It takes awhile to adjust to a new lifestyle. It takes 45 minutes to bring a pot of jambalaya to simmer, and the kitchen at Raymond and Kathy Paul’s Fanlew Farms near Sarepta, La., is beginning to smell like Louisiana cooking. The Pauls moved their operation and breeding philosophy from the small panhandle community of Fanlew, Fla., a year and a half ago, and they are beginning to acclimate.
“It’s a different way of living here,” Kathy Paul said. “Neighbors help each other like nowhere else I have ever been. People are nice. People are friendly, and it’s a much slower pace. A lot of people don’t use computers here. They want to look you in the eye or talk on the phone.”
Finding the location for Fanlew Farms was more of a “Bonnie and Clyde”-like experience than a Web site search. “We just drove around everywhere, getting a feel for the land,” Kathy remembered. “It was fun. We started in the southern part of the state, but I didn’t like the soil or the possibility of hurricanes. We saw enough hurricanes in Florida. We kept driving north until we landed here almost on the Arkansas border.”
