Goal: Living simply

Living well in troubled times means returning to an old Florida pioneer saying: "Would do, could do, and made do." I don't think you hear to many people expressing this philosophy or practice. But as pioneer "cow huntress" Beedie Mae Thomas of Basinger expressed in my new book:
Wild Florida the Way It Was As Told by The Pioneer "Cow Hunters" and "Huntresses" Who Lived It," - "Country folks didn't worry about the depressions because we lived with better self-sufficiency."

When I lost all my "past possessions" in Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, I "practiced" this philosphy when I moved into my 1952 Spartan trailer in Palmdale that was held together with super glue and air conditioning tape. Attemtping to retrieve what remained of my "possessions" and stuffing them in a 12 foot by 8 foot space was a formidable challenge and not feasible. Thus, I realized that "living well" meant doing with what I had and making do.

It turned out that I created a new life in the small little trailer nestled on the shoulder of Lake Okeechobee in the ghosttown of Palmdale where some 40 years ago my father escaped the hustle and bustle of Miami to clear the land for the trailer.

I began to learn about the "cow hunters" at the now closed littled red "showbox" on U.S. 27, "The Oasis," which still holds many secrets in its old walls now sliding back into Nature. "The Oasis" was just that a place of refuge in the middle of the Everglades prairie where "cow hunters" drove up in pick-ups to celebrate the close of the day. Some of the "cow hunters" I met had never left Glades County their entire life.

They used to call me the "lipstick girl from Miami" as I had a different look of the city, yet they took me in eventually and I became life long friends with some of the Palmdale locals. I learned alot about life, nature and nurture from the people that came and went at "The Oasis."

Living well in troubled times, is a practice of "would do, could do and made do" but doing it well. The Florida pioneer "cow hunters" and "huntresses" whose legacy still lives through those who came later, are special people who "survived" the past and continue to live the fullness of life in simple ways.

I have learned many life lessons from these people who gave birth to the cattle industry and have told me their personal stories of challenge, inspiration and humor; a refreshing view of life in these troubled times.