Guest Natalie Dean – Florida Ranches

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Hello everyone! It’s Natalie Dean here doing a guest blog with you today. I currently write sweet contemporary western romances but I have to admit, I’ve never lived out west.  I was raised in South Alabama and now live in Central Florida. Most people probably think about beaches and theme parks when they think about Florida, but have you ever driven through any of the beautiful countryside here?

There’s surprisingly lots of cattle ranches and horse farms. As a matter of fact, cattle ranching goes all the way back to the 1700s in Florida. Maybe even further back as the actual first known cattle to arrive in the Americas was from a ship Ponce de Leon brought over from Spain. Story has it that he never got the chance to get his cattle going due to a skirmish with Calusa warriors who shot him in the leg with an arrow dipped in poison from a manchineel tree. Ponce de Leon headed to Havana shortly after where he soon died. His cattle got away into the woods in Florida and there ended up being a good bit of wild cattle as a result.

You may have heard the term Florida crackers? They’re gritty and tenacious cowboys that arrived from Georgia sometime between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, and who were free from Spanish and British rule. They ended up rounding up some of the cattle and making money on them, shipping them out to Cuba. These guys herded cattle with braided leather bull whips that made a characteristic cracking sound when snapped, which is where the term “Florida cracker” came from. They say the whip didn’t touch the cattle, just made the loud sound that moved the cattle forward.

There’s still Florida cowboys and ranchers around today, though their numbers are much lower. All the money hungry people want to take over the land, cut it all down and build, build, build on it.

There’s an interesting story involving Florida panthers, cattle ranchers, and land conservation. The ranchers used to not like the panthers being around because they sometimes attack the calves and have them for meals. But now interestingly enough, the fight to save the endangered Florida panthers contribute to preserving cattle land as the surrounding areas are turned into conservation lands, known as the Florida Wildlife Corridor. As a matter of fact some of the ranchers have gotten together to form The Florida Cattle Ranchers association and portions of their beef sales go to Florida Conservation.

There’s a documentary on National Geographic that I really like titled “Path of the Panther.” If you watch it, you’ll see some of the modern-day Florida cowboys and hear a bit of this story. Florida has so much beautiful wildlife and this show gives a great close-up of it.

And speaking of some of the beautiful country lands in Florida, this brings me to a different topic. One of my book covers features a real Florida cowgirl, with the photo taken on one of the horse farms in southwest Florida.

I’ll be giving away a paperback copy of this book today to one lucky commenter. It’s titled Making a Cowgirl, Callahans of Copper Creek, Book One.

So, have you ever driven through the beautiful country lands of Florida? If not, were you surprised to hear they exist?

 

A mystery girl who made bad choices. A cowboy who’s made things right. Can he help her face the past and find love?

Sarah Newton is beautiful, rich, and has a big secret. She won’t be spending this summer on her college campus. Instead, the sheriff has assigned her to community service at the Callahan ranch. But anything is better than spending time in jail or having her parents find out.

Or so she thinks, until she meets the handsomely irritating, almost-perfect cowboy who’s her boss…

Dax Heaton has worked on the Callahan ranch for years. After five years of sobriety, he’s now calm, cool, and skilled at working with horses. That is, until that stubborn brunette shows up on the ranch for the summer. The one he can’t stop thinking about.

Dax wants to know why Sarah is at the ranch, especially because she seems to be a magnet for trouble. Isn’t saving her life—twice—reason enough to tell him the truth?

Sarah is falling hard for Dax. But when her past catches up with her, will she tell Dax her secret and take a chance on love? Or will she run away in fear…

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55 thoughts on “Guest Natalie Dean – Florida Ranches”

  1. I have been lucky to gave been to all of the States and Florida is beautiful. My father grew up in DeFuniak Springs, Florida and it was interesting to see the town.

    • Oh! I’ve been to DeFuniak Springs, there’s a pretty little spring there. It seems much colder than some of the other springs in Florida. Not sure if it is… but it was so cold my toes cramped up when I jumped in.

  2. I have never been to Florida! It sounds like an amazing, very diverse state! Your story sounds quite intriguing, & I’m curious about what her secret is!

  3. I’m not surprised. We drove the length of Florida through lots of farmland and into South Alabama when we did a huge college tour in 2016.

  4. I lived in south Florida and when I was a young girl I believe I was lucky enough to see some of the countries of south Florida I can’t remember exactly where we were but I know they had their own horses and other animals too. We just called it out west. Our schools would take us on trips to conservation preserves for the Florida panther and other animals too to help educate us on them being endangered.

    • Ooh… I bet you went somewhere in the Florida Everglades? I haven’t actually been down there in years, but I’d love to go to one of the conservation centers.

  5. Living in South Africa I have only visited two US states and Florida is one of them, because I have a sister living there. The large green areas were what surprised and impressed me the most, so to hear there are cowboys makes sense!

  7. Florida in my mind is comprised of beaches, orange groves and theme parks. Ranches are new to me!! Thanks for broading my horizons.

    • It’s definitely got lots of those! But also so many other beautiful places. The springs are probably the most beautiful places in Florida, so if you ever come, you’ll have to check those out.

  8. I also have been to all 50 states, and living on the East Coast, I’ve visited Florida many times. I knew about ranches there. Even North Carolina has a few.

    • Wow! All 50 states? So do you just love traveling or is that due to work? I really want to buy a little tiny teardrop camper and travel around with my son. It would be such a fun way to teach geography and history.

  9. Welcome. I’ve never been to Florida, always wanted to go. This was really a very interesting blog. Come back again and with more stories.

    • Oh thank you! I wasn’t sure what to write about that might be interesting for y’all to read. But when I remembered the Florida cowboys I thought that would be the perfect thing. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

  10. I’ve been to Florida once, but not the inner state ( Mostly along the coastal areas). I did not know about the cowboys, cattle, or the panthers.

  11. I didn’t know all this info. It was very interesting. I love your books. I’ve never been in the country of Florida.
    People are selling a lot of farm land around us and forests too in NC. I hate to see it destroyed. I love driving through the country backroads.

    • I know what you mean. People complain about more coyotes and bobcats going into people’s yards and finding their little animals for food, but we are ruining all of their woods and habitats, so they have no where else to hunt. I hate seeing that too. But I do love driving up toward where you live. My sister just moved to Virginia and I’m really looking forward to the drive, as I know how beautiful the mountains are up that way.

  13. Can’t believe I’ve never been to Florida. My bad. I sure enjoyed your visit here today. Thank you for enlightening my knowledge of Florida. I always think of fruit, beaches, and theme parks.

  14. I have never been to Florida. I didn’t know that Florida had ranches. Thanks for a really interesting post.

  16. Hey neighbor! I grew up in North Central Florida. Near a town called Live Oak. Yes, I grew up on a farm. We had cattle and hogs. I still live in Florida, but my husband managed to get a job in Gainesville 2001 working for a local power company. He has been a power lineman(now they say lineworker) for over 44 years now. We have lived near High Springs since May of 2002. It is sad to see some of the cattle and horse ranches disappear. One is right on I-75 off of 441. It use to be a horse ranch. My mother said yesterday it looked abandoned. I love Florida, but as mentioned, it’s changed a whole lot!

    Your book sounds good! I like reading about cowboys! And what better subject than about a Florida cracker! Thanks for the tour of old and new Florida!

    • I’ve driven through Live Oak many times on my drives back to Alabama to visit my family. My mom has another house in Ocala she spends part of the year at, and I’m trying to recall where 441 is. She actually lives off 454 I think? South of Ocala. Maybe 434 🙂 My memory evades me sometimes. We stop by Gainesville occasionally to go to the Natural History Museum at the college. And the butterfly garden.

  17. I have only been to Florida one time and we flew there by plain. It was mainly to see Disney World and SeaWorld so I didn’t know about the ranches.

  19. I’m a Native Floridian, still live on the Space Coast of Florida in the same house I grew up in! I could tell you TONS about the changes in Florida, starting with the loss of orange groves, cattle ranches, and more!!

  20. I haven’t been through any of the Florida countryside, only to the beaches & Orlando…..the first time I knew there were horses & cattle in Florida is when I made friends with someone that used to live in Martin County. She grew up on a ranch & rode horses in the local rodeos growing up. I was surprised at the pictures of where she grew up because it didn’t look like what we think of as Florida at all!

  21. Good morning, I have never been to Florida. And yes, I was surprised, and I find it very interesting. Thank you for sharing this. Have a great weekend.

  22. Welcome, Natalie. This is so interesting. I had no idea Florida contained big ranches or that the cowboys were called Florida Crackers. Wow! Who knew? We hope you enjoy your visit. Best of luck with your books!

  23. I live in Florida and love that drive from Okechobee to St Cloud. I prefer it from 95 on my way to Orlando. So peaceful. And what a different way of life from most of south Florida!

  24. I’ve never been to Florida, but I knew about the Crackers because my father was a cowboy, and I’ve always been interested in the cowboy culture and way of life.

  25. Hello. I’m also an Alabama gal! Have visited Florida many times but mostly to beach areas. Once went to Orlando and to the Space Center, Cape Canaveral on a school trip with my grandson but never really thought about there being large ranches there. I guess we were to busy looking at the alligators along the roadway and watching the bald eagles! Lol. There is some beautiful country there! Enjoyed your blog!

    • I’m glad you enjoyed it! And yes, it is easy to stay busy looking at the gators and eagles 🙂

  26. We have never driven through what would be considered cattle country/farm land in Florida. Basically we stuck to coastal roads or the highway which connects Tampa with Daytona Beach. I did not know it existed. So glad you shared this bit of information, as well as the blog about your book, Making A Cowgirl. It sounds intriguing. Glad you were able to share with us today. I love reading about history.

  27. Natalie! I had no idea you lived in Florida! Your FB posts are always so rich with cattle and ranch country, for some reason I assumed you lived in Texas!!!

    Oh, for heaven’s sake.

    Needless to say, I loved your blog. Your book sounds yummy with lots of conflict. Wishing you many sales!

    BTW, Karen Witemeyer posted a link to this blog in our new Reader Group. You’ll enjoy reading the comments over there – and keep those FB posts coming!

    • Well thank you Pam! I’m really enjoying being here and I’m so glad everyone seems to be liking my blog post. I’ll head over to the Facebook group here in a little while to see the comments there too.

  28. I saw a few of those ranches from thd train, as I was heading to Orlando. I have always wanted to go back and explore by car. But so far I haven’t.

  29. I’ve been to Florida twice but didn’t get a chance to visit the country lands. I’d love to see them one day. Thanks for the chance to win a book.

  33. I have been to Florida and driven through ranch country. We even stopped in the Seminole reservation for a bit. I watched a segment of Farm Her about the crackers and ranches.

  34. I never knew Florida had ranches! That’s really interesting. The few times I’ve been to Florida it was to go to the beaches.

  35. I grew up in Indiana so I’m used to farms but I was shocked the first time I went to FL and saw cattle. I couldn’t believe it even though you would need beef there too.

  36. Florida used to be the top dairy producer in the US but I’m not sure where that stands today but still very high. Most people do not realize the amount of wildlife in Florida. Just in my yard alone, I have personally seen black bears, deer, racoons, possums, gray fox, red fox, squirrels, armadillos, spotted skunks, striped skunks and rabbits. Not in my yard (so far lol) but we have the Florida panther, bobcats, wild boars, alligators, crocodiles, coyotes, minks, weasels, nutrias, capybaras, otters, iguanas and nearly every kind of small rodent you can imagine. Plus now, we have the pythons, boa constrictors and anaconda snakes that have been released by stupid people who became tired of them and they have now taken over our area and are threatening our native wildlife.. I currently have a fox den in my backyard and I am in southwest Florida. Florida is beautiful, amazing and like no other..

    • I didn’t know we had minks, weasels or capybaras! At my mom’s Ocala house, she’s had quite a few bears in her yard lately. A mom with two cubs. Plus she saw some bobcats one day. But I never see the bobcats, though I’d love to see them.

  37. Yes, I am surprise they exist. I have never driven through the countryside in Florida. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.

  39. Natalie, thanks for the information on the history of cattle ranching and Florida panther conservation efforts in Florida. I am glad to see the cattlemen are helping with conservation efforts.
    My husband’s brother and family live in Orlando. It was a small town with an Air Force Base when his family moved there in 1963, pre-Disney. Not the same anymore. We try to go down to visit once a year, but avoid I-95 and I-4. The traffic everywhere in the state has gotten so bad. At least going that way we can take back roads and enjoy the trip. We turn West before Jacksonville and come down through the middle of the state through Ocala and Gainesville. That part of the state is lovely and home to many horse farms and cattle ranches. The development has gotten so out of hand. Orange groves are disappearing and urban sprawl is everywhere. My mother-in-laws house used to be in the country with a dairy farm behind it. Now the Florida Mall is less than a mile away and Orange Blossom Trail is behind the house. If anymore is built in the Orlando-Kissimmee area, it is going to sink.

  40. Natalie, enjoyed your blog about Florida ranches & panthers. We have been to many parts of Florida on vacation. Yes, we enjoy exploring & we have seen a lot of ranches with horses & cattle. Everyone should see more of Florida besides the them parks & beaches. It’s a beautiful place, but way too HOT for us in the summer….

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