Decades ago when I was still in school, I loved going back-toschool shopping. I came from a big family, and our budget was tight, so I didn’t get the fancy Trapper Keepers I wanted in the 1980s. Our new clothing for the school year was limited to just a couple of items.
Even though I didn’t get to buy the coolest stuff, I couldn’t wait to get home and line up my notebooks, folders, pens, erasures, and highlighters. I eagerly counted down the days until my new school year began, thrilled with the possibilities of another new beginning and all the potential it could hold.
Now, decades later, I’ve just taken my youngest child back-to-school shopping for her senior year of high school. It seems surreal that both my kids will be over the age of 18 by the end of this school year.
I’ve found my son doesn’t really need to do back-to-school shopping for college other than buying a pack of pens, some paper, and lots of snacks for his dorm rooms. I have a feeling I’m really going to miss the excitement this time of the year brings when both my kids are in college.
If that happens, I might have to make an annual tradition of getting a few things for my home office around the time school starts each year. Adding some new items may help me finally reach the level of organization I’ve always dreamed about, and it will remind me that exciting possibilities and potential don’t go away when you’re finished with school.
Best wishes,
Shannon Serpette Niche Editor
Becoming a Central Hub 5
The
Not Just A Farm 10
Gardening,
‘Things Happen for a Reason’ 14
In
Do you have a story idea you’d love to read about in Illinois Valley Living magazine? Share your idea with the editor by emailing sserpette@shawmedia.com.
Living magazine
Bureau County Republican P.O. Box 340 Princeton, IL 61356-0340 815-220-6948
General Manager/ Advertising Director
Jeanette Smith jmsmith@shawmedia.com
Niche Editor
Shannon Serpette sserpette@shawmedia.com
Writers Brandon LaChance
Katlyn Sanden
Shannon Serpette
Photographer Katlyn Sanden
Designer Liz Klein
With grant money received, Trujillo said this sensory wall has been extremely popular with kids.
Walnut Public Library District is Becoming a Central Hub
Some people may view local libraries as outdated, especially with the rise of electronic devices and all the other distractions pulling everyone in a million different directions at once.
But that is certainly not the case for most local libraries, including the Walnut Public Library District.
“Libraries are becoming the central hub,” Jaclynn Trujillo, Director of the Walnut Public Library District, said. “Books are just a small portion of what they are. A lot of libraries offer a library of things where you can check out household items, use them as needed, and return them. Some offer sewing machines, homemaking and digital resource classes, and different speakers and programs. If you’re a reader, I saved $750 by using my local library last year.”
The Walnut Public Library District offers something for all stages of life – story hour, book club, children’s business fair, historical
information, UPS services, and so much more.
Since it’s a rural library, Trujillo realizes the need to bring educational events directly to the Illinois Valley. She said people get tired of driving two hours to attend something, so she keeps tabs on where people’s interests lie and what they’re attending outside of town. She works diligently to bring those events directly to the Illinois Valley. One such event is the Children’s Business Fair, which is completely run by children. It launched in 2023 and has become a favorite event of the community.
“Children need to fill out an application to the fair,” Trujillo said. “They need to come up with their entrepreneurship idea – a service or something to sell. They have to list what they’re going to do, how they’re going to market it, and what the price will be. They have the opportunity to use the library to print their flyer to distribute and market around town.”
Story & Photos by Katlyn Sanden
the game
created using only
businesses. She is excited to get the Historical Society up and running, where this relic will be displayed for years to come.
Jaclyn Trujillo, Director of the Walnut Public Library District, received
Monopoly
Walnut
Library
Open to all ages up through high school, the Children’s Business Fair has become a huge draw as children take the lead in creating their niche, setting up their own booth, handling money, and all the things that go along with small business.
“It’s a great opportunity for the children in our district,” said Trujillo. “We had 13 businesses join the fair this year. They all did fairly well. There was anything from diamond art to crochet, to
bookmarks, to baked goods, to bracelets, to freeze-dried candy, to services for washing garbage cans out, lawn care, and household chores.”
Keith Florschuetz, an eighth grader who sells freeze-dried candy, is already looking forward to next year’s fair.
“I want to do it again,” Florschuetz said. “I had fun selling freeze-dried candy to earn money towards my Washington D.C. trip I want to take with my class next summer.”
Ava Espinoza, who is in third grade, says her favorite part is creating the products and watching her customers love them. She crochets and designs bookmarks. “It’s a nice thing to do,”
said Espinoza about the Children’s Business Fair. “It gets
FROM PAGE 5 See LIBRARY page 8
The children’s library was renovated in 2022. There is a sensory wall, a tower garden, a play kitchen zone, a tool zone, a LEGO zone, a chalk zone, and a reading zone. The trees were created by a patron and offers a fun dimension for the kids, Trujillo said.
PAGE 7
kids off devices, out of the house, and teaches them how to run a business.”
In addition to the Children’s Business Fair, Trujillo has big plans moving forward, which include expanding the list of offerings available through Explore Illinois (a program where library card holders can get free or discounted passes to select Illinois museums and entertainment), establishing a historical branch of the library to feed into the newly established historical society (as they’ve been able to digitize newspapers dating back to 1893 and are running out of space), all while continuing to create a welcoming environment for all ages.
“We get a lot of community members donating their items to the library after someone has passed away,” Trujillo said. “We only have so much
Jaclyn Trujillo reads a children’s book in the Reading Garden in preparation for a story hour unit. She’s excited to add a Music Garden to this area.
space at the library, but these items need to be showcased, not packaged where people can’t see them. The library will become a contributor with information and memorabilia (to the Walnut Historical Society).”
Along with bringing the community’s history back to life, Trujillo strives to continue to create a space wel-
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them to feel safe and calm down. That’s where our sensory wall comes into play. Those caregivers and parents need to have that time away as well. It’s so important to our library, and me as a director, to have that here.”
With grant money, the library has been able to offer a Tower Garden, a Reading Garden, memory kits for Alzheimer’s and dementia, and a musical garden.
coming to everybody.
“Libraries are known to be quiet,” Trujillo said. “That’s not our library. The children’s library is filled with kids. You’re free to be yourself. A lot of special needs parents feel like once their child has a meltdown, they need to hurry and leave. We don’t want that here. We want
“The outdoor musical garden will go in our reading garden area. There will be playground equipment with musical components – drums, xylophone, etc. It’ll be accessible to everybody always, whether the library is open or closed, and it makes a great component to story hour. We’re excited about that,” Trujillo said.
The Walnut Public Library District is located on Heaton Street in Walnut, Illinois. To take advantage of their programming, visit their website walnutpubliclibrary.org.
There isn’t much Hungry World Farm can’t grow in their large gardens.
Gardening, animals, education, pizza, not just a
peace all part of Hungry World Farm
“Hungry World Farm is a 175-acre educational non-profit farm. We try to provide experiences to people that educate and inspire them on regenerative agriculture, allow them to connect more deeply to people they love and to connect to nature.”
— Sam Ingersoll
son to grow up that way with high-pressured schools and high-pressured sports,” Ingersoll said. “I brought him with me to the farm to create a different way of life.”
Ingersoll, who has been Hungry World Farm’s executive director since May 2024, has lived on the farm since June 2024, and has been on the board for a little over a year. He remembered his childhood when life was wholesome, calm, and simple. He wanted to share those aspects of life with his two sons, Gabriel and Matthew, who both have special needs.
—
Ingersoll and his ex-wife split their four children as Emma, 20, and Ethan, 14, stayed with their mother.
“Gabriel and Matthew came with me because it’s a special place where I can work and still be with them, which is part of the mission of the farm is to enable people to have a space to connect with the people they love and to nature,” Ingersoll said.
From the 1970s to 2017, the farm was an intentional Christian community called Plow
See FARM page 12
Story by Brandon LaChance
Farm
FROM PAGE 11
Creek Fellowship. People could pick organic fruits and vegetables and witness organic gardening. Now, it is much, much more.
“Hungry World Farm is a 175-acre educational non-profit farm. We try to provide experiences to people that educate and inspire them on regenerative agriculture, allow them to connect more deeply to people they love and to connect to nature,” Ingersoll said. “We do this a number of different ways. We have an incredible market garden that distributed 26,000 pounds of produce to area food banks in 2023.
“We also sell eggs off of the farm. We take produce to farmer’s markets. The food we produce, because it’s done in a regenerative chemical-free way, we believe has a much higher nutritional value,” he said.
For roughly seven years, the farm had sheep, goats, and cows for education and regenerative farming purposes. After a few down years caused by a drought year and labor shortage, Hungry World Farm is revitalizing the program.
“We are rebooting our livestock operation with our new livestock family. We’ve restarted our beef cattle herd,” Ingersoll said. “We have five female cows, and we anticipate the herd will grow to around 90. We have about 40 sheep, and the herd will probably increase to 200 to 300. We have 100 egg-laying chickens that will probably push to 200, at least. If some contracts come through, we’ll start meat chickens.
“The livestock operation is focused on grazing and raising animals in ways that restore the environment. We believe if animals are grazed properly, they can help rebuild topsoil, contribute to the biodiversity of plants and what’s under the soil, improve water sheds, cleanse the water, and also help plants capture carbon and store it in the soil where it should be.”
The farm has five full-time employees who live on the farm with their families – Ingersoll, the livestock manager, the food service director, maintenance, and the land program specialist.
Plus, there are plenty of part-time helpers and Airbnb visitors.
“Some farms just farm. Some educators just do education. Others just have restaurants. We think in an integrated way about how we’re living and the kind of experiences we’re providing for visitors. We think 2 + 2 + 2 doesn’t equal six. It equals nine or 15 in terms of the experience people have,” Ingersoll said.
“When people can come and see our gardens, and how they’re focused on soil health and how the produce is grown in a regenerative way, see our animals eat the eggs that are produced in a regenerative way, that changes the experience,” he said. “When they can stay overnight, not just visit, and really absorb what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, the experience becomes even more powerful.”
Hungry World Farm serves as a restaurant as well, serving wood-fired pizzas on Friday nights and breakfast on Saturday mornings from March until October.
Although the farm is looked at as fun, there is always work to be done. Teaching a strong work ethic is definitely in the plans at Hungry World Farm.
25th
Sept.
Fresh
Corn
Jumping
Barrel
Wagon
Pedal
Playground
Apple
Bounce
Corn
Petting
$10
‘Things Happen for a Reason’
Story by Brandon LaChance
All
photos contributed
Kevin Hieronymus will never forget his father Lynn’s words of wisdom: “Things happen for a reason.”
At the time, a once-promising opportunity to work for a newspaper in St. Louis ended abruptly and without warning. A few months later, and after the conversation with his father, Hieronymus found his
home for the last 38 years – Princeton.
“I didn’t know where Princeton or Bureau County was until I applied for the sports editor job at the Bureau County Republican,” Hieronymus said. “Before I got married, I thought about leaving (the job and the area) a few times. But I was happy here. Then I met a local girl, Kami
Above: Kevin grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan and was more than happy to have his daughters Brynn and Brooke in red Cardinals gear. However, Kami, Kevin’s wife, is loyal to blue and the Chicago Cubs.
Hieronymus from LaMoille, put my roots down, and the rest is history. She blessed me with two girls, Brooke and Brynn. They got to school age, and I never wanted to leave. Kami was the Bureau County Clerk for 20-plus years and was in the office for 30 years.”
Hieronymus loves small-town living, so life in Bureau County suits him.
“Princeton is bigger than my hometown, but it has the same small-town feel. It’s the everyone-knows-your-name kind of thing. It’s pretty cool. It’s a great place to raise children with good small-town, rural values. Plus, I’d never want to work for a city paper. I’m a small-town boy,” he said.
Hieronymus grew up in Atlanta, Illinois, which has a population of 1,637 (according to the 2022 census); a few thousand less than Princeton’s 7,721.
Sports were his life from Day 1. He wanted to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers, play ball like his favorite St. Louis Cardinals, and absorb all he could from every court and field containing athletic competition.
He played sports at Atlanta grade school and Olympia High School before graduating in 1979 and attending Illinois State University in search of a teaching degree. However, he found journalism along the way.
“I didn’t even think of sports writing initially. I went to Illinois State to become a teacher and a coach. I grew up living and dying sports. I thought I’d be a coach because I had a really cool coach in Atlanta grade school, Norm Mueller. I wanted to be like Norm,” Hieronymus said.
“I got my teaching degree, but along the way, I started writing for The Daily Vidette, the student newspaper at ISU. My interest was piqued because we had a journalism class in high school. I thought I’d whet my appetite. They gave me rugby as my first assignment for a trial story,” he said. “I had no idea what rugby was. Looking back, it was probably a good thing because I had to ask a lot of questions. I had to ask the players what they were doing. I guess I did a good enough job because I got the job.”
The ISU paper was his gig for all four of his college years while taking classes to be a teacher. When he graduated, he had a double major in teaching and journalism.
After graduating from ISU in 1983, he was a substitute teacher in multiple districts in the Atlanta area. In the spring of 1984, he became a sports writer for the Tazewell News in Morton for two years where he covered the Morton High School state championship baseball team in 1984 and the Washington High School football champions in 1985.
Kevin Hieronymus (left) grew up playing sports with his friend, Kip Cheek. Neither one of them predicted they were going to be sports writers. However, Cheek helped Hieronymus get a job at the Bureau County Republican on Nov. 4, 1986, and he hasn’t left yet.
Hieronymus was keeping the Atlanta sports writing tradition alive.
“We might be tiny, but we’re mighty. We have four sports writers from Atlanta. My good friend Kip Cheek, Randy Kindred, who is three years older than us, and a bigtime name, someone I call the Babe Ruth of sports writers, Dave Kindred. The Kindreds are distantly related. I used to read all of Dave’s columns in the Sporting News. He wrote in Atlanta and with the Washington Post,” Hieronymus said.
“I was always in awe. This guy was writing in the Sporting News, and we’re from the same little town. He’s retired and lives in central Illinois. I’ve talked with him a few times. The four of us met two years ago in Atlanta for the first time. That was pretty cool,” he said.
In March 1986, a high and a low came within a two-week period.
Hieronymus was hired to be a sportswriter for the St. Louis Daily News. The
See HIERONYMUS page 16
Hieronymus
PAGE 15
brand-new newspaper was open for two weeks before it closed its doors on the opening day of the 1986 MLB season.
With the help of his dad’s words of wisdom and being close friends with Cheek, who took a job at a newspaper in LaSalle County in 1984, he finally found the location he would call home for the next 38 years.
“I had thoughts of getting into teaching a couple of times and did look into it. But I decided to stay at the paper,” Hieronymus said. “I’m in the right place. I was bummed when the St. Louis paper didn’t work out. My dad’s words of wisdom were, ‘Things happen for a reason.’ I learned my plan wasn’t God’s plan, and he had a better plan for me. That was Princeton, Illinois, and the Bureau County Republican.”
The plan proved to be much more than a few sports story bylines.
BCR co-worker Stephanie Cartwright thought Kevin would be a good match for her cousin Kami, who was from LaMoille. They’ve been friends, dated, got married, and had two daughters since then. Brooke is now 27, a 2020 graduate of Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, and currently works for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio, while Brynn, 22, is a senior at Cedarville University in pursuit of a teaching degree.
Kevin calls his youngest a chip off the old block, not only because she wants to be a teacher but because she is a die-hard Cardinals and Steelers fan like her father.
“Since Kami and I were both kind of in the public eye being the country clerk and the town’s sportswriter, I’m sure the girls got tired of hearing, ‘Oh, you must be Kami’s daughter,’ or ‘Kevin must be your dad,’” Hieronymus said. “I think they dealt with it their whole life. They were kids, so I’m sure it bothered them a little bit. But they laughed it off and said, ‘I’ve heard that before.’”
Although Hieronymus traded teaching for writing, one part of his original plan still happened – coaching.
Hieronymus coached a Princeton Little League baseball team for 12 years before he and Kami had their girls. Then he coached the girls in multiple sports throughout their entire childhood from youth, to junior high, to high school.
In 35 years of coaching, Hieronymus estimates he led 50 teams and 500 kids.
Things happen for a reason.
Brooke Hieronymus is now 27, a Cedarville University graduate, and works for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Before then, she played multiple sports throughout her youth, junior high, and high school ages.
Brynn Hieronymus, like her older sister, played sports through her childhood and was a four-year member of the Princeton girls basketball team. She is now a 22-year-old senior at Cedarville University, studying to obtain a teaching degree.
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The Big Cheese Macaroni and Cheese is the Ultimate Comfort Food
By Shannon Serpette
Macaroni and cheese is a timeless dish all age groups seem to love. Picky eaters frequently turn to it for lunch or dinner, and even those who consider themselves foodies tinker with the classic recipe using higher-end ingredients.
Whether you like a more traditional recipe or want to experiment to make your next batch of macaroni and cheese more exciting, here are some recipes to try.
Sweet Onion
Mac and Cheese
INGREDIENTS
4 strips bacon
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 and 1/2 cups dried elbow macaroni
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
4 ounces processed Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 cup half-and-half 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
DIRECTIONS
In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels and crumble. Reserve bacon drippings in skillet.
Cook onion in reserved bacon drippings over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Set the onions aside until needed.
In a large pan, cook macaroni according to the directions on the package. Drain and return to pan. Stir in the bacon, onion, 1 and 1/2 cups of mozzarella, Gruyere cheese, half-and-half, and pepper. Toss gently and spoon into a casserole dish.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Stir gently and top with the rest of the mozzarella cheese. Bake for 10 more minutes until the top is golden and bubbly.
Truffle
Mac and Cheese
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups cooked pasta shells
Minced fresh chives and truffle oil for serving Salt and pepper
DIRECTIONS
In a medium pan, melt one tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until tender – about 5 minutes. Move the mushrooms to a medium-sized bowl and put the pan back on medium heat.
Make a roux by melting 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan and adding the flour, whisking for two minutes as the mixture cooks. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking again to break up lumps. Continue stirring the mixture until it comes to a boil, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the cheeses and stir until melted and smooth. Add the desired amount of salt and pepper and take the pan off the heat.
Add the mushrooms and cooked pasta to the sauce and stir until everything is completely coated.
Spoon the pasta into bowls and top with chives. Drizzle truffle oil over the top and serve while hot.
Avocado Mac and Cheese
INGREDIENTS
3/4 pound pasta
2 large avocados, peeled and pitted
1 cup fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons lime juice
Salt and pepper
Two tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 and 1/2 cups of milk
1 and 1/2 cups of shredded white cheddar cheese
DIRECTIONS
Cook pasta according to instructions on the package until al dente.
Combine the avocado, cilantro, lime juice, and garlic in a food processor or blender. Pulse to break up ingredients and scrape the sides with a spatula. Pulse again until you have a thick sauce. Set aside.
In a large pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Whisk flour into the melted butter to make a roux, cooking for one minute.
Whisk milk into the roux gradually, working out all the lumps. Bring sauce to a simmer, stirring frequently, until the mixture has thickened, which takes about seven minutes.
Whisk avocado sauce into the milk mixture. Cook for two more minutes until the sauce thickens again. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in cheese and any salt and pepper you want. Mix until the cheese melts. Add pasta to the sauce and toss until everything is coated. Top with fresh cilantro and serve immediately.
Goat Cheese Mac and Cheese with Broccoli
INGREDIENTS
1 pound broccoli, cut up
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
12 ounces cavatappi noodles
4 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
8 ounces goat cheese, cut into chunks
Salt and pepper
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat water for pasta. Put broccoli on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and add the desired amount of salt and pepper.
Roast broccoli in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente, according to the instructions on the package.
Drain pasta water, saving one and one-half cups of the pasta water for later use. Leave pasta in the strainer.
In the empty pasta pot, combine butter, goat cheese, one cup of pasta water, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk until everything is melted and the sauce has become smooth. Add pasta back to the pot and stir well. Add cooked broccoli and toss. If needed, add a little additional pasta water until the sauce is the consistency you want, continuing to stir. Serve while hot.
Six-Cheese Mac and Cheese
INGREDIENTS
8 ounces bacon, diced
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
5 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
1 and 1/2 cups canned evaporated milk
2 teaspoons dry mustard
Kosher salt and ground pepper
1 pound box elbow macaroni, cooked to al dente
2 ounces cheddar cheese, cubed, and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 ounces Colby Jack cheese, cubed
2 ounces Provolone cheese, cubed
1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup shredded Gouda cheese
1 cup shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until crispy and the fat has been rendered. Add the bread crumbs, chives, parsley, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the bread crumbs are toasted, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
Wipe the pot and return it to medium heat. Melt the butter in the pot and stir in the flour, cooking for
one minute. Add in the evaporated milk, stir, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the dry mustard and season with the desired amount of salt and pepper.
Stir the cooked pasta into the sauce. Add in the cubed cheddar, Colby Jack, Provolone, Gruyere, and Gouda and stir until all the cheeses have melted and the pasta is coated with the sauce.
Pour the mixture into a large, greased baking dish and place the shredded cheddar and mozzarella on top. Bake until golden brown on top and bubbling in the center, approximately 40 minutes. After removing the dish from the oven, spread the bread crumb mixture on top. Serve while hot.
