Martin

At first glance, you’d think it was simply a patio party in early fall, female friends gathering for wine and cheese and a little ‘girl talk.’

But on closer look, a touch of pink here, a dab of pink there and a plethora of pink just about everywhere, and you realize this is more than just a get-together for friends. It’s a coming together for a noble cause — a celebration of survival.

A half dozen or so of the women being celebrated fought the odds and won. They are survivors of breast cancer, and they — along with their friends — now celebrate each October with a Pink Fundraiser. It’s a chance to help others follow in their battle-worn footsteps and beat cancer.

It all began three years ago when Rebekah Hazelwood Riddle at Trendsetters Salon raised $1,000 in memory of her mother, Bella, who died of breast cancer when Rebekah was just 3 years old. Deanna Lawley invited friends and family of Kate DeGaris, who had just begun her battle with breast cancer, to have pink extensions applied to their hair in symbolic support of the project.

The next year, the group more than doubled the fundraising effort when Vicki Smith and Charlotte George expanded it to a wine and cheese reception at the home of Nelda Coupland. DeGaris’ longtime friends and her family worked to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

In 2012, a larger group returned to Coupland’s home for an even bigger event to recognize and honor a sisterhood of survivors, Cindy Goodgame, Virginia West, Sylvia Cornett, Kate DeGaris, Yvonne Bell and Annette Galloway Thomas.

Their stories share a common theme. It’s the tragic moment of a devastating diagnosis and an undying will to live.

Four years have passed since doctors told Kate DeGaris she had three to six months to live. She was in fourth-stage breast cancer that had spread to her arms, legs and spine. “It was a rough time, but I made up my mind I’m going to survive. I’m going to beat this,” she said. “I have good doctors. I have kids who are very supportive and friends who keep me pushing on.”

DeGaris credits her mother with setting the example she follows. She too, had breast cancer. She remembers telling her mother one day that she knew she had to be in a lot of pain. “She pointed her finger at me and said, ‘Nobody likes a complainer.’ ” Lesson learned. Lesson followed.

Just like her mother, she tries to keep a positive attitude. “I just keep going. I make myself,” she said.

It has been 14 years since Yvonne Bell heard the dreaded diagnosis: Breast cancer. Now, she is celebrating more than a decade as a survivor. The gathering of friends at the fundraiser “lets you know you are not alone in this. At some point in your lifetime, you will know someone with cancer.”

It was much the same in her own family. Her mother was a survivor. Her husband Jimmy beat the odds, too. At the Pink Fundraiser, she is surrounded by friends who know firsthand what rising above the challenge means. “It’s a little sisterhood — someone to talk to who knows exactly what you’re going through.”

Blair Goodgame hasn’t had breast cancer, but she was a central figure in the fundraiser to honor the ‘sisterhood’ that includes her mother, Cindy. She had a mastectomy when Blair was just an elementary school student.

Now a young woman who owns Lakeside Package in Pell City, she was a driving force behind the wine and cheese reception this year, working tirelessly to ensure that the celebration was just right, say party planners. Through her company, she furnished wine and attended to details of the event.

Of her mother’s own story of survival, Blair described her as a woman who is “as strong as they come” and inspires her involvement in the cause.

Lydia Pursell, DeGaris’ daughter, provided flowers, and she has been a source of great support for her mother.

There were others who added to the event to make it special, like Lakeside Coffee House and Princess Cupcakes; DeGaris’ brother, Earl Hodges; Renee Lilly of Lilly Designs; Winn-Dixie; Publix; and Julie Luker and Cindy Grimes, who added their own touch of pink to the occasion with pink hair streaks for all attendees.

And the extended sisterhood, the core group that made it all happen were Judy Ellison, Sylvia Cornett, Judi Denard, Beth Jones, Vicki Smith, Sally Vinson, Ginny West, Sylvia Martin, Charlotte George and Deanna Lawley.

It is through all of their efforts that this pink party is now a sanctioned event of the American Cancer Society, raising more money for breast cancer research and increasing the level of awareness with each passing year, according to the Cancer Society’s Malinda Williams, whose own mother is a two-time breast cancer survivor. Motioning toward the survivors at the reception, Williams said, “Y’all are the reason we’re standing here today.”

DeGaris acknowledged the sentiment. “It is good to have a family that’s real supportive, good friends and the man upstairs,” she said. “Every day I wake up, I’m thankful.”

St. Clair Weddings

Five Perfect Locations

Story by Carolyn Stern
Photos by Jerry Martin

Weddings create lifelong memories. The dress, the colors, the decorations and the food all must be chosen, hopefully pleasing both the bride and the groom. But what about the setting for the vows? That may be one of the most difficult decisions.

Here in St. Clair County, almost any wish can be granted. Whatever venue is desired: formal or natural, on top of a mountain, beside water, in a rustic barn or a meadow. At least five choices are available without even crossing the county line.

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Mathews Manor
Since 2001, Debbie and Harold Mathews have been helping create memorable days for couples at Mathews Manor.

Debbie began her hospitality career as a caterer in 1980, and she eventually expanded her business to providing food for weddings. A cake-decorating class gave her a whole new skill that led her to a new adventure. It was only natural that she dreamed of having her own wedding venue. She put her plan into action when Harold’s parents had their Springville property for sale for a year without a buyer.

Harold and Reba Mathews built their Spanish-style stucco home in 1980 on a corner lot fronting Highway 11. Close to Springville’s business district, Debbie saw it as a perfect spot for her planned enterprise.

Harold was away from home (flying a Lear jet for corporate clients) when Debbie called him in Colorado. She started the conversation by saying, “Listen to my idea before you say, ‘No’”. He didn’t say “No.”

Debbie and Harold bought the property, which included a swimming pool, in December of 1999. Rather than demolishing the existing sturdy structure, they built around it. The sizes of some of the areas were expanded, and a second floor was added to a portion of the original house. After installing a commercial kitchen, Debbie hosted business meetings and public lunches in the tea room area.

The Mathews began booking weddings in 2001, and the tea room and the additional first floor space are now used for Rebecca’s Garden weddings or receptions. Couples may choose to have the ceremony inside or outside. A covered outdoor reception area also is available. The existing swimming pool has become a favorite wedding choice for starry nights. The Mathews added to the already well-landscaped surroundings, retaining the grapevines that had been planted and tended by Harold’s grandmother.

Two sons, Trey (wife, Tammy) and Tyler (Lindsay), help manage the maintenance of the extensive property. Daughter Traci Creel and her husband, Jason, live in Montgomery. The various sites on the property are named for grandchildren Rebecca, Grace, Amelia and Micah. Carson has yet to have his own feature.

The path through Rebecca’s Garden passes the Grandmother’s house, which now is used as a consulting office, and a large fountain is the centerpiece of the garden area. Next is Grace Hall, probably the most impressive of the venues, an 8,400-square-foot structure that can accommodate almost any sized wedding party, even if a full meal is planned. Accessed from the lobby, the bride’s spacious chamber has furniture for relaxing and a floor-to-ceiling mirror that will assure all the ladies will be appropriately groomed. So will the men, of course, who have their space just across the way. At the rear of the hall is a commercial kitchen (designed and installed by Harold) that, when necessary, has held more than 20 workers.

When land across Hwy. 11 became available, the family decided to expand their services. The first installation was Amelia’s Pumpkin Patch, which is open in October so visitors can pick pumpkins and enjoy games and treats. Harold’s next project has been Micah’s Meadow, planned for the couple who want a natural setting. A stone-based raised platform is the stage, and a lighted chandelier hangs between two of the large oak trees. Other lights make this a wonderland for evening events.

Harold describes an additional feature of the meadow celebration. “A horse-drawn carriage brings the bride over a stone bridge to the wedding stage,” he says, “and when the couple leaves the ceremony, the carriage takes them through Lover’s Lane.”

Debbie and Harold, who have been married for 39 years, agree that their favorite part of the wedding business is meeting the people involved. “It’s very touching to be part of someone’s special day,” says Debbie. “She always cries,” Harold adds.

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Waterview Weddings & Events
Before she found her true calling, Audrey Odom studied art at the University of Montevallo and at UAB. But when she decorated a cake for her daughter’s third birthday, she realized that was how she wanted to express her creativity.

During the 30 years since, Audrey’s reputation for exceptional cakes has spread all over the state. Her creations have appeared in the Birmingham and Montgomery Museums of Art, and a recent event at Birmingham’s The Club featured a six-tiered cake for 300 people.

After some thought, Audrey and her husband, Phillip, decided a wedding venue was the next step. The first order of business was finding a suitable location, and it wasn’t easy to find, says Audrey. They finally discovered one that satisfied both of them: a one-story, brick building that had formerly housed a restaurant.

“The large parking lot was what caught Phillip’s interest because we knew parking would be an issue for a wedding site,” explains Audrey. “I saw the space inside and was already planning how each area could be used.”

In January of this year, Waterview Weddings came to Riverside. Audrey still provides cakes for weddings at other locations, but Waterview is her dream. Many days, Audrey and Phillip take cake layers in coolers, in their van and SUV, to assemble and decorate at various wedding sites and then return to Waterview to prepare for their own events.

Audrey treats every cake as special. A popular cake flavor is French vanilla almond, she says, but she will create the flavor and look that the bride chooses. Brides sometimes send her photos of their wedding gowns and ask that she echo something in the design on the cake. “It’s fun to see what they envision,” she says.

One bride whose dress had satin-covered buttons down the back requested frosting replicas of them down the tiers of the cake. That detail was added. Audrey also has sculpted lace and other trim to match wedding dresses.

This cake artist says she welcomes “whimsical” ideas. “One bride wanted to surprise her groom with a cake shaped like an 18-wheeler because he drives a truck,” Audrey says. “It got a lot of attention.”

One reason Audrey can balance her “double-duty” is that she allows the couple to work out the details of their special celebration. The bride and her helpers plan and place the decorations in the ballroom and the outside spaces. The couple chooses the food to be served, from appetizers to dessert, and Audrey and her staff prepare it. The wedding can be conducted in the dining room-ballroom or outside on the 12-foot-by-24-foot deck that’s on a quiet inlet of Lake Logan Martin. Not surprisingly, most choose the deck.

Some things Audrey just can’t leave to others. “I’m all about romance,” she says, “and I want to make the couple’s wedding day as perfect as possible.” She adjusts the cafe lighting inside the ballroom to fit the mood, which, of course, can be counted on to increase the romance factor. She chose the globe lights that seem to float above the dance floor. The adjacent covered patio has chandeliers that Audrey lovingly collected and painted white. “They cast a golden glow,” she explains.

That’s romance.

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Sweet Apple Farm
Just a year ago, Miss Tina began opening her 80-acre private estate to brides and grooms who are looking for a unique wedding venue. Even before opening, she says, she had requests from prospective guests who wanted to know more.

“I hadn’t even gotten my site up, and I was already hearing from people who had seen postings on Facebook,” says Miss Tina, the name she goes by.

“I’m in my late 50s,” she explains, “and decided I was ready to move from Miami and find a place I loved.” After crisscrossing the country for a while and not finding that place, she posted her requirements on the Internet. “I wanted rolling green hills, water on the property, trees and a project.”

Alabama was not really in her plans. But a reply came from our state. She says her reaction was “WHAT?”

However, the property met all of her criteria. She came, she saw, she bought.

Then her project began. She had been a general contractor in Miami, but she had to convince local workers that she knew what she was talking about when it came to building and restoring.

The main wedding spot is the barn, which had been home to cows and pigs for years. After numerous hours spent cleaning, repairing and adding features, it now has new hardwood floors, as well as crystal chandeliers, making it the most popular place for weddings. Tina says the wedding couple’s family may furnish their own food and use the kitchen in the barn, thus saving a catering fee.

The Country Cottage (once a garage) can serve as a relaxation and dressing area or as a space for overnight wedding guests. An 1841 log cabin can be used for the bride and bridesmaids before the ceremony, for overnight wedding guests or as a honeymoon suite.

A small chapel in the woods is available for couples who want to keep their wedding simple. It is suitable for up to 32 guests, and the family and guests may provide their own meal or refreshments.

After putting the “frosting on the cake” of her dream property, Miss Tina is now settled in her new state and providing an elegant rustic setting for many happy occasions.

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Creel Chapel
Camp Sumatanga, where untold numbers of campers have spent glorious summer days, is fairly well known in the state. But the idea of holding a wedding at the Sumatanga Camp and Conference Center most likely would be a surprise to those couples who might be searching for just what it offers.

This 1,700-acre property runs alongside and up the side of Chandler Mountain. The name, “Sumatanga,” is said to be a Himalayan word meaning “a place of renewal and reflection.” This was the purpose the founders envisioned for the original site. In 1965, that spirit was carried to the mountaintop with the establishment of Creel Chapel.

Named for Judge E.M. Creel and built in 1964, the chapel was originally used only for individual meditation or prayer. Drawn by descriptions of its fabulous view, couples now are choosing it as their wedding site.

The small, open structure has a lofty timbered metal roof supported by native stone pillars. Stone steps (that can provide standing room for 50 wedding guests) lead to an altar with a cross silhouetted against the sky. Beyond is an exceptional view of distant mountains. The view, coupled with the silence of the forest around the site, create an incomparable mood.

Matthew Johnson, executive director, says small weddings also can be held at the Lakeside Amphitheater on the main campus, and three pavilions are available for receptions. Lodging for overnight or out-of-town guests is no problem.

Sumatanga has found yet another way to reach out to people who are making important life decisions.

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Mountainview Gardens and Ballroom
Debbie and Charlie Lewis have hosted about 700 weddings since they opened their wedding site on Simmons Mountain in 2003. The most interesting occurrence, says daughter Misty Watkins (the wedding director), was when “a helicopter delivered the bride to the front lawn.” And that’s not all.

“After the wedding,” she adds, “a professional pyrotechnic team produced an awesome fireworks show.”

Debbie says her first weddings were in churches and school gyms. “We used a rented trailer to carry all the things that were needed, loading at home, unloading at the site, then loading and unloading again.”

When the Lewis’ children, Charlie and Misty, left home, it didn’t take long for Debbie to see she had a wonderful opportunity that didn’t require any loading and unloading. Charlie is a contractor and had built their two-story home to fit a family. Debbie had spent a lot of time collecting antiques and decorating the house to perfection. Why not use it to help couples begin their life together?

The 11 acres on which the house sits offered numerous opportunities for creating garden areas for a ceremony or for photos. The existing swimming pool could become a wedding feature. And there also was the outstanding view.

Charlie added a window-lined ballroom to the back of the house to provide more open space for receptions, dinners or dancing. In inclement weather, it also can be used for the ceremony. On one side of the home, the garden is the wedding spot. A picturesque gazebo offers a terrific photo opportunity. On the other side, the pool takes center stage. The ceremony platform has stately Greek columns, and a waterfall flows into the swimming pool.

“I direct the ceremony and the receptions of the weddings, and my mother does the catering,” says Misty. “She did it all until I started helping.”

On the first floor of the main house, the bride and bridesmaids have a room decorated with some of Debbie’s finds from antique shops, including a round velvet settee. The groom and his entourage have a space on the second floor that includes a pool table and a large-screen TV.

Debbie isn’t worried about the future of her business if she decides she’s had enough. “Misty could take it over,” she says, and, eventually, so could Misty’s daughter. “One time I was taking her into the kitchen,” Debbie adds, “and she told me to tell the ‘people in the kitchen that I’m the boss’”.

This is a busy family. Misty and her husband, Bryan, have five children, who are home-schooled. Misty has an additional one-day job out of the home. Bryan, as well as Misty’s father and her brother, are all firefighters. A couple of cousins make five in the family.

Bryan also is qualified to perform a wedding ceremony, says Misty, and is a deputy sheriff. Charlie, the father, and Charlie, the son, do almost all of the maintenance necessary on the property.

Debbie says her favorite part of the wedding process is “seeing the look on the bride’s face when she comes into the reception area and sees all of the decorations and the cake. That’s worth all our effort.”

Misty adds, “I love being involved with their day and making it as special as the couple could want.”

Outdoor Cooking

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Latest entertaining trend
going strong in St. Clair County

Story by Mike Bolton
Photos by Jerry Martin

Turn on the DIY Network or HGTV, and you don’t have to watch very long before you’ll see another outdoor kitchen under construction. A number of homeowners are now skipping the patios and decks that have long been a staple of home ownership in favor of elaborate outdoor kitchens designed to entertain family and friends.

That trend hasn’t bypassed St. Clair County. All across the county, builders are adding outdoor kitchens to the backyards of homes. Backyard tailgating has become the rage with many outdoor kitchens, hosting dozens of guests as college football teams play on television on Saturdays.

When Kenny St. John told his wife Jamie a decade ago about his dreams of building an outdoor kitchen, the fad was fairly new. She said she couldn’t even picture what he was talking about.

Today she is a fan. Their beautiful cedar-clad, outdoor pavilion in Springville gets used for everything year-round, she says.

“Kenny has a vision for things that I don’t have,” she said. “I didn’t realize just how much we would get out of it.”

Their facility has anything anyone could ask for. It overlooks a beautiful pond where Canada geese swim as white-tailed deer frolic nearby. In the background is towering Straight Mountain.

Their outdoor living pavilion includes a 55-inch big screen television and a sitting area where visitors can take in football games on Saturdays, Sundays and Monday nights. The cooking area has a Big Green Egg, a smoker, a gas grill and a cook top stove.

There is also a meadow where their kids and visitor’s kids can play football, an enormous outdoors fireplace with its own television and a large hot tub. Visitors can also fish for catfish in the pond if they like.

“This is where I live,” Kenny St. John said as he lounged in the outdoor kitchen with an NFL pre-season game playing on the big screen television. “I stay out here all the time.

“I always wanted something like this growing up. We use it year-round. We have the fireplace and propane heaters that will keep you warm late in the football season when the weather gets cold.”

The St. Johns’ backyard kitchen has understandably become the spot to be on football Saturdays and for family gatherings.

“I have six brothers and sisters and my mother lives in a garden home so we have the only place really big enough to have everyone on Thanksgiving,” Jamie St. John said. “We had my nephew’s rehearsal dinner here. A few weeks ago we had 75 people out here for my daughter’s birthday party.”

The entertaining is nice, but what would an outdoor kitchen be without food? Kenny St. John is the master chef for all events with his wife handling all the non-meat items. He cooks turkeys and hams for Thanksgiving, but it’s his barbecue, steaks and fish fries that draw rave reviews throughout football season.

“We cook a lot of pork butts and ribs,” he said. “My wife makes potato salad, fried green tomatoes and a lot of Rotel dip and a lot of hors d’oeuvres.”

If it’s a sport it gets watched at the St. John outdoor kitchen. There’s NASCAR, drag racing and NFL football, but it all hinges around college football on Saturdays. The St. Johns are big Alabama fans and most parties revolve around watching Crimson Tide games.

“We watch everything, including Wheel of Fortune, out here, but college football is what we live for,” Jamie St. John said.

Living in such a rural area does have its advantages for really rabid football fans, the husband and wife team agreed.

“We have a cannon that we fire every time Alabama scores a touchdown,” Kenny St. John said. “One of our neighbors said he doesn’t even have to watch the game because he knows every time Alabama scores.”

If you’re wondering why in the world someone with a 7,000-square-foot home would need an outdoor kitchen, you obviously haven’t seen the view from Johnny Grimes’ Pell City backyard. And besides, who wants 100 people milling around inside their home no matter how big it is?

Grimes’ outdoor kitchen, which overlooks Lake Logan Martin and Stemley Bridge, is headquarters for many Pell City area Auburn fans on football Saturdays. A crowd of 75 people on game day is not that unusual, and the record stands at 105. Crowds are so big in fact that those who arrive by vehicle must park in a designated area away from his home, and they are brought to the party in a 15-passenger van. Some choose to arrive via the Coosa River and park their boats in Grimes’ covered slips on the water.

Once there, visitors can watch Auburn on one of two big screen televisions at the lavish cypress bar in the outdoor kitchen, or they can listen to the game as they lounge around the 52-foot saltwater pool, which has a walk-in beach. The pool is surrounded by immaculately manicured gardens and fed by a waterfall.

Grimes, who owns Johnny’s Electric in Pell City, is the chef and he prepares ribs, chickens, hamburgers, steaks and crawfish boils from his $6,500 Viking gas grill that is located just feet from the 10-seat bar. The outdoor kitchen also has a freezer, refrigerator and deep fryer.

An air-conditioned and heated bathroom is located just off the flagstone patio of the kitchen.

“This keeps all the mess outside,” Grimes said. “We cook the main dishes in the outdoor kitchen, and the breads and all the sides are cooked in the house.

“People just feel more comfortable and enjoy being outdoors on game day. They can whoop and holler and mingle, and it is a lot more pleasant for them to be out here. I built this kitchen five years ago, and everyone just loves it.”

Fourth of July celebrations were huge at Don Farmer’s home when he was a boy growing up in Springville. Literally hundreds of people would show up over a two-day period to eat barbecue and celebrate Independence Day.

“I was born on July 3 so for the longest time as a kid I thought everybody was coming to my birthday party,” Farmer said with a laugh. “With my dad now gone, I now have great memories of all those family members and friends coming to our house like that.”

Farmer says it is those memories that spurred the building of his outdoor kitchen. He says it was a project that started out small, but he admits that it kept growing until it turned into a monster.

Farmer’s outdoor facility atop Simmons Mountain is indeed monstrous. The L-shaped structure is 30 feet by 40 feet on one side and has the same dimensions on the other. It is complemented with a swimming pool and a hot tub that seats 10 people.

It features beautiful brickwork arches and stamped concrete floors and countertops. A big-screen television is the focal point every Saturday during football season. The double pavilion is designed to entertain a lot of people and it does that whenever Alabama is playing on television.

“For some of the bigger games like Tennessee, it’s nothing to have 80 people here,” Farmer said. “We’ve had people we don’t know just be driving by and stop. They just say they see all the cars on Saturdays and wonder what is going on.”

Farmer is an excavator by trade. He says no engineers were involved in the massive project, and no plans were ever put on paper. He said it was “just all in my head. It all began when my granddaughter Chassidy said she wanted a swimming pool,” Farmer said. “I told her Nana would run down to Wal-Mart and get her one. She came inside a little while later and said she didn’t want that kind of pool. She said she wanted one in the ground.

“I started digging the next week.”

Farmer first built the pool and then decided to add a pavilion on the side so his mother and mother-in-law could get out of the sun. It would also serve as an area under the cover so he could grill.

“That was okay but my wife decided she wanted to enclose it and make it part of the house,” he said. “I decided I was going to have me a place where I could cook.

“My wife said if I would build it that she would take care of it. I got it in my mind what I wanted but I didn’t realize how big it was going to be until we actually started building it. It has about become a full-time job for my wife to take care of it now.”

Farmer says he did some research and got some very good advice early. “Somebody said don’t put anything into the construction of an outdoor kitchen that didn’t come from the earth. It’s almost all stone, brick and concrete – even the walls. The only wood in it are the gable ends and the exposed beams.”

Farmer loves kids, and he didn’t want a place where kids weren’t welcome. He says he made everything “kid friendly.” There is a playhouse, and parents can watch their kids in the pool and the hot tub from the raised kitchen that looks down on both.

The rules to attend a get-together at the Farmer’s outdoor kitchen are simple. You can bring a dish if you like, but Farmer and his son Heath provide the meat and do the cooking. Boston butts, pork ribs, different sausages and steaks are their specialty. The kitchen has a smoker, a broiler, a griddle, a stovetop, a grill and a barbecue pit.

When the weather cools late in the season, a fireplace keeps the area warm. Blinds can be lowered to keep everything cozy.

“We’ve had 140 people here on July 3 and about 80 the next day,” Farmer’s wife, Deniase, said. “We just stay up all night and celebrate Don’s birthday and July 4th.”

Farmer says his goals in building an outdoor kitchen were simple even though the final outcome was not.

“I wanted a place that would keep the foot traffic out of the house,” he said. “I wanted a place where somebody could spill a drink or drop a meatball on the floor, and it wasn’t a big deal.”

Features

Architectural Eye Candy

[Show as slideshow]

Living in a work of art

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Jerry Martin

Jimmie Nell Miller is an artist and former interior decorator who likes to go to open houses and read Architectural Digest for the eye candy. But the Pell City home she shares with husband, Ray, is like eye candy to visitors, because its wide hallways, huge bathrooms and very modern kitchen are filled with Jimmie Nell’s colorful artwork. From tulips to Tuscany, cornices to credenzas, every inch of the Country French chateau reflects Jimmie Nell’s personality and her love for entertaining family and friends.

“It’s like an art gallery in here,” Jimmie Nell admits.

Atlanta architect Frank Jova designed this “art gallery,” which the Millers first spotted as a Southern Living Idea House in Chateau Elan outside of Atlanta in 1994. Jimmie Nell fell in love with its French influence, while Ray liked the way it flowed. Both appreciated the roominess of its 5,000 square feet, which may seem superfluous for two people. But Jimmie Nell says they use every square foot of it. “We entertain lots of functions, and have lots of family visits,” she says. “We live in the whole house.”

Built on a former dairy farm, the house is awash with European influences. Its wide hallways represent streets of old Europe, for example, and the extra depth of the tray ceiling in the entry hall is painted blue to keep the ghosts away. “It’s supposed to fool them into thinking it’s daytime,” Jimmie Nell explains.

The gallery tour begins in this entrance hall, where Jimmie Nell’s acrylic painting of Glen Coe, Scotland, one of seven inspired by her trip to that country earlier this year, rests on a stand. Her oil paintings of lemon trees flank the front door, along with sculptured fruits made of composite materials resembling stone, which she purchased.

Turning right, you come face-to-face with sunflowers and peppers in a red vase, done in oils, while the butler’s pantry features another oil painting of a rooster in bright plumage of blue, gold and red.

Kitchen cabinets are made of cherry, countertops are granite, and the appliances are Bosch and Kitchen Aid. The refrigerator is disguised as a tall cabinet, and an appliance garage hides the toaster, mixer and electric can opener. Bunnies nibble cabbage from a ceramic pot on the wall behind the gas range, thanks to Jimmie Nell’s ingenuity. She painted the tiles, then installed them herself because she didn’t trust the tile man to get the ears on the bunnies right.

“I designed my kitchen because I wanted the cabinets to look like little pieces of furniture,” Jimmie Nell says. “My cabinet maker said he’d build them that way, but he didn’t think I would like them. When he finished, he liked them, too.”

Pell City artist John Lonergan did the portrait of Ray, their son Adam when he was 12, and Adam’s dog that hangs over the fireplace in the den. That portrait and the 106-year-old watercolor duo by Ray’s great-grandmother that hang in the music room are among the handful of artwork in the house that weren’t done by Jimmie Nell.

She has a glass table with eight upholstered chairs in her formal dining room, which she uses a lot. Her china cabinet, housed behind mahogany doors, holds Noritake china, cut-glass and redneck wine glasses (small Mason jars on stems). Jimmie Nell’s favorite piece of furniture is in this dining room, and it, too, features some of her artwork. It’s a bar made of two separate pieces that probably weren’t originally meant to be together. The bottom portion is a mahogany cabinet, while the top is a pine hutch with stained-glass tulips and a center canvas on which Jimmie Nell painted more tulips before installing it between the glass panels. “We bought this from an antiques dealer who used to be in St. Clair Springs,” she says. “We had it in our house before we moved here.”

Another painting of tulips, this one in acrylics, hangs between the dining room and music room, because “tulips are easy to paint,” says Jimmie Nell. She has had the room’s baby grand piano more than 40 years and believes it was built in the 1930s. While neither she nor Ray play piano, their two daughters, one son-in-law and a granddaughter do. Nevertheless, the music room happens to be her favorite, the place where she loves to curl up with a good book or take a nap.

From the screened porch off the dining room, the sound of ceiling fans overhead and an Italian bronze garden fountain outside soothe the soul. The peaceful garden features knock-out roses, daylilies, limelight hydrangeas, magnolias and blue point juniper spirals. Both Ray and Jimmie Nell work in the garden, but Ray, a retired banker, trims the 10-year-old topiaries himself.

Back indoors, the art tour continues down the hall from the entryway into the powder room, where Jimmie Nell has an old credenza on which she depicted parrots, monkeys and a leopard “back when jungle themes were so popular.” Nearby is the media room, where a 72-inch wide-screen TV is set into a niche in one wall. Movie posters of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood adorn other walls and a bronze replica of Remington’s Mountain Man dominates the center. Two leather couches and four mission-style gliding rockers with fake-leather bottom cushions and Southwestern-print back cushions provide ample seating. Jimmie Nell made the glider’s back cushions and the room’s matching cornices herself. The media room happens to be Ray’s favorite in the house, a place where he keeps up with the news and email via television and computer.

The master bedroom is near the media room and features another tray ceiling, a portrait of Jimmie Nell done in 1986 by Pell City artist Evelyn Whatley, and a huge bathroom with his-and-hers sinks and vanities on opposite sides of the room. The vanities are separated by a glass-enclosed shower, and Ray and Jimmie Nell have separate closets, too. More of Jimmie Nell’s artwork is featured in a buffet from her old dining room suite that has panels she painted with shell designs.

Upstairs are two guest bedrooms, one with a 100-year-old washstand on which Jimmie Nell painted a Colonial couple at a fence, and a doll house made from a kit one of her daughters gave her 20 years ago. An open balcony connects the two bedrooms and overlooks the dining room on one side, with a glass-less window overlooking the entry hall on the other.

In the second upstairs bedroom Jimmie Nell used French toile for the bed’s coronet and a chair skirt, but a nautically-themed fabric on the bed pillows and valance.

After 12 years in the house, the Millers still find it very livable. “We like the way it flows,” says Ray. Jimmie Nell agrees. “I like the roominess of it, and the private areas where we can get away from each other,” she says, with a wink. “That has probably saved our marriage.”

Features

Gover’s Gardens

There is gardening and then there is something very special

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Mike Callahan

Jennifer Gover did not intend to follow in her mother’s footsteps, at least not in the path of a master gardener. But one look at the bountiful gardens that frame her home and property each spring, and it is evident she inherited her mother’s green thumb and a passion for flowers.

“My mother was an avid flower gardener,” she said. “You know how mothers have you busy doing stuff and you say, ‘I’ll never do that.’ ”

Take in the abundance of blossoming azaleas, dogwoods, wisteria, irises, daylilies — they’re all here and more — and you immediately recognize the promise made to herself as a child was never kept.

Her mother’s favorite flower? “All of them,” Jennifer replies without hesitation. She apparently inherited that, too.

The drive leading up to their King’s Circle home in Pell City is quite a welcome mat of color, vibrant azaleas and dogwoods leading the way. Bursts of color in beds found in virtually every corner and along every path on the property show off her handiwork.

The retired Pell City High School principal is quick to point out that she has help. Husband Kenny Gover, whose day job takes him to Coldwater as principal of the elementary school, is “the hands,” she said. “I’m the planner. He’s the worker.”

In the early years, the Govers began with white dogwoods from the wild. She thought, “I’m not going to get into a big yard.” Azaleas followed “little by little.”

A dozen years later, and the Gover home and grounds are a spring color showcase. And they share it with family, friends, neighbors and anyone else who happens to stop by for her “open house” at the peak of their blooming.

Passersby on drives to see spring color will stop and inevitably recognize the legacy and say, “Oh, your mother is the plant lady. We always would go by there.”

One little girl told her, “The colors are so beautiful, I need sunglasses.”

It’s easy to understand the youngster’s sentiment on a tour of the gardens, which saw an average of 20 people a day coming to get a closer look. “Some came back to walk through a second or third time,” she said. “It’s a word-of-mouth thing.” And she greets them not only with her flowers, but with open house fare, like cakes and other refreshments. “I love them coming.”

She is part of a flower group called Mahogany, and its retiree members meet once a month. But their discussions and activities go well beyond blooms and blossoms. “It’s a group of people who like to help each other.”

They clean yards and make an impact. They visit, have lunch with guest speakers — like a registered nurse or a banker — who “impact us individually or as a group.”

They go on trips to learn more about their state and its history. They have been to Gee’s Bend, Brown’s Chapel Church and the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma. They traveled to Dexter Avenue in Montgomery to see the church and parsonage of Martin Luther King.

Here at home, Mahogany gets back to the business of flowers, this year naming Gover’s creation a not-too-surprising ‘Yard of the Month.’ “It’s probably month and year,” laughed Gover.

Like a proud mother gathering her young, she is constantly traveling to and fro to flea markets and home centers to add to her collection.

She specializes in bringing distressed plants back to life so that all may enjoy the pleasures of what she has known since childhood. It is not unusual for people to “leave things for me,” she said. They may be irises or daylilies, and they tell her, “I can’t keep this alive. What can you do?”

“They never come back and get them,” she said.

And she gladly accepts the challenge, simply adding to her gardens year after year and thinking of each flower left behind as a gift.

“There is nothing like early morning in the yard,” she said. “There’s a presence of God. A bloom leaf opens. Birds are singing. You reflect, think about life — where you’ve been and where you’re going.”

Her husband enjoys the pleasures of the gardens, too, not just the work, but to sit back and “see what you’ve accomplished.

“It’s a time to bond with each other,” she added.

She tells young people when they build a house, put the plants out now. “You’ll look back and enjoy it in your life,” she said.

Her other piece of advice? “You should love what you’re doing. I love the plants. It should have been my calling.”

One look around Govers’ gardens, and it doesn’t take long to conclude that that is exactly what it is.

Category: St. Clair Living