“Hope is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words— And never stops—at all—” Emily Dickinson According to both Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com, the word of the year is Pandemic. No surprise as COVID-19 has upended us globally, nationally, locally (our club! our club!) and personally. We are … Read more
Joyce Frederick—6 Carole Bufton—8 Elaine Poole—9 Rebecca Bozarth—13 Diane Sheehan—17 Kathy Knutell—19 Sonia Bedrosian—21 Mary Fredrickson—21 Barbara Redman—26 Linette Parrish—28 Barbara Farrell—29 Kim Hemphill–30 A birthday is like a lovely flower that blooms in life’s garden and may that special blossom be bright especially today.
Don’t know what to do with that excessive amount of zucchini in your garden? Here is a great recipe for zucchini bread. 4 eggs 3 cups coarsely grated zucchini 3 cups sugar 3 1/4 cups flour 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 Tablespoon cinnamon 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 chopped walnuts 3/8 tsp baking … Read more
Appetizers Mini Quiches Beverages Southern Sweet Tea Breads Zucchini Bread Cranberry Nut Bread Desserts Aunt Ruth’s Sugar Cookies Brownie Hearts Irish Apple Cake Sandi’s Scones Lemon Curd Main Dishes World’s Easiest Italian Beef Salads and Side Dishes Brussels Sprouts Salad Crunchy Coleslaw Soups Broccoli Cheddar Soup Easy Peasy Tomato Soup Vegetables
Milkweed seeds can be started in the winter and basically left alone until they’re almost ready to transplant. For us, late January or February planting should give plenty of time for cold stratification. You will need containers. Gallon milk jugs or distilled water jugs work great, but you can also use 2 liter soda bottles … Read more
The monarch you saw this summer probably only lived a few weeks. Only one species of Monarch butterflies is capable of migrating from as far north as Canada to the mountains of Michoacán, Mexico, a distance of nearly 3000 miles. This super-generation that lives up to 8 months only appears every 3-5 generations. They huddle … Read more
November comes And November goes, With the last red berries And the first white snows. With night coming early And dawn coming late, And ice in the bucket And frost by the gate. The fires burn And the kettle sings, And earth sinks to rest Until next Spring. by Clyde Watson
The monarch butterfly, with its unmistakable orange wings, is beautiful to behold. More importantly, it plays a vital role in pollination, contributing to our entire food chain. Numbers are down by as much as 53% this year for some varieties. The drop off is most likely due to loss of breeding habitat according to Doug … Read more
Here in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, fall is the best time to plant milkweed seeds. It’s too warm for the ground to be frozen but too cold for seeds to sprout before winter sets in. Exposing seeds to cool temperatures before the warmer temps of spring will cause them to break their dormancy and … Read more
November is Thanksgiving month so I’m trying to count my blessings. One of them is that this club, which began in 1937, is still such an active organization—even in the midst of this pandemic. I really feel we will emerge from this as strong as we were before, and maybe even more energized and ready … Read more