It has been a while since I posted and apologize for not keeping up. Things got pretty hectic here. One thing and then another; friends, family, trip, chickens, work, car.

As I stated in the begging I was going to be applying for the “Best Job in the World” to back to Australia.  The first round is done and didn’t make it. Oh well, here’s to staying in my Sunshine State and more wandering  in our own little compact, attached, down under wonderland. Since it will also give you a brief background,   I will share my video application here, which I don’t always openly share.

 

Never one to sit still my restlessness and sense of adventure and community has always kept me involved in something.  A big naturalist and country boy have always enjoyed growing things my own, water ever it maybe, from flowers and vegetables to exotic fruit trees. This helped get me involved with the local Rare Fruit Council for about 10 years now.  I ran for Mayor in the first election of our Town, which I helped to Incorporate. I do make my own wine, the preference is elderberry. Right now I am working on making a pergola for some muscadine, a southern variety of native grape.

Now that enough about me- time follow my tracks and see what else we can do!

Florida Cracker Life

Native Seminole Warrior, Jimmy Sawgrass

The term Florida Cracker has become an endearing term used for a unique group people, endemic to the Florida and the pinewoods of southern Georgia. The few lucky enough to have been born and raised here are given this distinct identity.  Crackers are resilient, courageous, and very self-sufficient. The origins of the term “Cracker” as reference to native born Floridians are as deep, tangles and mysterious as a hike into the Florida Scrub. While there is some dominance of Celtic origins for most Florida Crackers it is more a reference for a creed of people than a race.

When most people think of Florida and the peoplethat live there images of that often appear tothem are retired seniors; blonde tanned sporty beach bums playing and lazing on a sandy beach; tropical sunny days; swamps, alligators; orange juice and Disney.  While there are tenants of truth to most of these, they all have helped to shape the modern Florida. The deeply rural nature of Florida is usually glazed over or forgotten. It’s pretty common knowledge that we are the place for oranges, we provide a majority of the Nations produce east of the Mississippi River, second largest head of cattle in the world, home to an equestrian state second only to Kentucky.

Unfortunately most also perceive Florida to be a relatively new state and merely for recreation; even though its history is the oldest colony. It has rapidly become one the most populated States, though most of its history it has been one the least populated.  With rather large geography and unique climate, this gave the original Floridians a deeply enduring pioneering spirit causing them to reach deep within themselves, the community, and the land itself. Although the ruggedness of the terrain, intense climate, and just the isolation families had to bear was more than many families could endure and would often return home to the lands that they came. So for those that stayed and endured through the hardships maintained a special sense of pride and connection to the land that so often used o be referred to as “Gods Land” and would take the title of being a Florida Cracker.

The origins of the term Cracker are as deep, tangles and mysterious as a hike into the Florida Scrub. The term in reference goes back for centuries in European for someone who talks or boasts a lot. Even as William Shakespeare said:
"What cracker is this same that deafe our eares with this abundance of superfluous breath?” King John, Act II, Scene 1, 1594.

Until the era of the American Civil War the term Cracker would a general reference to Southerner’s, or what we call rednecks, later on only becoming a reference to the people of southern Georgia and Florida. The common, modern, accepted definition is the pioneering Florida cattle hunters that used the (supersonic) cracking of their whips to round up the wild cattle in incredibly thick and thorny brush.

One of the most well rounded descriptions has to come from local historical-fiction writer Patrick D. Smith, in What Is a Florida Cracker?

... What really makes a person a true Florida Cracker (besides being born in the state)? Several things: A love of the land and nature, growing things in soil, close family ties, and a deep sense of religion. It also means cracklin' bread and grits and periwinkle soup and swamp cabbage and okra gumbo and ham hocks with collard greens and chicken fried in a cast iron skillet and guava jelly and homemade blackberry cobbler.

A Cracker's word is his bond. If he looks you in the eye and says, "Yes, I will do this for you," then he will - and that's that. They have no pretense, never put on airs, never try to appear to be something other than what they are, and they never "blow smoke" over you. They either like you or they don't, and it's as simple as that ...


 

 

 

A typical Florida Cracker Bar-Q-Q. Put on as part of a fundraiser for the Wounded Warriors program.

With gator, frog legs, wild hog and a unique Florida specialty Swamp Cabbage (the heart of the cabbage/sable palm).

 

Welcome to Cracker Tracks!

Hey there and Welcome to Cracker Tracks!  Many folks have been pushing me to start this blog to keep up with my many travels and as a way to learn about new and exciting places that they may like to visit themselves. Known for my constant thrill for adventure and general love for diversified and cultural activities, it has been somewhat of a joke between some close friends that they need to put a device on me just to keep track. So here it goes. I will start by explaining a bit as to why the title and a little about myself.

As a native born Floridian we are given the distinct title of being a “Cracker” and it is often a term touted with great pride by the few lucky enough to be born and raised here. Being raised on the Space Coast, and a bit of an island hopping beach bum, I often will refer to myself as a Coastal Cracker. I do understand that in other parts of the country this is not considered such a positive term and will take more time to explain about the importance of being a Florida Cracker later.

Known for my advent wanderlust, I am seemingly on never ending adventures or involved in some kind of activity. From sunset trips and diving in the Florida Keys; working to set-up the winter Olympics in Whistler, Canada; founding a town and running for Mayor; camping with my Boy Scout Troop; to watching a friends beach house and doing back country hikes. A few of the many activities I have been involved in include State Culinary Competition finalist; working at a Historic Cattle Ranch that also serves as a ecological preserve; National Underwater Robotics Competition; growing my own food and member of the Brevard Rare Fruit Club; Worm Grunting in Sopchoppy and Mullet tossing across the state line; extensive removal of invasive species (particularly Brazilian Pepper Busts) and always looking to stop at local markets while I’m out and about.

The combination of these two parts of my life (being a Florida Cracker and needing to be “kept Tracked”) gave the idea for the title of this site. My friends and family have been pushing me to start up a website, something more than Facebook in order for them to not only keep up with my many travels, but as a way to learn about new and exciting places they may like to visit themselves. I have largely shrugged this off primarily because I am not a very big technology person and more of a hands on outdoors guy.

So needless to say when I took off on my biggest and most wondrous adventure yet, to live and work in Australia for upwards of a year or more, with little to no plans, they were just as supportive as they where jealous and disheartened about not being able to follow me on my walk about.

After returning home and spending so much time answering questions about my grandest wander yet, I made a personal promise to myself that I would create a site to share my adventures and experiences for others. However the final momentum for me to start this blog was the potential for the Best Job in the World: Taste Master for Western Australia (WA).  My time in Perth during my working holiday gave me a glimpse into the natural splendor of WA that I may have otherwise over looked. This job would give me the opportunity of a lifetime; for me this means returning to a land that changed my life and fed my soul.  A chance to surprise distant friends and see the things that just can’t be copied into pictures and only preserved  in memories; like the hues of salmon on the pink gums or the smell in the eucalypt forest after a rain storm.