We recently connected with Pamela Borgel and have shared our conversation below.

Pamela, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I began Painted Horse Winery and Vineyards in order to overcome adversity in my own life. I didn’t have a plan, I just had a really bad day and decided it was not going to ruin me. I first had to overcome my anger and did that by destroying a beautiful horse pasture with my plow. It was cathartic. But, then I knew I needed to make it beautiful again and that is when I decided to plant vineyards in the newly destroy pasture. I planted the first 300 vines myself. That, too, was cathartic. From there things began to grow and God’s hand was visible. Today, I am happier and stronger than I have ever been and I thank God for the adversity that has led me to success.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have always been a farmer. I began The Farm at Pamelot 28 years ago. We are a full working farm in the heart of Milton, Georgia. We began as an equestrian farm, breeding, boarding, training and running summer camp all summer long. Over the years that has grown. We still do all of the above, but over the years have grown. We have laying hens and collect eggs every day; we have a complete apiary and harvest honey twice a year, we have a dairy cow we milk twice a day and make butter, cheese, whipped cream and more; we have a hatchery and just hatched over 20 chicks, 4 turkey and 3 ducklings; we have the little animals, Daisy our miniature cow, Fraunky or donkey, Pedro and Poppy our goats, Olive our lamb, John and Sylvia our bunnies and more! (We are very literary as well…our bunnies’ full names are John Steinbeck and Sylvia Plath.) Our crops include grapes, figs, blueberries, jalapeños, tomatoes, apples, pears, peaches and more. We use all of our produce for production and sustainability.

Our winery tasting room is open to the public Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We are family and dog friendly.

The name Painted Horse has a two-fold meaning. One of our hallmarks is that when children come to an event at The Farm, they get to paint our horses….the real horses! We use non-toxic finger paint that doesn’t hurt horse or child and it is so much fun! The second meaning comes for the Native American Indians. To show victory in battle, they would paint their war horse. Painted Horse Winery defines my victory over adversity!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I am a native of Atlanta and my family moved to Alpharetta in 1969. My roots in the area are deep. My grandchildren are the 5th generation in this area. In fact, my grandchildren are the 5th generation to live in my family home on Hagood Road. My granddaughter has my bedroom with the exact same wallpaper that was in it when I was a little girl!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The whole story of Painted Horse Winery and Vineyards was about pivoting in life. We can’t let our circumstances define us, we define our circumstances!

Contact Info:

• Website: thepaintedhorsewinery.com
• Instagram: paintedhorsewienry
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paintedhorsewinery