Happy New Year Everyone,
As we head into 2025, I have some exciting news to share. After years of struggling with
an inefficient process for keeping our web
site current, member Lisa Whitaker’s husband, Craig has volunteered to manage our web site. Craig worked for Humana for 36+ years, retiring in April 2024. He had many
roles over those years, the last being Director, Systems Engineering. So, as you can see technology is his thing.
Craig enjoys doing anything with his wife Lisa. Together they love traveling, gardening and spending time with family and friends.
Separately Craig enjoys woodworking, photography, and he has goals to learn Irish musical instruments and write a book – “We’ll see how that goes!” says Craig.
In December, Craig gained access to the
passwords and files needed to put up and
take down information. He has put up a save
the date banner for our 2025 Spring Education Day and uploaded the most recent
newsletters. He will keep the present look of
the site, for now. The plan is to have a couple members take over the routine updating with Craig’s support. In January, Craig would like to meet with some us to discuss how we want the web site to look like and how we would like it to function for us in the future. If you are interested in being part of this process and/or would be willing to take on updating information on the site, please let me know. Welcome aboard, Craig. We are so glad to have you!
March 29, 2025 is the date for our 30th
Spring Education Day. The program commit
tee wants to celebrate this amazing feat.
Since Pearls are the traditional gift for a 30th
anniversary, we decided on “Pearls of Herbal
Wisdom” for our theme. We have commitments from 2 of the three speakers, so far.
Mary Wheatley, chef, cooking instructor and
current president of the Jefferson County, KY Master Gardeners will present on growing and using culinary herbs to complement a variety of foods. Carolyn Minutillo, the owner and principal designer of Lavender Hill in Jeffersonville, IN will demonstrate how to create beautiful arrangements with herbs.
In late November and early December, several members met for our annual Herb Study Group. This is a radical departure from our usual schedule. We typically do this in January/February. I wanted to get a head start on gathering information about the International Herb Association’s 2025 Herb of the Year – Chamomile. The herb study group is a wonderful way to dig deeper into a specific herb.
Kathy Strecker did a marvelous job of making the chemistry of the medicinal properties of chamomile understandable and relevant.
Joan Burton shared her vast experience
growing, harvesting and drying this marvelous herb. Jeanette Griffin took us on a journey through time to explore the history and folklore of chamomile. Deb Knight served us chamomile tea and chamomile cookies as she regaled us with an impressive list of recipes. We all left inspired to try some of these for the Market Place at Spring Education Day. 2025, here we come!
