Summer/Fall 2013

812

3 DAY TRIPS: Salem, Clarksville & Paoli + The Tulip Trestle

MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS: A world-class bluegrass banjo picker French Lick’s expert rock polisher

FORGET THE GRILL! Cook your next meal over a campfire

The Magazine of Southern Indiana S U M M E R / FA L L 2 0 1 3

BACKYARD

CHICKENS

They’re soft to touch, easy to raise and just plain fun to watch.

Did we mention the eggs?

+

Can-Do Canning 1

Everything you need 812 SUMMER/ to know to preserve FALL 2013 Southern Indiana’s freshest produce

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TA B L E O F CO N T E N TS FEATURES

9 Stalking Indiana’s

18 Tracking the past

42 All in the family

In search of the state’s most exotic flowers.

Story by Bridget Ameche and Emma Grdina

Story by Erin Boland and Libby Peterson

wild orchids Story by Dianne Osland

Two train novices explore Hoosier railroads of yesterday.

These small hometown staples mean business.

22 Have a ball in a

47 Can-do canning

Plan a day trip to one of these three hidden treasures.

Story by Rachel Graham and Heather Hourigan

small town

An insider’s guide to preserving this summer’s freshest fruits and veggies.

Story by Alexea Candreva and Sarah Boyum

34 Rock star 13 Heat it up!

Everything you need to cook your meals over a campfire.

Story by Allison Berry and Victoria Gold

ON THE COVER

Merrill Hinshaw devotes his life to revealing beauty in unpolished stones.

Story by Carmen Huff

38 Home grown

The Steckler family puts an organic spin on traditional farming.

Story by Brittany McNeelan

DEPARTMENTS WHAT I’VE LEARNED

6 Ron Stewart, bluegrass banjo picker

GET OUT OF TOWN

7 Soak up the sun at Indiana’s beaches!

TASTE OF SOUTHERN INDIANA

8 Comforting cuisine at House of Como THE 812 LIST

54 Eight most-wanted Indiana antiques

28 Fowl Play

More Hoosier families are raising chickens in their own backyards.

Story by Feroze Dhanoa and Nick Clark

Cover: Sawyer Gibson and Mary the chicken at the home of the Gibson family (left). /Photos by Sarah Boyum. Special thanks to Malinda Aston, Allen Major, Steve Layton, Susan Elkins and Laura Pence for their assistance.

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8 1 2 M AG A Z I N E STA F F

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Bridget Ameche is a senior from the Chicago suburbs. She started off wondering how the Tulip Trestle fits into Southern Indiana’s history and loved seeing how far-reaching its influence is.

Camping novice and senior web editor Allison Berry took the taste-testing very seriously during her outdoor cooking expedition.

Even though editor and senior Erin Boland loves her family, she doesn’t think she could ever go into business with them.

Photo editor Sarah Boyum, a junior from Noblesville studying journalism and political science, enjoyed traveling to a new part of her state to unearth small-town charm.

Alexea Candreva, a sophomore journalism major from northwestern Indiana, couldn’t get enough of the food, people and rich history she found in Clarksville, Salem and Paoli.

Senior Nick Clark has loved playing the banjo for years but only recently discovered how much fun playing with chickens can be.

Feroze Aulakh Dhanoa is a junior from New Delhi, India, majoring in journalism. She never thought she would become a fan of Chick TV.

Los Angeles native and senior Victoria Gold didn’t expect to trade in her title as “Southern California’s expert sunbather” to “Southern Indiana’s top camp chef.”

A senior and assistant art director, Rachel Graham set out to discover the difference between muskmelons and cantaloupes— and came back loving both.

Art director Emma Grdina is a junior from Northwest Indiana.

She enjoyed exploring back roads of Indiana while uncovering the rich history of Indiana’s rails.

Heather Hourigan is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. She couldn’t capture on film how delicious the s’mores she tried were.

Carmen Huff is a sophomore journalism major from Floyds Knobs. She enjoyed learning how to turn rocks into gems, instead of taking them for granite.

Senior Brittany McNeelan from Versailles never thought she would milk a cow. While spending the day on an organic farm, she gained a new respect for the old-fashioned way of life.

Dianne Osland is a junior studying journalism and biology.

Before going on her puttyroot expedition, she hadn’t seen a live orchid since the senior prom.

Minneapolis native and managing editor Libby Peterson admired the dedication and heart that goes into running mom-andpop stores and was glad to find that they still endure in Southern Indiana.

A lecturer at the IU School of Journalism, Indiana native Nancy Comiskey had the honor of working with these talented young journalists—and the privilege of rediscovering the state through their eyes.

EDITOR’S NOTE

812:

The Magazine of Southern Indiana Summer/Fall 2013 Volume 3, Number 2 812 was conceived, reported, written, photographed, edited and designed by students in J360: Creating an Indiana Magazine at the Indiana University School of Journalism. Contents may not be reproduced without the written consent of the School.

You can also find exclusive online stories at our website, 812magazine.com.

If you’re interested in advertising in 812, or if you’d like copies to distribute at your place of business, please contact ads@ idsnews.com.

Note from the editor Forget about New Year’s resolutions—summer and fall are the perfect times to try something new. These longer days will give you enough extra daylight to cook dinner over a campfire, watch chickens in your backyard or make your own strawberry jam.

After you’re done with this issue of 812, we encourage you to get outside and go. Take one of our day trips out to Clarksville, Salem or Paoli and see the hidden charms of small towns. Eat Lebanese djage at the House of Como in Evansville. Take a page from the Steckler family and grow your own organic veggies. Find the Tulip Trestle and experience firsthand Indiana’s rich railroad history. There is no shortage of fascinating places to see and exciting things to do.

No matter what, we know that you can’t go wrong as long as you’re explor-

ing Southern Indiana. People here, like Ron Stewart the banjo player or Merrill Hinshaw the rock cutter, have so much enthusiasm for their arts that you can’t help but learn from them. I know our staff has.

We took lessons everywhere, from a dogeared Boy Scout handbook to Grandma’s beloved family cookbook.

We discovered what it takes to balance the books when you take over your family’s business.

Whatever you end up doing, we hope you take some time to relax and kick back on the beaches you didn’t know we had. Make the most of the warm weather with our 2013 Summer/ Fall issue of 812.

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W H AT I ’ V E L E A R N E D

Ron Stewart, bluegrass banjo picker

By Nick Clark

R

on Stewart, 41, was the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2011 Banjo Player of the Year.

He started playing when he was young and then toured Southern Indiana with his family band. Now he lives just outside Evansville and shared some lessons he’s learned through four decades of pickin’ the banjo.

The best way to stay in tune is to get a great set-up.

Find yourself a good luthier (someone who makes and works on banjos) who also plays. That’s important because when a luthier plays a banjo that he works on, he can feel out the finer details of the instrument.

Have him set up your banjo just for you.

You can fake it if you’ve got the chord changes.

I have learned to play everything by ear. When I’m in a session and I just get a chord chart, I listen for key lines in the melody to learn to play it. I do the same if I’m filling in with any band on the road.

Sometimes there is no time for rehearsal, so I think my ears have developed hearing that way.

Listening to other musicians will make you a better player.

Earl Scruggs, Sonny Osborn and J.D. Crowe all used licks from guitar players in their banjo picking. I think that can be done with all instruments, not just the banjo. It can be helpful to listen to other musicians. Outside influences will open doors that might otherwise be closed.

At age 9, Ron Stewart played with the legendary Lester Flatt. /Photo courtesy of Mark Harvell

Some banjo jokes are funny.

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Banjos are often the butt of jokes because they are loud. Some banjo jokes can be very funny, though. This one is always a winner: “How can you tell a banjo player is at your door? They can’t find the key, the knocking speeds up, and they don’t know when to come in.”

Indiana bluegrass fans are the greatest fans on earth.

They are really loyal. I played around the state all through my youth and got to know many people. Now, years later and after touring around the country, everybody remembers me when I come home.

It’s like a day hasn’t passed.

GET OUT OF TOWN

Soak up the sun!

Scales Lake Beach Scales Lake Park, Boonville

By Sarah Boyum

S

outhern Indiana is home to rolling farmland, miles of hiking trails and . . . beaches?

Yes, beaches. 812’s lakes boast more than 150 public-access sites to water, and these three beaches are great places to spend a day soaking up the sun.

Buffalo Trace Beach Buffalo Trace Park, Palmyra Scales Lake Beach has a water slide right on the beach. /Photo courtesy of Scales Lake Park

A team of army engineers used mules and drag carts to create the 60-acre Scales Lake during the Great Depression. A 200foot beach sits on the shore. Be sure to slip down the 120-foot waterslide, explore the splash pool and dive off the platform into the lake. And don’t miss the petting zoo and miles of challenging bike trails.

“They’re not for wimps,” cautions Keith McDaniel, superintendent of Warrick County Parks and Recreation.

Hours: Open Memorial Day through Labor Day; 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Tuesday-Sunday, Closed Monday Cost: Park admission is $5/car; beach access is $3/ person

Don’t bring: The swimming area is roped off to allow safe swimming for all ages and abilities. /Photo courtesy of Claudia Howard

Buffalo Trace Beach lines the shore of a 30-acre, man-made lake. Lifeguards and roped-off shallow areas provide safe swimming for all ages and skill levels. If you need a break from the water, take a walk around the lake on the 1-mile paved trail. Other amenities include paddleboat and kayak rentals, a petting zoo and camping cabins.

Don’t forget: A picnic lunch. A grassy, shaded area with picnic tables is located next to the beach area—a perfect escape from the sun, says Claudia Howard, Harrison County Parks superintendent.

Your pool floaties. The beach doesn’t allow flotation devices, but lifeguards are on duty, and there’s a designated shallow end (4 feet) and deep end (8-10 feet).

Hours: Open Memorial Day through Aug. 11; 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily Cost: Park admission is $2/car; beach and waterslide access is $2/person MondayFriday and $3/person on weekends

Hardin Ridge Beach Hardin Ridge Recreation Center, Heltonville Hardin Ridge’s 300-foot beach rests on the shores of Lake Monroe and provides the “perfect combination of sand and sun,” says Stacy Duke, district recreation manager of the Brownstown Ranger Station. You’ll find direct trail access from the beach to the Hoosier National Forest and a playground area nearby for younger children.

Don’t miss: The Southern Point Loop campground for an authentic camping experience. Open year-round, this remote loop at Hardin Ridge offers 60 primitive camping sites without electricity.

Explore the shore or take a hike from Hardin Ridge Beach. /Photo courtesy of Hardin Ridge Recreation Center

Hours: Open Memorial Day through Labor Day; 10 a.m.

– 8 p.m. daily

Cost: $5/car; $17 for camping (during recreation season)

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A TA ST E O F S O U T H E R N I N D I A N A

Comforting cuisine at Como

Known for Lebanese cuisine and Christmas décor, House of Como is deliciously quirky.

House of Como celebrates Christmas year-round, perhaps because the owner’s sister always kept her tree up. /Photo courtesy of The Evansville Courier & Press

H

By Alexea Candreva

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ouse of Como sits right off I-164 in Evansville in a squat building with a Santa stationed on the roof. You wouldn’t guess that regulars like John Conrad travel an hour just to eat their favorite meals. “I come for the rack of lamb,” Conrad says. “And the service is great.”

He’s not the only one who thinks so.

While filming “A League of Their Own” in the early ’90s, Penny Marshall, Tom Hanks and Madonna dined at Como every two or three days. Cook Marion White, now 81, says Marshall even had her birthday party there.

The first House of Como opened in 1960 but later burned down. The owners rebuilt at the current location in 1968. Staff member and local historian Steve Alley says there are many legends about the origin of the res-

taurant’s quirky Christmas decorations, but he believes it’s because owner George Hage’s sister had a Christmas tree year-round in her home.

Martha Hage convinced her husband to let her run the place instead of selling it before he died. And she’s glad she did. Hage has maintained the dive-like atmosphere and the quality of the Lebanese, American and Italian food.

Djage Chicken baked in butter and cinnamon, served with ground sirloin and rice. Once you order it, Hage warns, you might not want to try anything else.

Steak One of the entrées that keeps the customers coming back. Waitress Robyn Bentley idolizes White for her ability to cook every steak to the perfect degree.

Arabian salad

How to order like a regular

After more than 40 years as a cook, White has made her mark at House of Como. She says if you’re looking to try something new, you can’t go wrong with these dishes.

This dish is served with warm, floury flatbread and drizzled with lemon-mint dressing. Robyn advises newcomers to roll it up in the buttered flatbread.

Bread pudding Piping hot and smothered in Marion’s special whiskey sauce, this gooey dessert tastes like cinnamon caramel cake.

stalking Indiana’s

wild orchids

Writer Dianne Osland takes a break from orchid hunting with naturalist and author Mike Homoya. /Photo by Victoria Gold

812 staffer Dianne Osland laces up her duck boots and hits the Southern Indiana woods in search of one of the state’s most exotic flowers.

D

By Dianne Osland ried leaves and twigs crunch beneath our waterproof boots, the only sound besides the chirping birds and croaking spring peepers that signal the arrival of spring. Ash trees tower overhead, still bare of leaves, and sunlight streams down to the forest floor. Three-leaved trillium sprouts up underfoot, joined by the tiny blooms of salt-and-pepper and spring beauty, the first of the spring ephemerals to flower before the forest canopy blocks the sunlight.

Naturalist Mike Homoya keeps his eyes on the ground, scanning. He doesn’t often speak. Hunting down a native Indiana orchid is my job today, and he’s just along for the ride. Spanning 32 acres of moist, temperate forest, the Hougham Woods Biological Field Station in Johnson County is home to a recorded population of Aplectrum hyemale, also known as Adam-and-Eve or the puttyroot orchid.

Rather than growing from spring to fall like most plants, puttyroot has one overwintering, pinstriped basal leaf from October until late April. In May, the leaf will wither and die, and a flowering stalk will emerge. To pass the orchid-hunting test set before me by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources botanist, I must find this 4-inch-long leaf. But today, a half hour into my walk around the preserve, the puttyroot orchid is nowhere in sight.

❧

Orchids are one of the largest families of plants on Earth, numbering around 30,000 species that grow in a wide variety of habitats across the globe. But don’t just think steamy greenhouse or lush rainforest. Indiana is home to 43 native orchid species, while tropical Hawaii has only three. So to properly introduce yourself to orchids, look no further than the hills, marshes and woods of Southern Indiana.

The orchid has long been prized for

its mysterious, complex beauty. In his book “Orchids of Indiana,” Homoya dubs them “floral royalty in the kingdom of plants.” The family reigns with its variety: Platystele jungermannioides flowers measure as small as the head of a pin, while Grammatophyllum papuanum can reach heights of 15 feet. Vanilla planifolia gives us fragrant vanilla extract and the flowers of Drakaea mimic the shape and appearance of a male wasp, down to the shiny head and furry body.

The flashy orchids often seen in Hawaii are actually exotics—they’re not even the varieties native to the state. In reality, native Hawaiian orchids are very small; most people wouldn’t recognize them as orchids.

Some of Indiana’s species are unrecognizable, too, Homoya says. They’re just green, from the stems, to the leaves, to the flowers. A small, modestly colored plant may not make the best prom corsage, but upon closer inspection, even these orchids

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are worth noticing.

Take Coeloglossum viride, or frog orchid, for example. Rarely have two individuals of the plant been found together, so its unsociable nature makes finding it more rewarding. Its flowers are green spikes, but look closely and you’ll spy small frogshaped petals layered tightly in a column.

Compare this orchid to the showy Cypripedium, or lady slipper, whose large, brilliantly colored blooms attract more attention than other native species. In the Indiana orchid family, Cypripedium may be the beautiful sister, but leaving out Coeloglossum would be neglecting a plant worth the extra effort.

My unofficial orchid hunter status is in jeopardy, all because of an elusive green orchid leaf.

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Before orchids there were crawdads.

Growing up in small-town Southern Illinois, Homoya lived surrounded by nature, and the crawdads swimming in a drainage ditch beside his house became his introduction to wild things. It didn’t take long to walk a railroad track or ride a bicycle to get out of town, so Homoya soon found more nature beyond his backyard. He explored Shawnee National Forest, hiking its trails and cultivating his childhood interest into a lifelong appreciation for the great outdoors.

“The more I saw, the more I wanted to learn about these natural things, and what comes with that is a desire to protect natural areas,” Homoya says.

Protecting wild things and the natural areas they live in became Homoya’s life work.

Hired by the DNR as a botanist and ecologist in 1982, he quickly took to the job. With a field bag packed with a notebook, compass, poncho and camera, Homoya and his colleagues in the Division of Nature Preserves tracked down endangered and rare plant species in the state, identifying their habitats in order to preserve them.

As he completed his fieldwork across the state, Homoya continued to find orchids, one of the wild things from his Illinois youth that kept his interest.

Homoya describes his first encounter with orchids not as a sighting but as a meeting. On a winter hike as a high school senior, Homoya met the evergreen leaves of the

rattlesnake plantain orchid. He became fascinated by a plant that could still be so showy in such cold temperatures. The orchid family became his interest and his hobby.

Soon after moving to Indiana and the DNR job, he decided to write a book on orchids and began documenting each native species he found over the next 10 years, eventually checking off all 43 still living in the state.

“I was so impressed by the fact that orchids grow here in our part of the world when most people think they’re only in the tropics,” Homoya says. “They’re just mysterious and uncommon, so there’s that rarity factor, I suppose, almost like finding a treasure.”

Published in 1993, Homoya’s book “Orchids of Indiana” has since become the state’s premier orchid field guide, listing the plants alphabetically, identifying their blooming periods and habitat locations and offering detailed descriptions of what makes each species different from the next. It’s the only complete guide, and since its publication, Homoya has heard from plenty of people who share his interest of orchids.

“There are people who stalk them, in a sense,” Homoya says.

Nowadays, rather than digging them up, orchid enthusiasts will go and photograph them. Digging up specimens not only damages the natural habitat, but it’s also pretty pointless, Homoya says. Wild orchids don’t do all that well in pots. Instead, people tend to bring their cameras out and capture the flowers’ beauty in an 8-by-10 glossy, matted photograph.

One such orchid fan lives somewhere in Northwest Indiana. He contacted Homoya to ask where he could see certain species. His goal? To go around the state and photograph every species of native orchid. For him, it’s nothing more than a hobby, but he’s just one more human becoming seduced by the irresistible charm of the wild orchid.

❧

To find a specific plant in 36,418 square miles of Indiana landscape means becoming a detective. The clues aren’t found through fingerprints and anonymous tips but instead inside the musty-smelling file cabinets of herbariums, collections of preserved plant specimens.

At Indiana University, the Deam Herbarium inside the Smith Research Center holds about 140,000 pressed and dried specimens, about half of those native to Indiana.

It’s not a gallery open to the public but rather a research museum and organizational filing

system—a library of dead plants.

In any given year, only a handful of people stop by to visit the herbarium. It serves mainly as a research facility for graduate students and visiting specialists. Herbarium Director Eric Knox presides over filing cabinets preserving the history and documentation of these once wild things, now available to those who come to find them.

Dressed in a splashy Hawaiian shirt and jeans, Knox pushes up his wire-framed glasses as he talks. Unlike gardens or greenhouses full of living specimens, the herbarium lacks the upfront visual display of plant diversity, but that’s a good thing.

“At the herbarium we want dead flat plants—dead is good in our book,” Knox says.

Dead flat plants provide information on flower shapes, leaf arrangements, seed structures and more. What’s most important for botanists like Homoya is that the person who collects the plant writes precise notes, leaving clues about living species in their native habitats.

I visited the herbarium looking for orchid specimens, the first step in narrowing down the search for an orchid in the wild. Although his work focuses on other plants, Knox understands the draw of the orchid. It has a rareness factor, he says, since you don’t often find specimens together in one spot. The flowers often attract dedicated pollinators like bees that evolve with them, ensuring the plant’s survival. But here in the herbarium, preserved orchids will last just about forever.

Knox leads me to cabinet No. 29, stacked full of filing folders—manila-colored if the species is from Indiana, orange if it’s found elsewhere. Cabinet 29 holds families Iridaceae (irises) and my sought-after Orchidacae, with species from Aplectrum hyemale to Zeuxine.

He slides out the manila folder labeled Aplectrum hyemale, careful to lift it at the bottom to keep the contents from spilling out. Under the herbarium’s fluorescent lights, I see a puttyroot orchid for the first time. The collector’s notes date it Oct. 5, 1927, almost 86 years old. But the key fact isn’t its age, but rather where it was found. “Location: Monroe Co., Ind. Near Griffy Creek.

Habitat: Rich woods. South end of 1st ridge west of 2nd Huckleberry Hill,” the notes say.

If I were going to find a puttyroot orchid, the herbarium just narrowed down my search.

❧

Bare-branched trees filter sunshine down to the forest floor, but it doesn’t illuminate

Indiana’s quiet beauties All photos courtesy of Mike Homoya

Searching for orchids in the wild takes time and research. It’s not just about knowing what plant you’re looking for, but the kind of habitat where the plant lives. The Division of Nature Preserves holds guided hikes throughout the season that focus on wildflowers of Indiana, so check out their website at www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve if you’d like to leave the hunting to the experts.

If you’d rather venture out on your own, look no further than this list of some of Mike Homoya’s Indiana orchid must-sees.

Cypripedium parviflorum A large yellow lady’s-slipper. Its iconic bloom resembles a little shoe. It’s not common, but it’s one of the most spectacular Indiana orchids to see in bloom.

Habitat: Grows in upland forests and wetlands, mainly in Northern Indiana; can be found growing in light shade near black ash and tamarack trees. Specimens found in Southern Indiana are most often Cypripedium pubescens, a similar variety that features hairs covering the stem and leaves of the plant.

Blooming period: mid-May to early June

Tipularia discolor A crane-fly orchid. Like puttyroot, it sends forth an overwintering leaf in the fall and dies down in the spring. The flowers superficially resemble crane flies in flight.

Habitat: Most common in Southern Indiana’s moist forests of American beech, sugar maple, tulip tree and shagbark hickory trees.

Blooming period: mid-July to late August

Platanthera peramoena A purple fringeless orchid. It’s fairly common, growing in floodplain forests and even in wet ditches (if not sprayed with herbicides).

Habitat: Liparis liliifolia A lily-leaved twayblade. This is perhaps the most common forest orchid, found in just about every Indiana county, but it can be easily overlooked—the purple-green flowers blend in with leaf litter.

Habitat: Grows best in partial shade. Adapted to both dry and moist areas as well as rocky or deep soil. Can be found at the crests of steep slopes or along the edges of man-made clearings.

Blooming period: early May to late June

Grows in floodplains and lowland forests and in disturbed, exposed areas like wet ditches (if not sprayed with herbicides). Check out Southern Indiana back roads where agricultural fields may be recently abandoned.

Blooming period: mid-July to late August

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any orchids. Scientific names for plants have a funny way of sounding like magic spells. Aplec-trum hye-ma-le, I chant silently, willing the plant to appear somewhere, anywhere, in my line of sight.

No such luck. Since Hougham Woods didn’t have any entries in the herbarium to point me in the right direction, I’m on my own.

As we walk, Homoya points out the expansive wintercreeper, an invasive groundcover that spread from a nearby neighborhood and is taking over native habitats. It’s choking out the rest of the plant growth as it stretches across the ground.

An hour passes and I’m afraid I’m choking, too. I can’t seem to spot even one of the 305 puttyroot specimens recorded from this preserve.

“I thought we would have found one by now,” Homoya says, shaking his head.

❧

Orchids act sometimes like Goldilocks, growing in habitats not too cold, not too hot, not too wet, and not too dry.

But it’s not a family of bears that may be affecting these plants’ survival, it’s climate change, says Ellen Jacquart, an Indiana stew-

ardship director for the Nature Conservancy.

As rainfall and temperatures change and the plants are no longer as well adapted to a particular area, Indiana’s 43 native orchid species may dwindle in number. Only time will tell.

Most of the trees in Hougham Woods are ash. Native to the state, the ash tree is widespread in natural forests, but it’s also often planted in urban areas because it tolerates adverse conditions.

But the millions of ash trees growing in Indiana forests and lining its city streets are under attack. The Emerald Ash Borer, an exotic beetle brought over from Asia, threatens to kill the ash trees with its destructive feeding. If no method to stop the insect’s spread is discovered, Hougham Woods’ future is uncertain.

In 20 years, Homoya says, all the ash trees could be gone. And if the habitat were disturbed, the puttyroot orchid would disappear not just from my sight, but altogether from this region.

❧

Branches snag my hair. I lose sight of Homoya, and I still haven’t seen one measly little puttyroot leaf despite walking the

entire perimeter of the preserve.

“Still no luck?” Homoya asks as we reconvene.

I’d done my research. I knew what I was looking for. I’d found the proper habitat— moist forest, but no standing water. Yet the plant was evading me. I wonder how long Homoya will stay in the preserve looking for an orchid with me. Puttyroot or bust, I thought.

“Well, we’re about back to where we started,” Homoya says.

I look up to see the white Ford Edge SUV through the trees, parked in the grass near the preserve. I sigh, and look back down. And do a double take.

“Wait, I think I found one!”

One, meaning three shriveled basal leaves of Aplectrum hyemale, my trophy puttyroot, complete with a few holes bugs had chewed into its leaves.

“Congratulations, you’ve found an orchid,” Homoya says, as we sit down on a fallen log to rest.

My puttyroot may be a little banged up, not in bloom and a little less attractive than other members of its orchid family, but hey, this is no time to be picky.

I’m officially a successful orchid hunter.

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Heat it up!

Everything you need to cook your meal over a campfire.

I

By Allison Berry and Victoria Gold

n the words of midwestern camping expert Barb Clements, there’s nothing better than enjoying a cup of coffee around a campfire on a cool morning with a group of friends. We couldn’t agree more.

But from selecting your own firewood to preparing a full day of meals in the outdoors, there’s a lot to know about campfires and campfire cooking. Here at 812, we want you to get the most out of your campfire experience, so we asked the experts for advice. Our step-by-step campfire guide will take you from the first flick of a match, through cooking, all the way to dousing the campfire at the end of the day. All you have to do is gather the wood, food and friends.

Boy Scout Chad Thompson places s’more cones into the coals to ensure the perfect temperature to melt the marshmallows and chocolate without burning the sugar cone. /Photo by Victoria Gold

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Before you leave Your must-pack, must-buy list for flawless campfire cooking.

Pack

The list of gear and gadgets is endless, but here are some basics.

Aluminum foil Iron skillet Dutch oven Tongs Matches Paper towels Standard-size fire pan (15 in. x 24 in.)

Swiss army knife Charcoals and charcoal starter (if you plan on cooking over coals) Tupperware Oven mitt

Buy

This grocery list will prepare you for the recipes featured in 812.

3 oranges 3 medium bell peppers 2 jalapeno peppers 2 red onions 3 lbs. potatoes 3 bananas Muffin mix (we used blueberry) Prosciutto, bacon or ham Olive oil Salt, pepper Eggs Sugar cones Peanut butter Mini marshmallows Chocolate chips Corn meal All-purpose flour Sugar Baking powder Milk Cooking spray Bisquick 1 jar marinara sauce 1 bag shredded cheese Seasonings (we packed garlic, oregano and Italian seasoning) 812 Pizza toppings SUMMER/ FALL 2 packages precooked sausage 2013

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Chad Thompson tucks in extra napkins to help get the fire started quickly. /Photo by Victoria Gold

Starting the perfect campfire Boy Scout Chad Thompson knows great outdoor meals begin with the right set-up.

Rule number one:

Always make sure you have plenty of kindling to get your fire started. Or is it tinder? No, maybe it’s fuel. Though 11-year-old first-class Boy Scout Chad Thompson may have a little difficulty keeping the three types of firewood straight, he’s still a fire-building expert.

On an early spring day with gusts of wind pummeling us from all directions, we asked Chad to teach us how to build the perfect campfire, and boy, does he know his stuff.

A member of Boy Scout Troop 121 in Bloomington, Chad is equipped with his Boy Scout Field Book, his Scoutmaster and his Firem'n Chit, which certifies him in both fire safety and proper fire-building technique.

Scoutmaster Clay Slaughter tells me he stopped by Murray Park in Bedford because he had gotten out of work early, but after seeing Scout and Scoutmaster together, it’s clear this duo comes as a packaged deal. The two pace around the campsite looking for twigs and dry leaves before filling the fire pan with a carefully

constructed lean-to.

When Chad can't remember which particular wood to place at the bottom of his fire, or when he forgets what else can be used as kindling, he looks to Slaughter, who shrugs and delivers his classic line, "I don't know why you're looking at me!"

Chad’s face crinkles up in a battle against smiling, but he eventually bursts out into laughter before the two continue building their fire.

Now for the flames.

Using a book of matches with a cardboard flap covering the front, Chad successfully coaxes his fire to life on the first strike and flames begin to spread across the fire pan.

We’re thoroughly impressed that this 11-year-old Boy Scout can get a substantial fire started despite the gusts of wind blowing out our matches. Looking up from the growing flames for the first time, Chad says simply, “Boy Scouts can light fires in anything.”

Stepping back to admire the results of his training, Chad uses a spare twig to point out the difference between a campfire (open flames) and the perfect cooking fire (burning coals beneath the flames).

An experienced camper and outdoor cook himself, Slaughter admits that food is the best motivation for teaching boys how to build their own fires. Chad nods his head.

"The only reason I know these things is so I don't starve," he says with the serious face of a man on an Everest expedition.

Even the Boy Scouts have to eat sometime.

1. Stack your fuel (the “big sticks,” about the 6. Add kindling every couple of minutes thickness of your wrist) along the side of your fire pan.

to keep your fire blazing until everything is burning.

2. Lean the tinder (the “medium sticks,”

7. Begin adding tinder and fuel to your fire.

8. Once a substantial blaze is burning, care-

think pinkie-finger sized) perpendicular to the fuel.

3. Stuff some kindling (the “small sticks” or twigs) in the gap under the tinder and into every nook and cranny of your lean-to.

4. Cram some paper towels in there, too.

5. Light your match, get the kindling and paper towel burning, and watch your fire grow.

Veteran camper Ben Robards tells us nothing is better than sitting around the campfire, talking about the day’s activities and enjoying a hearty meal that you have prepared in the wild. As we began our plans to cook in the great outdoors, we asked camping experts to share insider tips ranging from new uses for favorite snack foods to the importance of a good spork.

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Ben Robards, 31 Hometown: Greenwood

fully shift the flames from one end of the fire pan to another, leaving hot coal and ash at the opposite end.

9. Use the coals as a cooking fire and

continue feeding the opposite end to use as a campfire.

This camper has been in the outdoors since he joined the Boy Scouts at age 5. His love for camping grew when he started rock climbing in college. Robards is an employee and frequent customer of J.L.Waters and Company Adventure Outfitters in Bloomington.

Tip for beginners: Always make sure to keep a close eye on the grill. When you’re camping you don’t bring a ton of extra food. Burning your food is not an option.

Don’t forget: A good spork. It can be used for just about anything.

Favorite campfire meal: Beef stroganoff for

10. Start cooking! dinner and cherry cobbler for dessert.

Barb Clements, 56 Adopted Hometown: Indianapolis

Fire tips from the Boy Scouts themselves ✔ Napkins, dry leaves and dry grass can be used as tinder to get your fire started.

›

Camping experts share their tips

››

Our step-by-step guide to building a lean-to fire

This Midwesterner grew up with the Girl Scouts. As her daughters got old enough, she became their Girl Scout leader. She loves being involved with the Scouts’ day camps and works there in the summers.

Tip for beginners: Make sure you have dry tinder and kindling to get the fire started. It needs air to breathe. Great fire starters are pine needles and dryer lint. Cheetos and Pringles make great fire starters, too.

Don’t forget: A bandana, scarf or tie to pull your hair back. Everyone thinks they’re safe and will stand back from the fire, but a wind can come up when you least expect it and boom, hair on fire. Matches and foil can be great lifesavers, too. When you get ready to eat, a Sporkif (spoon, fork and knife all in one) is the best.

Favorite campfire meal: Pudgy pie. You can put anything between the two pieces of bread, from cream cheese and jam, eggs and bacon or ham, pizza filling or any variety of pie filling. It can go from breakfast to dinner to dessert.

✔ Don’t ignore the first rule of fire safety: Never leave your fire unattended. ✔ The ideal wood to start a fire with is sassafras as it burns most easily. ✔ When you can hold your hand over your fire for three to five seconds before wanting to pull away, your fire is at approximately 350 degrees and ideal for cooking. ✔ After putting out your fire, dispose of your ashes in the woods, minimizing your impact on the environment.

Tips for beginners: Don’t be afraid to try new things and to change recipes and have plenty of spices on hand.

Don’t forget: Bring bandanas and foil. The scarf can be used to shield your hair from the fire, cover your nose if the fire is smoky, used as a potholder or a rag to wash dishes. Foil is the best supply to have outdoors. It can be a scraper, and it keeps cooking dishes from getting too dirty to clean up afterward. You can also cook food in it .

Favorite campfire meal: Deep-dish pizza in a Dutch oven or homemade bread and cake baked in an orange over the fire. They are delicious!

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Monica Ware, 56 Hometown: Indianapolis

Ware didn’t have any experience in the great outdoors until she began working at a camp at the age of 18.

Clayton Slaughter, 31 Hometown: Marion

Slaughter has been with the Boy Scouts of America for 25 years and a scoutmaster for 10. He’s currently getting ready for his fourth backpacking trip to New Mexico.

Tip for beginners: Cook on the coals, not the flames. It’s important to regulate your heat so you don’t burn your food.

Don’t forget: Water. You are going to need it when you want to put out your fire.

Favorite campfire meal: Peach cobbler. It’s not your typical “hot dog on a stick” camp food.

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Go to 812magazine.com for more tips from the experts.

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The orange-blueberry muffins were the most difficult recipe to pull off but were the most rewarding to eat. /Photos by Victoria Gold

Blueberry orange muffins

››

A midsummer night’s cuisine

These morning delights take a little extra time to bake to perfection, but trust us — they’re well worth the wait.

Ingredients: Oranges Blueberry muffin mix

Ingredients:

Cooking over a campfire can be so much more than hot dogs and roasted marshmallows.

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To inspire your next fireside cooking adventure, 812 rounded up some creative recipes from Pinterest and put them to the test. Next time you venture into the woods, try one of these dishes. They’re so easy, even the least-experienced camper can quickly perfect them.

Cut oranges in half and remove the fruit from the inside. Fill one half of the emptied orange peel with muffin mix (prepared by following package directions) and place the other half back on top.

Wrap the oranges in foil and place in the fire, turning them often. Check the oranges after 5 minutes to ensure they are cooking evenly. Wait until the batter is cooked through and serve.

Precooked ham 1 potato, sliced 1 onion, sliced 4 eggs Olive oil Salt and pepper

Quiche This easy camper’s quiche will be ready to serve in minutes, leaving you with more time to spend with the great outdoors.

Grease the bottom of a Dutch oven and layer the ham on the bottom, followed by potato slices and onion slices. Drizzle olive oil over the top and add salt and pepper. Allow to cook over coals for 5 minutes, or until potatoes and onions are cooked through. Pour the whisked eggs on top and allow eggs to fully cook. Season with more salt and pepper to taste and serve. (Prosciutto or bacon can be used in place of ham, and add cheese to the top of the eggs for extra gooeyness.)

Two city girls walk into the woods . . .

Campfire pizza Set out a buffet of everyone’s favorite toppings and create your own mini pizza in minutes.

Ingredients: Bisquick Water Cooking oil Marinara sauce Cheese Preferred toppings In a separate container, mix Bisquick with water until a doughy consistency has been reached. Thoroughly grease the bottom of a Dutch oven with cooking oil. Pour enough dough into the pan to cover the bottom and spread evenly. Add marinara sauce, cheese and preferred toppings. Place over coals for 10 minutes or until dough has browned.

Indiana cornbread Eat it with dinner, save it for a snack or cook it purely for the spicy sweet aroma. We won’t judge.

Ingredients: 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1 cup flour 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup milk 1 cup egg 1/4 cup oil 2 jalapenos, chopped Mix ingredients together and pour into a greased cooking pan, spreading evenly.

Allow to cook on coals, turning pan often to distribute heat evenly. Cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Sausage HoBo dinner HoBos are a simple, customizable dinner option, and we couldn’t resist this combination of fresh produce and succulent smoked sausage.

Ingredients: 1 package precooked sausage 1 red onion, diced 2 pounds new potatoes, diced 3 bell peppers Garlic, minced Spices for flavor Roll out 2 square feet of foil, placing all ingredients in the middle. Wrap securely and place in the fire for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.

Still hungry? Check out 812magazine.com for award-winning s’more ideas.

There's nothing like cooking your dinner over an open campfire, sitting on a log and spending time with old friends under the bright summer stars. Well, there's nothing like it if you can actually pull it off. For two novices like us, starting a fire, preparing food and eating outside were significantly trickier than we expected.

As people whose fire-lighting experience started and ended with Yankee Candles, we had a lot to learn about gathering and drying wood and the difference between a campfire and a cooking fire. However, we're proud to report our successful construction of a lean-to formation of tinder, kindling and fuel—a.k.a. twigs, big sticks and bigger sticks.

Our first challenge was the wind that sent our supplies tumbling off picnic tables and rolling into the woods. We chased one plastic bag across the street, down a hill and into the trees. Lesson learned, Mother Nature. Next time we’ll bring extra potatoes to hold things down.

We're not sure we can justify the outrageous number of matches we used, or if the battle to get our charcoal glowing was due to the spring wind or a lack of lighter fluid, but we'll pin that one on the wind.

Then came the actual cooking. We had a basic idea of what we were creating and how to make it, but we were unprepared for the fact that fire burns things. Pizza crusts blackened, marshmallows melted and the bottom of our cornbread charred. Multiple attempts at working with a Dutch oven and heavy-duty aluminum foil taught us to use more oil on the bottom of our pans and to look for places in the embers that aren't quite as hot (read: not still on fire).

All in all, we city girls had a great time prepping, cooking and especially eating our campfire creations. Allison now dreams of perfecting a campfire cupcake, and Victoria is thinking of rejoining the Girl Scouts. We take comfort in knowing that if we ever find ourselves stuck in the woods with some matches, dry wood and maybe a little bit of oil, fresh produce, some salt and pepper and silverware, we'll have no problem at all feeding ourselves. Not many people can say that for themselves, now can they?

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The Richland Creek Viaduct, also known as the Tulip Trestle, spans Richland Creek between Tulip and Solsberry. The trestle appears as if out of nowhere from the hills, its massive structure the highlight of this small valley. /Photos by Emma Grdina

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Tracking the past

Two train novices take a ride along the Hoosier railroads of yesterday.

BY BRIDGET AMECHE AND EMMA GRDINA

T

hree dreams fueled John R. Walsh’s life: to own a newspaper, a bank and a railroad. In 1897, he drained the funds of that second dream to power his third. Walsh made his money in banking and newspapers in Chicago and conceived the idea of piecing together a massive railroad in the Midwest. He channeled his Chicago bank funds into the Evansville & Richmond line, renaming it the Southern Indiana Railroad and building it into one of the largest lines in the state.

By 1907, though, Walsh landed in Leavenworth for five years for misapplication of bank funds. But the Southern Indiana and other railroads continued to stretch across the region, crossing rivers and valleys on towering trestles. Trains carried limestone and coal out of Southern Indiana, but also passengers. Men, women a nd children climbed aboard at tiny depots along the tracks, leaving small towns for the big-city lights that gleamed in the distance. The steam engines, depots and trestles of Walsh’s day are mostly gone. But their stories–and their legacies–still compel us to visit these landmarks of a bygone era.

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Finding the Tulip Trestle This startling Greene County landmarks draws train fans from across the country.

A

fter two and a half hours of

a hand to this historic construction project.

Cheryl Helms, a local artist and Solsberry resident, created pieces for the centennial celebration of the Tulip Trestle in 2006. She also happened to marry into the Tulip family. Cheryl’s father-in-law’s family sold the property where the trestle was built. His family still owns some of the land around and underneath the viaduct.

Despite these strong local ties, the viaduct also has a distinctly foreign flavor.

After all, locals weren’t the only ones who built the bridge. African, Italian and Chinese immigrants lent their hands, backs and spirits to the Dwarfed by the trestle’s size, we paused construction. The bridge would carry outside the car doors, peering up at the trains full of coal massive structure. How had we not heard of to Bloomfield and this before? passengers and timber traveling to and from Bloomington. Every man was needed for the project.

Toyota Corolla, we were refreshed by the Nearly 110 years ago, it was no small feat. rush of cool air. Dwarfed by the trestle’s winding county roads; after a pit stop for mint chocolate chip ice cream and directions; after endless cows, horses and the occasional chicken; after interrupting a turkey vulture’s lunch; after reading directions written on the back of a receipt; after getting a little motion-sick from the up-anddown of the Greene County hills: We found it. The Tulip Trestle.

Climbing out of the stagnant silver

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size, we paused outside the car doors, peering up at the massive structure. How had we not heard of this before? And how had we missed it?

Built in 1905, the Greene County Viaduct, also known as the Richland Creek Viaduct or the Tulip Trestle, was the third largest of its kind in the United States. The massive steel structure, 18 towers in all, spans a verdant valley and allowed the trains to pass through without changing grade.

In fact, trains still use the trestle today, traveling through Greene County on their way to their destinations. But it’s also a tourist destination hidden in our backyard.

Sue Wilcox, a board member and researcher for the Greene County Historical Society, remembers the Sunday afternoon drives she used to take as a little girl with her grandparents. That, she says, must have been when she first saw the Tulip Trestle.

Names that dot Sue’s family tree appear in the lists of men who helped build the viaduct. Many local families, Sue says, can find their names, too, among the many who lent

Even now, it’s no small feat to find.

Located about 22 miles south of Bloomington, the trestle is technically in Tulip, just outside of Solsberry. It’s 2,067 feet long and is still in operation under the Indiana Railroad Company. The viaduct crosses Richland Creek, a small stream that adds to the natural beauty around this man-made behemoth.

Archibald Stuart Baldwin led the construction of the massive viaduct, directing a group of immigrant laborers, primarily Italian, who flocked to Southern Indiana to build it. The small Greene County town, quiet and secluded, filled with the sounds of metal being heaved up and down the hills and men with different accents and languages working toward a common goal.

The language barriers among the men sometimes led to accidents, some of which were fatal. On June 26, 1906, a blasting accident rocked the camp only six months before it was slated to be completed. Angelo Sacchetti, an Italian, died the morning after

the blast and now rests in Solsberry. Other workers were badly burned and carried lifelong reminders of the work they did in Tulip.

Today, there’s not much buzz or noise

around the viaduct. But in 1905 and 1906, life in the work camps was anything but quiet. Life and death were close companions beneath the trestle construction.

Poor food, boredom and tension among the workers bred restless behavior and violence. Gambling and drinking permeated the camps. Nights offered little respite from the day’s work. The foreman of one of the camps, William Lewis, was murdered by another foreman. And a well-known troublemaker was killed in a fight.

Sleeping among the men who built the trestle might have been just as dangerous as building it.

Standing under the great steel beams in the silent valley on a spring afternoon, it’s hard to imagine so many people here. It’s hard to hear the different languages flying in the air. It’s hard to picture the fighting and gambling. On this particular afternoon, it was just us and the trestle. Until we heard the bats.

The high-pitched cries squeaked like an instrument horribly out of tune. The sound was so loud, we looked at each other in confusion—what could possibly make that noise?

“Are those birds?” I asked.

Then we saw them. Hundreds of bats swooped together among the trees lining the trestle. Undulating as a single mass, the bats challenged the trestle in its size. We weren’t alone anymore.

Now the workers are gone, and their tools, dreams and voices are laid to rest. But the trestle will always belong to Southern Indiana, to Greene County and to Tulip. It belongs to those whose families helped build it, to the train buffs who still seek out the hidden relic and to those lost on back roads who stumble upon it on a sunny afternoon.

Since railroads couldn’t be built at a grade higher than three percent, they make ideal hiking/biking trails when the trains no longer run. Today, Indiana has more than 325 miles of trails, and the Hoosier Rails to Trails Council hopes to see that number rise.

SAVING SOUTHERN INDIANA’S DEPOTS Some railroad treasures are, thankfully, easier to find than the Tulip Trestle.

Railway depots were the social centers along the many miles of tracks. Those still standing today suggest the romance of another era. You can imagine women in the late 1800s, in their best travel clothes, gossiping on the platforms. Or see mothers and fathers sending their sons off to war.

In 1914, almost 1,500 depots dotted the railways crisscrossing Indiana. Fewer than 250 exist today. Princeton and Salem’s depots are among the few left.

CONVERTING OUR RAILS TO TRAILS Indiana’s 327 miles of walking and biking trails on former railroad right-of-ways slice through cities and along country roads. They offer an escape for the nature-obsessed and those who just want to explore for the day.

“Railroads couldn’t be built at more than a 3 percent grade,” says Eric Oberg, the manager of trail development at the Rails to Trails Conservancy Midwest Regional Office.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re 5 or 85. They are open to anybody.”

SALEM

On January 14, 1851, the first passenger train pulled into Salem from New Albany. Five thousand people crowded into town to witness the historic event.

That rail developed into what’s known today as the Monon Railroad.

The Monon was so important in the 19th century that the state located Purdue University in Lafayette partly because the Monon passed through the city. The Monon also carried students to and from Wabash College, Depauw University, Indiana University and Butler University.

The depot museum commemorates Salem’s role connection with the The longest trail in Southern Indiana is the Cardinal Greenway, which runs about 40 miles.

Bloomington’s three-mile-long B-Line Trail has become a favorite of locals. The path runs through downtown, with small plazas where you can rest. A bonus is the Bloomington Farmers Market, one of the busiest markets in the state, which bustles every Saturday between April and November. Art, made by local groups such as the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington and area artists such as Joe LaMantia, adds color to the trail, or at least beautiful distractions when you’re out of breath.

Monon, an innovation that connected Hoosiers across the state and catapulted the region into the railway era.

PRINCETON

The Princeton Depot opened in 1890, bringing prosperity to the small town.

Newspapers and mail from across the state arrived here. Locals would leave the depot for shopping day-trips to Chicago, returning at night with their goods in tow.

The town acquired the depot in 1986, which led to the restoration of what remained. A Wabash caboose, restored in a brilliant red, rests on the tracks near the depot. Visit the caboose and dream about the luxurious day trips taken long ago.

Hikers and bikers on Indiana’s rail trails will often see rare plants and flowers along the different routes. The land near the rails has been preserved because sparks from passing engines created small grass fires that kept the ecosystem intact, Oberg says.

However, sometimes it’s the people themselves who make the trail experience the most memorable.

“People get caught up in their own lives, but when you’re on a trail, it forces human interaction,” Oberg says.

“People-watching on a busy urban trail: Man! It can be as interesting as watching the wildlife on a rural trail.”

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Have a ball in a small town Plan a day trip to one of these three hidden treasures.

By Alexea Candreva and Sarah Boyum “Well, I was born in a small town And I live in a small town . . .”

These are the places John Mellencamp sings about, where it’s impossible to stroll down the street without seeing a familiar face and the town square is a one-stop shop for dinner, new shoes and a haircut. Despite the threats of big-box stores moving in and schools consolidating, small towns still exist. You’ll find them located off the main highways and tucked in the hills throughout Southern Indiana.

Small towns are the lifeblood of the country, says Dorothy Graham, owner of the Persimmon Tree in Paoli. Here, face-to-face interaction is cherished. Quaker pastor, writer and part-time smalltown resident Phil Gulley appreciates that he can still ride his bike down familiar streets and take his children hiking where he romped as a child. Gulley says some small towns may have dreamed of becoming large cities, but that doesn’t always happen. But the result is planned

e l l i v s Clark

Welcome to

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communities with established shops, churches and schools, hoping to grow and thrive. The people, food and rich history in small towns make up for their lack of size.

We at 812 created day trips to three Southern Indiana towns so you’ll know there’s always another delicious diner to find, a bit of hidden history to discover or a welcoming person to meet.

We mapped out the must-sees, must-do’s and must-eats in Clarksville, Paoli and Salem, three places that represent the small-town culture that thrives in Southern Indiana. You can explore the river town of Clarksville, discover historical Salem and browse through the shops on Paoli’s town square.

To rediscover a simpler life, take a day trip to one, or all, of these small towns. “If you want a high-action vacation, that’s one way to do it,” Graham says. “But there’s natural beauty here. Sometimes we don’t move as fast, but we don’t lose as much either.”

It’s easy to overlook Clarksville. Miss the exit ramp off I-65, and you’ll find yourself crossing the Ohio River bridge into Louisville. When we first drove into Clarksville, we weren’t sure we were there, given its proximity to Jeffersonville and New Albany. But when we saw the giant Colgate Clock looming overhead, we knew we’d arrived. Clarksville is one of three Indiana river

towns that make up the area called the “Sunny Side of Louisville.”

The people of Louisville don’t seem too offended by this title, according to Linda Hughes, operations manager of the ClarksFloyd Counties Convention-Tourism Bureau. The town was created when ships couldn’t navigate past the limestone fossil beds that make up the Falls of the Ohio, prompting people to settle by the river.

It’s a good thing we didn’t miss the exit because the breathtaking view of the Ohio was just the beginning of our Clarksville adventure.

Far left: The Louisville skyline is visible from the deck of the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

It’s a “million-dollar view,” says Kelley Morgan, interpretive manager at the park. /Photo by Sarah Boyum Left: The George Rogers Clark homestead is from Clark’s time, but was brought to the current location. /Photo by Sarah Boyum

Falls of the Ohio When you visit the Falls of the Ohio State Park, you’ll learn about the Devonian age at the Interpretive Center, experience the area’s thriving nature preserves and be taken back in time to a home from the era of General George Rogers Clark.

The Interpretive Center opened in 1994 on a plot of land that used to be filled with trash.

Today, it teaches visitors about paleontology, glaciers, converging cultures and conservation.

When you enter the center, friendly staff greet you and share their knowledge.

You’ll hear about when the area was a warm, inland sea with 20-foot-long armored fish, the formation of the fossil beds and the changes that occurred when the Native Americans met with the first European settlers. A wildlife observation room is a birders’ hotspot, where you might see any one of the 270 bird species in the area. You can also sign up for guided hikes out on the 220-acre Devonian fossil bed, one of the world’s oldest.

A quick five-minute drive or a one-mile trek along the Ohio River Greenway brings you to the home site of George Rogers Clark.

The highest-ranking American military officer in the northwest frontier in the Revolutionary

INSIDE SCOOP Clarksville is home to the original Texas Roadhouse.

Now, it’s a chain with 320 locations in 46 states and one international restaurant in Dubai. If you’re hankering for some fluffy rolls, personable service and a juicy steak, head down to Green Tree Mall.

You’ll never wonder what time it is because the seventh-largest clock in the world sits on a building that was once the Colgate-Palmolive Factory and later a state prison.

y h W

War, he was originally asked to accompany Meriwether Lewis on his famous expedition.

Believing he was too old, Clark recommended his younger brother William to go with Lewis instead.

Although other towns stake the same claim, historian Stephen Ambrose’s research indicates that Lewis and William Clark shook hands in Clarksville, marking the true beginning of their expedition. A statue of the handshake stands outside the museum.

The Clark cabin is a representative cabin brought to the location. A smaller cabin was built to look like Guinea Bottoms, where Clark’s indentured servants, the McGees, lived. Guinea Bottoms was one of the first free African-American settlements in the Northwest Territory.

Guided fossil- bed hikes run from August-October or as scheduled; visit www.fallsoftheohio.org/index.html for park hours, fees and special events.

ve this town o l I

“It’s really a million-dollar view. You’ve got the river, and in the evening we have the best view of Louisville. The sunset is beautiful.

You can appreciate what you’ve got right outside your window.”

Kelley Morgan, interpretive manager, Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center

MUST DO

Derby Dinner Playhouse If you’re looking for an entertaining show and a good meal, Clarksville’s Derby Dinner Playhouse provides both. Opened in 1974, the playhouse is one of the oldest continually running dinner theaters in the country and the only professional theater in Southern Indiana. Now in its 39th season, it attracts visitors from all 50 states and Canada.

Located on Marriott Drive; tickets can be ordered online. Visit the website for additional information at www.derbydinner.com.

Top: A new cupcake is featured each week at Adrienne’s Café in downtown Jeffersonville. Be sure to get there before 3 for a delicious, made-to-order lunch. /Photo by Sarah Boyum Left: Catch dinner and a show at the oldest continually running dinner theater in the country. Derby Dinner Playhouse is the only professional theater in Southern Indiana. /Photo by Sarah Boyum

MUST EAT

Adrienne and Co. Bakery Café Kings Island calls on this Italian café in downtown Jeffersonville for specialoccasion cakes, and Buddy from TLC’s “Cake Boss” used Adrienne’s cupcakes for a segment in Louisville. Co-owner Bernie Pasquantino used many of his mother’s Italian recipes when he opened the café in 2001. Italian wedding cookies, coconut macaroons and amaretti cookies are just a few of the tasty treats. Fresh-to-order lunch is served daily, and a new cupcake is featured each week.

Don’t leave without tasting a cannoli.

“You really can’t get a cannoli like that anywhere in Louisville,” Bernie claims.

Open: Mon.-Tues. 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Wed.-Fri. 7 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sat.8:30 a.m.–3 p.m.; closed Sun.

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Welcome to

Salem

It’s hard to get lost in Salem, a town about 40 miles northwest of Louisville at the intersection of state roads 56 and 135. As we drove toward Salem, we saw the tip of the courthouse poking through the clouds in the distance. Dawn Powell Camp, the tours and library assistant at the John Hay Center, remembers jumping up and down when the Washington County Courthouse came into view because that meant they were almost to Grandma’s house.

As we continued our drive, we spotted the

welcome sign proclaiming Salem, “A great place to live and make a living.”

Salt licks and lush land drew the first European settlers to the area, where the fourseason climate was ideal for farming. The railroad attracted businesses and more newcomers. The town received a grant to build its Carnegie library in 1904, and Salem continued to flourish.

These days, you don’t have to venture too far off the square to find what you’re looking for.

As Camp says, “If you’re looking for history, you’ve come to the right place.”

John Hay Center

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Located in downtown Salem, the John Hay Center includes the birthplace of its namesake, the Stevens Memorial Museum, the pioneer village and the Depot Railroad Museum. The Stevens Museum is named for Warder Stevens, who wrote a history of the town’s first 100 years. It includes many artifacts of John Hay, an attorney born in Salem in 1838 who became Abraham Lincoln’s private secretary.

A genealogy library draws people from all over the country to trace their ancestry. Camp discovered she is a Daughter of the Revolution, a descendent of someone who helped America achieve independence. Museum exhibits include Native American artifacts from the Delaware, Shawnee, Miami and Piankashau

tribes, old-time fashions and careers and a military room commemorating local soldiers.

The John Hay House in the pioneer village was built in 1814 as a schoolhouse. Families lived there until 1969, and it’s now on the National Registry of Historic Places. The recreated pioneer village has hosted Old Settlers’ Day on the third weekend in September every year since 1875. The festival celebrates the lives and contributions of the town’s forefathers.

The Depot Railroad Museum, behind the pioneer village, recognizes Salem’s role in organizing the Monon Railroad Line between Salem and New Albany.

For more information, call (812) 8836495 or visit www.johnhaycenter.org.

y h W

Above left: The Pioneer Village at the Stevens Memorial Museum is a reconstructed community from 1875. /Photo by Sarah Boyum Above right: Rebecca Marshall is the pharmacist at Salem Apothecary, located on the town square.

The Apothecary serves lunch on weekdays and has a soda fountain. / Photo by Sarah Boyum

ve this tow o l I n

“It’s just a nice, small town. You don’t find independent pharmacies anywhere else. People come here because we know each other.”

Rebecca Marshall, Salem Apothecary pharmacist

INSIDE SCOOP Salem resident Sarah Parke Morrison was the first alumna of Indiana University, but she was not allowed to walk in the graduation because it was thought “unseemly.” Parke returned to IU to earn her third degree in an effort to persusade other women to attend, and Morrison Hall on IU’s Bloomington campus is named after her.

The Carnegie library, just off the town square, was built in 1905. Andrew Carnegie established 2,800 libraries across the country. Indiana boasts 135, more than any other state.

One of Salem’s most famous residents, Everett Dean, a 1920s IU basketball player and 1940s Stanford basketball coach, was influential in creating the pioneer village at the John Hay Center.

MUST EAT

Above left: The Salem Public Library is one of 135 Carnegie libraries that were bulit in Indiana. /Photos by Sarah Boyum Above right: Christie’s on the Square is less than a mile from the Stevens Memorial Museum. After enjoying a made-to-order lunch, don’t forget to save room for carrot cake.

Below: Historic storefronts surround the courthouse in the town square of Salem.

Christie’s on the Square

A charming red, green and orange awning hangs over the storefront windows of Christie’s on the Square. Step inside and you’ll discover tables and chairs that you might find in your own kitchen, colorful artwork hanging on the walls and an accommodating staff.

Lunch entrees, made to order, are reasonably priced (starting at $6.99), and different desserts are offered daily.

(Don’t miss the carrot cake!) The chips are fried and tenderloin breaded right in the store. Tara Klinglesmith, a waitress at Christie’s for five years, says you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. Be sure to get there early for a table—this place is a lunchtime favorite for Salem residents.

MUST DO Salem Speedway

Calling all Speedy Gonzaleses! The Salem Speedway opened in 1947 and can accommodate speeds of almost 140 miles per hour. The hilly, oval-shaped track has challenged some of the top racers of all time, including Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

Even if you don’t purchase tickets, stop by the track and get a good look at this historic speedway.

For tickets and an event schedule visit www.salemspeedway.com.

Visit the website for menu options and hours at www.christiesonsalemsquare.com.

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Welcome to

Paoli Time slows down in Paoli, a town about 23 miles south of Bedford on State Road 37. When the two of us drove in on a Friday afternoon, the downtown was calm and peaceful. Cars filtered through the town square, driving in, around and off to other destinations. A few parking spaces were filled. Shopkeepers glanced out their windows, waiting for customers to visit.

In 1809, a group of Quakers, led by Jonathan Lindley, were the first to settle in Orange County. The group migrated up from North Carolina, then a slave state.

The Quakers opposed slavery and suffered economically as a result. Southern Indiana provided fertile ground and a chance to start over.

“It promised to be a new territory where they wouldn’t have to compete with slave labor,” says Chris Lindley, a social studies teacher at Paoli Junior-Senior High School and a descendent of Jonathan Lindley.

We’ve been here ever since.”

Lindley remembers when the town square was the place to be on a Saturday.

It was the social network. In recent years, Paoli has had its fair share of setbacks.

An electrical fire in November 2010 burned through an entire row of shops on the square. The following November, a tornado swept through town. Some shops are closing their doors.

Despite these obstacles, the town is beginning to write its comeback story, driven by visitors traveling to the resorts at nearby West Baden and French Lick. And Roslyn Alvey, the owner of Roslyn’s Corner Gift Shops and Antiques, is content. “We’ve had good days, and we’ve had bad days, but we’ve loved all the days.”

Above right: The Orange County Courthouse sits in the center of Paoli’s downtown square. /Photos by Sarah Boyum Right: Located just off the downtown square, the German Café serves authentic German dishes.

Below right: Roslyn Alvey has been in business for more than 20 years. Her shop is on the town square.

INSIDE SCOOP Big Locust Farm Bed and Breakfast, located across the street from the Pioneer Village, sits on a plot of land owned by the Lindley family since the 1930s. The B&B offers a large country breakfast, comfy rooms and is a home base for anyone visiting the Hoosier National Forest, Paoli Peaks or French Lick.

A white-and-blue old-fashioned drive-in sits on the side of the road heading toward French Lick and Paoli Peaks. Shakeburger, known for its to-die-for malts, burgers and tenderloins, is worth the pit stop.

MUST DO

Springs Valley Trail

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Looking for a fun day of activity and beautiful scenery? The Springs Valley Trail, part of the Hoosier National Forest, is 12.7 miles long, open year-round and welcomes hikers, mountain bikers, backpackers and horseback riders. Remnants of the old Buffalo Trace, a land route paved by migrating buffalo and used by early settlers to travel west, can be seen from the trail. Enjoy the views of Springs Valley Lake along the way. If you’re looking for a longer route, you can take country roads to connect to Youngs Creek Trail.

MUST EAT

German Café

Across from Wal-mart and down the street from Wendy’s, you’ll find a top-notch German restaurant, recently featured in Indianapolis Monthly. Owner Ramona Muenzer and her family opened the restaurant shortly after moving to the United States four years ago. They offer authentic German dishes made with ingredients imported from their home country. Be sure to order Muenzer’s German Bratwurste and the delectable goulash. Decorated with quirky items scavenged from German flea markets, the restaurant has a homey feeling. “We can be fancy,” Muenzer said. “It’s eclectic, but people like it.” Regulars venture here from all over the state for a taste of Germany.

Muenzer says they have yet to serve a celebrity, but she secretly hopes one day her crush Rod Stewart will drop in and enjoy some of her goulash.

Visit www.thegermancafepaoli.com for hours and additional information.

W

ve this town o l I hy

“We have made the best friends of our lives.

We are having a ball here.”

Above right: Roslyn’s Corner Gifts & Antiques is tucked in a corner of Paoli’s downtown square. Owner Roslyn Alvey hopes to acquire more antiques for her shop. /Photo by Sarah Boyum

Debbie Turner, a volunteer at Lost River Market and Deli

Town square shops Take a walk around the Paoli square and you’ll discover a couple of restaurants, a barbershop and small shops that sell this and that. But something is missing.

No antique stores, Roslyn Alvey says.

Step into her store and you’ll smell the WoodWick candles on display. Alvey, who’s lived in Paoli for 32 years, celebrated her store’s 20th anniversary in 2012 and hopes to start incorporating more antiques into her inventory because “people are really looking for them.”

Despite Paoli’s small-town charm, Alvey admits that many of the storefronts need some upkeep, and a grant from the Hoosier Uplands Economic Development Corp. will help fund the renewal.

“When things are bad, people come

together,” Alvey says. “We’re hanging in there, and we’re going to get it done.”

Take a left out of Alvey’s shop and stroll down the sidewalk. Pass the barbershop and cross the street, where you’ll find Persimmon Tree Gifts. Dorothy Graham, a friend of Alvey, owns the shop that sells plush animals, jewelry and Christmas items year-round.

“We all work together,” Graham says. “We’re not competing with each other, but complementing each other.”

Persimmon Tree’s building, owned

by Graham and her husband for the past 15 years, was once a Model T garage, a dress shop and a skating rink.

Follow the sloping side street away from the courthouse square and you’ll discover the Lost River Market & Deli. Alvey jokes that her store, Persimmon Tree and Lost River are

the “three best stores on the square.”

The food co-op has been in business almost six years now. More than 100 local vendors contribute to the co-op, which employs eight people full-time and has 896 members.

Co-op member Debbie Turner volunteers whenever she can and recommends the deli in the back for a quick snack or an excellent lunch.

Stick around for the Wednesday night “jammers” who appear on the front steps and porch of the deli. Their impromptu concerts are usually from 6-8 p.m.

At first glance at Paoli, you see a town square that could benefit from a facelift. But look closer and you’ll see more: the rolling hills that envelop the town, the Greek-revival courthouse standing tall and white in the center and a new sense of purpose.

You’ll see the beauty of a town in transition.

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fowl

By Nick Clark & Feroze Dhanoa

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play O

More Hoosiers are discovering the joys of raising chickens in their own backyards.

n a warm sunny day, Bloomington North High School English teacher Taji Gibson strolls out of her hilltop house in Unionville. The sun shines on her sloping, grassy backyard. Her husband, Shane, is out playing catch with their sons Tanner, 10, and Sawyer, 8. As the grass works its way between Taji’s red-painted toenails, the family’s newest additions come racing up the hill toward the house. Five ISA Brown hens, a Wyandotte and a Leghorn strut up and start pecking her toes, mistaking them for kernels of food. “It didn’t hurt,” Taji says. “It just kind of tickled some, like a bunch of tiny pinches.”

Chickens are a little silly and often surprising, but they can also be fun. Taji says they’re like pets, and their seven hens all have names: Fancy, Mary, Greedy, Sally, Name-me, Cheagle (a combination of chicken and eagle) and Wyno the Wyandotte.

Backyard chicken flocks used to be as scarce as hen’s teeth in towns and suburbs. The last few years, though, have brought a change. It’s difficult to say where this movement originated. After all, people have been raising chickens for a long time. But in the 1990s, Martha Stewart began showcasing some pretty green and blue chicken eggs in her

magazine. Martha also highlighted the sustainable living trend and showcased the simplicity of home-grown food.

The trend remained cooped up for a while, but took off again in the 2000s. In 2006, Backyard Poultry magazine printed its first issue and now circulates almost 100,000 copies every two months.

More recently, cities such as New York, Chicago and Indianapolis began setting up classes for wannabe chicken-owners.

IUPUI added a class in 2011 called “How to Raise Backyard Chickens” that has roughly 10 to 15 seats open each semester. Chicken advocate Andrew Brake teaches that class, and the rest of the time he runs his advocacy group, NapTown Chickens. The group works to get chicken coops into the yards of urbanites who could use the eggs and meat. They also work to change legislation to allow for raising chickens in places where it is still prohibited.

Now, Bloomington, Terre Haute and Evansville have all changed their ordinances to allow chickens inside the city limits. The municipal code of Bloomington “recognizes that the keeping of urban chickens is a growing phenomenon that has a vocational, educational and sustainable value.”

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Brake says backyard chickening is part of the larger green movement. They’re great for composting, and they’re easy to live with. “A lot of people don’t think about this,” he says, “but chickens will eat anything and give you back an egg.”

On a typical week day, Chris Robbins arrives

home from work, grabs a nice cold ale, and heads outside to see the chickens. He and his wife, Mary, sit in their green Adirondack chairs and watch their flock. Hanging out with the chickens is one of the family’s favorite pastimes, something they call “Chick TV.” Right now they have two dozen hens and a rooster.

The rooster, Chris says, sometimes chases their 13-yearold son, Tommy, around the yard and crows every morning to welcome the day. The family eats the eggs and, later, the meat.

They began raising chickens several years ago, when Mary, who grew up on a farm, brought up the idea. They live on a few acres of land in Owen County, so they set out to buy some chickens. Backyard farming gets incredibly modern at this point, because the Robbins’ preferred method of chicken acquisition is an online hatchery.

When you order online, boxes of baby chicks are sent to your local post office. You get a phone call, and then you go pick up your chicks.

The Robbins family keeps the little ones in what’s called a brooder box next to their woodstove for about two months. “Day-old chicks are actually the cutest thing,” Chris says. “They are just these tiny little balls of fuzz that fit on your hand, and fall over a lot.” When the chickens leave the brooder box, they have feathers and are ready for their close-ups on Chick TV. It’s possible, though, to buy your chickens after they mature. Taji and Shane got their chickens at 16 weeks old, when they were fully feathered and laying eggs. “We got

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them kind of on a whim,” Shane says. For Tanner’s 10th birthday, they got their five ISA Brown hens, and they beefed up their flock two months later with the Wyandotte and Leghorn. Taji claims they were not ready to

“No chickens in the house. That’s definitely a house rule.”

Taji Gibson play host to a flock of chickens, because their coop wasn’t completely finished and they hadn’t decided whether their birds would be free-range or not. They weren’t even sure what their subdivision would think of backyard poultry.

But Shane, Tanner and Sawyer refused to chicken out.

Shane looked up his neighborhood homeowner’s rules.

They could get their chickens hassle-free and without a permit. Now with seven birds pecking around in her yard, Taji sees them as pets and a true part of their family.

“I think if we left the door open they would just casually walk in, like, ‘Hey guys,’” Shane jokes.

Tanner likes that idea. “We could put some special carpeting down that could be, like, cleaned, and we could let them in!”

“Ah, no,” Taji says.

“It’s gonna happen.”

“No, it’s not.”

“No, you know like that fake grass?”

“Seriously. No.” “I’m just saying!”

“I totally get that, but no. No chickens in the house.

That’s definitely a house rule.”

Sawyer Gibson offers a few of his chickens some oats. /Photo by Sarah Boyum

Around a month after they’re fully feathered, hens will start laying eggs. Chris and Mary raise their chickens primarily for eggs. “We have so many that we give away eggs every week to different friends,” Chris says.

The Gibsons have only a seven-hen flock, but they consistently retrieve five eggs a day. “We’ve got so many, we don’t know what to do with them,” Taji says, offering a dozen to this pair of journalists who happened to ask her about her chickens.

Theresa Malone walks across her quaint backyard in downtown Bloomington, making her way toward the chicken coop.

Soon, she emerges from beneath the blue tarp and walks through the rusted gate that serves as the entry to the chickens’ home.

“Look, I got an egg! I always get so excited,” Theresa says. She holds it up in her hand, gazing down at it with pride.

It’s perfectly symmetrical and golden brown, shaped like a giant teardrop. Theresa snags the egg from her chicken coop before Ruthie, a Barred Rock hen, and Bobbie, a Buff Orpington, realize what’s happening. Ruthie crows while Bobbie wanders back into the coop, unaware of the theft that has just taken place. Theresa’s neighbor peeks into her backyard as Ruthie’s crowing grows louder. “You don’t need a rooster when you have that one crowing all day,” he says, sharing a laugh with Theresa.

Theresa Malone warms up with Ruthie in her arms. /Photo by Feroze Dhanoa

“If you’re cold, you can just go grab one, and they’ll warm you up.”

Theresa Malone Joanie, a Buff Orpington, recently went to what Theresa calls “chicken heaven,” leaving the burden of laying eggs on Ruthie and Bobbie.

Theresa always wanted chickens, and after Bloomington passed an ordinance saying you no longer needed your neighbor’s consent to raise them, she had no more excuses. “I guess at heart I’m a farm girl without a farm,” Theresa says. She found three pullets, or young hens, in Martinsville by going on Craigslist. Following an inspection, the Bloomington Animal Shelter gave her a permit. She put an old kitchen cabinet on an end table and covered it with chicken wire to create a backyard home for her hens.

Named after her aunts and her mother, Theresa’s chickens mean a lot to her. And they do seem to be happy animals. Theresa bends down to scoop Ruthie up in her arms. She holds the hen firmly and strokes her head. “They’re so warm. If you’re cold, you can just grab one and they’ll warm you up,” she says with a smile.

Theresa likes the chickens’ easy-going and aloof attitude; the eggs are just an extra benefit. Ruthie gives her an egg every other day while Bobbie is less regular, maybe an egg every two to three days.

Theresa has upgraded her chicken coop with a doghouse from Lowe’s. She reaches into the coop and cleans up the mess every two to three days and gives it a proper cleaning every couple of months. She says Ruthie and Bobbie aren’t too demanding as long as they have fresh water and food.

Chickens in general are pretty good at taking care of

themselves. The Gibsons’ flock is free-range, and they rarely need to eat the seed from their feeder. Free-range chickens can feed

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themselves most of the time, but they fewer eggs. At this stage, many owners do still need a good supply of clean elect to slaughter their poultry, where water. permitted, and eat their home-grown Chickens work to keep themmeat. selves clean, too, and it’s fun “They stop laying as consisto watch a hen “bathe” tently after about a year, itself. Every now and and then they become then a bird will chicken soup, or chickwander toward en salad,” Chris says. a dry patch of It’s his least favorite dirt and begin part. “Nobody likes Visit scratching like to kill something www.812magazine.com crazy. Once it they’ve raised from for a music video of turns up enough a baby,” he says. “But the chickens. dirt and dust, it we haven’t had to buy dives to the ground meat from a grocery and rolls around in the store in a long time.” dirt like a dog trying to scratch Theresa can’t bring herself to its back. butcher her chickens, even though it’s Shane says the hens cover themlegal. “I guess I’m just going to keep selves in a layer of dirt. That dirt them till I have really old hens in my smothers any parasites or bugs that backyard,” she says. may be on their skin. Staying clean by The same is true for the Gibson getting dirty: It sounds a little birdfamily. After all, they have names. brained doesn’t it?

Fancy, the dominant female, pecks Not all back-yard chickens can around the compost area while Mary be free-range. Bloomington requires and Greedy follow behind. Sally and owners to have a fenced-in chicken Name-me are scratching in the grass run, although that doesn’t mean you near the boys, while Cheagle and can’t take your chickens out into your Wyno poke around in the bushes. yard sometimes. And the runs and Clucks and laughs float on a light coop sometimes need to be a specific breeze. number of feet away from neighbors If you care for your hens, they’ll or fences. Evansville’s municipal code hang around with you, the highest requires that coops stand “no less form of chicken affection. You can’t than 50 feet from a property boundexpect too much of these birds: some ary.” scratching, some feather rustling, lots While chickens aren’t known of torn-up grass and a fair amount of for their smarts, they do know that clucking and crowing. But somehow people mean food. that all leads to laughs, companion“When we open the door, zoom, ship and an endless supply of fresh here come the chickens,” Shane says. eggs.

Taji says when she gardens, the Sawyer and Tanner run across chickens are right there at every hole the backyard with their steel bowls of she digs, pecking at bugs and fighting hot sauce-seasoned popcorn in hand. for worms.

Greedy leads the charge towards the “I just like how social they are,” popcorn and the other hens flock she says. “They’ll follow you around, after her. The boys toss handfuls of kind of doing their own thing, but kernels to the hungry birds. they will always be there.”

“They like hot sauce,” says Tanner.

As chickens age they begin to lay “The chicks are grown up like me!”

Barred Rock:

Easy-going birds with a gentle demeanor.

Want to tune in to Chick TV?

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Know your flock

Buff Orpington:

Friendly birds that can be the victims of bullying.

Wyandotte:

Dominating birds with a calm demeanor.

ISA Brown:

Chickens that give you plenty of eggs.

Leghorn:

Typically white chickens that also produce a good number of eggs.

So, you want some of those fresh eggs now?

Tanner Gibson holds Greedy the ISA Brown chicken. /Photo by Nick Clark

Think you want to start raising chickens of your own? We'll tell you how to cock-a-doodle-do it with some help from chicken advocate Andrew Brake.

Can I raise chickens in my backyard?

Check with your local Animal Control Office first. Websites like urbanchicken.com and backyardchicken.com allow you to contact other chicken owners in your area and sometimes can link you straight to your city’s municipal code. Always check with your local government and homeowner’s association before buying anything.

Where can I get chickens?

First, figure out how many chickens you want to raise. Now start looking. You can find chickens all over. There are online hatcheries like Murray McMurray. Local farmers will often have chicks or pullets for sale in the spring, and feed stores or Tractor Supply stores often stock baby chicks around the same time of year.

What if I want to raise them from chickhood?

Brake says raising adult birds from chicks involves a lot of work. But if you do decide to take on this task, you’ll need a brooder box where the chicks aren’t too cramped up. Fill the box with some kind of bedding.

(Avoid newspaper shreds, as the ink can get really messy.) Make sure they have a feeder and a water bowl as well as a light

bulb pointed at them to keep them warm.

Change their food and water regularly and make sure their living conditions are hygienic.

Do I need a rooster?

Nope. If you have a flock of chickens, the rooster will take the dominant role in the “pecking order.” Without a rooster, the biggest hen will usually take over and act like a rooster. She’ll be more aggressive, flapping her wings while clucking at potential threats. Sometimes dominant hens will even stop laying eggs.

What are some of the basic necessities I would need to raise chickens?

Once you know how many birds you want, the first things you should invest in are feeders, waterers and chicken feed. For their housing needs, you need to build a coop. The coop doesn’t need to be too fancy as long as the birds have ample space to move around inside. Make sure you clean out the coop about once a week so that the chickens have a clean living environment.

How often do chickens lay eggs?

Most breeds will lay an egg every one to

three days. That means three birds in your backyard will give you around 900 eggs a year. Some breeds, called layers, can be counted on for an egg every day. Other breeds, like meat birds or rare breeds, are less productive.

Can I have other pets and still raise chickens?

You can, but keep an eye on your animals.

Cats may attack young chickens but are more apprehensive of full-grown birds. The Gibsons have two cats and no problems.

Dogs may kill fully grown birds, but if you have an aggressive rooster or a dominant hen, he or she will show that dog who’s boss.

What happens when they get sick?

Big industrial chicken farms give the birds a bad name. If you have three to five birds in your coop, you’ll notice if one is sick, and you can take care of it immediately. In a giant chicken farm, it isn’t as noticeable and diseases can spread. Of course, anytime you take care of any chicken business, make sure you wash your hands.

Watch out for pests like raccoons and hawks; they’ve been known to disturb the chickens’ peace.

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Merrill Hinshaw walks toward his shop, examining the ground with every step. He and his wife have traveled 812in search of rocks. /Photo by Ben Mikesell the world SUMMER/ FALL

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ROCK STAR Merrill Hinshaw of French Lick has devoted his life to revealing the beauty hidden in unpolished stones.

By Carmen Huff He shoves his 76-year-old callused hands into the pockets of his Levis. The sky is gray and his brown, pointed-toe cowboy boots blend into the dormant grass of his yard. He wears a cream cowboy hat, and his short, white beard crawls along the edge of his face.

“I like to deer hunt, I like to elk hunt,” he says with a thick Southern Indiana accent, his eyes squinting as he grins. “And I can’t see deer or elk now because I’m always looking at the ground for rocks.”

Merrill Hinshaw is a lapidarist and founder of Hinshaw Rock ’N Gems, his 52-year-old family-owned business in French Lick. A lapidarist is someone who cuts and polishes precious and semi-precious stones. He and Janis, his

wife of 55 years, have hunted more than 100 varieties of jasper, agates, crystals and petrified wood. He has dug for Herkimer diamonds in New York and traveled as far as central Mexico and Canada to find treasures buried beneath the surface.

Merrill doesn’t have a college degree.

He taught himself how to hunt rocks, cut them, polish them and turn them into jewelry. “You had to do something to make a living,” he says.

And he doesn’t just do it. He rocks it.

The Lapidary Journal Magazine listed Hinshaw as one of the 10 best polishers in the country. He helped identify rocks at Michigan Tech, and his special calcite crystal, found in Anderson, is part of a collection in the Smithsonian.

“He also appraised the agate collection for the Harvard University Museum,” says his daughter Kimberly.

“You don’t need to tell her that stuff,” Merrill says.

“He is also cantankerous,” she adds.

People have come from as far as New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, Germany and Denmark to see his shop. “This is actually a very big field, just not very many people in it,” he says. “There are millions of people that don’t know what lapidary means, but when you get to one that does they will look up a shop like mine.” And they do find it, in advertisements in Travel Indiana Magazine, local newspapers and visitor bureaus. Yelp lists Hinshaw Rock ‘N Gems as one of the top five places to visit in French Lick.

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TODAY, MERRILL’S WORK is found all over the world. A pair of his bookends, just a polished rock cut in half, sits on somebody’s mantel in New York City next to an Oscar. The family doesn’t remember the name of the owners, since they sold them to the father of the guy’s wife, or something like that. He’s also sold polished rocks to author Tom Clancy and custom buttons to Baltimore designer Lee Anderson for her clothing line.

“It is his depth of artistic talent that makes him so good,” Kimberly says. “He can look at something and see things other people can’t see. I don’t know how to describe it except to say it is a gift from God.” In the yard outside his shop, barrels, orange with rust and age and stacked three high and 20 deep, overflow with unpolished gems. The ones that wouldn’t fit in the barrels tumble from piles. Merrill dug up two-thirds of them himself. Digging was his favorite part of rock hunting. Now that he just works out of his shop, he has to try and keep the interest alive. “I can’t hunt anymore,” he says. “My knees won’t walk.” Agate weighs 160 pounds per cubic foot, and boulders as heavy as 400 pounds are mixed into his hard-earned piles.

The Hinshaws used to work in Winchester, then formed a business with friends and went to Oregon for three years. However, things didn’t work out as they planned, and they found a place in French Lick that was exactly what they were looking for.

When they moved there 30 years ago, it took a couple of semis to move the 150 tons of rocks.

Janis says she’ll never Merrill holds a rock that still needs to be cut and polished.No matter how much move again. experience you have, it’s impossible to Merrill strolls over predict what a rock will look like inside to a pile of brownishuntil it’s cut open. /Photo by Ben Mikesell gray rocks the size of tennis balls. They all look the same to me, just a pile of rocks. But to Merrill, it isn’t just rock, it’s Missouri Lace, an agate with a lace-like pattern inside. He paws through the pile and snatches one up.

“Do you notice anything different than what it was over there?”

I look at him blankly and shrug, “I don’t.”

“This is rock hunting.”

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MERRILL’S FATHER, EVERITT, liked the outdoors around their home in Winchester and picked up arrowheads every chance he got. As he and Merrill hunted for relics, they’d pick up other rocks if they were pretty, if they had color in them or if they had any other defining feature. The small distinctions are what made Merrill curious about what was inside, and they started cutting. The father-son duo spent $150 for two machines, a rock-cutter and a grinder, both of which Merrill still uses today.

Merrill had an eye for arrowheads but not always for the rocks he wanted. He took a class called “Rocks for Fun” at Earlham College and learned how to look. When he was getting ready for a rock expedition, he’d go into a rock shop and buy a piece he knew he’d be hunting. Then he’d toss it into the yard just to see if he

could find it again. And he would. Eventually. That’s how he found his knack for hunting. “The same way you hunt mushrooms,” he says. “You either learn what they look like or you miss them.”

Kimberly says her dad was born about 100 years too late. “He would have been at the forefront of the expedition out West,” she says.

“If you told him he couldn’t do something, he would. He’s persistent.”

WE WALK INTO Merrill’s small two-car garage. One side is filled with polishing machines and grinders, green and rusty with a flat, silver wheel perched in the center. The other side has three saws of incremental proportions.

“Can you tell what that is?” he asks, shoving a round, baseballsized rock toward me.

“A rock?” I say hesitantly, looking at the rough gray mass.

“It is basically a geode. It’s called a coconut. It has nothing to do with coconuts, but it is always round,” he says. “Now, any idea what’s inside? Anyone who tells you they know just lied to you. I can’t even tell you what’s inside, but I’ve got a pretty good idea because I cut a lot of them.”

He walks over to the smallest of the three saws and carefully places the geode on top. He rocks his body from side to side to make sure it’s perfectly centered. He takes a step back and flips the switch.

The saw roars and its $5,000-diamond blade starts cutting the stone at the rate of six inches per hour. The blade screeches as it hits the rock, but about 10 minutes later, the geode splits into two even pieces. Small, sharp grayish-blue crystals burst from the walls of the tiny caves inside.

“What you got there is a thin layer of quartz with a little calcite on the quartz,” he says, holding it close to his stomach and pointing it toward the ceiling light. “And there is no way to tell me this is going to be like that.”

Merrill mostly works with agates. He pulls a knife out of his pocket, flips it open and presses it into a small, pink rock. It skids across the surface leaving a skinny, white line in its track. “See how that knife cuts into that? It won’t cut good like an agate.” If the knife can’t scratch the rock, then he knows it’s what he’s looking for. Also, he says if the daylight goes through a rock, it’s an agate. If it doesn’t, it may be jasper. Agate, jasper and flint are all varieties of quartz, and he tells the difference by the way the light plays off them.

Once the rock is cut, he takes a brass pencil and marks smaller slices to cut. He uses brass because lead washes off too easily. After it’s cut a second time, he uses a machine to flatten the rocks. If they aren’t flat, then the grinder will polish some parts and not others, and too much pressure will make it explode.

After the rock is flat, Merrill can start polishing it. He uses wax to mount it to a short wooden stick the size of his hand. It gives him better control on the grinder. Six grinders stand in a row, and he has to put the rock through each one. If he skips a step, he’ll find a scratch in the rock later and have to go back, which can make the rock thin and fragile. Merrill’s grandson Chanc Pearson slides on a thick plastic apron and flips a switch to start the first grinder. He twists a knob above the machine to start water flowing around the spinning wheel.

The water keeps the rock cool. “Most people say it’s too much work,” Kimberly says, explaining that we’re only about halfway through the process.

The Hinshaws used to teach classes from their shop. Merrill’s philosophy is if one person can do it, so can another. There is no big

trade secret, it’s just grinding and polishing and getting good at it.

“You will find out you’re not good at it,” Chanc says.

“You’re going to find another job,” Merrill adds, grinning.

Below: Merrill taught himself how to find rocks and turn them into jewelry. “You had to do something to make a living,” he says. /Photo by Ben Mikesell

MERRILL WOULD TELL HIS class they were going to cut at least one stone right. What they did after that was up to them. One older student took his class three times, working with rhodochrosite, a pink gem. “She finally came up to me and said, ‘This is even better than you can do.’ And I said, ‘You’re probably right, but I wouldn’t have spent three years doing it,’” Merrill says with a deep chuckle.

Once the rocks are polished, Merrill sets them in silver to make necklaces, bracelets and earrings. He grabs a crazy-lace agate. “Look at the pattern in that,” he says. “That’s what turns you on. That’s what keeps you going. You can’t duplicate that. That’s the natural art. I don’t float on a cloud. I just enjoy the beauty in some of them.”

Once he’s satisfied with a design, he cuts and bends metal around the stone. Some have elaborate silver swirls and braids, but others are simple. His goal is to highlight the stone. His rocks and jewelry sell between $10 and $500. Some of the larger ones become small tables or bookends.

The Hinshaw rock business is in its fourth generation. Janis and Merrill have three children, and two of them, Kimberly and Matthew, both fell in love with rock-cutting. Kimberly studied geology at Indiana State University, and Matthew has been cutting rocks since he was 14. Now, Chanc, a student at Indiana University, is a skilled rock-cutter and polisher himself. The family hopes he’ll keep the business going once Merrill is gone.

Falling in love with rocks is about seeing beyond their nondescript exteriors. Janis says their rough rock collection could mean as little as a gravel driveway if they didn’t take the time and effort to transform it. “It would be expensive driveway gravel, but that’s a possibility,” she says. “Until we do what we do to it, it’s just rock.”

“Until we do what we do to it, it’s just rock.”

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home grown

By Brittany McNeelan

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The Steckler family puts a fresh spin on traditional farming by going organic.

MARTHA STECKLER stands at the island in the middle of her kitchen putting the finishing touches on the mashed potatoes while her youngest son, 3-year-old Jeremiah, stands on a chair so he can lick the masher she used for the deviled eggs. She asks 7-year-old Eli to set the long brown table with an extra place for me.

“If you don’t like it, we won’t hold it against you,” Martha tells me, “and if you do, you’re welcome to more.” Six boys and girls take their seats around the table, leaving two chairs unfilled. One is for 18-year-old Garth, who’s had a little car trouble, and the other is for 19-year-old Gavin, who’s training to be a priest. The family bow their heads and recite the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and the traditional prayer before meals. Once they finish, Stan asks Martha, “Is that what I think it is?” nodding his head toward the main dish. Martha shakes her head yes and says, “Rabbit.”

Stan looks at me and tries not to laugh as he explains that the meat perched on top of my mashed potatoes is a rabbit that had been raised by their 14-year-old son, Blake. Like most of the family’s meals, all the food we’re eating was grown here on the farm, including the cabbage in the homemade sauerkraut and the beets used to flavor it. The deviled eggs came from their hens and the green beans and onions from their garden.

The green beans haven’t made it to my end of the table, though, and when I ask Danielle to pass them, Martha jokingly tells me I’ll have to scoop them off someone else’s plate.

“With as many hands and mouths as we have here, you have to get in there and grab what you want,” Stan says.

Top right: Clockwise from top: Stan Stecker, 42; Blake Stecker, 14; Martha Steckler, 46; Jeremiah Stecker, 3; Danielle Steckler, 10; Eli Stecker, 7; Joel Stecker, 12; and Samantha Steckler, 16, sit down for a home-grown lunch at the family table. The main dish: rabbit gravy. /Photo by Brittany McNeelan Bottom left: Danielle and Eli sort and wash the eggs during their afternoon chores. /Photo by Brittany McNeelan

STAN AND MARTHA and their eight children run Grass Corp. organic farm in Leopold.

The farm operates with no harmful chemicals and has no employees outside the immediate family. Their specialties include grass-fed meats —such as Normande cows, lambs and goats, chickens and turkeys —free-range eggs and homemade soap.

The Stecklers are one of a growing number of farm families in Indiana who are converting from traditional to organic practices.

Lieutenant Governor Sue Ellspermann believes the switch to sustainable agriculture is important to Indiana’s future. “Stan and Martha are true entrepreneurs, stewards of the environment, and a great Hoosier family,” says Ellspermann, who worked alongside the Stecklers and others to draft legislation allowing the sale of poultry at farmers’ markets.

The number of organic farms in Indiana has jumped in the past 10 years to 180 operations that cover more than 18,000 square miles of land, although Indiana is still catching up to Ohio’s 50,000 acres and Illinois’ 30,000 acres. The southern third of the state is home to 26 organic farms priding themselves on operating without harmful chemicals, antibiotics or growth hormones.

The Steckler family of 10 works together to be as self-sufficient as possible by providing their own milk, eggs, produce and meat. They use their diversified, 100-acre farm to make a living and feed the family. Though Stan is a second-generation farmer, his organic operation is a lot different from the traditional farm his father ran. His father wasn’t always comfortable with the transition, but he’s come around as he’s seen his son’s family flourish.

AT 5 A.M. EVERY DAY, Stan pulls on a pair of work pants, slips on his heavy, weathered-green Carhartt coat and heads out the front door toward the milking barn. He started milking cows when he was 7, and he hasn’t missed too many days since then. In his family, everyone was expected to help out as soon as they were big enough to be productive and they did. His early work on the farm

prepared him to run his own.

On the Steckler farm, everyone has chores, and Martha and the kids roll out of bed about an hour after Stan. Samantha and Danielle make breakfast and get food set up for the rest of the day by baking fresh bread and brewing Kombucha, a fermented Russian tea said to be a health tonic. The boys begrudgingly head outside to begin feeding and watering the cows, pigs, chickens, lambs and goats. They also have to feed their two dogs, Pup, a giant Anatolian shepherd with the mane of a lion and a roar to match, and a little brown mutt named Mikey. “Chores usually aren’t that bad,” says 14-year-old Blake. “It just has to be done,” agrees Joel, 12.

All the kids admit that while sometimes they’d rather be doing other stuff, their chores come first. And when it comes to feeding and watering the animals, it’s a life-or-death situation. They shoot to finish with morning chores by 8 a.m. Then they head into the house and wash up for breakfast. The kids wash and put away the dishes and sweep the floor. Then it’s off to their bedrooms for school, which for 7-year-old Eli includes a mid-morning break to gather the day’s first round of fresh eggs.

IN 1996, after adding their third child, Samantha, to the family, Martha decided to leave her job and stay at home with the kids full-time. She’d been itching to try home schooling because she knew several people who were doing it. With Stan farming fulltime and the kids at school all day, they hardly got to see each other. “Stan and I would visit families who were home schooling, and we realized that’s how we wanted our kids to act,” Martha says.

Her main focus is teaching the kids to read and write well and giving them a good foundation in math. The other part is teaching a strong foundation in their Catholic religion and their ability to choose between right and wrong. The older children help out the younger ones with problems when Martha’s hands are full.

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Grass-fed cows are one of Grass Corp.’s specialties. Stan is experimenting with sprouted barley fodder in hopes that he can have green-growing feed available for them 365 days a year. /Photo courtesy of Samantha Steckler

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That teamwork is a must for the Stecklers.

As the kids finish eating lunch, Samantha clears the dishes while Blake begins to wash.

Danielle pours the remaining rabbit gravy into a Tupperware container, scraping the bowl so she doesn’t waste a drop.

When she finishes, she grabs the broom and sweeps the floor. By the time their parents have finished eating, the kitchen is spotless. Sixteen-year-old Samantha says she doesn’t mind the work, and they’d get bored without so much to do.

Each child has special talents. Samantha, the only child with curly hair, crochets masterfully, gives her brothers haircuts and sewed the family out of a disaster this afternoon when Jeremiah woke up from his nap to find a tear in his penguin blanket. Her little brother Eli calls Danielle the “noodle-maker” because she makes them from scratch. It’s a skill she could live without.

“You do your schoolwork, then you do eggs, then you do noodles, and it’s just not that fun,” Danielle says.

“It’s usually only once a week,” Martha reminds her.

“Yeah, but still, it’s noodles,” Danielle persists.

Martha raises an eyebrow. “You have gotten out of cleaning eggs before to make noodles,” she says softly but sternly.

Danielle doesn’t bother with a rebuttal, knowing they all have to pull their weight around here.

STAN AND MARTHA both grew up on

small family-operated dairy farms, and it wasn’t until 2005 that they moved to their current farm and switched to organic practices. Today, not only is business booming for Grass Corp but also for organic products in general, which are responsible for more than 3 percent of the country’s total food sales. Organic products have become a staple in three out of four grocery stores in the United States, not to mention the mainstay of specialty food stores, including Sunnyside Natural Foods

“I just love this family staying at this farm.”

Jeremiah Steckler

Market in New Albany and Bloomingfoods in Bloomington.

Stan says he felt pulled to a more natural way of doing things. “I thought that mankind needed to take a step back and do things the way they were meant to be done for our benefit and the benefit of society,” he says.

However, making the switch was a timeconsuming process that took years to get right. Back in 2005, organic farming had yet to gain a mainstream following. Instead of finding a guidebook filled with tips on how to keep baby chicks warm or build a mobile coop for the pasture, Stan had to search for the answers himself. It’s been a slow and steady transition, involving a lot of trial-and-error.

The greatest expense in the conversion, Stan

As the goats munch on hay, Eli said, “You don’t w you. One time he tried to push me through the ba

says, may be the lost opportunities during the experimental stages.

The Stecklers’ latest experiment, a bright green plant called barley fodder, is sprouting in the milking barn. “Green, growing feed in the off-season is the goal,” Stan says as he walks me into the barn. Before I could look around, I’m smacked in the face by a wall of humidity. My glasses fog up, so I stick them on the top of my head and hope they won’t fall off while I climb the ladder leading to the top level of the barn.

This room is kept warm to accommodate the fodder. One side is lined with rows of silver-colored trays planted with barley and connected to a drip irrigation system. The plants will sprout and grow about six to eight inches tall. Stan explains that eating the fodder is similar to eating fresh grass. It’s a way to combat drought and even out the food supply for the year. “It allows us to have green growing grass 365 days a year,” Stan says. He hopes that cutting back on the hay the cows eat will lead to an even healthier and tastier meat.

“As a farmer, you can’t expect to eat fast food and have enough horsepower to run your body on a daily basis,” Stan says. His son Gavin agrees. Since leaving home to attend Marion University, he says he’s hungry all the time because the food isn’t as good or as nutritious. The upside is that it warms Martha’s heart when he scarfs down homemade meals.

Grass-fed meat is higher in healthy fats like Omega-3 fatty acids and is packed full of other natural vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin C, beta-carotene and vitamin E.

want to get near Teddy, the big brown goat, because he likes to get at ars in the gate.” /Photo by Brittany McNeelan

Grass-fed meat has less fat and cholesterol and fewer calories than grain-fed meat. The quality is important, says Susan Kaempfer, manager of the New Albany Farmers Market where the Stecklers have been selling goods almost every weekend for over three years.

“There’s a large following for their product, and it draws a bigger crowd to our market,” she says. “A lot of people just come for their product and leave.” Plus, she adds, it’s nice to see how they work together as a team.

AROUND 2 P.M., after finishing their

schoolwork, Eli and Danielle head to the market barn to wash and package eggs.

It’s tedious and takes almost two hours to complete. The kids use damp cloths to wash the dirt off the eggs, then place them in foam cartons. Packaging the eggs every day helps to keep them cleaner. As they near the bottom of the bucket, Danielle and Eli start counting down. When they finish, Eli is thrilled to have 38 minutes left to play before starting his afternoon chores. He grabs a Nerf gun and runs around the house shooting foam darts at Joel and Jeremiah.

Martha calls family vacations “kind of impossible” but says she and Stan or some of the kids can take turns getting away and trust that things will be taken care of at home.

“We just can’t all go together,” she says.

For fun, the family plays board games like Scrabble, Candyland and checkers or a game they invented called Trampoline Dodgeball.

They never watch TV on school nights, but they occasionally turn on the tube during the

Turkeys graze in the Steckler family’s pastures. Grass Corp animals are free of harmful chemicals and antibiotics. /Photo courtesy of Samantha Steckler

weekends, favoring sports, nature shows and family-oriented movies.

WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES 4, the kids put on their boots and overalls and begin afternoon chores. Eli and Danielle each grab an empty five-gallon bucket on their way to the barn, and we all duck as Garth runs up in a bright orange pair of coveralls and throws a late-season snowball in our direction.

In the chicken coop, all I see is chickens – white, brown, red – everywhere. The clucking is deafening. Joel feeds and waters the chickens, leading them toward their troughs.

Meanwhile, the kids gently pick brown eggs from the nests, adding them to their buckets one by one. When they finish, each bucket is filled to the brim.

Blake milks the cows, and Joel waters the fodder, then feeds and waters the pigs and calves. The milking machine makes a loud suction noise as it attaches to each teat, followed by a chugging sound as the milk is drained into the tubes. By 6 p.m., the evening chores are finished, and we all head inside for dinner, stopping at the front door to kick off our dirty boots.

THE USDA EXPECTS demand for organic foods to grow in the future. But do the Steckler children plan to be a part of it?

While Samantha loves life on the farm, she wants to go to college and study accounting. Her little brother Joel wants his own farm because he loves working with animals.

Middle-child Blake expects to build his own operation from scratch as well. One thing

THE CHILDREN’S CHORES Gavin has traded in his working boots for pen and paper and is a full-time college student.

Garth scrapes the barnyard of manure or herds cows into the barn.

Samantha prepares the day’s meals and helps make deliveries.

Blake is in charge of milking the cows.

Joel feeds and waters the animals.

Danielle is the “noodle maker” and helps wash and package eggs.

Eli gathers, washes and and packages eggs.

Jeremiah gathers eggs with Eli and shadows his older siblings.

they are sure of is they will continue their father’s legacy of doing things the natural and organic way. While it’s too soon for 3-year-old Jeremiah to plan a career path, he knows one thing’s for sure: “I just love this family staying at this farm.”

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✹

All

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family in the

I

BY ERIN BOLAND AND LIBBY PETERSON

These three hometown staples mean business.

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Imagine Indiana in the years after it becomes a state in 1816.

New towns and cities appear and grow. From Jasper to Starlight to Brownstown, families like the Sturms, the Hubers and the Summerses move in to open up shop. At first, they only wanted to provide for their families. They never imagined that their dream might last more than a century.

Today, the average lifespan of a family venture is 24 years, and only three percent of existing family businesses are owned by a fourth generation or later. Increasingly, the odds are stacked against businesses lasting past the founders.

Bill Whorrall, author of “Goodbye, Mom and Pop: Independent Businesses in Southern Indiana,” says he was surprised to find so many upbeat store-owners, despite the presence of big-box stores.

“This is a kind of Hoosier attitude that says, ‘Things aren’t as bad as they seem.’” He didn’t hear the token phrases like “Have a nice day!” or “Thank you for shopping at .... ” in family businesses. People were more personable and real. One store-owner told Whorrall that he never called the police when people shoplifted. “If they can live with it,” he told him, “I guess I can.”

These stores were known to be more reliable because back in the day, Whorrall says, there was a certain attitude about fairness. The owners and customers knew each other. Owners cared about people coming back. “Tell a big-box store clerk you won’t come back and see if they look concerned,” Whorrall says.

Today, reputation is everything. If your store becomes a town staple, it won’t budge easily. As Bernie Messmer of Jasper’s L.H. Sturm Hardware says: “Success depends on the community.” 812 is here to talk about a few family stores whose communities have supported them: a small yet stubborn hardware store, a medium-sized spice store with global girth, and a large, ever-growing orchard and winery.

What we found to be true is that no matter the size, the “Hoosier attitude” prevails in Southern Indiana.

Once a dance hall, Huber’s Orchard and Winery’s hayloft in Starlight now gives guests a taste of their newest drinks.

A 1912 photo of three unnamed customers hangs in the store's entryway. Compared to nearly 120 years ago, Sturm Hardware looks virtually the same. /Photos by Libby Peterson

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One of the many artifacts displayed in Marion Kay's Brownstown store is a photo taken of Marion "Bill" Summers shaking hands with Clyde Fosters after buying out his company, Foster Brothers Company.

Bernie and Sharon Messmer at Sturm's Hardware in Jasper keep small items organized in boxes lined up on the same shelves Louie Sturm built back in 1895.

“There’s a guy up north who claims to have the oldest hardware store in the state. He doesn’t.” - Bernie Messmer

A

Name: L.H. Sturm Hardware Opened: 1895 Current generation: 3rd

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A staple on Jasper’s downtown square, L.H. Sturm Hardware, gets its name from its founder, Louie Sturm, who opened the store in 1895. Today, the hardware store battles its archenemies: the Internet and big box stores.

“There’s a guy up north who claims to have the oldest hardware store in the state,” says Bernie Messmer. “He doesn’t.”

Bernie, 74, co-owns Sturm Hardware with his wife, Sharon, 72, the granddaughter of Louie Sturm, who opened up shop more than a century ago and set up, among other store features, the now-sagging plank boards still used as shelves. Compared to the 1912 sepia-toned picture that hangs in the store’s entryway, Sturm Hardware looks virtually untouched.

Now a part of the National Registry of Historic Places, the store is most popular for its kitchenware, specifically the castiron cooking ware and washboards. Sturm’s home beer- and wine-making section has also been a hit, which Bernie credits for the store’s continued survival. “I think it’s kept us going.”

Their biggest enemies are the big-box stores and the Internet, but they’ve survived so far, Bernie and Sharon say, because their customers don’t like waiting for things to ship. Plus, the pair are personable, a skill Bernie says he picked up from Sharon’s uncle Hugo, the second-generation Sturm who owned the store with her aunt Elsie and father, Carl.

“People still come in today and talk about how great Hugo was,” Bernie says. Before taking over fulltime, Bernie helped Hugo with the store every Saturday. Whenever Bernie walked in, Hugo would heave a sigh of relief and hurry out, saying, “Boy, I’m glad you’re here. I’m heading to the tavern for a quick drink,” Bernie recalls with a laugh.

Before Sharon and Bernie knew they would take over the shop, the store’s fate came into question when Elsie became sick. Sharon’s father had died, and neither Hugo nor Elsie, who lived together all their lives, had children. Hugo asked Sharon and Bernie if they would take over the store. When they said yes, Bernie says, Hugo rushed down to the hospital to tell Elsie. “It put her at ease.”

Sharon left her job to run the store when Hugo had a stroke in 1988, and Bernie later joined her full-time. The hardest part was learning where everything was, Sharon says. In fact, the store is so packed with stuff that they’re still learning today.

“And if Bernie decides to move something, I’ll have no idea where it is,” she says. “Everything’s got its proper place. I could point to where things are in my sleep.”

They have a son, Jason, 35, who’s decided to go into horticulture, but “he was raised in the store,” Bernie says. When Jason was in the 4th grade, his parents had a conference with his math teacher who told them, “I can’t figure it out, but Jason is way above and beyond the other children at counting cash.”

Though the store may appear untouched, there have been a few changes since Louie’s time: They’ve added a cash register

Among the largely untouched stacks of paperwork and catalogs, Sharon finds a book signed by her uncle, father and grandfather, dated January 28, 1921. /Photo by Libby Peterson

that charges credit cards, and they now keep their inventory in a computer that only Bernie uses. “I don’t do the computer,” Sharon says, pointing to the flickering blue screen on their preInternet, 1990s-model monitor.

Yellowed books and catalogs are piled against the wall in a pigeonhole cabinet behind her. They’re supposed to sort through them, Sharon admits, but they haven’t gotten around to it yet—the last time they de-cluttered, they just threw stuff out the window.

Out of curiosity, she turns around and leafs through a stack.

“Bernie, can we get rid of these Reader’s Digests?” But Bernie is occupied with a customer. She sets them down and picks up a book about explosives. The store used to sell dynamite, Sharon explains, as she finds a 1944 vendor’s explosive license.

Sharon turns her attention to some books and pulls one out at random called “Indiana Farm Laws” by William K. Williams.

She opens the cover and sees a note on the first page, written in pencil: “L.H. Sturm Hdwe. Co., Jasper Ind. June 8/10.” She flips open the cover of another book to find the handwritten date Jan. 28, 1921, and is surprised to see three names below it: Hugo M. Sturm, Carl J. Sturm and Louis H. Sturm.

Keeping Sturm Hardware alive isn’t exactly what either of them envisioned for post-retirement life. But just as Sharon and Bernie have kept the old store going, Sturm has done the same for them.

“We don’t mope around or go to the senior citizen center playing cards all day,” Bernie says.

People have asked them about buying the store, but Bernie has doubts of that likelihood. “I don’t think they can make a living here anymore,” he says.

Sharon has few words regarding the store’s uncertain future: “I don’t like to think about it.”

She had suggested to Bernie that Sturm Hardware might have done better business in a shopping center, but Bernie remains loyal to Jasper’s bustling downtown: “It’s lively here, so we stay here.”

F

The opening of Huber’s ice cream factory and cheese shop was a diversification project to sustain the family business. /Photo by Libby Peterson

Name: Huber’s Orchard and Winery Opened: 1843 Current generation: 6th From 80 acres in 1843 to more than 600 today, Huber’s Orchard and Winery has expanded a farmstead into one of the first combined winery and distilleries in the state. Current owners Ted and Greg Huber are the sixth generation owners and can’t wait for it to continue into the seventh and eighth.

Ask Marcella (known as Marcie) Hawk what she remembers about her great-grandma and namesake Marcella Huber, and she’ll tell you about her matriarch’s feel for good produce. Even though Marcella couldn’t see well toward the end of her life, she could still pick a bad apple out of a bunch just by touching them.

Marcie also worked with produce as a teenager at Huber’s, but with a slightly different goal. “My sister and I could sell you a bag of apples like there’s no tomorrow,” she jokes. As a seventhgeneration Huber, Marcie worked there from the time she was 14 until she left for college. She served at the snack bar, sold cookies, baked cookies and bread and worked cash registers.

Her older brother always knew he wanted to take over the farm someday, but Marcie had other plans. After high school, she left Huber’s to study chemical engineering at Rose Hulman. “I thought Starlight would be in my rearview mirror,” she says.

That fall, Marcie drove away from more than 170 years of history that began in 1843, when Simon Huber settled on 80 acres of land in Starlight. A German immigrant, Simon already knew how to grow fruit and make wine. He passed that knowledge down through 1932, when Carl and Marcella took over the farm. They built a dairy barn, but switched back to growing fruit a couple of years later. As stores in Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Louisville started stocking their produce, Carl and Marcella transformed

their farm into a popular place for people to pick their own fruit.

In 1978, the Hubers opened a winery, beginning the diversification trend they have focused on since. Last year alone, Huber’s took home Double Gold awards from the Indy International Wine competition for carbonated 2011 Valvin Muscat, brandy and apple brandy.

“When I was 18 years old, I didn’t realize the heritage my family had,” Marcie says. After graduation, she worked in chemical engineering for two years before coming back to the family business. Now, she works under her mom.

Marcie calls her mom her best friend. “I work with her every day and never get sick of her,” she says. To stay close, Marcie and her family eat dinner together every Sunday. She does admit, though, that it is sometimes difficult when your dad is your boss.

“You learn to deal with who you are working with,” she says. “At the end of the day, I know that it’s my family and I love them.”

Their closeness means that even on days off, the Hubers can’t stay away. Marcie lives closer to Louisville than the rest of the Hubers so her husband has a shorter commute to his work, but she’ll somehow make it onto the farm for lunch or to run something to the bank on her time off. Huber’s only closes four times a year, at Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Even then, some family members are thinking of the business. “My dad still worries about the weather and the fields,” Marcie says.

It’s hard to plan too far ahead, but Huber’s is still growing.

Marcie plans on being there for at least 30 more years. For now, Marcie’s dad, Greg, co-owns Huber’s with Ted. Greg focuses more on the business and farm, while Ted concentrates on the winery and distillery. Marcie’s brother has an infant daughter, celebrated as the first of the eighth generation of Hubers on the farm. “That’s everyone’s drive. We want to be able to provide for our family and the future generations that come along,” Marcie says.

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The main room of Marion Kay Spices displays many of the store’s goods, old tools and artifacts. The store has been in Brownstown for more than 60 years. /Photo by Libby Peterson

A

Name: Marion Kay Spices Opened: 1922 Current generation: 3rd

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Although it began in St. Louis, Marion Kay Spices has made Brownstown its home since 1950. The grandchildren of founder Marion K. Summers own and operate the nationally known spice supplier, which got its start by providing the original KFC seasonings in 1965.

Kordell Reid, president of Marion Kay Spices, no longer notices the scent of his store—always peppery, but with hints of other extracts or seasonings being made that day.

It’s the same pepper that his grandfather built the business on. The pepper’s still washed in the same machine his grandfather purchased. The only thing that’s changed is the ownership.

Although Marion Kay sells spices to restaurants around the world now, it started by dabbling in other fields. In 1922, 16-year-old Marion Kordell Summers left high school, without a job or anything in his wallet. To scrape by, he sold silver cleaner to ladies in church groups around the Midwest. From them he got his big idea: to make a better vanilla extract than the imitations currently on the market.

By 1928, Summers was doing well enough to open up shop by the name of Marion Kay Products Company in St. Louis.

He outlasted the Depression by selling a wide range of products like vanilla extract and sneezeless pepper, but that wasn’t enough to tide him through World War II. Gasoline rationing prompted him to add a mail-order service that evolved into a full-blown print shop. Then, he let groups sell his products as fundraisers. Any group selling more than 36 bottles of vanilla for a dollar each received a free 48-cup electric coffee urn.

A camping trip brought him to Brownstown, where Summers saw the abandoned Thompson Sled building.

Marion Kay had found a new home that could handle the company’s growth. The business would end up staying in Brownstown for more than 60 years, despite a massive loss 15 years after moving. They had earned their fame by producing KFC’s first famous chicken seasoning, but they lost the account in the late 1960s when the Colonel lost a lawsuit against franchisees who weren’t producing chicken

the way he wanted. The new KFC decided to go with a different supplier. Marion Kay moved on.

Kordell learned to judge flavors across the street from the store, where he grew up next to his grandparents’ house. Instead of packing a lunch, his dad, James Reid, would bring home food from work during the summers.

Whatever was being tested that day made its way onto the table. No one was exempt from the taste-testing. Employees, family, everyone had input on the latest seasonings. “If it needed more salt, more pepper, maybe some garlic, or it didn’t quite taste the way it should, all of us kids would make our opinion and they’d formulate it that way,” he says.

Despite his early involvement and namesake, Kordell had no idea that he would end up in the family business. He attended Texas A&M to study radio broadcasting, graduating in 1984. That same year, he married his girlfriend, and Summers passed away. Kordell remembers that his grandfather had been looking for his help in the store, but the newlywed in Texas felt that he was too far away. After his grandfather’s death, his grandmother took over the business briefly. Kordell purchased the business a couple years later with his father and brother to keep Marion Kay in their family.

He promised his new wife that he wouldn’t let the business take over their lives. She worked for American Airlines in Dallas and was transferred to Indianapolis, so they moved to a middle-ground in Columbus, where they live today. The 40-minute commute to work is one of the best parts.

“It gives me that separation of business with family. I don’t bring home any hassles of the day,” he says.

Kordell now owns Marion Kay with his sister Pam Warren. Their plans for the future include doing what they’ve always done. “Once people know about us, they’re so loyal,” he says. Marion Kay is still small enough that orders are placed and shipped the same day. However, they want to try to distribute some of their better-known seasonings nationwide.

No matter how well you do, Kordell acknowledges it’s not easy being in business with your family. He focuses on keeping an open mind and having patience. “You’re never going to see eye to eye on every issue, so recognize that everyone has an equal voice,” he says.

Can-do canning

An insider’s guide to preserving summer’s freshest produce.

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BY RACHEL GRAHAM AND HEATHER HOURIGAN

team rises from an enormous pot as jars jiggle inside. Cucumber skins cascade from the trash can.

Coriander seeds spill off the counter and bounce on the hardwood floors. Pungent vinegar wafts through the kitchen and lingers in the sticky air. Strawberry juice stains the ruffles on our aprons.

We’re first-time canners. And no, we look nothing like your grandma — although we’re probably using some of her recipes. Canning and pickling might seem an unlikely hobby for two girls in there twenties. However, as more individuals embrace the idea of local and sustainable produce, a renewed interest in food preservation has surfaced throughout the 812 region. And we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed.

The National Center for Home Food

Preservation reports that one in five U.S. households has tried canning. That’s a lot of Ball jars.

Annie Corrigan, producer for the WFIU Public Radio segment “Earth Eats,” has documented the trend in interviews with local canning and pickling experts. She believes the shift toward local and homegrown produce has sparked the interest. “People are growing their own food, which means they’re getting more cucumbers than they know what to do with. So instead of throwing food away, they’re canning.”

Processing your own produce can seem daunting. We at 812 have researched the science of canning, interviewed the experts and tested the recipes to compile an insider’s guide to preserving your Indiana produce this summer.

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Maybe you don’t have a backyard garden. You can still incorporate canning into your life. Megan Hutchison, manager of Southern Indiana’s Local Growers Guild, offers recommendations on how to find and choose the best local fruits and vegetables to preserve.

What to get Green beans

Green beans peak in May and can be picked all summer. Small, tender beans are best in recipes like Hutchison’s pickled beans. “I’ve been feasting on dilly beans, made with green beans that I canned at the end of the summer.”

Tomatoes

Indiana tomatoes ripen in July and often last through early fall. Look for ripe and firm varieties. “You can make sauces, salsas, juice and chutneys and can whole tomatoes with them.”

Thornless blackberries

Avoid sour berries by canning them at

Know your spreads

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You love it on your croissant in the morning, but are you sure it’s a jam?

Maybe it’s really marmalade. Or a conserve. Some of the greatest canning triumphs come in spreadable form.

Learn how to tell what’s what.

their ripest in July and August. Thornless strains make for easier jellies and spreads.

“The whole house smells of sweet fruit and jams. They serve as great gifts, too.

Apples

Apples enjoy a long growing season throughout the Midwest, lasting from July to October. Use firm, sweet apples to make perfect applesauce. “You can’t go back to store-bought after you’ve made your own.”

Where to get it If growing your own isn’t an option, Hutchison suggests staying local. She recommends frequenting your local farmers market for the freshest and cheapest finds.

Bustling markets in Jeffersonville, New Al-

Jelly Cook up a jelly by combining fruit juice and sugar. The high water content in grapes makes them ideal for smooth, delicious jellies.

Jams Crush fruits for a jam and then mix with sugar to form a spreadable gel. Be creative and use multiple fruits for modern twists on the classic strawberry or blackberry favorites.

bany and Bloomington open seasonally and offer tasty ingredients, music, entertainment and a chance for fellow canners to exchange recipes and their latest creations.

Dedicated foodies also have the option of farm-to-table produce with a Community Supported Agriculture subscription. Subscribers receive a predetermined volume of fresh produce directly from the farmer each season. Visits to the farm are also included, as well as a chance to experiment with a wide variety of local selections.

But for the more relaxed food enthusiast, Hutchison suggests befriending your neighborhood produce manager in order to snag the freshest option at the grocery.

“They can help you choose the ripest vegetables and fruits in the pile.”

Grocery list You’re equipped with the freshest local produce. Before the steam starts rising, you’ll need a few gadgets and gizmos to turn your home-canning experience into a professional endeavor. Canning aficionada Sara Minard walks you through what you need to get started.

Your produce “You can pretty much go to the market and say, ‘Oh, these are in season right now. Today I can go home and make something.’”

Spices Minard forages throughout Bloomington for Notting Field Garlic Seed Heads for recipes. She encourages others to riff on their own with unexpected spices and herbs.

Pickling salt She suggests using the same salts as the recipe for fear of over-salting.

Good canning recipes detail the type used, but pickling salt is a safe option if there isn’t one specified.

Jar lifter

Canning funnel

These specialized clamps help you handle hot jars. They’re inexpensive and can be purchased at local hardware stores. Minard swears by hers.

Avoid excess mess with a funnel to spoon ingredients into the jars.

Rubber kitchen gloves

Canning bath A heavy pan with a rack will also work if you don’t have a canning bath.

“You don’t want cheap pots. Your stuff will scorch, especially if you’re working with sugar,” she says.

Vinegar Since pickling requires large amounts of vinegar, Minard recommends buying in bulk. Check online or at local restaurant supply stores.

Sugar “Plenty of sugar, just white sugar, especially with jams. When you start messing with other sugars, such as honey, it gets expensive.”

“The cauldron steams, and if you have on a rubber glove, it protects your hands from the hot temperatures. You can also momentarily dip your hand in if you need to.”

Journal Keep a journal close by to document changes or additions to recipes. “You think you’re going to remember things, and then you don’t.”

A friend Minard’s best recommendation?

Canning with a friend. “Having someone there to help you prep and talk to is really fun. It’s a good way to just be social with your friends, and if you can get a group, it’s a great way to trade.”

Chutney

Preserves

Marmalade

Go heavy on the spices if you’re craving chutney.

These combinations of fruits and vegetables cook for long periods of time with sweet and sour spices for a hearty taste.

Whip up a preserve by keeping fruit in larger pieces so that the chunks retain their shape when cooked down with sugar.

Save your peels and rinds for marmalades, which are similar to jam in their gel-like texture.

Citrus-fruit rinds make tangy and balanced marmalades.

Relish Prepare relishes by dicing fruits or vegetables and cooking them in spices and vinegar. For an extra kick, add some hot peppers or sweeten things up with a dash of sugar.

Conserve Take a jam and mix in nuts or raisins to create a tasty conserve. But don’t add nuts until the last five minutes to avoid soggy, slimy textures.

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You can master jams, jellies or pickles Ready for the real thing?

Let’s get started.

Here’s our step-by-step guide to canning high-acid foods like jams, jellies and pickles. We talked with Kayte Young, a canning expert and nutrition education coordinator at Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard in Bloomington. Young teaches canning classes in hopes of spreading the can-do attitude to others.

She shared her tips for avoiding selfproclaimed “cantastrophes.”

Recipes Two of our canning contributors share their favorite recipes for you to try at home.

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Green beans are both popular and plentiful in Southern Indiana. Sara Minard enjoys a taste of summer whenever she opens a jar. /Photo by Rachel Graham

1. Wash your jars (and your hands!) in hot,

7. Wipe the rim of the jar with a damp cloth.

soapy water before beginning the canning process. Check for nicks, cracks or uneven rims, which could prevent correct sealing or cause breaking.

Young uses an old clean T-shirt to avoid threads or cloth fuzz mixing with the food.

2. Sterilize your jars by fully dunking them in water and boiling for 10 minutes. Keep the jars in warm, simmering water until you’re ready to fill them.

3. Read your recipe carefully, and follow instructions as directed.

4. Although rims and lids can be simmered in a small saucepan, Young suggests pouring boiling water over the lids while they’re in a large bowl or pan. Don’t ever bring lids or rims to a full boil.

8. Place your lid on the jar and screw on your rim. The rim should be tight by fingertip standards, so no need to work up a sweat.

9. Place the jar in the canner and repeat the previous steps for all your jars.

10. Once all the cans have entered the warm bath, crank up the heat. Begin counting your processing time after the water reaches a full, roiling boil.

11. When your timer dings, turn off the heat and carefully remove the jars with your jarlifter. Place them on a towel or cooling rack to avoid cracking.

5. Now you’re ready to fill your jars. Using the 12. As badly as you want to sample, let the funnel, fill each warmed jar one at a time with your recipe. Make sure to allow the proper head space—do whatever your recipe suggests.

6. Remove the air bubbles by sliding a nonmetallic spatula around the sides of the jar.

Special tools come in most canning kits, but Young says a plastic or wooden spoon works just fine, too.

jars rest undisturbed for 24 hours.

13. Make sure lids have a seal that does not flex and cannot be easily removed. Quick —immediately refrigerate or reprocess any unsealed jars for food safety.

14. Stock your pantry and enjoy your preserved creation within one year.

Spicy Peach Chutney

Sweet Watermelon Pickles

Recommended by Kayte Young

Recommended by Annie Corrigan

Ingredients: 4 lbs. sliced peeled peaches 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries 2 cloves garlic, minced ½ cup chopped onion 5 ounces chopped preserved ginger 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder 1 tablespoon mustard seed 1 teaspoon curry powder 4 cups packed brown sugar 4 cups apple cider vinegar ¼ cup pickling spice

Ingredients: 4 lbs. watermelon rind 2 cups white vinegar 2 cups water 4 cups sugar 3 cinnamon sticks 1 teaspoon whole cloves 1 teaspoon whole allspice

In a large pot, combine peaches, raisins, garlic, onion, ginger, chili powder, mustard seed, curry powder, brown sugar and cider vinegar. Place pickling spice in a cheesecloth bag and add to the pot. Bring mixture to a boil; then cook over medium heat until it reaches the desired consistency. This process will take around 1 ½ hours for a proper, thick sauce. Stir to prevent scorching. Remove the spice bag and ladle the mixture into hot, sterilized jars. Wipe the rims and seal the jars with lids and rings. Process the jars in a barely simmering water bath for 10 minutes.

Make sure the jars are completely submerged.

1 lemon, sliced thin Brine: ¼ cup salt 1 quart water Pare watermelon rind and remove all pink portions. Cut rind into 1 x 2-inch pieces about 1 inch thick. Soak rind overnight in brine made by dissolving ¼ cup salt in each quart of water. Drain rind and wash in fresh water. Combine remaining ingredients and boil together 5 minutes. Add rind a few at a time and cook until rind is clear. Simmer about 30 minutes. Pack rind in hot jars. Cover with boiling syrup and seal.

While cooking the cucumbers, watch them transform into savory pickles that will be delicious on your turkey sandwich tomorrow. /Photo by Rachel Graham

Canning’s chemistry You’re finished. You did it. You think you’re done, but you’re left wondering, “Is this food really safe to eat?” In order to understand why your food sits safely on your shelves, we took a look into the science behind the steam.

The heating process of canning ensures the safety of preserved foods. The high heat kills molds, yeasts and enzymes, and the vacuum seal keeps microorganisms out.

High-acid foods should be processed in a boiling-water canner. These include

preserves, jellies, pickles, fruits and tomatoes. According to Denise Schroeder of the Purdue Extension, low-acid foods process at a temperature higher than boiling water, which means they require a pressure canner.

Vegetables, meat, soups, seafood and poultry generally have low acid levels.

Once you fill the jars and submerge them in hot water, the contents expand and gases are expelled. When you lift the cans out of the water, the atmospheric pressure outside of the jar is greater than the pressure inside the jar. This change in pressure creates the satisfying “pop” that signals a canning success.

Schroeder emphasizes that canning recipes must be followed precisely to ensure safety. If done incorrectly, the results can be fatal. Botulism, a protein produced under anaerobic conditions caused by bacterium

Clostridium botulinum, can develop if the acidity level drops below a safe level or the jar does not reach a high enough temperature to eliminate all of the spores.

However, Schroeder says fear of botulism should never stop anyone from canning. It is incredibly rare and easily avoidable; prevent botulism by eliminating air and adding heat.

The combination of high-acid levels and boiling temperatures eliminate any chances of the protein surviving, Kayte from Mother Hubbard’s cupboard explains.

Looking for some perfect beginner recipes? Try “The Ball Blue Book of Canning” and “Preserving Recipes and Putting Food,” both by Ruth Hertzberg.

Check them out at your local library before someone else does.

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A tale of two new canners 812 writers Heather Hourigan and Rachel Graham tackle a batch of strawberry jam.

The sugary strawberry syrup bubbles on the stove. It slowly rises as the boil strengthens. I mix the soon-to-be jam with my wooden spoon. It creeps higher.

I’m pretty sure it’s thickening. That has to be the reason it’s nearing the top. A little higher. There’s plenty of room . . . I think.

The bubbles quicken. I stir faster. The syrup skims the rim of the clad-iron pot.

Maybe my stirring will calm it down. I can’t turn down the heat. That’s not what the recipe says. Stir. Stir. Stir. Higher.

Higher. Higher. Oh no . . . I think we messed it up.

At the grocery store the strawberries seem far less intimidating than the cucumbers and their vinegar counterparts.

The strawberries just need sugar. The

cucumbers require smelly vinegar and spices we’ve never heard of. Grandmas make jams. Who makes pickles?

We unload the groceries and tear open the Ball brand canning-accessory kit. Out fly blue plastic tools that resemble toy knives and spatulas. Let’s start with strawberries. We’ve heard jam is for beginners.

Strawberry stems pile up on the counter. We dig through the kitchen drawers until we find the outdated potato masher.

Who knew crushing strawberries took such upper-arm strength? Sweat builds on our brows. This is harder than we thought.

We add the pectin. Then some lemon juice. We dump in what seems like a sand dune’s worth of sugar. That’s when it happens. The sticky syrup starts to rise slowly at first before erupting onto what seems like every surface in the kitchen. The crevices of the stove are caked in reddishpink slime. The burnt syrup smokes and crackles on the burners. I’ve got strawberries in my hair.

We rush to fill the jars with the bubbling substance. The funnel helps, but my hands stick together and seeds dig under

my fingernails. We’ve got to hurry up before the jars cool. Syrup coats the granite countertop. I try to lick off the strawberryflavored glue. My mom is going to kill us.

We finally get the jars inside the water bath. Ten minutes pass, and we safely lift them onto the cooling rack. We stare at the jars, waiting anxiously for the “pop!” everyone has told us about.

It’s silent.

After five minutes of waiting, we start to tackle the goo-covered kitchen. Did the overflow mess it all up? As I scrub the stove vigorously with a Brillo pad, I feel defeated. I don’t even want to try the pickles.

Pop! In one second it’s all worth it. Screams fill the house as we jump for joy and our aprons suddenly seem cool again. We did it! This is so fun! We love canning!

The success of one single pop (ultimately followed by others) reminds us of why we canned in the first place. Sharing time with friends and making something from scratch.

Bring on the pickles.

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THE 812 LIST

What a find!

Eight top antiques to search for this weekend. By Carmen Huff

S

ummer and fall are high seasons for antique-hunting in the 812 region, which has an abundance of malls and corner shops. Nic Nicoson is the manager of both the Exit 76 Antique Mall in Edinburgh and the Bloomington Antique Mall. Nicoson and a few of his co-workers told us, in no particular order, the eight most sought-after antiques in Southern Indiana. “We have nothing you really need,” he says, “but we have a lot of things you really want.”

3

1 The pie safe

With punched-tin doors for ventilation and decoration, the wooden cabinet was commonly used to keep critters out of freshly baked pies that were cooling. If you don’t bake, use the safe to store dishes or other dry goods.

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2013

Old toys or dolls

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by C Pho tos

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These steel-lined boxes were the predecessors to the refrigerator. People in the 1800s and early 1900s threw hunks of ice inside to keep food fresh. Now, people use them as wine or liquor cabinets or for storage.

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m yu Bo h ra Sa nd

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Quilts

The “wedding ring” quilt in particular is popular and has been made since the 1930s. Often sewn from scraps of clothing, quilts were used for warmth at night.

Today, you can throw them on a couch, over a chair or on the end of a bed to jazz up a room.

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It’s easy to be excited by becoming reacquainted with your old favorite toy. “People want to relive their childhood,” Nicoson says. People now seek toys for old memories or to complete an entire collection.

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The wooden ice box

Magazines

Big-name magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Life and Playboy are the most sought-after magazines. People are usually looking for an issue that correlates with a birthday or anniversary, Nicoson says. And there’s nothing like your first Playboy.

The Hoosier cabinet

“Hoosiers,” as they are commonly called, were made in New Castle and were big in the 1920s. Usually made of oak, the Hoosier was a one-unit workstation with flour and sugar bins, a built-in flour sifter and racks for jars, pots and pans.

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Jewelry

Rings, necklaces and brooches can range from $5 to $30,000, depending on the piece. The cameo is the most popular, and shoppers look for jewelry around prom time.

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Albums and 45 records

Nicoson says he sells about 80 to 100 records a month.

No particular band – just whatever strikes up the person’s dancing grooves.

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Thornton Dial, American, born 1928, Bark of the Timber, Fog of the Night, 1995, mixed media on canvas mounted to board.

Museum purchase with funds from the Cynthia L. and William E. Simon, Jr. Art Acquisition Fund, 2012.43.

Now featuring a new acquisition by Thornton Dial.

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