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For the past 8 years, the city of Stevenson has transformed downtown’s Main Street into a holiday showplace. Businesses stay open later than usual. Lights adorn windows all along Main Street, and Santa visits with youngsters in the Stevenson Public Library.

This year’s Lighting of Main celebration will be held on Tuesday, December 3, starting around 5 p.m.

Stevenson City Clerk Monica Davis says the Lighting of Main, hosted by the Stevenson Depot Board, is a time for people to enjoy a relaxed evening during the holiday season.

“It gives you a real Hallmark movie feel the way that everything is decorated and just the buzz and all the people just walking around and enjoying themselves,” Davis says.

The Stevenson Public Library provides refreshments and candy canes for the children. At the Michael Scott Learning Center, visitors can do arts and crafts. At Steele Park, free hot dogs, chili, cookies, and music will be available, Davis says.

Jones-Light Furniture and Appliance often gives away a door prize, and a new downtown restaurant, 302 West, will be open for the event this year, Davis says. Those who want to just rest and take in a Christmas movie can do so at Down on Main Street, which will be showing them throughout the festivities.

New to this year’s event is The Yard, an alley next to the library that a teen volunteer group helped transform into an outdoor reading and games area.

It’s not unusual, Davis says, for people to arrive early for the Lighting of Main and then stay late for photos with Santa. And attendees are not just Stevenson residents.

“We do have a large group of people from Chattanooga that come every year,” she says.

Theories abound about the origins of Maine coon cats.

Are they descended from the Norwegian forest cat brought to North America by the Vikings? Or the Turkish angora cats Marie Antoinette sent to Maine in advance as she planned her escape during the French Revolution? Do their genetics come from a wild cat? Are they the result of long-haired cats that escaped to New England’s shores when a cat-loving British mariner named Capt. Charles Coon made port? Are they part raccoon? No, they’re not. It’s genetically impossible.

“You can make up your own story and it would be just as logical,” says Mitzi Guess, owner of Congocoon Maine Coon Cattery in Stevenson. “They just found them in the wilds of Maine.”

Whatever their pedigree, the official state cat of Maine is a working cat built for harsh weather. Their large paws function like snowshoes. Their fur is water resistant. Tufts of extra hair on and inside their large ears provide protection, and their long-furred tails curl around them for warmth.

Maine coons are tall, long, and muscular cats. While females are smaller, males can weigh up to 20 pounds, stand 16 inches high and stretch to out to more than 30 inches in length. A neutered male can weigh up to 30 pounds, Guess says.

“I just fell in love with them because they act like a dog,” Guess says. “They don’t meow like a regular cat. They chirp and chortle.”

A Purrfect Business Opportunity

Guess opened her cattery in 1992, buying adult Maine coons and several litters of kittens from a cat fancier in Tennessee who wanted to retire. Prior to that, Guess bred and showed champion German shepherds and Dobermans in the protection sport known as Schutzhund and Shetland sheepdogs in breed conformation shows.

“Then, I was in the cat business, and I didn’t know anything about it, and it was a very sharp learning curve,” Guess says.

She collaborated closely with a local veterinarian as she learned the differences between canine and feline husbandry.

When Guess first started, she showed her cats and had champions. In the 32 years since she opened her cattery, the look of Maine coons has changed as people want the heavy lynx tipping on the ears for a more feral look.

Designed With Cats in Mind

Guess tailored Congocoon Cattery after European catteries. It’s built to be a safe space — enclosed but also providing exposure to the outdoors and privacy areas for adult cats. The large, landscaped cattery has the look of a garden, and the “retirees” that Guess keeps as pets are allowed time to roam. Several adults live together in each enclosure. There is a queen’s cottage for new mothers and their litters, a nursery building for older kittens and a cub cabin for kittens that have been selected by new owners. There’s an area for grooming as well.

There’s usually about 30 cats at the cattery at any given time.

A garden path winds through the enclosures. Among the greenery, flowering plants, and driftwood are statues of jungle animals and fantasy sculptures. There’s even a “garden” of empty bird cages. The adult cats have unconventional names like Dragon, Murder of Crows, Ironhawk, Game of Gemstones, and Fear the Reaper. The cattery space is shared with 2 dogs, chickens, and a golden pheasant.

Guess refers to her place as a cross between a zoo and a miniature golf course.

Among cat people, Maine coons are popular, not just because of their size, but also their personality. Known as gentle giants, Maine coons typically love people — including children — and dogs. The felines have a variety of coat colors from brown tabby to silver, black, tuxedo, and calico. Polydactyly, or extra toes, is common in some breeding lines.

Slow to mature to their full size, Maines is intelligent and social. They love water — splashing it from a bowl, laying in it — and they’re known to follow their owners everywhere, Guess says. In families with kids, a Maine coon will tend to stick with the children, wanting to be among the action in a home.

“They’re not a catty cat,” Guess says. “They want to be with you, and they want to be with you so much that they’re a nuisance. Anything you’re doing, they’re in the middle of it. They make every trip you make to the bathroom with you. If you’re folding clothes, they’re folding clothes. If you’re writing checks, they’re going to write a check.”

Many of the kittens she sells are to previous buyers, Guess says. A Maine coon kitten sold by a reputable cattery can run up to $2,000. Guess says she collaborates closely with her vet to screen her cats for any health issues that may affect them later in life. Congocoon Cattery has been testing its felines since 2006 for the genetic mutation that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy to ensure its breeding cats are free of the heart disease mutation.

Congocoon Cattery doesn’t ship cats. Instead, people come from all over the U.S. and Canada to pick up kittens. Over the years, the cattery has actually imported cats from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, and Russia to add some of the European traits to the Congocoon breeding line.

Turning 70 this year, Guess has already started making plans for her retirement. The cattery will remain at her home, but her cattery assistant, April Thrasher, will take over operations when the time comes. Thrasher has worked at Congocoon Cattery for 2 years.

“When I met Mitzi, I knew this was going to be what I wanted to do the rest of my life because I just love cats and I love Maine coons,” Thrasher says. “I’ve got big shoes to fill that’s for sure.”

North Alabama Electric Cooperative (NAEC) members braved the summer heat for the 2024 annual meeting on August 17 at the Stevenson Park Amphitheater.

While no quorum was reached with only 167 members in attendance, the Saturday morning event provided plenty of incentives with musical entertainment as well as door prizes and bill credits to those who registered. Members aged 80 and older received prizes such as umbrellas just for being present.

Prizes included a 75-inch Samsung smart TV, a chest freezer, air fryers, Roku Ultra devices, vacuum cleaners, and smart devices for the home. NAEC gave out $500 worth of electric bill credits and $1,000 in fiber credits.

State Senator Steve Livingston and Jackson County Schools Superintendent Jason Davidson spoke during the 82nd annual meeting. Davidson says public utilities are often not appreciated until people must go without them.

“You guys get out there in rain, sleet, snow, and shine and do your best to get the power back on, and we appreciate that not only for our residents but for our school system,” he says. “It would be very tough to run a school system without power or the internet.”

With no quorum of members for the meeting and no other nominations, the board of trustee representatives for Districts 2, 5, and 6 will remain the same.

Door Prize Winners:

• Marie Dehart — $100 electric credit
• Jimmy Kay — Samsung UHD 75-inch smart TV (grand prize)
• Misty Hoosier — $50 fiber credit
• Calvary Baptist — Dirt Devil Power Max vacuum (church prize)
• Mary Evans — $150 fiber credit
• Bob Spencer — Keurig
• Dimitri Karagan — $150 electric credit
• Priscilla Cardaropoli — Ninja blender
• Jerry Webb — Hoover Power Drive XL vacuum
• John Ridley Jr. — $50 fiber credit
• Dinah Moore — 6-quart digital air fryer
• Roberta Boyer — Roku Ultra
• James Tidwell — 5.0 cubic foot Hisense chest freezer
• Evalean Parker — $50 fiber credit
• Billy Burton — 50-inch Samsung smart TV
• Rhonda Thrower — $100 fiber credit
• Frances Wrenn — 17-inch Blackstone electric tabletop griddle
• Gerald Barnes — Hart 6-gallon wet/dry vacuum
• Warnie Grider — $100 electric credit
• Walter Eldridge — $100 fiber credit
• David Barr — Beautiful air fryer
• Carl Stewart — Roku Ultra
• Hope Sells — $50 fiber credit
• Buford McAbee — Nest thermostat
• Roy Miller — $100 fiber credit
• Christopher Helms — 50-inch Samsung smart TV
• Harold Turner — $50 fiber credit
• James McAllister — Ring Spotlight Cam Plus
• Chris Gulley — $100 fiber credit
• Mary Guess — Ninja blender
• Michael Stewart — $100 electric credit
• Bart Nelson — $50 fiber credit
• John Venable — Roku Ultra
• Pete Guess — 5-gallon Hyper Tough wet/dry vacuum
• Arthur Hess — $50 fiber credit
• Clyde Evans — $100 fiber credit
• Brandon Maynor — $50 electric credit

Visitors Find Delight in Alabama Rock Zoo

The stone menagerie perched along a rural roadside near Fackler is hard to miss. The creatures of the Alabama Rock Zoo include everything from a skunk to a shark, and in the 5 decades since Leonard Dawson eyed a boulder and saw the shape of a bull, the unusual roadside attraction has continued to garner attention.

“He could just see it and picture an animal,” says Tammy Murphey, Dawson’s granddaughter and the attraction’s third-generation zookeeper.

Located on Jackson County Road 32, the Alabama Rock Zoo sees its share of curious visitors who just happen to drive by and pull off the road, as well as travelers who make a point to visit. Earlier this year, Murphey’s mother counted 82 motorcycles when the riders stopped at the zoo. Such large crowds happen every so often as people find the attraction listed on Google Maps. The Rock Zoo is a day trip for many visitors.

“We have about 800 to 1,000 people a month asking for directions to the Rock Zoo,” says John Murphey, Tammy’s husband.

The collection started in the 1970s when road crews developing County Road 32 pushed 2 big boulders onto the property of Dawson and his wife, Geneva. But Dawson saw more than stone. He saw the shape of a bull in 1 boulder and a rooster in the other. He used cement to attach 2 curved rocks for the bull’s horns. With more cement and a cardboard mold, he created a rooster’s comb on the second boulder.

Unable to find an artist to fully bring his stone creatures to life, Dawson painted the animals himself.

Tammy Murphey says her grandfather loved seeing the joy the attraction gave visitors.

“He would love sitting out on his front porch and watching people,” she says. “People come from all over, all the time, every day, and stop here. He loved to hear what people thought of the rocks.”

Today, the Alabama Rock Zoo stretches about 100 yards along the 2-lane county road.

The bull and rooster are the largest boulders and are located exactly where the road crew pushed them 50 years ago. Smaller stones were found and placed over the years to fill in the collection.

“The rest he found just in the pastures or in the mountain, and he would get the tractor and bring them and set them out here and paint them,” Murphey says of her grandfather.

Dawson died in 2003 at 90 years old. His son, Larry Dawson, who is Murphey’s father, then served as zookeeper. He died last year from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Now, the Murpheys take care of the rock animals. Their children, including 10-year-old Dawson and 8-year-old J.T., anticipate picking up the mantle when the time comes.

The zoo features an assortment of animals — a shark, deer, turtle, frog, duck, skunk, pig and penguin, just to name a few. There is an elephant as a nod to the University of Alabama. The turtle was the last stone animal placed by Larry Dawson. John Murphey painted it.

The current zookeepers admit that the animals may be open for interpretation. What 1 person sees as a shark another may see as a dolphin.

“My grandpa would always say half of the fun is just letting people guess what they are,” Tammy Murphey says.

There are also nonanimal creations at the Alabama Rock Zoo. Sliced stone watermelons sit next to the zoo’s stone sign, while another stone urges visitors to not feed the animals. There is an American flag, and 2 rock figures pay homage to Leonard and Geneva Dawson.

Kids love the bigger boulders like the rooster and the bull, John Murphey says. Visitors are also drawn to a chicken and the giraffe.

Every few years, the stone animals require repainting. A local 4-H group painted a seahawk and helped the family repaint all the animals in 2022.

Oil-based paint is used because it holds up the best. Weather takes a toll, and some of the animals are already in need of touch-ups.

“They’re limestone rock, so the harder winters just bust the paint off of them,” John Murphey says.

Visitors have even added their own stone animals, such as a small possum someone left behind. Sometimes the visiting artists will message the Rock Zoo after they leave a stone animal, or they will post a photo of their creation online.

“I think that’s fun, to walk through here and see what other people are leaving,” Tammy Murphey says.

The Alabama Rock Zoo is located at 3215 County Road 32, Fackler. Visitors can stop by and look, free of charge, every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit the Alabama Rock Zoo website. There is even an online store with souvenirs.

Murphey says she thinks her grandfather would be pleased the Rock Zoo is still open.

“He would be so tickled that it’s still here and so many people still come to see it,” she says. “I don’t think he ever realized that it would last this long and have so many people still come.”

Coach Phillip Lolley spent his career working at every level in football, but he still considers himself a high school coach.

“That’s what got me started in this journey, is being a high school football coach and just the impact that you can make when it’s probably the most important time in any of our lives,” Lolley says. “When you start dealing with 14- to 18-year-old kids, you’re molding the leaders of our future.”

In 1988, Lolley became the first head coach at North Jackson High School when it was created through the consolidation of high schools in Bridgeport and Stevenson in Jackson County. Officials noted the merging of the 2 rival high school teams when Lolley was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year.

The former North Jackson coach was 1 of 12 inductees in the 2024 class selected by a committee chosen by the Alabama High School Athletic Directors and Coaches Association, which sponsors the Hall of Fame program along with the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

There was a lot of competitiveness between the Bridgeport and Stevenson teams—2 strong teams within 10 miles of each other. And, sure, there were challenges with consolidating the 2 schools, but Lolley says they were managed as they came up. He says he always tried to keep the politics of consolidation out of the team sport and insisted the players work to get along, regardless of what school they had previously attended. The students, he says, were eager to play on the new team.

“We wound up having close to 100 that first year,” Lolley says. “Everybody there wanted to play football for the North Jackson Chiefs.”

It didn’t take Lolley long to build a champion, as the Chiefs finished their 1993 season winning the Class 4A state title. Lolley remained in his position at North Jackson High School until 1999, compiling a 90-36 record in his 11 seasons.

Raised in Choctaw County, Lolley graduated from South Choctaw Academy in 1972 and graduated in 1977 from Livingston University, which later became the University of West Alabama. He earned a master’s degree from West Alabama in 1981.

Lolley began his high school teaching and coaching career at his alma mater in 1977. Lolley moved to Warrior Academy in 1978 and joined the faculty and coaching staff at Demopolis High School in 1982. Lolley also served as the head football and baseball coach for Stevenson High School, then took on the job at North Jackson.

Lolley says he would have remained at the high school level had the opportunity to join the Auburn University coaching staff not come his way in 1999. As a member of the Tigers’ coaching staff, he helped the Auburn team win the 2010 BCS National Championship. Lolley’s coaching career then took another turn when he was offered a coaching job with the Canadian Football League and was the linebacker coach for Edmonton’s 2015 Grey Cup championship team.

Winning games, he says, was clearly an important aspect of his job as a coach, but it wasn’t the only thing, especially when working with young athletes.

“There’s other things that are tremendously important besides just the game itself,” he says. “How you mold these young men and women—they think for themselves, but you show them the right way to do things.”

While high school, college, and professional football are different in their own ways, Lolley says his approach to coaching remained the same at all levels. Structure and discipline were always a part of his approach, which he feels made a difference in the lives of players.

Even at the professional level, he says, the athletes responded to the structure he provided because they were working to support their own families. Lolley says he was demanding, and he didn’t tolerate players who were not team-oriented.

Lolley says he believed in leading from the front by working as hard as his players.

“You work at it all the time,” Lolley says. “You get up every morning and you work at it.”

Now 69, Lolley lives on Lake Martin near Auburn. Retired other than coaching private football camps with aspiring players and watching game films, Lolley says he stays in touch with many of his former players from all levels he coached.

“I’ve been blessed,” he says.

Commemorative Motorcycle Event Rolls Into 31st Year

It started with just 8 riders.

In 1994, a small group of motorcyclists gathered in North Alabama to travel 1 of the routes that is part of the larger Trail of Tears. From those early days, the Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride, now in its 31st year, has grown into 1 of the largest in the country.

The Trail of Tears motorcycle ride draws thousands of riders. The Alabama segment starts in Bridgeport, follows U.S. Highway 72 westward in Jackson County, continues through Huntsville, Madison, and Florence, and ends in Waterloo.

Always held the third weekend in September, the 2024 ride will be Saturday, Sept. 21. Riders will gather in Bridgeport for a kickoff celebration on the Friday evening prior to Saturday’s official start.

Organized by the nonprofit Alabama-Tennessee Trail of Tears Corridor Association, the motorcycle ride aims to raise awareness about the 5 Native American nations that once lived and thrived throughout the southeastern United States, says Ike Moore, the association’s president.

Members of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole nations were all forced from their homelands east of the Mississippi River and moved west to present-day Oklahoma following the passage of the 1830 Indian Removal Act. The routes taken by the Cherokee became known as the Trail of Tears.

“We’re trying to educate the public in all aspects of the Native Americans,” Moore says.

Many of the motorcycle riders are Native Americans or descendants and travel from all over the country to participate, Moore says.

Bikers will arrive in Bridgeport starting around 3 p.m. on September 20, and the kickoff celebration in downtown Bridgeport will begin at 5 p.m. A fireworks show is set for 9 p.m. Musical entertainment, door prizes, kids bounce houses, food trucks, and vendors round out the event. Another celebration marks the end of the ride in Waterloo and features Native American dancers, drummers, and demonstrations.

Moore says not all riders line up for the official start in Bridgeport but join the ride at 1 of the stops. By the time the ride reaches Waterloo on Saturday afternoon, there could be thousands of riders. Last year, the line of motorcyclists stretched 25 miles at 1 point.

Alabama state troopers and local law enforcement officers escort riders from Bridgeport to Waterloo.

“It’s an emotional thing to be involved with something that big,” Moore says. “You’ve got people along the side of the road waving and cheering you on. It’s quite an event.”

The Trail of Tears motorcycle ride also includes pre- and post-rides, stretching this year’s event over several days and 942 miles from Cherokee, North Carolina, to Oklahoma.

The nonprofit corridor association raises money for different projects, including historical markers on the Trail of Tears, as well as at the sites of the 5 nations in Oklahoma. The association erected a statue titled “Sacred Tears” in Tuscumbia’s Spring Park, and another statue marking the Trail of Tears is planned for Waterloo Landing.

“We always say it’s more than just a ride, it’s an experience,” Moore says. “It truly is an experience.”

Visit al-tn-trailoftears.net for more information. There is no registration or fee to ride.

What is the Trail of Tears?

The Trail of Tears commemorates the forced westward migration of Native Americans who lived in the southeastern United States.

In the 1830s, the federal government pushed the Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Seminole nations to give up their homelands east of the Mississippi River and move to present-day Oklahoma.

Thousands of Native Americans from the 5 nations died during the removal due to harsh conditions, starvation, and illness.

The Cherokee lived in North Carolina, Tennessee, northern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama.

They fought through the courts to keep their lands, but in 1838, the remaining Cherokee were rounded up and forced to leave their homes. Some managed to hide in the mountains and avoid eviction. Others escaped during the journey.

The Cherokee moved west in large groups, departing at different times and traveling by land and river. The routes they used became known as the Trail of Tears.

Chosen due to drought, 1 of the land routes goes through Jackson County, following present-day U.S. Highway 72.

The Trail of Tears was designated a National Historic Trail in 1987. The National Park Service maintains the trail through Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

In all, the historic trail encompasses 5,045 miles of land and water routes.

Sources: National Park Service and the National Trail of Tears Association

Program Teaches Firearm Safety While Building Confidence

The image of a mosquito striking a clay target dead center, breaking it into pieces, adorns a fluorescent orange T-shirt. For the group of young shooters known as the “Skeeter Squad,” the logo is just 1 of the cool perks of being a member of the firearms team.

As members of Jackson County’s 4-H shooting sports team, the youths learn more than just how to handle firearms safely. The program gives them confidence and a deeper love for target shooting as a sport.

“Before I started shooting on the team, I had never shot a shotgun,” 12-year-old Haden Chandler says. “It gave me a lot of experience and a lot more confidence using 1.”

Alabama 4-H SAFE—for Shooting Awareness Fun Education—covers firearm safety and teaches youths ages 9 and older responsible firearms handling, use, and storage. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System offers the program with disciplines in archery, shotgun, and rifle.

Along with shooting and firearms safety, the SAFE program aims to instill a sense of independence, along with lessons in teamwork. The goal is to expose youths to positive interactions, helping them to develop leadership skills or serve as mentors to others.

Haden has been involved in the 4-H shooting sports program for 2 years. His father, Bradley Chandler, is 1 of Jackson County’s coaches.

The SAFE program goes above and beyond working on safety and training, Haden’s mother, JoAnna Chandler, says. She appreciates the program’s bigger mission for home-schooled students, like Haden, who don’t get as many opportunities to be part of a team.

“The team aspect of it and also just building confidence, learning how to carry himself with a gun and how to treat it—it has been amazing just watching him progress through that,” she says.

On Target

Although not the primary purpose of the SAFE program, team members participate in shooting sports competitions. Jackson County’s 4-H shooting team practices weekly, and teams may also be given a chance to practice at competition ranges before tournaments.

Safety briefings with coaches are held prior to tournaments via video conference and again on-site for both coaches and 4-H members. There are strict guidelines for ranges, including no music-listening devices in place of hearing protection on the firing line, and firearms must remain unloaded until a youth is ready to shoot.

Competitions include junior teams, for ages 9 to 13, and senior teams, for ages 14 to 18. The Jackson County team participated in the 2024 Alabama Championship shooting sports competition, held over 3 days in April at Selwood Farm Hunting Preserve in Alpine, as well as the Red Eagle Skeet and Trap Club in Childersburg. About 160 students from across the state competed in the April championship.

During the state championships, both junior and senior shooters set their sights on 50 targets of trap, skeet, and sporting clays. Each event has different shooting requirements to complete, as well as time limits.

Jackson County’s junior team—comprised of Cash Treece, Cason Treece, and Haden—won third place overall, and Cash also won third place in trap shooting.

The state championship was the first shotgun tournament for Savannah Mahoney, Jackson County’s 4-H youth development coordinator. While the 4-H SAFE competitions are team events, the participants also gain so much individually, she says.

“After interacting with the kids and seeing the passion that they have for the sport, you really see how much of a leadership or a hard-work ethic that they develop through the program,” Mahoney says. “It’s nice that they can compete on a team together, but they also get to shine individually in how they compete.”

Valuable Lessons

Clay Curby, 18, was the only Jackson County senior team member participating in the championship. It was his last high school event in the sport before graduating. Curby has been target shooting since he was young. His parents threw skeet for him, and he also shot with his cousins. Despite that exposure, he says he still learned a lot from the 4-H SAFE experience over the 3 years he participated.

“I always loved the sport of it,” Curby says. “It taught me a lot more about the sport and got me more familiar with a shotgun shooting competition because the only time I ever shot competition was with friends and family.”

When he first joined the shooting sports team, Curby worried that it would be like other team sports and he would be shunned if he did not do well. His first shooting event showed him that was not the case. His teammates and others were supportive, and a college team even taught young shooters new techniques and helped them with their shooting stance.

Adult volunteers must complete a 12-hour certification course to become a coach, and Curby plans to work toward that goal so he can show other young shooters they do not have to stress over the competitive aspect of the sport.

“I want them to realize it’s not that big of a deal, go out and have fun,” Curby says. “That’s the biggest part of it—going out and having fun doing it. Nobody out there is judging you on your shooting. They’re out there supporting you, and it’s just an all-around fun experience.”

Fackler Couple Returns to Farming With Kunekune Pigs

Butters and Puddin’ love head scratches. Taryn McNeal obliged the kunekune pigs pushing their wiry-haired snouts up to the openings of their pen, Puddin’ grunting for attention the whole time.

“He’s a big baby,” Taryn says. “Big huge baby.”

Beaver Creek Farms is near Fackler in Jackson County. Once upon a time, Taryn’s family farmed the land and raised cattle, horses, ducks and chickens. Time and loss led the family to scale back and lease their land to another farmer, but McNeal hopes raising and breeding kunekune pigs will help reshape her family’s approach to farming.

The breed is native to New Zealand, and kunekune means “fat and round” in the language of the country’s Māori people. Kunekune pigs have become popular as pets due to their calm and friendly personalities.

Beaver Creek Farms’ small kunekune operation began as a Valentine’s Day gift.

Leo and Helen Frassrand, Taryn’s grandparents, bought the 398-acre spread in Jackson County before she was born. Her father, Johnny Johnson, worked on the farm, and Taryn spent her childhood chasing after her father while he worked.

“My daddy was a heck of man,” she says. “He would fix anything, run anything, drive anything. There wasn’t much he wasn’t good at.”

When Leo Frassrand died in 2009, the farm was already transitioning from cattle to row crops. Taryn’s grandmother and father managed the farm. Her father became ill in 2019 with what was diagnosed as a rare fungal infection that spread to his brain. By the time doctors determined what was happening, he had suffered multiple strokes and was on life support. The family was devastated when he died.

“He was our glue,” Taryn says. “He was the 1 that held us all together.”

It was just Taryn, her grandmother and her aunt, and the farm was too much for them. They leased the land to a neighbor who farms soybeans and corn on it.

As the only grandchild, Taryn was always told by her grandmother that the land was a legacy and birthright, and McNeal says she always hoped to find something the family could do with the farm other than lease it out.

Then, in 2021, she met Adam McNeal.

On the couple’s second Valentine’s Day together, Adam bought Puddin’ as a gift for Taryn. The male kunekune piglet was meant to be a companion for her pet pot-bellied pig, Bacon.

In her research of the breed, Taryn learned kunekune pigs do not root as aggressively as other breeds; they are referred to as pasture pigs because they eat grass and rarely root deep holes as they forage.

The breed is known for its short legs as well as short, upturned snouts and pot bellies. Kunekune pigs are also recognized by the fleshy wattles that hang from their jowls — although not all kunekune pigs have wattles. The standard length for Kunekune pigs is 4 feet. While smaller than other breeds of domestic pigs, the females can still weigh 120 to 200 pounds, and males can weigh between 200 and 300 pounds. While popular pets, homesteaders and hobby farmers also are drawn to the breed’s fattier, marbled meat.

Taryn was inspired.

“If pigs could be perfect, this would be a perfect breed of pig from everything I was reading,” she says.

She bought 3 more kunekune pigs after seeking advice from the same kunekune breeder who sold Puddin’ to Adam. That is how Butters, a male, and females Maggie and Petunia came to join Puddin’ at Beaver Creek Farms more than a year ago. They make their home in the farm’s old horse barn. She and Adam are still adding farrowing stalls for when they do begin breeding.

The pigs and farm are registered through the International Kunekune Pig Society. There are also 7 kunekune farms in Alabama registered with the American Kunekune Pig Society, including farms in Arab, Dutton and Fort Payne.

Although the Beaver Creek name has endured, the farm’s logo now features a pig. Taryn McNeal hopes her days of chasing her father around the farm will help her in this new venture.

“Taking that step to push us into something else to get us back on our feet, I hope that he’s proud of me,” she says.

Simple Measures Can Keep Your Time on the Water Fun and Safe

There are basic rules for boating: Pay attention, be safe and courteous, and watch your boat’s wake.

Inattention, inexperience, reckless boating, and alcohol use are among the top causes of boat accidents on Alabama’s waterways, says Senior Trooper Cody Farrar with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

State law requires safety equipment such as navigational lights, life jackets, throwable personal flotation devices, fire extinguishers, and emergency cut-off switches, but many boating mistakes can be avoided with planning, Farrar says.

Before you head out, make sure all the necessary gear is on board and the instruments are working properly. Let someone know where you are going, where you will be launching from if you will be heading up or down the river, and how long you plan to be on the water. Farrar suggests boaters leave a written plan visible on their vehicle dashboard. Also, know where to seek shelter along your route should the weather turn bad.

ALEA’s Marine Patrol Division offers boating safety courses in the spring and fall. Visit the Marine Patrol page for locations and dates.

“If everybody would get out and have a great time but also have their proper safety equipment and have a designated driver and just be aware of other boaters out on the water, we will have fewer crashes and fewer fatalities every year,” Farrar says. “That is our goal.”

License: You can get a boating license at 14 years old. 12 and 13-year-olds with a vessel learner license can operate a boat while a licensed boater over 21 is able to take control of the boat’s operation.

Life jackets: There should be a life jacket for each person on a boat. Vessels 16 feet or longer must also have a throwable personal flotation device on board. Life jackets must be worn by children under age 8 and anyone being towed by a boat, such as on skis or tubes. Same for anyone operating, riding, or being towed by a personal watercraft as well as anyone less than 800 feet below a hydroelectric dam.

Supplies: Take water to stay hydrated. Make sure you have a fully charged cellphone with you. Invest in a marine radio. A flashlight is handy at night if your navigational lights go out. Keep a whistle or horn on board to summon help.

Awareness: Watch your speed. Every waterway is different, and you might not see obstructions such as logs under the surface. Watch for other boaters, swimmers, and even the sun’s glare. If the sun is behind you, others may not be able to see you.

Designated driver: It is illegal to operate a boat with more than a 0.08% blood alcohol concentration. Choose a designated operator before you head out, Farrar says.

Paddlers: Canoes, kayaks, and paddle boats are considered vessels, and life jackets are required to be on board for such boaters. Flashlights are required for those paddlers planning to be on the water after sunset.

Contractors Will Be Taking Care of NAEC Rights of Way

North Alabama Electric Cooperative (NAEC) performs maintenance on rights of way throughout its service area, and crews will be spraying underbrush areas around power lines soon.

Such right-of-way management improves the reliability of NAEC’s system and helps keep your power connected.

Right-of-way crews remove tree limbs and vegetation around primary power lines to prevent outages caused by falling limbs and allow crews easier access to lines.

In the coming months, look out for contracted crews spraying rights of way in Hollywood, Woodville, Crow Mountain and parts of Grant.

Crews will have NAEC contractor magnets on their trucks.

Members can find more information about NAEC’s right-of-way policies on our website.