A Taste of Spring for So. Region IEAFCS

Southern Region IEAFCS Members and Friends enjoyed a brief taste of spring on March 23rd--before it turned cold and rainy again!

We enjoyed a very informative presentation by Loretta Meyer from Meyer's Greenhouse and Nursery in Nashville, IL.

She told about the 50 year history of her family's involvement in various types of horticulture enterprises--from strawberries, to shrubs and landscaping, to the Greenhouse.





Ruby Lingle, Martha Speir, Mrs. Meyer, and Carol  Schlitt are  pictured above as they inspected some of the many plants and seedlings that will be ready when warm weather is here.

The photo at right is a 50 year old Jade Plant that has a permanent home in the nursery!

One of the things that was pointed out to us is that everyone gets in too much of a hurry to purchase plants in the spring and remove them from the Greenhouse environment. Then the plants don't do well, and the Greenhouse gets the blame.

Another point emphasized by Mrs. Meyer and her daughter was how much work there is in a Greenhouse!

Can you imagine transplanting all these seedlings in to single plant containers! And this was only part of what we saw. I believe they said they had nine Greenhouses.

Others who enjoyed the day were Patti Faughn, Joyce Pyatt, Milly Kaiser, Rusti Grogan, and Joy Richey.  Connie Frederking joined us for lunch at Buretta's Bar and Grill.

Some members of the group also discovered a local bakery shop and variety store that they couldn't pass up.

Happy Spring everyone. It will get here eventually!

Flashback to '76

Barb Farner was Macon County Extension Adviser, Home Economics. She had earned a B.S. in Home Economics Education from Illinois State University in 1967.

Barb then joined the Peace Corps and served in Colombia, South Africa form 1967-1969. She had also worked as Greene County Extension Adviser/Home Economics for 5 years before moving to Macon County in 1975.

As most people know, Barb served her entire career with University of Illinois Extension and ended it as a Nutrition and Wellness Educator at Matteson, IL in the Center there.   
                                       

She was active and served in many capacities for our Home Economist Professional Organizations over the years. And she has always enjoyed traveling to a number of foreign countries. I believe she returned to South Africa (maybe more than once).

At the 2017 Summer Reunion (photo at right) she shared that she had travel plans for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe--and who knows where else?

Barb and some other Extension Retirees (now living in the Urbana area) have also become expert quilters. They visit  a number of quilt shows each year, including the Paducah, KY quilt event. At the 2016 Summer Reunion she mentioned a 5900 piece quilt that had been accepted for entry at the Paducah Quilt Show! I can't imagine how long it took to put that together! Always good to see you, Barb.

I also received some updated information on DeAnn Estes, who was featured in our last post. She is now DeAnn Cash and works at Lori's Pins & Needles in Edgar County.  She teaches lots of quilting and sewing machine instruction classes. She has also taught classes for the Mattoon Arts Council at the restored Train Depot the past 3 or 4 years and does an excellent job, no matter what one's sewing level is.

Thanks to Sharon Kuhns and Pat Hildebrand for the recent information.

Happy Spring everyone!

Flashback to '76

DeAnn Estes was Edgar County Extension Adviser, Home Economics. She had a B.S. in Home Economics Education from the U of I in 1974. Her work in Edgar County had just begun in 1976. She was a member of IAEHE, NAEHE, IHEA, AHEA, IAEAY and NAEAY.

Does anyone know where she went from there?