Thanksgiving

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. It's one of my favorite holidays because it's a time for fellowship with my family. We always have the usual fare, although lately the turkey has taken a backseat to the roasted oysters, quail, doves and duck that find their way onto the Thanksgiving table. In my family, land ownership plays a big role in our Thanksgiving festivities. In South Carolina, there is a short duck and dove season that comes in the week of Thanksgiving and deer season has already been in full effect. My father owns 118 acres of land in Hampton County that contains a 50 acre black-water swamp, teeming with all kinds of wildlife. One of my favorite memories takes place during a morning duck hunt there. It was a brisk and breezy Thanksgiving morning, when my father, John, and brother, Daniel, and I set off in the swamp to shoot wood ducks. The hunt was great, as we all collected our limits, but what I'll never forget was captured in the moments before sunrise. I looked up at a full moon framed by leafless oak branches waving back and forth in the wind. The trees groaning and creaking were soothing to my ears. All of my thoughts were washed away as I experienced a sense of peacefulness that is difficult for me to describe. From time to time, when I need a moment to clear my mind, I go back to that Thanksgiving morning. I can feel the breeze, hear the sounds of the trees and see them waving and it brings me peace. The next time you are outdoors, stop and take a moment. Soak in all of God's creation and hopefully you too will have an experience like the one I just shared.

Jason Burbage is the Director of Operations for Carolina Land Realty.

The "Heartbeat" of America by Jason Walter

To me landowners are the "Heartbeat of America." I always jokingly say that land owners love their property more than their children. The American land owner is typically a person who was born on the property and has worked with that land their entire life. The attachment they have with their property is very emotional. This is why you can't be successful in the rural land business without having lots of patience and understanding of these owners.My team spends the majority of everyday meeting with landowners and it is never in a boardroom. We have ridden on bobcats, tractors, boats, trucks, planes, horses, golf carts, mules, and even one time a landowner toured us on his property in the shovel part of a track hoe. It seems that I have had more dinners and lunches at land owners houses than my own. I have met with women whose husbands had passed as recently as the day before. I have met with landowners who lived in shacks with no plumbing and took joy in their expressions when I told them their land was worth millions. This is why I tell people I really don't have a job. It is too much fun to be considered work! The bottom line with being successful in the land business is you have to understand the American Land owner and you have to develop relationships with as many as you can. To me this is a dream business and it amazes me at how few people are in it. I guess I am just one of the lucky ones.