Pam Dooley

County Home Ec. Agent

In just a few days, the Easter bunny will be hippity-hopping into many Kentucky homes.  Along with the annual visit form our long-eared friend, coloring Easter eggs is one of the favorite holiday activities for children of all ages.  While many of us are accustomed to purchasing the little dye tablets from the store, you can also use natural ingredients to get colorful results.

Ingredients like fresh beets, yellow onion skins and fruit juices can dye eggs.  Here’s a list of natural dye sources and the colors they produce.

Fresh beets – pinkish red

Yellow onion skins – orange

Spinach leaves – pale green

Red cabbage leaves or canned blueberries – blue

Strong brewed coffee – beige to brown

Grape, cranberry, pomegranate or beet juice – grey/purple/red

Golden delicious apple peels – green-gold

Begin with eggs that are hard boiled or blown out.  If you plan to eat them, hard boiled eggs should be cooled quickly after cooking and stored in the refrigerator until used.  They should never be held at room temperature for longer than two hours.

Choose your desired color or place the natural dye in a pan large enough for water to be 1 inch above the dye material.  Bring the water to a boil.  Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the desired color is achieved.  Remember eggs will be a lighter color than the dye mixture.

Remove the pan from the heat and strain the dye into a measuring cup.  Add two to three teaspoons of white vinegar for each cup of strained dye.

Pour the mixture into a container deep enough to completely cover eggs.  Place the eggs in dye water and wait until desired color is achieved.

Remove the eggs from the mixture and dry naturally.  Remember that naturally dried eggs will have a dull finish, but you can rub them with cooking oil to make them shine.

If you plan to eat the dyed eggs, be sure to use food-grade materials or dyes for coloring.  As well as the natural dyes listed above, it’s safe to use commercial egg dyes, liquid food coloring or fruit-drink powders.  Make sure no cracks develop in the eggs as these leave openings for bacteria, which can result in illness.

If you’re going to consume eggs that have been used in an egg hunt, hide eggs in places away from dirt, moisture, pets and other possible sources of bacteria.  Do not hunt these eggs longer than two hours.  Eggs can be washed and either eaten immediately or put back in the refrigerator within two hours.  Use them within one week of cooking.

Happy New Year!
Each year the University gives us the week after Christmas as a paid holiday. It is a wonderful Christmas present. It is our Christmas bonus. It usually allows us time to go see additional family and friends after the holidays. This year, just the day after Christmas, I ended up in the Emergency room with pneumonia, then my wife and I both enjoyed the holiday stomach bug which lasted for five days! So much for Christmas break!  We rang in the New Year on the 31st – one on one couch, the other on the love seat! It was the most lame New Year’s eve party ever, and we did not care. Hopefully the rest of the year will be better! We wish all of you a wonderful 2015!

Beekeepers invited to attend area
workshops
Beekeepers across the area might want to jot these dates down on their new 2015 calendars if they are interested in any winter educational sessions relating to beekeeping. Some of these will start as early as next week, and some will go through the end of February. There are also some other workshops, further out in other areas of the state, not listed, but I have information on those if needed
Any and all beekeepers are invited to attend, but keep in mind registration dates and workshop registration fees. Most are on a first come registration system and many have limited participant numbers.
The first winter bee workshop this year will be Jan. 16-18 at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, 3501 Lexington Road in Harrodsburg. The workshop includes tracks for beginner and advanced beekeepers. An Introduction to Beekeeping course will discuss how to start, equipment needed, and first-year disease and pest management. Topics in the advanced track are honey plants, growing your apiary, and marketing your honey. Cost is $75, which includes refreshments, lunch, door prizes, and a copy of “First Lessons in Beekeeping” by Keith S. Delaplane. For more information, go to www.shakervillageky.org and click on “Special Events Calendar,” then “1/16/2015.”
• The Eastern Kentucky Winter Bee School will be Jan. 24 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. EST at Hazard Community and Technical College. Cost is $25, which includes lunch, registration, and vendors. Welcome and keynote speaker will be Stephanie Tarwater, a Tennessee migratory beekeeper and former Florida bee inspector. Basic microscopy classes will be offered. Space is limited, and sign-ups are necessary. Beekeepers and other eligible producers may sign up to join the Appalachia Proud marketing program during the bee school. For more information, or to register, contact Perry County Extension agent Charles May at cmay@uky.edu.
• The Northeastern Kentucky Winter Bee School, sponsored by the Licking River Beekeeping Association, is scheduled for Feb. 28 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. EST at Maysville Community and Technical College, 1755 U.S. Highway 68 in Maysville. State Apiarist Tammy Horn will be the special speaker. Preregistration for adults is $20, and admission at the door is $25. Children will be admitted for $7.50. Price includes lunch and refreshments. Preregister by emailing lickingriverba@gmail.com. by Feb. 23.
• The Bluegrass Beekeepers School will be March 7 at Kentucky State University in Frankfort. Welcome and keynote speaker will be University of Kentucky entomology professor Dr. Subba Reddy Palli. The American Honey Queen will attend and teach classes. Preregistration will begin in January and conclude Feb. 28 at $25 per adult and $10 per child. Registration at the door will be $35 per adult and $15 per child. For more information, contact Phil Clark at pdc3393@twc.com.

Feed the Birds this winter
Each year in the United States over 85 million people buy anywhere from $60 to $600 worth of seed to keep their fine feathered friends happy and healthy.  Maybe you were one of the lucky individuals who received a bird feeder or a box of bird seed for Christmas last month.  Feeding the birds brings us hours of enjoyment each winter, but birds can be a bit finicky.  Just look around the feeder and see.
Keep in mind when feeding the birds this winter that not all birds will eat everything.  The cheap bird seed you may find in department or food stores may be only $1 per bag, but most of it may be cracked corn, wheat and milo.  These seeds are extremely cheap and if you look in the bird feeder in a week or two you may find most of the seeds are still there. Sunflower seeds, for most of the birds in our area, is by far the best choice and the best buy in the long run.  Birds have a high metabolism and their bodies appreciate such high protein seeds such as sunflower and safflower.  Sunflowers also are easy to crack open, by even the smaller birds at our feeders.  Sunflowers are the top choice for cardinals, chickadees, titmice and finches.
Fruit and meat eaters such as bluebirds and robins rarely eat bird seed of any type, so what will bring these fine feathered friends in? To attract these birds, soak raisins overnight and place in a tray or table feeder.  They may even take advantage of pieces of apple or oranges, left over from the holidays.
Cracked corn may be available for feeding the birds in some areas.  Cracked corn can be eaten by ground feeders such as doves, blue jays and juncos.  Cracked corn, however is also the seed of choice for sparrows and blackbirds which are common here, but not welcome at most bird feeders.  Blue jays also love cracked, or even whole peanuts. Maybe you have some peanuts left over from Christmas and need to clean out all your cupboards. Peanuts also attract mockingbirds, woodpeckers and brown thrashers.
Many of our larger birds may benefit from suet which is basically animal fat with an occasional seed or grain mixed in.  Suet feeders can be easily obtained and bird feeders can make up their own mix with corn, cornmeal, sunflower seeds or millet.
A good recipe for suet cake (for the birds, not the kids), include: 4 cups melted animal fat, 1 cup sunflower seed, ½ cup millet.  Mix seeds together, melt suet, mix both seeds and suet and pour in muffin tins.  Allow to harden before serving the birds.  You can also add 1 cup peanut butter or cracked or ground corn.
Suet can be hung from a wire cage and attached to a tree or post.  Do not place these next to the house as a sunny day may melt grease on to your  home.  Suet is hard to beat for a mid-winter treat for woodpeckers, blue jays, chickadees, titmice, juncos, thrushes and mockingbirds.
As with all other pieces of real estate, location, location, location is important as to where your feeder should be for the best results.  Locate feeders at different levels and different areas within your yard.  To avoid crowding, provide table like feeders for ground feeding birds, suet feeders for the larger birds and tube feeders for the smaller birds.  To prevent birds from collisions, place feeders at least 3 feet from windows, or attach netting outside windows to deflect birds from the glass.
Enjoy your new feeders and also enjoy the birds this winter.

Many residents of Powell County can tell you where the Stanton Airport is located. They can even tell you where the Mt. View Drive-In is at and probably several stories about making trips there in their lifetime. But not too many can tell you about one of the men who helped to make them possible. That is because unfortunately the man who had ideas left this world way too early.
Some may recall the old one-room school house on Cane Creek many years ago and the young teacher who helped them. She left the profession to raise a family. Both loved their family and this county but was killed in a tragic accident 50 years ago. Hargus Denzil Faulkner and Virginia Martin Faulkner, may have been taken way too soon, but they have left a legacy.

Virginia and Denzil Faulkner took this picture about a year before a tragic accident took their lives near the state park where they enjoyed taking their children. Two of their four children also perished in the accident. Lanna Kay (photo below, back left, and Ellis, 5 (in front of his sister) died in the accident. Denny (back, right) and Charles (in front of Denny) survived but were seriously injured.

Denzil, as many called him, was killed in a head-on collision near the Cumberland Falls State Park on Aug. 16, 1964. Faulkner and his family had gone to visit a relative who was reportedly sick with cancer. After a side trip to the state park, an area he loved to visit, the accident occurred just four miles south of Corbin on U.S. 25-W.
Faulkner’s car was hit head-on by a vehicle driven by Dr. Ronald C. S. Young of Birmingham, Michigan. That couple died in the crash as well. The accident was a tragedy in many ways.
Faulkner, 37 at the time, his wife, Virginia Martin Faulkner, 42, and two of his four children that were in the car were killed. Lanna Kay Faulkner, an active 12 year old who was in 4-H and was like a second mom to her siblings, along with Ellis Faulkner, 5, the baby of the family, also passed away. Two other boys in the car, Denny, 15 at the time, and Charles, 7, survived but were both seriously injured.
Following a hospital stay and some court discussions Denny and Charles stayed with their maternal grandparents, Charles and Mattie Martin. Both of them passed away when the youngest survivor, Charles, was still a teenager. He was 15 when his grandmother passed away and 17 when his grandfather died.
Tragedy seemed to plague the Faulkner’s.
“I had a sister, Patsy Ann, who died when she was two years old,” Charles Faulkner remembers. “She had apparently got into some baby aspirins and momma and daddy took her to the doctor. He didn’t pump her stomach or nothing, but said she would be alright. She died when they got back home.”
It would not be hard to believe that facing such seemingly cruel events that the two boys who survived may take a path in life that may lead to other problems. But Charles and Denny went on to graduate high school and become hard workers both in their own right.
Denny, helped to work with the state highway department and highway maintenance. He worked on projects as an engineer and in mapping for the state, and even worked at Rockwell for awhile. He finished his working days, retiring, as a foreman for Hinkle Contracting.
Charles, also worked for the state with the highway department. Since retiring from that he has built houses and run equipment on some jobs. Both were things he loved to do.
Denzil was quite well known in the area. His generosity and smile were two things those who remember him brag about. He worked hard and had a lot of ideas.
“He was very personable. Very outgoing and everyone liked him,” David Baker, the current owner of the Mt. View Drive-In and a cousin to Denzil said. “Everybody knew him and liked him.”
Baker also said that Denzil loved to help people and even donated to help the high school athletic program on several occasions.
“He used to have this old wallet that had a chain on it, you know the kind I’m talking about, and he would see Bill Orme, (the athletic director and basketball coach back then) and if the teams needed something, Bill told me once, that Denzil would just reach in that wallet and give him money to help,” Baker recalled. “I believe Bill told me that if Denzil had not been so generous who knows if the athletic program would have been around. He just loved to help.”
Denzil loved to fly and had his own plane. It was a 1946 J-3 “Cub”. Since he loved to fly so much, he joined on when a group of men who wanted to open an airport at Stanton. He supported it and flew from there often. Until he was told he was too much of a daredevil. So he made his own landing strip on his farm on Cane Creek and built his own hanger.
“He was quite a daredevil. I’ve heard stories and David Lee (Baker) can tell you some, about how he would fly under the bridges on the Mountain Parkway and he was even known to touch the planes wheel down on the top of the drive-in concession stand,” Charles Faulkner recalled from the stories he was told.
“I remember once my brother told me he took him up and they dipped down, touched the top of the concession stand and barely made it over the big screen. Daddy told my brother that Momma didn’t need to know everything they did when they were out. He liked to have fun from what I was told.”
Faulkner even recalled stories of his father taking people for a ride and when they landed they would be scared from the barrel rolls or under-the-bridge flights. The passenger may have been scared, but Denzil had a smile on his face.
“He also had an idea about a drag strip, that was before we had one. He wanted to build one on the farm,” Charles recalls his family telling him about it. “But I reckon Mom and Granny said they were not going to have all that noise up there.”
“Yes, and he (Denzel) went and talked to Mr. Kennon about the idea, was my understanding,” Baker quickly added. The Kennon family now runs the Mt. Park Dragway in Clay City and have for the past 51 years.
But the drive-in is one legacy that may be fading away. Higher costs and newly required equipment have made it hard to keep the drive-in open. But it was Denzil, Jack Kidd and J.M. Mahaffee who started the drive-in.
“Those three got it going. Kidd was the county agriculture agent and I believe the state told him he could not be in a business venture like that, so Denzil bought his third,” Baker recalled. “I had come in from the military back in 1957 and went to Cincinnati with Denzil to pick up some films. On the way back he talked me into buying a half share in the drive-in. So when we got back we went straight to Beattyville where Mahaffee lived. I stayed in the car and Denzil went in. When he came out he had bought Mahaffee’s third too, so it was me and him with the drive-in.”
Baker got to begin running it in 1959. “He walked in one day said he was going to Florida and I could run it,” Baker said. “I never thought I’d be running a drive-in. I was working at a post office in Carlisle.” He’s been running it ever since.
Denzil went to Florida for a short time and started a mobile home park there.
“Daddy had a lot of ideas apparently,” Faulkner said.
Faulkner’s mom, the former teacher, was not quite as much of a daredevil, he recalls. “She stayed at home with us kids and I can remember her always being there. But she had some fun too.”
Faulkner recalled a story his uncle, Teddy Martin, told him.
“Mom was teaching at the school and she had her brother, my uncle Teddy, in the class. One day he was acting up and she told him she was going to get him if he didn’t stop,” Faulkner said. “Well Teddy said he kept it up and when she came after him he jumped out the window thinking she wouldn’t come after him. But she did. So he took off running thinking she wouldn’t chase, him but she did. Finally Teddy thought he would jump in the swimming hole in the creek and he did. Mom was right there, in the water pulling him up and taking him back to the school. It had to be funny to see.”
“The Lord has blessed me well. I had a fine family to raise me,” Faulkner said in looking back at his life so far. “I have a fine wife and five boys. I’m blessed. Especially with family like David Lee to watch over me.”
They say time heals all wounds, but you may never forget. Fifty years is a long time, but when you were there and you lost four members of your family, that never goes away.
“I think about it everyday. It gets a little easier, but you never get over it,” Charles said. “You sit back and wonder what they have said or what would they have thought about this or that.”
“You wonder how things may have been different,” Baker added. Baker and his family was invited to go on that trip and would have been in a separate car. But something came up and they did not go.
“I was raised by good grandparents. I had my other grandparents, my dad’s parents, Lydia and Cebert Faulkner. I was blessed,” Faulkner said. “But I still wonder what if and I do think of them everyday.”
“I think I was blessed and touched the most when we got our first grandchild, a girl,” Faulkner said with a smile. “My son did me an honor and named her Lana Kay. That meant a lot.”
Faulkner has shown that even when things seem to be at their worse, good things can still come out of them. A huge smile and new grandchild is just a part of the legacy that Denzil and Virginia Faulkner have left behind and Charles Faulkner has embraced.

Sarah Bloom, Times Lifestyles Columnist

A decade is a long time, ten years to be exact, yet it has flown by as mere seconds.  Ten years I have occupied the front desk of The Clay City Times office.
For ten years I have answered the phone, helped customers at the cash register, and typed more pages than I could possibly count.  I have been witness to every emotion that I think a human being can possibly have.
There have been good times and there have been bad times; there have been tragic times and there have been times of thanksgiving.  I have shared in the joyous occasions of new births, marriages, anniversaries and graduations and I have hugged the necks of those who had just lost a loved one.
But life does not slow down for any one person and now I find myself turning the page, beginning a new chapter if you will.
After much prayer and consideration I will be leaving my position at the Times as of August 26.
I never envisioned myself working in journalism or the newspaper business but I believe God puts us where He wants us and so I walked through that door when it was opened to me and I will forever be grateful that I did.
In hindsight it is quite amazing how much you can learn about yourself and people in ten years of time.  When I first took this job I was somewhat shy in a variety of ways.
It took me awhile to get comfortable with answering phones and questions, but I caught on.  Dealing with the public took me longer to master and even though I am fairly decent at it, ten years in I am still learning.
Experience is the best teacher in all things.
Over the years my experiences with customers here at the paper have taught me that a little bit of kindness can just about squash any amount of anger a person can conjure up.  As I said before I think I have witnessed every emotion a human being can have.  Out of all of those feelings anger is the most difficult to deal with and sometimes comprehend.  People say and do crazy things when they let their anger get the best of them.
I have had my ear chewed off by irate customers over issues I had no control over.  They just wanted their grievance to be heard and I was the unlucky one to answer the phone.  Even the most furious person can be derailed by a tiny bit of kindness or a small word of understanding.
I can also put someone in their place real quick with a sweet dose of no nonsense, cut to the bone “hush your mouth” either by word or a simple look.  There is a time to keep your mouth closed and listen to a complaint and then there is a time to quickly end it.  Like I said, anger makes people say and do crazy things.
On the flip side of that I am so thankful for those customers who have also become friends; those who have taken the time to ask me how my day was and several who stop by just to sit and chat for a while.  I will most definitely miss that aspect of this job.  The friendly faces are what I looked forward to most.
God has also blessed me with several wonderful people to work with over these past ten years.  Though several have come and gone I am thankful for each one.
We all shared in the good and bad and we all learned from one another in some form or fashion.  If it were not for the encouragement of James Cook I would not have had the extra confidence to begin sharing a weekly column in the paper.
His editorial guidance has probably kept me out of hot water on more than one occasion.  He is more than a co-worker he is a true friend and I wish him all the best.  I just ask that people take it easy on him; he has a lot on his shoulders.
I am grateful to my boss Teresa for giving me this opportunity in the first place.  She took a chance on me and I hope I have served this paper and her business well.
Many of you who have come into the office have seen my boys there.  My youngest son has in essence grown up in the Times building.  I started bringing him to work with me when he was a baby of three months and he is now a rambunctious seven year old.  My boss allowed me to bring my boys to work with me and for that I will be eternally thankful to her.
I sincerely thank you, the readers, of this paper for allowing me to be a small part of your lives.  I can literally look back through the past ten years of columns and watch my boys grow up.  My very first column to this paper spoke of how quickly my children were turning into young men.  Since that initial column my husband and I added another precious boy to our family, my twins are now on the cusp of driving and my Luke is fixing to become a teenager.  As I have said many times before, time slows down for no one, not even a mom.
Many of you probably do not know that for the past three years I have been working two jobs.  In addition to my responsibilities here at the paper I also work as a veterinary assistant at the Stanton Veterinary Clinic.  My dream since childhood was to be a veterinarian but life led me in a different direction and that is alright, but I did attend college for a period of time in pursuit of that goal.  Now I am at a point in my life where I need to step back and take a breather and focus on my childhood dream…taking care of animals.
I hope to still share an occasional guest column with you.  I stand firm in my Christian faith and believe we all need to stand up for our beliefs.  We should not be content to stay quiet and take the easy way out.  God needs us now more than ever.  Our liberties and freedoms are being taken away at an alarming rate and if we continue to sit back and watch we have no room to complain.  We are His army; we are His tools, His weapons in this war for our souls.  I don’t care what color your skin is, how much money you have or what your family name is…we are all the same in His eyes and each soul is just as beautiful to Him as the next.  He loves you even if this world hates you…you just have to let Him in.
The walls in my office are now bare, my boys’ pictures and drawings safely tucked away in the box on the floor.  I will miss my place here, but I am excited to read the next chapter of my life the good Lord has already written.  God bless you all…

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.  Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” Psalm 34:1-3

By Mildred Arvin, CCT Guest Columnist

It’s time now for gardens to yield us a lot of good vegetables.  I can remember when everybody depended on their gardens to feed their families the year round.
My mom canned on her wood stove in the kitchen or outside over a fire made under a big tub that would hold a dozen jars or more of green beans, tomatoes or whatever.  It took some doing to have enough wood to keep the fire hot and water boiling to cook green beans for four hours.
Someone had to stoke the fire up often to keep the water boiling.  Mom also canned in a canner with a rack and lid that held seven quarts or 14 pints.
If any of you try to can beans the old-fashioned way, you might check with the extension office to see if they actually would need boiling four hours.  Maybe less time would do it.  I can beans now in a pressure canner in quart jars and boil them for 30 minutes under ten pound pressure.  I pack jars with clean beans and fill them up with warm water to the top below the band.  I always put one teaspoon of salt on top first, then I put caps and screw bands on tightly before boiling.
The old wood stove sure heated up the kitchen, but it was easier inside than outside, I guess.  Mom either canned or dried everything because we didn’t have electricity for a long time.
Later, we had a refrigerator and only used the freezer in the top for ice. All of us kids liked to chomp on ice cubes a lot.
Mom made vanilla ice cream from a mix that you stirred into milk, poured into ice trays, and let partly freeze before you took it out and beat it with a fork and poured it back in.  The mix made good ice cream.  Jello was a very good and popular dessert back then too.  We all loved it.
Almost everybody up at Drip Rock bought an Admiral refrigerator from a store in Irvine, so we all had one just alike.
My mom would string whole beans or red peppers up on twine, (also apple slices) and tie them up behind our wood stove to dry.  She used a lot of the different kinds of apples from our orchard to make applesauce, apple jelly, apple butter and canned sulfured apples, which had a very unique taste.
My daddy liked a lot of sweetening, and Mom made cobbler pies a lot (one of his favorites was rhubarb).
She also made butter roll for him and us by just rolling out biscuit dough and putting several tablespoons of homemade butter on it, adding sugar, and rolling it up and baking it.  I’ll bet cinnamon would have made it better, but I think he liked it plain.
Daddy also kept five or six beehives for honey.  He robbed the bees in the summer, I think.
He would dress up in his bee bonnet and gloves, and he tied his shirt sleeves and pant legs to keep the bees out.  He used a smoker to blow smoke in the hive to addle the bees.
Now Mom always said she wasn’t afraid of those bees, and she did help him hold things when he was getting honey out of the can or bucket.
The bees sometimes would be more lively or maybe not get smoked good. Once one popped Mom in the top of her head, and she got out of there in a hurry. She had a headache afterwards.
Sometimes the bees would swarm, and she and us kids would run get pans and something to bang on them with to settle the bees.   They usually settled in one of our apple trees on a limb.  Daddy would bring the beehive down, set it on a sheet, cut the limb off and wrap the bees up so they would go back in the hive.  It always worked. The bees always follow the queen.
Some of the honey would be dark and some light.  We used to like to eat some in the comb and chew the wax, but Daddy strained some of the honey too.
He never did make molasses but bought some from someone who did.  He preferred honey to eat on hot biscuits.
A lot of people back then ate Karo Syrup.  Us kids re-used the buckets it came in for our lunch pails.
People didn’t throw things away nor waste anything.
The Bible mentions honey several times.  John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey.  In Psalms 119-103, it says God’s word is sweeter than honey, and in Exodus 3:8, God said the promised land for Israel would be flowing with milk and honey.  A good place to be.
***
I have a sauerkraut recipe to share that came from Ruth Winkle.  It is a little different, but we used it last year, and the kraut kept good.

Sauerkraut
Chop cabbages and fill jars ½ full.  Add 1 tablespoon of canning salt and one teaspoon of white vinegar.
Fill jars on up but not real tight.  Pour hot water over cabbage and then add ¼ teaspoon of sugar on top.
Put lids on loosely and allow to ferment for approximately two weeks.  Seal tightly by heating in a hot water bath, but don’t cook it.

From time to time it does a person good to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Time clocks, backed up traffic, lines at the gas pumps, lines everywhere and people in a rush can really stress you out.
So why not go into the woods and rough it? If that sounds like a good idea, then Callies Lake & Campground in Bowen, located behind the Bowen First Church of God, may be exactly what your looking for. Plus this weekend, July 18 and July 19, you can camp for free.
Callies Lake and Campground is so new that the owner, Shane Bowen, is still laying out walking trails and setting up camp sites. Those campsites, for now, are primitive. For those unsure about what that means, there is no electric or running water. Not yet anyway, but there are plans to add those items later. For now there is a water tank and a portable toilet area for those who wish to stay.
Trading in some of the normal comforts of home and even some campsites that have some of the comforts of home may seem like a lot. But it truly gets you back to nature and to place where your troubles and stress can fade away.
Each of the 30 or more campsites are set up with a fire pit and a place to place a tent or even a pop-up camper. There are places to set up RV’s as well, but once again the campground is primitive.
“Right now people can come up here and relax, and camp out like we all used to,” Bowen said. “Build a fire, roast some hot dogs or marshmallows, or whatever and just enjoy the peace and quiet.”
The lake was built in 1958 when his grandmother, Callie, owned the property. “I had to break my daughter’s heart (Callie Bowen) when I told her it was named after my grandmother and not her,” Bowen said with a chuckle.
The lake has a small island close to one end. Bowen plans to build it up with some fill dirt, then build a bridge over to it and possibly set up a gazebo. “People could get married right there if they wanted to once that is set up,” he added.
Close to that area he is currently building a stage area. “I’d like to bring some music in here and hopefully people could camp out, do a little fishing and enjoy the entertainment on special weekends,” Bowen said. He is hoping to get the stage area finished and have a band playing there in September.
As for fishing, the lake is stocked with bass, bluegill, crappie and catfish. The philosophy of catch and release is used at the lake.
“When you pay to camp here, then an additional $5 lets you fish all you want while your here,” Bowen said. “As long as you practice catch and release.
But for this free camping weekend, the fishing is free too. The normal price for camping is $12 per night.
Bowen hopes to keep adding to the area over the next few weeks, months and years. The campground and lake has about 50 acres to work with.
“I’m getting an engineer to come up and look at running electric up here and then we’ll work on water. I’m even working on making a new entrance to the campground and lake coming off (Highway) 15 straight up to it,” Bowen said about his plans. “I’d put a store in there so people could check in and pick up some supplies, then come on up and enjoy themselves.” He even has plans for some cabins later on, as the campground starts to grow.
But that is further down the road. For now, the lake and campground, located about halfway between Stanton and the Red River Gorge area, gives people a place to relax and get back to some basic, primitive fun.
To reserve your campsite please call one of the phone numbers listed below, email callieslakeandcampground@yahoo.com, or send Bowen and his family a private message. You can even find them on Facebook/Callies Lake-Campground.  The cost is $12 per day and to fish in the pay lake is $5 for campers for the entire stay. But remember this weekend, July 18-19, it is all free.
The phone numbers listed are 859-404-3680, 859-404-3803, 606-521-5695, 859-559-2554 and 859-771-6935.