Between The Beaches Podcast

The second installment of our look at the unpublished memoirs of Florida pioneer bowhunter Emory Leroy "Son" Lesley. This week's episode focuses on the daily experiences of early Florida cowhunters, the good times they enjoyed and the many hardships they faced from harsh weather conditions to other men seeking to ambush and kill them. Early Florida was anything but a tame land so tune in and learn much more about it!

Raising cattle on the Florida frontier was a rough job handled by even rougher men; men like Emory Leroy "Son" Lesley. Upon his death bed in 1931, and at the behest of his children, Mr. Lesley wrote his memoirs titled "Reminiscences of Emory Leroy Lesley," and while they were officially unpublished several copies of the manuscript apparently managed to circulate amongst Florida's cattle families. One such copy recently surfaced in our old files and while it has been previously shared in printed form within some social media groups, it certainly fits the bill to be featured here on this podcast and is without question worthy of a wider audience interested in Old Florida history. Here is the first installment of two, hope y'all enjoy it.

No deep or heavy topics this week, just some entertainment and escapism in the form of classic cowboy poetry along with some more contemporary poetry reminding us to savor the simple things in life.

This may well go down in the archives as our most disjointed, erratic episode ever released. Then again never say never. We started with a solid topic and an outline of notes but it quickly unraveled as we got about 15 minutes into bantering and realized that the digital display of the Zoom H6 Handy Recorder was sitting on all zeros. Nothing recorded and the SD Card was malfunctioning while our dogs raised a ruckus in the background. I came within an inch of calling said dogs and peeing on the fire, but we regrouped and delivered a somewhat rambling discussion. Hope y'all get a few laughs and maybe a nugget of useful information out of it!

Will Adams is known for a few things, with good dogs and horses as well as his penchant for sharing old cowhunting stories being at the top of the list. He's spent the majority of his years in the saddle working on ranches from the bottom of the peninsula to the top, and he's been one of the top requests for interviews by our listeners. We recently spent an afternoon catching up with Mr. Adams and capturing some of his memories; hope y'all enjoy them!

In light of the rampant wildfires ravaging the western U.S., this week's episode offers a look at the origins of controlled burns, it's predominance in the Southeast, and the important role it plays in land management, wildlife enhancement, and wildfire prevention.

What do you love most about Florida? What are those special qualities about our state that you find most endearing? On this week's episode, we begin with a written portrait of Florida and then move into some poetry by various poets depicting their views of our beautiful state, as well as how they relate to these dog days of summer and beyond. These reflections run from light-hearted takes to deeper introspections of life in the Sunshine State, and we hope you enjoy them.

Our outfit has been dealing with Covid-19, weaning heifers, meetings, and other work away from the ranch... basically a whole host of things that have kept us from restocking with fresh interviews and conversations for this podcast. Given all that, we dug back into the library to rebroadcast a favorite conversation from earlier this year. Episode 51 with Betty Osceola is a compelling listen for anyone who hasn't yet heard it and certainly worth another listen for those who have already listened.

Not everyone in Florida's cattle industry descends from multi-generational families, but that doesn't mean that they're any less passionate or committed to the business of animal husbandry and resource management. Cattleman, conservationist, and outdoor enthusiast Fred Fanizzi is one such example, and in this episode we reflect on how he first discovered his love of the outdoors, the agricultural lifestyle, and his journey to becoming a first generation Florida cattleman. We then delve into the marriage of ranching, hunting, and resource conservation through the unique perspective that Fred brings to these topics. Fred's story is engaging and offers valuable lessons for everyone. We know you're sure to enjoy this conversation.

On this week's show, we offer a retrospective of Sidney Lanier, Poet Laureate of Georgia and one of our ancestors with ties to Florida. We discuss his formative years and his lasting contributions to American Poetry and music while featuring poems written about Florida during his time here.