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Southern Indiana Living Magazine - Jan / Feb 2023

January / February 2023 issue of SIL

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<strong>Southern</strong><br />

<strong>Indiana</strong><br />

<strong>Jan</strong> / <strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />

<strong>Living</strong><br />

DELIVERING<br />

HOPE:<br />

Wigs by Kim<br />

Transforms Lives<br />

Plus:<br />

LMSugarbush<br />

Maple Syrup Festival<br />

Behind the scenes<br />

with artist<br />

Wendi Smith


Choose the path<br />

with more moments.<br />

You have a choice of how you want to live the rest of your life. Choose the path where<br />

you can create more moments with the ones you love. Schedule a consultation to learn<br />

how we provide an extra layer of care for your serious illness. Visit HosparusHealth.org<br />

or call 1-800-HOSPICE.<br />

FLOYD<br />

COUNTY<br />

2021<br />

2 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong><br />

Voted Best Home-based Healthcare provider<br />

Serving 14 counties in <strong>Indiana</strong>


M L<br />

IN THE WOODS<br />

Merry<br />

Ledges<br />

event facility<br />

Rustic Wedding Facility<br />

Event Facility<br />

812-267-3030<br />

• Unique, historic, redwood structure<br />

• Accommodates 185 people<br />

• Hardwood floors • Exposed beams in ceiling<br />

• Two large functional stone fireplaces<br />

• Peaceful wooded country setting<br />

• Shelter House for outdoor ceremonies<br />

• Located in beautiful southern <strong>Indiana</strong><br />

Just 15 minutes west of Corydon<br />

Missi Bush-Sawtelle, Owner<br />

www.MerryLedges.com<br />

812-267-3030<br />

CALL NOW FOR SHOWING<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 3


4 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>


<strong>Southern</strong><br />

<strong>Indiana</strong><br />

<strong>Living</strong><br />

JAN / FEB <strong>2023</strong><br />

VOL. 16, ISSUE 1<br />

PUBLISHER |<br />

Karen Hanger<br />

karen@silivingmag.com<br />

LAYOUT & DESIGN |<br />

Christy Byerly<br />

christy@silivingmag.com<br />

COPY EDITOR |<br />

Jennifer Cash<br />

COPY EDITOR |<br />

Sara Combs<br />

ADVERTISING |<br />

Take advantage of prime<br />

advertising space. Call us at<br />

812-989-8871 or e-mail<br />

karen@silivingmag.com or<br />

jeremyflanigan@silivingmag.com<br />

SUBSCRIPTIONS |<br />

$25/year, Mail to: <strong>Southern</strong><br />

<strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>, P.O. Box 145,<br />

Marengo, IN 47140<br />

Contact SIL<br />

P.O. Box 145<br />

Marengo, IN 47140<br />

812.989.8871<br />

karen@silivingmag.com<br />

ON THE COVER:<br />

Kim Fessel, modeling one of<br />

her wigs,, at Wigs by Kim j/<br />

Photo by Michelle Hockman<br />

Check out more<br />

features and stories<br />

at www.silivingmag.com<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> is<br />

published bimonthly by SIL<br />

Publishing Co. LLC, P.O. Box<br />

145, Marengo, Ind. 47140.<br />

Any views expressed in any<br />

advertisement, signed letter,<br />

article, or photograph are<br />

those of the author and<br />

do not necessarily reflect<br />

the position of <strong>Southern</strong><br />

<strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> or its parent<br />

company. Copyright © 2018<br />

SIL Publishing Co. LLC. No<br />

part of this publication may<br />

be reproduced in any form<br />

without written permission<br />

from SIL Publishing Co. LLC.<br />

18<br />

12<br />

22<br />

Featured Stories<br />

12 | DELIVERING HOPE<br />

Wigs by Kim transforms lives<br />

18 | CRAFTING MAPLE SYRUP<br />

Family-owned farm is one of <strong>Indiana</strong>’s largest<br />

syrup producers<br />

22 | A QUIET INTENSITY<br />

Wendi Smith champions natural world<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong><br />

In Every Issue<br />

7 | FLASHBACK<br />

Walking in Wonderland, Corydon, IN, 1900<br />

8 | IN THE GARDEN WITH BOB HILL<br />

A reflection on 80 years<br />

11 | A NOTE TO BABY BOOMERS<br />

Yours for the asking<br />

27 | REAL LIFE NUTRITION<br />

A year of addition, not restriction<br />

JANUARY / FEBRUARY <strong>2023</strong><br />

30 | EVERYDAY ADVENTURES<br />

A Tale of Two Tables<br />

Choose to bank where you're author of your own financial story.<br />

BEGIN THE STORY<br />

FFBT.COM<br />

MEMBER FDIC<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 5


USI is Division I – Join us for a new era of excitement!<br />

USIScreamingEagles.com/tickets<br />

ranked by Forbes and Statista as one of<br />

America’s BEST-IN-STATE Employers<br />

2022<br />

6 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>


Walking in a Winter Wonderland<br />

Corydon, IN<br />

1900<br />

Flashback Photo<br />

// Photo courtesy of the Frederick Porter Griffin Center, Harrison County Public Library<br />

This image from the Harrison County Public Library shows us a snapshot of a snowy day in Corydon over a century ago. Snow-covered<br />

trees line Chestnut Street, facing East, in downtown Corydon around 1900.<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 7


A Walk in the Garden with Bob Hill<br />

A Reflection on 80 Years<br />

Irecently hit 80 years old, an age<br />

that often begs the ancient question:<br />

“Are you bragging or complaining?”<br />

I have to go with “neither,”<br />

with “grateful” coming closest<br />

to the truth.<br />

Eighty is an age that brings a<br />

lot of personal history; born during<br />

WWII and around long enough to<br />

witness mac and cheese ice cream and<br />

idiots pouring milk into their Pepsis.<br />

I can remember milk being delivered<br />

to our crowded house in a<br />

horse-drawn wagon and now we get<br />

UPS and FedEx trucks delivering dinner<br />

and semi-automatic rifles.<br />

We lived in the horse-drawnwagon<br />

days in a tight neighborhood<br />

in Northern New Jersey maybe 25<br />

miles from New York City and 100<br />

yards from the Passaic River, which<br />

would catch on fire a few times from<br />

industrial waste.<br />

We predated all that, often<br />

swimming in the river on a stony<br />

beach about a 15-minute walk from<br />

the house. No lifeguards. I remember<br />

being so anxious to get to the nearby<br />

grade school I left home at about age<br />

4, walked over and tried to enroll myself<br />

in kindergarten.<br />

It was a blue-collar neighborhood<br />

that would occasionally bleed<br />

a little red. The parents of my best<br />

friend had a cock-fighting ring in<br />

the bottom level of the barn where<br />

they lived, the birds kept in a series<br />

of coops along the edges. I remember<br />

being paid like 15 cents – big money<br />

for a kid in post-WWII – to feed the<br />

birds before I had any idea what they<br />

did for a living.<br />

I later did sneak into the cockfighting<br />

barn to watch, the fierce<br />

birds ripping at each other, feathers<br />

flying, with metal hooks attached to<br />

their already sharp claws. In general,<br />

only one bird walked away.<br />

And all that only about 75 years<br />

ago. I plan on going back for the first<br />

time this coming spring, thinking it’s<br />

all gotta be tight-knit subdivision<br />

now.<br />

Moving along, we moved from<br />

near New York to Sycamore, Illinois,<br />

population 5,000, in the Northern Illinois<br />

cornfields in 1951. It was a move<br />

that broke my heart because I had just<br />

made a Little League team in New<br />

Jersey and had no idea what was up<br />

with Illinois. As it turned out, Sycamore<br />

started Little League that year,<br />

8 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong><br />

a game saver.<br />

Our trip from New Jersey to<br />

Sycamore took three days in a rented<br />

Oldsmobile, a sloping, sleek thing<br />

with more chrome than a 90-foot<br />

yacht. Four of us kids, our collie,<br />

Lassie, and the Old Man, were stuffed<br />

in the car as we traveled maybe 350<br />

miles a day, mostly on two-lane highways.<br />

I still remember driving right<br />

through Pittsburgh, smokestacks<br />

belching, and staying in hotels, a luxury<br />

beyond our wildest dreams.<br />

Mom, then very pregnant with<br />

our youngest sister, Lauren, flew into<br />

Chicago, where we picked her up.<br />

Lots of airplanes there.<br />

I never thought much then about<br />

someday being 80. I made the Little<br />

League team, made new friends in<br />

school, went fishing a lot in the nearby<br />

Kishwaukee River, which never<br />

did catch on fire.<br />

But here 80 came – high school,<br />

college, married, our two kids, fun<br />

work, some world travel, park exploring,<br />

lots of gardening, back surgery,<br />

a new hip, our kids doing good,<br />

a fine marriage that’s lasted 60 years<br />

and then the 80th birthday.<br />

With lemon meringue pie<br />

created by that wonderful wife of 60<br />

years. One kid, newly elected state<br />

representative in Michigan, called, as<br />

she always does, for the occasion. The<br />

other kid, who takes a lot of pictures<br />

for the Washington Post, and his wife,<br />

drove out from Silver Spring, Maryland,<br />

to surprise me.<br />

Boy, did they ever.<br />

So here was 80. Right on time.<br />

And what’s that like?<br />

Having no experience at it, I<br />

tend to joke that 80 is the new 80. It<br />

really is a chronological landmark to<br />

be enjoyed when and if possible. The<br />

only other birthday I can remember<br />

contemplating at all was my 35th. It<br />

was like more than one-third on the<br />

way to 100. I was two years at my<br />

newspaper job in Louisville and wondering<br />

what my next step would be,<br />

could be, should be. I soon figured<br />

out I didn’t want to go anywhere. The<br />

best move I never made.<br />

My 50th birthday was really special.<br />

That wonderful wife – and a few<br />

friends – gave me a totally surprise<br />

birthday party at the old Masterson’s<br />

restaurant in Louisville. I walked into<br />

a room filled with about 120 people.<br />

Basically my entire life stood up before<br />

me – family, friends, teammates<br />

and co-workers – and shouted “SUR-<br />

PRISSSEE.”<br />

Yes, I was.<br />

So, what’s it like to be 80, generally<br />

healthy, blessed, loved and appreciative<br />

for the way it’s all worked<br />

out so far? I tend to complain about<br />

things on occasion, but then I look<br />

around and tell myself to “stop it.”<br />

I still have things to do, getting<br />

back into more travel, shaping our<br />

8 acres of flowers, trees and shrubs<br />

into more manageable shape. I have<br />

begun a whole new creative venture<br />

I can remember milk being delivered to our<br />

crowded house in a horse-drawn wagon and<br />

now we get UPS and FedEx trucks delivering<br />

dinner and semi-automatic rifles.<br />

writing children’s books – and stay<br />

tuned for those.<br />

The theme of those children’s<br />

stories is how do we help others, what<br />

can we do, what can I do, to give back<br />

to people and a place that has given<br />

so much to me.<br />

Some of that has been working<br />

with and writing about The Parklands<br />

of Floyds Fork, the Waterfront<br />

Botanical Gardens, the Paint Box<br />

Garden in Jeffersonville and, more<br />

recently, helping to preserve Payne<br />

Hollow in Trimble County, Kentucky.<br />

It’s the former home of Harlan and<br />

Anna Hubbard, who took a shanty<br />

boat down the Ohio and Mississippi<br />

rivers and then lived off the Kentucky<br />

land for 35 years.<br />

What’s next? Who knows. It<br />

is the one-day-at-a-time thing. One.<br />

Day. At. A. Time. And looking forward<br />

to it. •<br />

About the Author<br />

Former Courier-Journal<br />

columnist Bob Hill enjoys<br />

gardening, good fun, good<br />

friends and the life he and<br />

his wife, <strong>Jan</strong>et.


Now there’s a new way to<br />

get around in Floyd County.<br />

A joint program of the Floyd County<br />

Commissioners and Blue River Services,<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> Transit System (SITS) now<br />

offers safe, reliable transportation for<br />

people in Floyd County, Monday through<br />

Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., including those with<br />

disabilities.<br />

Scheduling a trip is easy. Just call 800-654-5490.<br />

If you call after hours, leave a message and a<br />

call-back number. SITS drivers collect fares<br />

before departure, and can accept cash (exact<br />

change only) or checks payable to Blue River<br />

Services, Inc. (Credit cards can’t be accepted at<br />

this time.)<br />

RATES<br />

0 - 10 miles $2 per way, per person<br />

11 - 20 miles $3 per way, per person<br />

20 + miles $4 per way, per person<br />

Personal Care Attendants may ride free to and<br />

from the same locations. All other companions<br />

must pay the full fare.<br />

SITS can take you to stores, the grocery, banks,<br />

hospitals, clinics, auto repair shops and other<br />

destinations.<br />

Families only pay for two individuals. Additional<br />

immediate family members ride free. For<br />

example, a parent with four children would only<br />

pay for themselves and one child.<br />

A joint program of<br />

your Floyd County<br />

Commissioners and Blue<br />

River Services.<br />

800.654.5490 | www.brsinc.org<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 9


NO PARKING OR ADMISSION CHARGE!<br />

32nd Annual<br />

Maple Syrup Festival<br />

<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 25-26, March 4-5, <strong>2023</strong><br />

9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. EST<br />

LM Sugarbush, LLC<br />

321 N. Garrison Hollow Road<br />

Salem, IN 47167<br />

(812) 967-4491 • (877)-841-8851<br />

LMSugarbush@gmail.com<br />

Please contact us if you have any questions.<br />

Please dress in comfortable clothes and<br />

sturdy shoes. Waterproof boots are always<br />

recommended. Parking areas get incredibly<br />

muddy. Please drive 4WD if available. Farm<br />

restaurant and store both accept all major<br />

debit/credit cards, cash, and personal check.<br />

Many craft vendors are cash-only. The festival is<br />

extremely busy from 11am-2pm. There is often<br />

a wait time for parking and the restaurant<br />

during peak hours. Activities are subject to<br />

change due to weather conditions.<br />

10 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong><br />

Contact us at:<br />

www.washingtoncountytourism.com<br />

or call 812-883-4303 to plan your trip!


A Note to Baby Boomers<br />

Yours for the Asking<br />

My wife and I finished<br />

spring cleaning in the fall.<br />

To think we usually are in<br />

such a hurry.<br />

Hosting a big yard sale would be<br />

one way to go. But then a customer<br />

would try to pay with Venmo and<br />

I’d stroke out. Donating is simpler, of<br />

course. Is there a worthy alternative<br />

to Goodwill?<br />

I asked around.<br />

When my car needed an oil<br />

change and my favorite mechanic<br />

had hung up his wrenches, I asked<br />

around. Same when the refrigerator<br />

went on strike and the front porch<br />

was overdue for an overhaul.<br />

I asked around.<br />

I continue to be reminded of<br />

how I am like my father, who died<br />

nearly 40 years ago. He parked a halfmile<br />

from the grocery store door. I<br />

do, too. A drink of water could not be<br />

cold enough for him.<br />

Yeah, that’s me, too.<br />

And he asked around. Whom he<br />

knew mattered right up there with<br />

what he knew. Making friends, cementing<br />

connections, he was as slick<br />

at all that as a politician up for re-election.<br />

Dad was neither shy about asking<br />

favors nor doing them.<br />

That’s how community best<br />

clicks, Dad believed. Lean on me and<br />

I will lean on you.<br />

Yet it seems the buddy system<br />

is now about as cool as the shirts and<br />

shoes I need to dump. Young adults<br />

take advice from online reviews than<br />

off neighbors or, of course, off anyone<br />

who takes six months to clean out<br />

closets. Friends are on Facebook, not<br />

drinking coffee around tables after<br />

church or at McDonald’s.<br />

Relationship has become a fourletter<br />

word. A text tops a conversation.<br />

Work at home, eat at home, worship<br />

at home — am I the only one left<br />

who still needs to shower?<br />

No one taught me how to change<br />

a tire or how to bake a cake. I’m at a<br />

loss when the toilet keeps running or<br />

the lawn tractor stops running. Then<br />

again, I feel lucky that I can talk to<br />

people, pretty much any and all people.<br />

Whatever else I may be full<br />

of, I am full of questions.<br />

Ask. That well might be my best<br />

advice. Step up and ask. Ask strangers<br />

and friends, kin and neighbors.<br />

Let curiosity free, stop wondering<br />

and start finding out.<br />

Appreciate learning and enjoy<br />

barriers coming down. Shut up if that<br />

seems prudent, in the interest of nose<br />

preservation.<br />

It usually is not.<br />

I told people’s stories for a living<br />

and it is absolutely true that everybody<br />

has a story. More true is that<br />

they have a bunch of stories that they<br />

can’t wait to tell. So do I. So do you.<br />

Opportunities pass. I would<br />

pepper Dad and Mom with questions<br />

until next week if only I still<br />

could. Instead, I was too busy doing<br />

God knows what. This is No. 1 on my<br />

thankfully short list of regrets.<br />

It’s either that or becoming addicted<br />

to pricey ice cream.<br />

I read not long ago how habits<br />

define us. We are what we do, such<br />

was the conclusion. Saying hi, saying<br />

thanks, waving and nodding,<br />

these may not be my only habits but<br />

thank God – and my parents – they<br />

are among them.<br />

So I ask. Then I listen. Many ask<br />

back. Some do not, of course. Their<br />

business is no one else’s, period.<br />

May missing out prove to be among<br />

their regrets. There was a time when<br />

I would be invited to speak to students.<br />

I told them that I was unaware<br />

of anyone who had died from stringing<br />

together words and sentences<br />

and paragraphs. You might not enjoy<br />

your next term-paper assignment,<br />

I urged. You will survive it, though,<br />

and maybe, just maybe, come out the<br />

better for it.<br />

That also is how it is with asking,<br />

with being friendly, with long lunches<br />

with longtime friends and with<br />

getting tips about affordable handymen<br />

or the tastiest Mexican food.<br />

Crazy enough, the more I age the<br />

less I care. I used to know the name of<br />

the backup catcher for the Minnesota<br />

Twins. I used to double-check if tonight’s<br />

favorite TV sitcom was to be a<br />

new episode or a rerun. I used to matter<br />

about whatever actually mattered<br />

– I hope so anyway – and too much of<br />

what didn’t.<br />

No one taught me how to change a tire or how<br />

to bake a cake. I’m at a loss when the toilet<br />

keeps running or the lawn tractor stops running.<br />

Then again, I feel lucky that I can talk to people,<br />

pretty much any and all people.<br />

Have I uncluttered my mind<br />

along with my house?<br />

Priorities change, of course,<br />

while years pile up. Good health no<br />

longer comes as naturally. Money<br />

better not run out before my wife and<br />

I do. Must we really wait until 5 to eat<br />

dinner?<br />

The grand prize of retirement, of<br />

aging, is time. Closet clean-outs, yes,<br />

can wait. Kids’ school breaks no longer<br />

determine dates for travels. Need<br />

to stock up from Costco or Sam’s<br />

Club? We’ll get there soon or fairly<br />

soon or …<br />

Meanwhile, I will relive good<br />

old days with good old friends, and<br />

I will consider it my mission to make<br />

new friends. I will keep my cellphone<br />

in my pocket and nod, wave, greet<br />

and, sooner or later, ask around.<br />

Still got more stuff to donate, by<br />

the way. .•<br />

After 25 years, Dale Moss<br />

retired as <strong>Indiana</strong> columnist for<br />

The Courier-Journal. He now<br />

writes weekly for the News and<br />

Tribune. Dale and his wife Jean<br />

live in Jeffersonville in a house<br />

that has been in his family<br />

since the Civil War. Dale’s e-<br />

mail is dale.moss@twc.com<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 11


12 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong><br />

Cover Story<br />

Twenty-five years ago, Kim<br />

Fessel embarked on a career<br />

path born out of necessity, one<br />

that would eventually change<br />

her life, as well as the lives of many<br />

others she would meet.<br />

At the time, Fessel was searching<br />

for work that would not only<br />

help to support her family, but also<br />

that would allow her to have flexible<br />

hours. She decided upon a career as a<br />

hairdresser.<br />

“It was just an occupation at<br />

the time that I could do,” she said. “I<br />

was a single mom and I needed to be<br />

home with my kids when they were<br />

sick or if they had a sporting event.<br />

I didn’t want to miss my kids growing<br />

up, and I didn’t know what else<br />

I could do where I could be my own<br />

boss. So, I decided to do hair, and it’s<br />

worked out quite well.”<br />

If you’re a New Salisbury or Corydon<br />

resident, you may know Fessel,<br />

as she is the owner of Wigs by<br />

Kim, located in Hope’s Hair Salon in<br />

Corydon.<br />

During the first part of her journey,<br />

Fessel enjoyed a very successful<br />

career as a traditional stylist, cutting,<br />

coloring and styling hair, along with<br />

other services associated with the<br />

profession. In 2011 a new opportunity<br />

presented itself to Fessel, one she had<br />

never considered until her father approached<br />

her with the idea of learning<br />

how to do hair replacement.<br />

“My dad actually talked me into<br />

it,” she said. “He wore hair replacement<br />

and he had to go to Louisville to<br />

get it done. It was very expensive and<br />

time-consuming, so he said, ‘Hey, if<br />

you can go to school for this, I’ll pay<br />

for it, and you can pay me back by<br />

doing my services.’”<br />

Fessel says she “went for it,” and<br />

that this part of her career really took<br />

off once she was trained. Her services<br />

include hair replacement on the scalp<br />

as well as wig consultations and fittings.<br />

When Fessel began doing hair<br />

replacement, she had her own shop<br />

called Shear Miracles. She says she<br />

was very sensitive to the fact that<br />

many people don’t want to go out<br />

into public if they are bald, nor do<br />

they want people to know they’re<br />

having hair replacement services<br />

done. This especially applied to her<br />

female clients. Fessel designed her<br />

shop to have a private room where<br />

she could do consultations and the<br />

hair replacement.<br />

“Hair replacement is non-surgical<br />

and you’re in and out in less<br />

than two hours,” she said. “It’s glued<br />

on with a medical-grade adhesive,<br />

like the adhesive used for prosthetics.<br />

Once it’s finished, you can’t take<br />

it off. It has to be soaked off — it’s a<br />

process. Clients come back every two<br />

to four weeks and have it soaked off<br />

then reattached. I use human hair, so<br />

if you put a motorcycle helmet on,<br />

go swimming or ride roller coasters,<br />

whatever you do, it doesn’t hinder<br />

the hair at all. It’s like your own hair.<br />

That’s the great thing about it.”<br />

Delivering Hope<br />

Wigs by Kim transforms lives<br />

Story by Julie Englehardt<br />

Photos by Michelle Hockman<br />

If clients come in for a wig consultation,<br />

Fessel also meets with them<br />

in the private room.<br />

“I have them fill out a form<br />

and ask them if they know why<br />

they’re experiencing hair loss,” she<br />

said. “Some are cancer-related, some<br />

aren’t. Sometimes it’s hormones or<br />

it’s hereditary, or it’s due to stress, or<br />

it’s alopecia. There are so many reasons<br />

of hair loss, and a lot don’t know<br />

why they’re losing their hair.”<br />

Fessel has also used her knowledge<br />

to work with a program for


cancer patients called “Look Good<br />

Feel Better,” provided locally through<br />

Harrison County Hospital.<br />

“That was so humbling,” Fessel<br />

said. “These women were going<br />

through cancer, and they felt bad<br />

enough, not to mention how they<br />

looked all of a sudden with their complexion<br />

and no hair. I would go in and<br />

try wigs on them and teach them how<br />

to change their makeup to where they<br />

looked better. I volunteered for the<br />

program for five years.”<br />

Fessel reaches out to cancer<br />

patients, or anyone in need of hair<br />

replacement, by leaving her information<br />

at the cancer centers in New<br />

Albany and Corydon. She’s donated<br />

a lot of wigs to the cancer center in<br />

New Albany, which they can give to<br />

people who can’t afford one.<br />

Fessel admits that working with<br />

clients who are in search of hair replacement<br />

can be challenging.<br />

“Most of the people who get<br />

their wigs — it’s bittersweet,” she<br />

said. “They’re upset that they’re in<br />

the shop. They won’t even look at<br />

themselves in the mirror. That’s frustrating<br />

for me, because I’m trying to<br />

help them. They don’t want a wig, so<br />

they won’t give me any advice as to<br />

what they want. They’re just real bitter<br />

and angry. That’s something I’ve<br />

had to learn to deal with over the<br />

years. I just let my professional demeanor<br />

go to work, and I just try to<br />

comfort them in any way I can.”<br />

Fessel says that wigs today are<br />

so different from the wigs manufactured<br />

years ago. They are lighter in<br />

weight and are easy to care for. You<br />

can wash them in cold water, shake<br />

them out and they will retain their<br />

style. Ones designed for cancer patients<br />

are made with a softer lining<br />

to make them more comfortable for<br />

patients who have undergone cancer<br />

treatments.<br />

Fessel has met a wide array of<br />

clients over the years who have benefited<br />

from her expertise and training.<br />

There are two clients who have made<br />

an impact on her.<br />

“Many people know about<br />

Locks for Love, but there’s another<br />

“That was so humbling.<br />

These women were going<br />

through cancer, and they<br />

felt bad enough, not to<br />

mention how they looked<br />

all of a sudden with their<br />

complexion and no hair. I<br />

would go in and try wigs on<br />

them and teach them how<br />

to change their makeup to<br />

where they looked better. I<br />

volunteered for the program<br />

for five years.”<br />

- Kim Fessel<br />

organization called Children With<br />

Hair Loss,” Fessel said. “When you<br />

donate your hair to them, they make<br />

wigs and donate them to young people<br />

up until they’re 18 years old. I had<br />

a young girl about 7 or 8 years old<br />

who had alopecia, and I told her parents<br />

about the program. They were<br />

very thankful for that information.”<br />

Fessel also recalls a story about<br />

a high school teenager whose family<br />

came to her for help.<br />

“They had just moved into town,<br />

and the girl wore a wig. She wanted<br />

to be on the swim team but couldn’t<br />

Pictured: (left) Kim Fessel, owner, modeling one of her wigs (middle) one of the many wigs available (right) Kim Fessel, owner of Wigs by Kim.<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 13


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14 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>


“It’s the most humbling business I’ve ever been in. It’s one thing to cut somebody’s hair<br />

and give them a new style and make them look better and feel better, but when you<br />

actually give them hair, words can’t even describe it. It’s just been awesome.”<br />

- Kim Fessel<br />

Owner, Wigs by Kim<br />

swim with her wig,” she said. “I did<br />

hair replacement on her, and she was<br />

able to swim. Nobody ever knew the<br />

difference. She was so thankful. It just<br />

changed her life. For a high school<br />

kid in a new school, trying to fit in, it<br />

was just very overwhelming for her.<br />

I helped her until she graduated and<br />

went on to college.”<br />

“It’s the most humbling business<br />

I’ve ever been in,” Fessel said. “It’s<br />

one thing to cut somebody’s hair and<br />

give them a new style and make them<br />

look better and feel better,” she said,<br />

“but when you actually give them<br />

hair, words can’t even describe it. It’s<br />

just been awesome.” •<br />

For more information, call 812-736-<br />

3928. Wigs by Kim is located in Hope’s<br />

Hair & Nail Salon at 2016 Hwy 337 NE<br />

in Corydon, IN.<br />

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<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 15


Embers erupt from<br />

the fire built from<br />

wood still too damp<br />

to burn properly,<br />

sending pops and<br />

crackles off in every direction.<br />

He smiles to himself as he<br />

imagines nature is putting on a<br />

fireworks show just for him. His<br />

wife has been asleep long<br />

enough his arm tingles all the<br />

way down to his fingertips, but<br />

he won’t dare disturb her. As<br />

his wife breathes the slow, soft<br />

melody of sleep, her husband<br />

watches the fire.<br />

He notices as the embers shoot<br />

from the heart of the blaze into<br />

the inky sky, disappearing into<br />

the fog settling onto the lake,<br />

and his mind drifts back. He<br />

looks at the elderly woman<br />

sleeping so comfortably on his<br />

shoulder and thinks back to the<br />

day he met her, then on their<br />

wedding day three years later.<br />

He remembers how the two of<br />

them stood side by side from<br />

when they met during college to<br />

when she transitioned from<br />

young professional to retiree; as<br />

they became parents, then<br />

became grandparents.<br />

16 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>


The fire, emitting less heat than<br />

just moments before, is still<br />

sending embers out from its<br />

core. He smiles as he watches<br />

tiny moments of his past become<br />

miniature comets, momentarily<br />

becoming the center of his<br />

attention before disappearing<br />

from view, or burning out just<br />

before disappearing into the<br />

indistinguishable grey curtain<br />

made up of fog and the serenity<br />

of the waveless lake.<br />

His wife wakes up and sees her<br />

husband lost in thought. She<br />

decides not to interrupt his<br />

moment. Beyond the comfort of<br />

her husband’s shoulder, the fire<br />

pops and she notices an ember of<br />

flame and ash disappear into the<br />

water. She smiles. Here is a<br />

perfect moment, one of many,<br />

now written in the story of their<br />

lives.<br />

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<strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 17


18 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong><br />

Local Spotlight<br />

In late winter, when the nights are<br />

still bitterly cold, but the days are<br />

bright, reaching 45 to 50 degrees,<br />

the folks at LM Sugarbush LLC –<br />

a family farm in scenic Washington<br />

County – begin their labor-intensive<br />

process of tapping more than 1,600<br />

hard maples, collecting sap and boiling<br />

it down into maple syrup.<br />

This 140-acre operation is coowned<br />

by two sisters and their husbands,<br />

Jennifer and Nicholas Reisenbichler,<br />

and Emily and Robert<br />

Blackman. Although every part of<br />

the year here offers some distinctive<br />

magic, late winter – when the fragrant<br />

warm steam is pouring out of<br />

the sugarhouse – seems to be everyone’s<br />

favorite.<br />

“The farm got its unofficial start<br />

in the 1970s,” Jennifer said, “when<br />

an old classmate of my father’s from<br />

Vermont came for a visit and immediately<br />

noticed all the maple trees on<br />

the property.”<br />

Jennifer’s and Emily’s mother,<br />

Leane Whitaker, remembered those<br />

early days. “The first few years saw<br />

us collecting the sap in buckets, boiling<br />

it in an open pan under a winter<br />

sky and bottling the resulting dark<br />

syrup in quart canning jars. In 1981,<br />

we bought our first small evaporator<br />

and established Leane’s and Michael’s<br />

Sugarbush,” Leane said.<br />

By the time Jennifer and Emily<br />

were toddlers, their parents had purchased<br />

most of the modern equipment<br />

needed to run an efficient enterprise:<br />

plastic tubing for collecting the<br />

sap, a vacuum pump to aid the flow<br />

of sap through the tubes and into the<br />

storage tanks, a reverse osmosis machine<br />

to remove some of the water<br />

from the sap and a larger evaporator<br />

to boil it down into syrup.<br />

“There were plenty of stories<br />

about our childhood, and how we<br />

helped out,” Jennifer said. “We were<br />

home-schooled, and our mother<br />

turned making maple syrup into a<br />

unit of study – math, science, history.<br />

As I got older, I always wanted to<br />

keep up with the guys, so I learned<br />

how to do the hard work.”<br />

“Our Maple Syrup Festival got<br />

started in 1992,” Emily said. “I can<br />

still picture the sun rising over the<br />

hills on those early festival mornings<br />

before the crowd showed up.<br />

Everything was so still. It was better<br />

than Christmas morning.” One<br />

of Jennifer’s early festival memories<br />

is of driving people into their woods<br />

in mule-drawn buggies. “It made me<br />

feel quite savvy,” she said.<br />

In 2013, Emily, Jennifer and their<br />

husbands bought the farm, shortened<br />

its name to LM Sugarbush LLC, and<br />

have continued with many of the<br />

same pieces of equipment, work routines<br />

and traditions that they grew up<br />

with, making only a few changes.<br />

“Our evaporator is 100% woodfired,<br />

so we go through a lot of<br />

wood – 75 to 90 ricks of wood each<br />

year,” Robert said. “The addition of<br />

a Kubota tractor and gas-powered<br />

wood splitter in 2013 have greatly<br />

improved the efficiency of our firewood<br />

collection process.” Robert and<br />

Nic cut only fallen, dead or damaged<br />

trees from their property. “We use a<br />

lot of wood, but are committed to the<br />

wood-fired evaporator, versus oil- or<br />

gas-powered, because the wood enhances<br />

the flavor of the syrup,” Jennifer<br />

added.<br />

“There are other ways we develop<br />

the flavor of the syrup,” Jennifer<br />

said. “We monitor the temperature<br />

and pressure of the boiling<br />

syrup frequently. Still, some batches<br />

Crafting Maple Syrup<br />

Family-owned farm in scenic Washington County is one of <strong>Indiana</strong>’s largest producers<br />

Story by Judy Cato<br />

Photos by Lorraine Hughes<br />

will be sweeter than others, so before<br />

bottling, we taste and mix different<br />

batches together, if warranted.”<br />

“Bottling is done manually with<br />

a contraption made by our father,”<br />

Jennifer said. “We all pitch in to finish<br />

the product.”<br />

One of the most substantial innovations<br />

made by the younger generation<br />

is the creation of a line of bourbon<br />

barrel-aged maple syrup that is<br />

now the favorite of many customers.<br />

“Nic got the idea from a friend in the<br />

restaurant business who ages beer in<br />

bourbon barrels,” Jennifer said. “We<br />

started with Angel’s Envy port barrels.<br />

We have added Starlight Distillery<br />

barrels from Huber’s. We age it<br />

from three to six months, depending<br />

on the time elapsed since the bourbon<br />

came out of the barrel. The key to the<br />

flavor is to keep the barrels cold.”<br />

In 2022, they expanded their<br />

partnership with Starlight Distillery<br />

to include a maple-finished whiskey.<br />

“After we complete our aging process<br />

for syrup, we return the barrels<br />

to Starlight where they work their


magic,” Jennifer said.<br />

Bottles of barrel-aged syrup and<br />

maple-aged whiskey were both for<br />

sale at the 2022 Maple Syrup Festival.<br />

The festival continues to be the<br />

highlight of the maple farm’s busy<br />

year, with attendance reaching over<br />

12,000 for the two weekends in late<br />

<strong>Feb</strong>ruary and early March. This year<br />

will mark the festival’s 32nd year.<br />

A celebration of the rustic lifestyle<br />

is at the heart of the festival. The<br />

drive there leads through some remote<br />

backcountry. The farm, located<br />

in a valley tucked between two hills,<br />

offers tours intended to help visitors<br />

take in the scenes associated with<br />

maple syrup production – from the<br />

woods where the tubing runs like intricate<br />

spider webs between the trees<br />

to the sugar house with its billowing<br />

steam. Depending on the weather,<br />

the visitor might also encounter some<br />

old-fashioned country mud.<br />

Handcrafted and homegrown<br />

products – furniture, pottery, wines,<br />

leather, glass and more – are showcased<br />

and sold by over 40 vendors in<br />

a panoply of color, texture, craftsmanship<br />

and delight. Traditional music of<br />

the banjo, dulcimer, harmonica, fiddle<br />

and guitar can be heard from the<br />

stage. Children’s games and activities<br />

abound.<br />

A celebration of the rustic lifestyle is at the heart<br />

of the festival. The drive there leads through<br />

some remote backcountry. The farm, located in<br />

a valley tucked between two hills, offers tours of<br />

scenes associated with maple syrup production.<br />

Pictured: (left hand page) LM Sugarbush Maple Syrup is one of the largest producers of maple syrup in <strong>Indiana</strong>, producing between 500 and 700 gallons per year; (this page, from top)<br />

matriarch Leane Whitaker sells syrup at the 2022 festival; Entertainers at the 2022 festvial, the Cowboy Posse.<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 19


The highlight of the festival is<br />

naturally the food: pancakes and<br />

sausage served with LM Sugarbush<br />

Maple Syrup is the traditional choice,<br />

but there are plenty of other options,<br />

including Nic’s spicy maple-glazed<br />

BBQ ribs, maple baked beans, maple<br />

cinnamon roll with maple crème, you<br />

name it, it probably has maple in it –<br />

coffee, tea cocoa, candy, coated nuts.<br />

The farm is one of the largest maple<br />

syrup producers in <strong>Indiana</strong>, averaging<br />

500 to 700 gallons per year.<br />

The last full moon before the beginning<br />

of spring was called the Sugar<br />

Maker (sogalikus) by Vermont’s<br />

Indigenous Abenaki peoples. According<br />

to one legend, they learned<br />

to make maple sugar from the squirrels.<br />

The European settlers learned to<br />

make maple syrup from the Native<br />

Americans and the sugar moon or<br />

sap moon was listed in the Farmer’s<br />

Almanac as one of the names for the<br />

first full moon in March.<br />

At LM Sugarbush, this moon<br />

signals that it is time to prepare for<br />

spring with the sweetness of maple<br />

syrup on one’s lips and gratitude for<br />

the rich bounty of maple trees on the<br />

land they have tramped since childhood.<br />

•<br />

The annual Maple Syrup Festival will<br />

be held <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 25-26 and March 4-5,<br />

<strong>2023</strong>. For more information, go to lmsugarbush.com<br />

or call 812-967-4491.<br />

20 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>


The highlight of the festival is naturally<br />

the food: pancakes and sausage served<br />

with LM Sugarbush Maple Syrup is the<br />

traditional choice, but there are plenty of<br />

other options, including Nic’s spicy mapleglazed<br />

BBQ ribs, maple baked beans, and<br />

maple cinnamon roll with maple crème.<br />

Pictured: (left hand page, from top) traditional music at the music cabin; a crowd gathers at the 2022 festival; ( this page, from top, clockwise) a tapped tree with tubing, maple syrup aged<br />

bourbon whiskey, sold at the 2022 festival; a crowd explores the farm during the 2022 festival.<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 21


Artist Spotlight<br />

A Quiet Intensity<br />

Corydon Artist Wendi Smith champions the natural world<br />

Story by Judy Cato<br />

Photos by Lorraine Hughes<br />

Less than a block from the historic<br />

Cedar Hill Cemetery in<br />

Corydon, the studio and home<br />

of mixed media artist Wendi<br />

Smith blends into the bordering hillside<br />

and treetop canopy like some<br />

dreamy treehouse. Smith, at 70, navigates<br />

the hill with ease, walking daily<br />

farther up the hill to the cemetery.<br />

“It is a fascinating place,” Smith<br />

said of Cedar Hill. “The old gravestones<br />

are full of history and symbolic<br />

art. I also find actual objects there<br />

– feathers, insect wings, snakeskins,<br />

animal bones, twigs – which become<br />

part of my art.”<br />

Smith’s recent solo show, Elegy,<br />

at Garner Narrative Art Gallery in<br />

Louisville (Sept. 3–Oct. 10, 2021) was<br />

inspired, at least in part, by her walks<br />

at Cedar Hill. As the show’s title suggests,<br />

it was intended as a poem or<br />

song for the dead: the artworks were<br />

tombs of insects, birds and various<br />

other nonhuman species.<br />

One of the works for this show,<br />

Wishbone Reliquary, is a box with an<br />

inside chamber where relics of the<br />

dead – a wishbone, a squirrel tail,<br />

butterfly wings and more – are arranged,<br />

each in their own separate<br />

compartment. On the outside of the<br />

box, Smith has painted precise replicas<br />

of the contents.<br />

22 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong><br />

“When I was in art school in<br />

the early ’70s, photorealism was in<br />

vogue,” Smith said. “I was instructed<br />

to make a painting with photographic<br />

accuracy and no hint of self-expression.<br />

This did not always suit me.”<br />

At one level, this work is a pun:<br />

The viewer can compare the original<br />

objects to Smith’s paintings of them.<br />

“Viewers can see how ‘correctly’ I<br />

paint. My skill is out of the box,”<br />

Smith quipped.<br />

The deeper meaning of the<br />

work is a very personal expression of<br />

Smith’s quiet, but intense, reverence<br />

for the natural world. She explained<br />

her intention: “Nature provides so<br />

much of the beauty and wonder of<br />

our existence that we abuse and ignore<br />

it at our peril. The death of an<br />

insect or bird, as children instinctively<br />

feel, can be a loss so huge that<br />

they will give it a burial ceremony to<br />

grieve the loss of so much joy. These<br />

works are an attempt to make sacred<br />

the tombs of turtles and birds.”<br />

Technically, the boxes in the Elegy<br />

exhibit are low color and reduced<br />

pattern to lend solemnity to the contents.<br />

Smith used metal leaf – a thin<br />

foil used for gilding – as a nod to historic<br />

reliquaries and to give them a<br />

formal feel.<br />

In her most recent works – portable<br />

shrines for endangered or threatened<br />

wildlife – the outsides of the<br />

boxes are left unfinished and must be<br />

opened to reveal the contents: painted<br />

images of monarchs, bumblebees,<br />

whooping cranes, Indochinese tigers<br />

and more.<br />

“Opening these shrines brings<br />

the expectation of something valuable,”<br />

Smith said. “We keep our treasures<br />

in boxes and vaults. Natural<br />

treasures are often seen as less valuable<br />

– something our eyes pass over<br />

without thought – because they are<br />

so accessible. Placing them in closed<br />

shrines changes the perception.”<br />

The title of one of these shrines,<br />

Missal, suggests the work might be<br />

approached as if it were a book of<br />

devotions. The viewer opens the unadorned<br />

wood box to find Smith’s<br />

painting of one of nature’s most glorious<br />

works of art: monarch wings,<br />

with their natural geometric shapes,<br />

vivid orange colors, intricate veins,<br />

spotted borders, all designed as a<br />

beacon for a mate, a camouflage and<br />

a warning to predators. The work<br />

seems to invite the viewer to contemplate<br />

this fragile and threatened<br />

beauty as a revelation.<br />

Ceremonial and ritual objects,<br />

such as shrines, missals and reliquaries,<br />

have been important components


of Smith’s art for decades. She explained<br />

her use of them: “Works of<br />

art that have meant the most to me<br />

have addressed the unseen, the mystery<br />

that is life. Because ritual objects<br />

are evocative of unseen power, they<br />

aid in tapping into that quality. All of<br />

my work is grounded in an ongoing<br />

exploration of the juncture between<br />

ritual and nature.”<br />

Her 2017 painting Rainforest<br />

is inspired by medieval illuminated<br />

manuscripts (handmade books, usually<br />

on Christian Scripture or practice,<br />

that were illustrated with art and<br />

images so that the largely illiterate<br />

population of the period could understand<br />

their message). The images<br />

in these medieval manuscripts were<br />

simplified and stylized to convey a<br />

meaning or moral message. The decoration<br />

often included small paintings<br />

(miniatures) and elaborate borders.<br />

Profuse animal forms and foliage often<br />

lurked in the margins. They were<br />

almost always decorated with precious<br />

metals, usually gold leaf.<br />

Smith has used these manuscripts<br />

as a reference to quietly convey<br />

her intense feelings about the<br />

importance of preserving the earth’s<br />

rainforests. The center segment of<br />

her painting, with its varied shades<br />

of green, mosaic of vegetation and<br />

interlacing vines, conveys a sense<br />

of the complex connections and dynamic<br />

relationships of this ancient<br />

ecosystem. The border around the<br />

forest, consisting of miniatures of colorful<br />

wildlife, is a text on the unique<br />

biodiversity and treasures found in<br />

a rainforest. The four corners of the<br />

painting feature the toucan, the coatimundi,<br />

the honey creeper and ocelot,<br />

all threatened by the degradation of<br />

their habitat. Rare orchids are interlaced<br />

throughout the outside border.<br />

Smith’s Rainforest, mostly in acrylic,<br />

is also illuminated with metal leaf.<br />

The quiet intensity of Smith, as<br />

she pursues her artistic aims and personal<br />

vision, is a quality that emerged<br />

when she was a child. She remembers<br />

pressing her crayons hard against the<br />

paper to make the colors deeper and<br />

stronger. “I was so caught up in making<br />

art that my mother secretly visited<br />

my art teacher to see if I should be redirected.<br />

I found out about that years<br />

later. But I was always encouraged by<br />

teachers and parents,” she said.<br />

Smith received a master’s degree<br />

in painting from Illinois State University,<br />

worked as a fine art professor at<br />

Bellarmine University and has exhibited<br />

her work throughout the United<br />

States. Her work is represented in<br />

permanent collections throughout<br />

the region, including the Kentucky<br />

Center for the Arts. She has lived in<br />

Corydon with her husband, Patrick<br />

Thompson, for 42 years. •<br />

Pictured: (opposite) Wendi’s painting, Green. Acrylic on wood panel with ritual stick;<br />

(this page, from top right, clockwise) Wendi in front of her studio; Smith’s artwork, Wishbone<br />

Relliquary, part of Elegy exhibit. The objects are inside the box and the paintings are<br />

outside; Smith’s painting, Owl Triptych, acrylic on wood panels with ritual stick; Wendi’s<br />

painted shrine, Missal.<br />

“We keep our treasures in boxes and vaults.<br />

Natural treasures are often seen as less valuable<br />

– something our eyes pass over without thought<br />

– because they are so accessible. Placing them<br />

in closed shrines changes the perception.”<br />

- Wendi Smith<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 23


24 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>


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26 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>


Real Life Nutrition<br />

<strong>2023</strong> - The Year of Addition, not Restriction<br />

Each New Year brings the feeling<br />

of a fresh start. Many people start<br />

off the year with goals to personally<br />

improve upon. More often<br />

than not, our instinct is to create goals to<br />

restrict — no more sugar, no more carbs,<br />

no more soda or no more fast food. The<br />

difficulty with creating overly restrictive<br />

goals is that they are rarely followed for<br />

more than a month, let alone the whole<br />

year. My invitation to you this New Year<br />

is to consider what nutrition goals you can<br />

create to add something instead of take<br />

something away. I would also encourage<br />

you to just select one or two goals to focus<br />

on — adding too many goals at once typically<br />

leads to decreased adherence. There<br />

is no need to overload ourselves with<br />

goals! Focusing on one or two new goals<br />

to become consistent with is much more<br />

valuable than six or seven that do not last.<br />

Here are some ideas for goals of addition,<br />

not restriction, that you could consider focusing<br />

on for this year:<br />

Add Protein<br />

Protein foods are important to maintain<br />

lean muscle mass and increase satisfaction<br />

during meals. Adding protein to<br />

meals will likely help you to feel fuller<br />

for a longer period of time after the meal<br />

compared to a meal without protein. Protein<br />

foods include seafood; meat, poultry<br />

and eggs; beans, peas and lentils; and<br />

nuts, seeds and soy products. Consider<br />

adding protein foods to meals and snacks!<br />

If you’re making pasta for dinner, serve<br />

it with chicken. Add beans and nuts to a<br />

salad! Try buying seafood — even canned<br />

tuna or salmon packs lots of protein and<br />

essential fatty acids to your meal.<br />

Add Fruit<br />

Fruit has plenty of nutrients that<br />

may decrease risk for chronic diseases and<br />

help to add fiber, color and flavor to meals.<br />

Fruit may be served in a variety of forms<br />

(fresh, canned, frozen or dried); try any of<br />

these depending on your preferences and<br />

what is convenient for you. Fruit can be<br />

a simple addition to any meal or snack to<br />

introduce a different flavor and texture.<br />

Consider trying out new fruits to discover<br />

what is out there!<br />

Add Vegetables<br />

More often than not, our instinct is to create goals<br />

to restrict — no more sugar, no more carbs, no more<br />

soda or no more fast food.<br />

Similar to fruit, vegetables also contain<br />

many nutrients vital to health. Vegetables<br />

are very versatile and can be added to<br />

almost any meal! Serve your entrée with<br />

leafy greens, add vegetables to a soup you<br />

are making, or pack veggies with nuts or<br />

hummus for a snack. Serve raw with your<br />

favorite dipping sauce, roast with olive oil<br />

and seasoning, or try blanching or boiling!<br />

Frozen and canned vegetables are also excellent<br />

options to include into your diet;<br />

their nutritional quality is extremely comparable<br />

to fresh.<br />

Add Whole Grains<br />

Any food derived from wheat, oats,<br />

rice, cornmeal, barley or other cereal grain<br />

is an example of a food in the grain food<br />

group. Grains may either be whole or<br />

refined. Whole grains contain the entire<br />

grain kernel — whole wheat flour, bulgur,<br />

brown rice and oatmeal are examples. Refined<br />

grains have the bran and germ of<br />

the grain kernel removed, removing fiber,<br />

iron and B vitamins. Refined products are<br />

white flour, white rice and white bread.<br />

Enriched grains are refined grains that<br />

have certain B vitamins and iron added<br />

back in after processing; fiber isn’t added<br />

back. It is recommended to make least<br />

50% of your grain intake whole grains. Including<br />

whole grains containing fiber can<br />

support digestion, reduce the risk of heart<br />

disease and support weight management.<br />

Tip: Popcorn is a whole grain! Try<br />

buying the popcorn kernels and popping<br />

them over the stove or in an air popper,<br />

serve with shake-on seasonings or some<br />

butter and salt.<br />

Final Thoughts<br />

This year, let us all be kind to ourselves<br />

as we select which nutrition goals<br />

we want to set. There is no need to compare<br />

ourselves to others — every person’s<br />

goals and what they consider success will<br />

look very different. Acquiring one sustainable<br />

habit of addition is much more<br />

valuable than dropping six goals of restriction<br />

by April. Consider which goal<br />

you feel most excited about for <strong>2023</strong> and<br />

turn it into a habit by 2024. •<br />

About the Author<br />

Brittany Woodbury, MS, RD,<br />

CD, is a clinical dietitian at<br />

Baptist Health Floyd in New<br />

Albany. She graduated with<br />

her master’s degree in Nutritional<br />

Science and Dietetics and completed her<br />

internship through Brigham Young University<br />

in Provo, Utah. Brittany believes that all foods<br />

can be incorporated into a nutritious diet. In her<br />

spare time, she enjoys spending time cooking<br />

with her husband, baking, playing pickleball or<br />

skiing.<br />

Image: creative commons cc0 license<br />

<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 27


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28 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong>


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<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 29


Ilike to make fake stuff. Over the last<br />

couple of years I’ve built a fake tree,<br />

cave, fishing boat, house, stable, manger,<br />

city gate, castle, throne, temple,<br />

ark and movie theater lobby among other<br />

things. It’s amazing what you can do with<br />

wood, foam, paint and a little imagination.<br />

This all started when my church<br />

needed someone to build sets for Bible<br />

dramas and teaching videos for our kids.<br />

I knew nothing about set design, but since<br />

I was willing and available, that made me<br />

the most qualified candidate for the job.<br />

Dozens of hours of YouTube later, I was<br />

off and running building sets of every<br />

shape and size.<br />

I had no idea what I was doing, but<br />

in the process, I discovered the wonderful<br />

thing about making fake stuff. It didn’t<br />

matter! As long as it looked okay in the<br />

background and was sturdy enough not<br />

to fall on any actors, we were good to go!<br />

Unfortunately, my wife saw me<br />

building all of these sets and got the<br />

wrong impression. She thought I could<br />

make real stuff. That’s how she ended up<br />

volunteering me to build a dining room<br />

table for my mother-in-law.<br />

My mother-in-law had just moved<br />

into a new house and couldn’t find a table<br />

she liked that fit her space so at one point<br />

my wife said, “I guess Jason will just have<br />

to build you one.”<br />

What?! I had never built a piece of<br />

decorative furniture in my life. Ever! Sure,<br />

I’d thrown together a backyard clubhouse<br />

and a loft bed for my daughter, but those<br />

were both rough construction, nothing<br />

pretty or finished about them.<br />

Now, for my first attempt at real<br />

furniture, my wife wanted me to build a<br />

dining room table of all things, something<br />

that would be used every day and seen<br />

up close and personal by any guests who<br />

dropped by. No pressure, right?<br />

Unlike my sets, this thing didn’t<br />

have to just last through an hour-long<br />

video shoot, but needed to stand the test<br />

of time. Oh, and it didn’t just have to look<br />

nice in the background but when people<br />

were eating on it only inches away.<br />

I was happy to try it, but seriously, I<br />

had zero experience, which I made abundantly<br />

clear to everyone involved. However,<br />

as with the set work, I was willing<br />

and available, and that got me the job.<br />

So the next thing I know, I’m back<br />

on Youtube, trying to figure out how to<br />

pull this thing off. I’ll spare you the tedius<br />

details of the building process, except to<br />

say it did wonders for my prayer life. I<br />

lost track of how many times I said, “God,<br />

please help me not to mess this part up.”<br />

To make matters even worse, right in<br />

30 • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong><br />

Everyday Adventures<br />

the middle of this project, I had to build a<br />

fake table for church. Oh, sweet fake stuff!<br />

It was so easy! In a half an hour I’d built<br />

a shell out of some left over fence planks<br />

and stuck them on the front of a plastic,<br />

folding table. It looked great.<br />

I sent a picture to my wife and I<br />

asked if she thought I could get away<br />

with doing the same thing for my motherin-law,<br />

but for some reason, she wouldn’t<br />

go for it.<br />

Somehow, by the grace of God, I<br />

eventually finished the table. It doesn’t<br />

look terrible, and as of this writing, still<br />

hasn’t collapsed. I call that a win.<br />

The other win is the lesson I learned<br />

along the way. Building something real is<br />

hard, but totally worth it. It’s true in carpentry<br />

and true in life.<br />

For instance, real friendships are<br />

hard work. Faithful marriages are hard<br />

work. Intentional parenting is hard work.<br />

But all of these pay off because we’re<br />

building something that lasts.<br />

Even our intimacy with God,<br />

though made possible only by His grace,<br />

is also hard work. There are times when<br />

we don’t feel like praying, reading the<br />

A Tale of Two Tables<br />

Bible, forgiving someone who’s hurt us<br />

or serving someone when we’re busy. Yet<br />

all these things draw us closer to the One<br />

who made us and allow Him to transform<br />

us into the people He created us to be.<br />

The good news is that, though all of<br />

this takes effort, we have a master carpenter<br />

who loves us and is willing to do the<br />

Unfortunately, my wife saw me building all of these<br />

sets and got the wrong impression. She thought<br />

I could make real stuff. That’s how she ended up<br />

volunteering me to build a dining room table.<br />

heavy lifting. Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless<br />

the Lord builds a house, the work of the<br />

builders is wasted” (NLT). So don’t get<br />

discouraged with the hard stuff in life this<br />

week. Lean into God and remember that<br />

He is building something great.•<br />

Photo credit: JeniFoto / shutterstock.com<br />

Jason Byerly is a writer, pastor, husband and<br />

dad who loves the quirky surprises God sends<br />

his way every day. You can read more from<br />

Jason in his books Tales from the Leaf Pile and<br />

Holiday Road. You can catch up with Jason on<br />

his blog at www.jasonbyerly.com.


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<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 31


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12/7/22 4:56 PM

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