Southern Indiana Living Magazine - Jan / Feb 2023
January / February 2023 issue of SIL
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 />
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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 />
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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 />
History for Centuries,<br />
Adventure for Miles,<br />
Charm for Days.<br />
www.thisisindiana.org<br />
64<br />
337<br />
64<br />
CORYDON<br />
LOUISVILLE<br />
RIVER<br />
337<br />
OHIO<br />
<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 />
WRITE YOUR STORY<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
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<strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Indiana</strong> <strong>Living</strong> • <strong>Jan</strong>/<strong>Feb</strong> <strong>2023</strong> • 25
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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