First hour breakout options:
"From herb pots to the pantry," "From food to flowers," or "Spring is on the wing"

[March 22, 2018]   LINCOLN - As the 9 a.m. the first hour of breakout sessions began, guests had the option to attend one of three sessions: From herb pots to the pantry, Triple M Farm from food to flowers, or Spring is on the wing.

From Herb pots to the pantry

From 'Herb pots to the pantry' featured Carol Mills and Deb Aper, both Logan County Master Gardeners. A group of around 20 attended this session when Deb and Carol talked about raising herbs, and what herbs are good to have on hand for use in daily cooking. They also offered up a cooking demonstration, illustrating how to prepare fresh herbs and incorporate them into your favorite recipes.

Included in the guests totes, provided by Ace Hardware, and given out to each registrant as they checked in Saturday morning, was a sheet of herb blend recipes that were shared during the session. Every guest left with recipes for an Italian “All Purpose Herb Blend” and a “Fine Herbs” that is great for use in omelets, butter sauces, vegetables, meat, poultry and fish sauces. All these blends are also a great and healthy substitute for salt.

From food to flowers

Greg and Mariah Anderson from Triple M Farm were the speakers for 'From food to flowers.' The couple and are well known for Mariah’s Mums that are grown on their farm and sold locally. The couple shared information and a slideshow of different operations at the farm.

Spring is on the wing

'Spring is on the wing' was presented by Deanna Frautschi. She lives on a five-acre wood in the Funk's Grove area.

Frautschi is an avid bird watcher and photographer. She spends a lot of time around her acreage watching the birds, learning their habits, and catching some great photos of the wide variety of birds and other wildlife that live in her woods.

Frautschi has worked to create a safe haven for wildlife at her home, and is rewarded annually with the migration of many birds into her yard.

Frautschi spoke about some of the odd things that birds do. For example, she showed a photo of a tiny little bird feeding a much larger one. She explained that the biggest bird is actually the baby in the picture. It is a cow bird. Cow birds invade other bird nests, lay their eggs, and leave the host bird to hatch out and care for the youngling.

Oddly enough, it is not uncommon for the baby bird to far outgrow its host family. Frautschi explained this can have some negative consequences because mama is busy trying to sustain the larger bird, and some of her own hatchlings may not get the food they need to grow and survive.

Frautschi also shared another fun pic that she set up for her husband to take. She explained that one summer they had a hummingbird with a particular habit of coming up face-to-face with her when she went out to refresh the feeders. She said that the bird did this trick from the first time she saw it, so she had to assume it was something he learned while living elsewhere. Anyway, as expected, that day when she went out with a fresh feeder the little bird met her eye-to-eye and husband snapped the shot.

In regard to hummingbirds, Frautschi recommended that hummingbird feeders should go out at the first of May in this area. She said when the weather is cooler, changing the feed weekly should be alright, but when it gets hot, the sugar water mix will spoil, so it should be changed every couple of days.

Frautschi talked about providing water and bathing opportunities for birds and explained that if some folks notice their birds are not going to the bird bath, it may be because the water is too deep, or because the bird is unable to determine the depth of the water. She said that most birds, while they want to get wet, do not want to be fully submerged.

She said the best remedy she has found is to place a rock in the center of the bath. The rock serves two purposes. It helps the birds to see how deep the water is, and also it provides a platform where some birds may choose to land and grab a drink or bath from the rock.

As 10 a.m. the first round of breakout sessions ended guests grabbed a second serving from the coffee and Danish tables provided by Lincoln College, and visited with each other and more of the vendors.

[Nila Smith]