Tag: Other Stories

Food galore to tickle any palette

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Susan Wall
Submitted photos

From barbecue to sushi, fish to chicken Alfredo, St. Clair caterers can do just about all the wedding food a bride dreams about. Whether you’re having a casual barn wedding or a formal church ceremony, a grand gala with 300 people to feed or a small, intimate affair with family and close friends, someone in St. Clair County can make your dinner or reception an event folks will be talking about for years.

Caterers around St. Clair share common reasons for what they do. Most of them got into the business because they like to cook, and doing weddings gives them warm, fuzzy feelings of being part of a happy celebration.

“I like taking stress away from the bride and groom, letting them enjoy their special day,” said Craig Frickey, co-owner with wife Michelle at Sammie’s Touch N’ Go Catering in Pell City. “I like seeing kids who grew up coming to my restaurant, and now I do their weddings. That does make me feel kinda old, though.”

The Frickeys opened Sammie’s in 2000 in a log cabin overlooking the county airport. Soon people started asking about catering their special events. What began as a side business took off, and four years ago they closed the restaurant to the public and began catering full time, both on site and at other venues. Meanwhile, they purchased J & S Country Store & Deli in Pell City, which is why you’ll find their Sammie’s catering brochure there.

“Michelle and I are a team,” said Craig. “I decorate the plates, and she, the rest of the place. We do a lot of weddings. So far this year (early May), we’ve probably done six or seven and have that many more scheduled.”

He always talks to the bride and bridegroom, telling them it’s their day, and they can have whatever they want in the way of food. “Whether they prefer finger foods or a sit-down meal usually depends on the time of day,” Craig said. “We want it to be about them, let them make the decision, then just show up and have a good time.”

A popular trend is to have several food stations at the reception, each featuring a different item. One might be a roast beef carving, another pasta, a potato bar and even a grits bar. “Shrimp and grits is one of my most requested items,” Craig said. “I put lots of butter, heavy cream and andouille sausage in it, and I do sautéed shrimp on top and a basil cream sauce. Two things that never change are shrimp and grits and bread pudding.” Frickey said his company is a full-service caterer, from table linens to liquor, but he doesn’t make wedding cakes.

Like most caterers, however, Craig and Michelle can whip up just about any main dish requested. “I had some lady who wanted an Indian dish,” Craig said. “I said, ‘You get me a recipe, and I can make it.’ I did and they loved it.”

Like the Frickeys, Polly Warren can work from just about any recipe. She has been catering more than 30 years out of the KFC Pell City location her family has owned for 46 years. “When my kids were in school, they asked us to cater during football seasons,” she said. “I said, ‘Let’s do steak, baked potato and salad.’ So we did that for 200-300 people. Then folks started saying, ‘Oh, you can do teas, weddings, birthdays.’ Word spread, and they continue to call me.”

She does just a few weddings each year, every one with a different menu. “We don’t do cakes, though,” she said. Polly caters all the CEPA events that have hors d’oeuvres or meals and has catered the Pell City Rotary every Tuesday for 10 years. She does private events, Boy Scout dinners, the annual Pell City Mayor’s Breakfast and just about anyone else who calls. She has done weddings with 350 guests, but her largest civic assignment was for 600. Her smallest group was 20.

“I love to cook and to serve people,” Polly said. “It makes me feel good when they like my food. I think I was born for cooking,” said the native of Greece. “I learned a lot of Southern cooking from my mother-in-law, who was from Georgia. I make Greek foods, too. I may change a recipe and do it my way, but it works. I’ve had no complaints.”

Wade Reich, owner and operator of Butts To Go on Martin Street North in Pell City, operates out of the Pell City Texaco station. But don’t let the location fool you. He’s been featured in USA Today, Southern Living and other publications that have reached internationally.

He does seven or eight weddings a year in Birmingham as well as St. Clair County, and claims, with tongue just lightly planted in his cheek, that he has been catering since he was five years old.

“I grew up with the family hotel business in Gadsden and Birmingham,” he said. “When I was five, my parents let me put the peas on the plates for a Kiwanis dinner.” In 1974, his family opened Pappos in the old Printup Hotel in Gadsden, and he worked in the kitchen there.

“We bought this place (the service station) in ’08 and started catering in ’09,” Reich said. “The food business allows us to be in the gas business.” Many of the weddings he does lean toward smoked meats, but he isn’t limited to those. “We did one at Applewood Farms with grilled pork chops and chicken Alfredo,” Craig said. “The bride wanted the chicken for the younger kids. The rehearsal dinner the night before featured barbecue.” He does steaks, too, but not wedding cakes.

Overnight, he can cook enough meat to serve 6,000 people, but the largest group he has catered was 10,000, if you count his family hotel business days. From Butts To Go, he has catered as many as 450 and as few as one. “We cater to everyone who walks through our doors,” he said.

Kat Tucker is one of the few caterers in St. Clair County who also bakes cakes. She can customize foods or cakes to suit the tastes of just about any bride and bridegroom, including unusual requests like those of her own daughter.

“She doesn’t like cake, but she loves lasagna,” Tucker said. “So, I made lasagna in the shape of a wedding cake.”

Tucker has been catering out of The Kitchen in Pell City for 18 years because she loves to cook and loves making people happy. “That’s my goal, to make the bride and bridegroom happy and make sure their guests have a very enjoyable event,” Tucker said. “A wedding is a time for celebration. If something is not quite right with the food, that’s what they’ll remember. We make sure it’s great.”

Nine out of 10 times, the wedding couple doesn’t have time to enjoy the food, whether it’s served as a sit-down dinner, buffet-style or consists of appetizers only, according to Tucker. So, she always makes a care package for them carry out. “They can eat it in the airport while waiting to catch a plane or put it in their freezer for after the honeymoon,” she said. Tucker sometimes keeps leftover portions of the wedding cake in her own freezer until the couple asks for it.

“I have shipped cakes as far as Florida,” she said. “I carried one to Missouri when I did my nephew’s wedding out there.”

Mandy Camp, of Bowling’s Barbecue/The Complete Catering Company in Odenville, has been catering for more than 10 years. She can feed from 50 to 500 people, providing linens and centerpieces as well. She loves doing weddings, but also caters several civic events and a local Christian school. “People knew we would deliver orders from the restaurant and go set up, so they began asking about weddings,” she said.

She loves weddings because she gets to be part of a couple’s special day. As of May 1, she had catered 10-12 weddings this year and had one or two a month booked through December. “I have a Facebook page, but I don’t really promote my catering business,” Mandy said. “All publicity is by word of mouth or people attending a wedding and seeing what I do.” Popular wedding foods include panko chicken, meatballs, pulled pork and pulled chicken. Most brides prefer the food to be served buffet style. Sometimes those buffets will include Mandy’s green bean bundles (see Discover’s December 2016 Shopping & Dining St. Clair for recipe) and mashed potato bars or stations.

“I don’t do cakes, but if someone asks for a wedding cake, I have a couple of people I can call,” she said. “I used to do them, but since I had a child, I don’t have the patience.” Her mother, Sonja Bowling, is a big part of the catering business, and several good friends and close family members help, too.

MainStreet Drugs in Pell City and Odenville Drugs call Mandy when they have events, she said. “We have provided food for the Gideons every month for eight years, we do catering for Moody High School athletics, the MHS prom this year, civic events, school events and some churches.”

Lisa Vourvas at Two Sisters, a homestyle restaurant on U.S. 231 in Ashville, does a few weddings a year, preparing whatever the bride and bridegroom desire. Although her sister, Betty Cox, works with her, Lisa is the owner.

She has been catering since she opened in 2010. Most of it is for civic and community events, like the Shoal Creek Fire Department’s annual dinner for volunteer firefighters and their spouses. The largest number she has fed is 240 at the WMU fashion show at First Baptist Church of Ashville, while the smallest was a local wedding for 20 people, where the menu featured fish. “We did about 30 at the Ashville High School Class of 1948’s reunion,” Lisa said. “The firefighters want country-fried steak and peach cobbler every year.”

The primary chef for Two Sisters, Lisa grew up cooking for three younger sisters.Her most popular catered items are chicken salad and macaroni and cheese, which she also serves in the restaurant. She has a secret ingredient in the chicken salad that she refuses to reveal, although many customers have asked. “It gives the chicken salad flavor but you can’t taste the ingredient itself,” Lisa said.

Karen Stanfield handles the catering side of Local Joe’s Trading Post, near the St. Clair/Etowah county line on Rainbow Drive. “Because we have the use of the kitchens at both restaurants (the other is in Alexandria), it is not unusual for us to have three or four weddings or large catering events per weekend,” said Karen, who owns the restaurants with her husband, Jodie. “Our highly experienced catering staff loves what they do, and it shows each and every time they serve.”

In addition to weddings, Local Joe’s has catered four large community events over the past few years, including The Mayor’s Ball in Gadsden (to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of America), The Mardi Gras Magic Party (Family Success Center in Gadsden), The Paws for St. Paddy’s (Etowah County Humane Society Pet Rescue & Adoption Center), and The Girlfriend Gala (Success by Six program in coordination with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library). The latter event was for 600 people this year.

The highest number of wedding guests Local Joe’s has catered was 465 people at a family farm, the smallest probably 25-30 at a private home. “The farm wedding had a fun menu primarily of desserts,” Karen said. “They also had some trays of mini croissants with chicken salad and pimento cheese, as well as some mini sliders for people who needed to have something with not so much sugar. There was a coffee bar because the couple loves their coffee.”

Local Joe’s has culinary-trained chefs who will make any cuisine a client wants, from Spanish to Cajun. The most popular catered meats are brisket, smoked turkey, pulled pork, chicken, ham, ribs, sausage and bacon-wrapped smoked shrimp. “Chefs Nathan and Damon make many delicious hors d’oeuvres, as well as some beautiful anti-pasta platters, fruit platters and vegetable platters,” said Karen. Despite the presence of a bakery at Local Joe’s, Karen refers brides to a couple of local specialists for the wedding cake.

She may not be on Local Joe’s referral list, but Lorraine Smith of Steele makes cakes. Operating as Edibles by Lorraine out of the commercial kitchen in her own home, she also bakes cakes for birthdays and other celebrations. She has even been known to donate a few for charitable events.

“I did around 40-45 weddings last year,” Lorraine said. “I also do birthday cakes between weddings. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years. It’s a specialized business. I get to do something special for someone and that brings me joy.”

 Lorraine got her training at Jerri’s Bakery in Rainbow City, which was owned by her husband’s aunt and uncle. “His aunt opened up a shop for people to buy baking and cake decorating supplies, and from there, people wanted cakes,” Lorraine said. “I managed her place for 13 years.”

Every cake is different, but she does a lot of Auburn and Alabama-themed cakes, which usually take on the personality of the bridegroom. Aubie or Big Al might be wearing golfing attire, camouflage or motorcycle boots. “These are always the fun cakes,” Lorraine said. “The bride’s cake is more elegant.”

One of her most challenging cakes involved a woman who loved old books, old papers and typewriters. She wanted antique handwriting on her cake. “I have a printer that makes edible type, so I printed off the letters and pressed them to the side of the cake,” Lorraine said. “Her aunt had made flowers out of pages of a book.”

Lorraine sets up tastings, where the bride and bridegroom choose flavors from her list. then sit around a table and taste the cakes and discuss their theme. “We try to make their wishes and dreams come true,” Lorraine said.

She can do any flavor a bride or groom wants, even to the point of having a five-tiered cake with a different flavor for each tier. “Bridegrooms sometimes want strawberry (instead of the traditional chocolate), and sometimes a bridal cake will be chocolate or peanut butter flavored,” she said. “Barn weddings are different from church weddings, being more rustic, more country in style. We do a naked cake for a lot of barn weddings.” That’s when she adds extra icing between the layers, then lightly coats the outside with icing that she scrapes off, leaving some of the cake exposed.

Lorraine has no clue as to the number of wedding cakes she bakes each year. “I just count my weddings,” she said. “Most weekends I do two or three. I meet some of the most wonderful people that way.”

Louie’s Grill at Countryside Farm in Cropwell is an impressive restaurant, a wedding and event venue and an onsite catering operation all rolled into one. With veteran restaurateur Brenda Hamby at the helm, Countryside Farm has grown into a destination point for wedding ceremonies, receptions, rehearsal dinners, showers, intimate dinner parties, corporate events, parties, reunions and luncheons.

“We are a full catering service with banquet rooms for all occasions,” Hamby said. Imagine it, and chances are, Hamby and company can make it happen. After all, Louie’s has become a regional attraction for its delicious food in an elegant but casual atmosphere.

Hamby is no stranger to the food business even though she came to Alabama as owner of the thoroughbred training farm when Birmingham Race Course opened as a horse track in the nearby metropolitan area. At the track, she also operated the Back Stretch Cafeteria in the barn area and the Jocks Lounge in the Clubhouse.

Closer to home, she owned Lakeside Barbecue and Grill at Rabbit Branch, then bought Even Odds Restaurant in 1989. In 1991, she opened the City Club, which later became Harbor Lights. “We came home to retire,” she said of the farm. “It didn’t stick.”

You might say it’s in the genes. My mother taught me. She was the best cook I have ever known.” After that, she owned restaurants, hired chefs and “learned a lot more.” But it was the years of early learning by her mother’s side that set her on a successful path. “I had no restaurant experience when I opened the first one.”

It’s a new day for the big day

Story and Photos by Graham Hadley
Photos courtesy of Griffins Jewelers
Contributed Photos

Months before the big day, couples are busy not only planning every aspect of the wedding, but they are also busy choosing their rings and setting up their bridal and wedding registries.

And, while for many soon-to-be newlyweds, the traditional route is the obvious choice, others are choosing more non-traditional options when it comes to everything from rings to what setting pieces they want to register for. And more and more, as both technology and cultural trends change, the businesses that provide those services are giving customers a much broader spectrum of choices.

 

The rings

For more than a century in the United States, engagement sets and wedding rings followed tried-and-true traditional styles. Usually simple gold or platinum bands for the wedding rings, a single large diamond sometimes surrounded or accented by smaller white diamonds for the engagement and guard rings were the norm.

Not so much anymore. Rings come in just about any style you can imagine, literally. Customers are no longer constrained by what they see in the store — their imagination is the limit.

“It’s very different from what it was 20 or 30 years ago,” said Michael Abernathy, a jeweler and vice president of marketing and sales for Griffins Jewelers.

“People come in and have done a lot of research on the Internet, seen rings online, Facebook, Pinterest or other sites. They might want something in a modern style, but we are seeing just as many customers looking for a vintage style, maybe art deco. We have styles from many different genres. You are not stuck with cookie-cutter designs.”

The options for rings are almost endless, and it is the men as often as it is the women who what something distinctive.

While gold or platinum are still more often than not the standard, other metals and materials are growing in popularity. You might see rings made from tungsten, palladium, cobalt or some other metal gracing the fingers of newlyweds. Some people are opting for rings that are a combination of materials.

“We have some beautiful rings that are polished wood on the inside and metal on the outside,” Abernathy said.

And it does not stop there. Rings can be made from other materials, like silicone or carbon fiber. There are even hypoallergenic rings available.

The use of those alternative materials also makes it possible to make the style of the ring very unique, from the traditional simple polished bands to rings with intricate designs. Men, in particular, are drawn to some of the darker rings with almost industrial design elements.

Abernathy said he has seen rings that have patterns similar to the tread on a motorcycle tire for biking enthusiasts.

The same is true for the stones. White diamonds are popular for the engagement rings, stones with brighter colors, sapphires for instance, are also in high demand, he said.

“Sapphire engagement rings go way back. Princess Dianna’s ring was a sapphire ring.”

All of these are designs that can be purchased off the shelf or ordered, but like Abernathy said, with ring designs, your imagination is the limit. Custom-designed rings, thanks to technology like LASER engraving and computer-aided drafting (CAD) software, the same software architects use to design buildings, are possible today.

“We have had people bring in all sorts of designs,” Abernathy said. “Often, we will sit and talk with them and sketch something out. But they will sometimes bring in their own work. We have even had a customer bring in a sketch of a ring on a napkin.”

He was quick to point out that there is more time involved in creating that perfect, unique custom design for a customer, but the end result is something that is well worth the wait.

The initial designs are modeled on a computer, then that is shown to the customer in a 3D digital format. Once the customer is satisfied with the design, the ring is modeled in wax and sent to the store for them to try on. After that, the ring is cast, stones selected and the final production is created.

Abernathy said, even though Griffins is a small-town, family business, they have access to high-quality stones at prices that are competitive, or even better, than the big chains because they are members of a group consortium, the Continental Buying Group, which gives them collective purchasing power.

“We can keep our quality up and our prices lower even though we are a small-town jeweler.”

For many couples, they have heirloom jewelry that they want to use the stones out of and incorporate them into the new designs. That is not a problem, either, he said.

Many people see these custom rings as creating a new heirloom piece for the next generation.

“Every piece has its own story. People will look down and see their ring and it brings back all the memories, the story, of how they got it,” Abernathy said. “We want to create that story.

“Our job here is to get people what they want,” and that is particularly true when it comes to wedding bands and engagement rings.

“If you have thousands of rings, and the customer wants that one special ring, you have to have that special ring for them.”

 

The registry

Just like the ring market, today’s bridal and wedding registries are a mixture of something old and something new.

Becky Griffin, one of the owners of Griffins Jewelers, said they still see many brides come in and request very traditional and formal items in their registry, but they are also seeing requests for more informal, everyday china. Griffins bases their registry out of their Talladega location, and can work with any couple to meet their needs.

“When a bride comes in, we work with them to get them just what they want. And often these days, they want plates and settings that are easy and convenient to care for,” Griffin said.

Neva Reardon, owner of Mum and Me in downtown Leeds, agrees.

“I would get good basic pieces that you would love and use. …Get good pieces that you can grow with and that you like — creating a foundation that you will grow with,” she said.

They said going that route often fits better with today’s busy lives that are the new normal for many couples.

Both ladies recommended that, when picking out items for your registry, don’t limit yourself or your guests who will be buying for you.

“We do both bridal and wedding registries, and the reason you do it so you can get what you want and it helps the people buying get you something you want to use and that you like,” Reardon said.

They also recommended having items across many price points, so your friends can buy you what you want, regardless of their budget.

“When someone comes in and registers, we talk to them to see what they like. Then, we set up a table that people can pick out gifts from,” Griffin said.

Griffin recommends combining easy-care place settings with more expensive serving pieces, like the traditional silver serving trays. It gives the couples the best of both worlds — table settings that are affordable and can be cleaned easily with more formal heirloom pieces. She also said considering a few holiday accent pieces to go on the table is a good idea.

Reardon, whose unique mercantile boutique specializes in specialty items from artists, both local and from across the South, also said consider registering items you would normally not be spending money on for yourself.

“If you registered here, you would be registering for things that you don’t see other places, pottery, glass, handmade objects — things that if you take care of, it becomes your vintage piece, but it is one of a kind, handmade,” she said.

“It is for the bride who wants what nobody else has. Something of the individualist, you know, that someone in America has sat at their wheel or hand built, they have made it, instead of something imported that everyone else has because it came from a production line. It gives you a home that is more uniquely yours.”

Magnolias gift shop, another business that bills its self as being ready to “help you find the perfect gift,” with locations in Pell City, Sylacauga and Chelsea, has embraced some of the new technological options out there.

Combining their website with integrated Facebook pages, they are listing some of their bridal registries online.

That and an interactive web contact form for finding that “perfect gift” makes shopping for the new couple just that much easier.

Griffin said they are working toward providing a similar service for their stores.

Regardless of whether you are looking for something that is traditional or something uniquely yours, businesses like Griffins Jewelers, Mum and Me, Magnolia’s and others in St. Clair County and across the region are ready to step up and meet your wedding needs.

Quest for tractor barn leads to elegant event venue in Odenville

Story by Jackie Romine Walburn
Photos by Graham Hadley
and Sweet Life Photography – Stefanie Knight and Lauren Hudson Photography
Contributed photos

It may have been fate or divine guidance, or both, that brought Steve and Desa Osborn to St. Clair County and a life-changing land purchase.

Either way, when the Osborns found 26 acres in Odenville perfect for building a barn for Steve’s tractor, Matilda, and an eventual back-to-the-country home, they also discovered a dream avocation as proprietors of a rustically-elegant event venue called Red Gates at Kelly Creek.

“God paved the path,” Desa says, looking back at the whirlwind transformation of the once overgrown land in the shadow of Taylor Mountain, named for the St. Clair family that once farmed the land.

The adventure began with finding the land – when machetes were needed to hack through the overgrowth to find the remnants of an old barn, a leftover pecan orchard, an original hand-dug well and two ponds.

As the Mountain Brook couple began making plans for Matilda’s barn, another search altered those plans. Their son Stefan Osborn and fiancée Mary Vlasis were planning a May 26, 2017 wedding and looking for a unique venue to host an after-rehearsal dinner.

After visiting venues – including the iron and wood-filled Iron City Birmingham in Southside — and finding venue-only fees costing up to $10,000, the Osborn family decided to build their own rustic iron and wood venue.

Today, a two-story 65,000-square-foot timber frame barn rises proudly to center the landscaped grounds, a veteran now of weddings and parties – including the first event that started it all, Stefan and Mary Osborn’s after-rehearsal dinner. Already booked through May of 2019, Red Gates at Kelly Creek has 28 weddings on the 2018 calendar, plus a charity function for a nonprofit foundation dear to the Osborns.

With a full caterer’s kitchen with a separate entrance, the venue can host 50 to 300 people. Folks were visiting and signing up even before the sawdust was swept up, Steve says. And, Red Gates at Kelly Creek – named for the red gates Desa wanted instead of the ordinary silver ones plus its location at 2800 Kelly Creek Road – has been busy ever since.

The journey from beginning construction in February 2017 to the first event three months later combined Steve Osborn’s design and construction knowledge with Desa’s eye for decorating and quality wood building materials plus the artistry and knowhow of timber frame builder, Joe Dick.

An environmental consultant who grew up near Florence helping his father build and fix whatever the large family needed, Steve Osborn designed the two-story timber frame barn. “I knew what I wanted, but I also knew enough to know when to hand it off to an expert,” he says.

That expert, Joe Dick Framing of Helena, brought in a mini-mill to cut timbers that were joined with notches and bolts and to mill the pecan wood, which came straight from the Red Gates land and was used as treads on the two staircases. Poplar milled on site was used for the vanity tops in the bathrooms. The crew welded the iron railing pieces on site, too. 

Desa, who was Desa Lorant when she attended Berry High school in Birmingham, called on the building materials expertise she learned during her 28 years working at Birmingham International Forest Products.

 She and Steve knew exactly what posts and beams and lumber they wanted where. “We were always going to build a barn,” Desa says, “but not this big of a barn.”

From Joseph Lumber Company in Columbiana, they got the 10 sturdy 22-to-24-inch-caliper Southern Yellow Pine posts that hold up the towering barn, plus the beams and lumber. The exterior of Cypress board and batten siding came from a south Alabama mill, fully treated and stained using Q8 log oil.

Two staircases with the pecan wood treads and iron railings lead to a wraparound loft upstairs. A chandelier centers the barn’s open area, and another chandelier hangs on the covered porch area, just above where Maltilda, the Mahindra tractor, often occupies an honored place.

 Tied together with shiny concrete floors inside and handmade benches dotting the porch area that’s cooled with ceiling fans, the rustic barn has ladies’ and men’s restrooms. As a plus, it features comfortable getting-ready rooms for the bridesmaids and the bride, each filled with antique furniture handed down from Steve and Desa’s families.

So far, about half the couples opted to be married inside the giant barn and the other half outside, where an arbor, a handmade mantle, the stocked pond and the chandeliered porch area are available as backdrops. Highlights on the grounds include a fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs, a lighted horseshoe pit, a flower garlanded tree swing and the small garden shed built with materials salvaged from the old tumble-down barn which stood 200 years on the site where the new barn was built.

They are still adding on. Steve is building a small groom’s cabin with a porch so the fellows have a place to dress, too.

Nature provides other backdrops for vows and pictures, including the lighted pecan trees that are producing nuts again, resurrection ferns and wild garlic native to the place.

One event circled in red on the Red Gates calendar is a benefit for the Clayne Crawford Foundation, a nonprofit supporting children, women and veterans founded by the Clay, Ala. actor and director. It’s the second benefit hosted at Red Gates for the Foundation founded by Crawford, star of the Lethal Weapon television series and the 2002 movie, A Walk to Remember.

A Pig Out Picnic Barbecue and Benefit – complete with pig roasting in the ground – was held in May at Red Gates at Kelly Creek. Desa serves on a Foundation committee, and both strongly support the Foundation’s projects, particularly the community work of The Music Room in Leeds that offers music therapy classes for autistic children. The Music Room also partners with the Autism Society of Alabama on “Inclusion Through Music,” a June camp that serves autistic children.

Ever since the young married Osborns moved from a rural area near Wilsonville back to Desa’s hometown, settling in Mountain Brook, they were always going to move back to the country, where Steve is happiest, Desa says. The search for their country place intensified as their son Stefan and daughter Kristina, who now lives in Gadsden, finished school.

Now, they talk about where on the property to build their retirement home when the time comes. Perhaps by the pond that’s stocked with Florida hybrid bass and Copper Nose Bluegill? Or on the other side of the pond at the tree-shaded foot of Taylor Mountain? They will decide eventually.

They both still work full time while managing and building their new thriving business.

But, they know that after years of searching, they’ve finally found what they were looking for – a picture perfect place where they can do what they love doing, together.