The West Chicago Garden Club

     Most of the members of our club have visited the Kruse House at one time or another. While there are a great many wonderful plants and flowers to see, there is one area that gets passed by most of the time. And that are is our great herb garden.

     The herb garden is located on the East side of the garage in a very large wooden planter. The planter itself was donated by Billie and was made with planks from trees she had cut down on her property. There are different herbs in the planter from time to time so I thought it just might be interesting to take a look at a few of them.

     THYME, Thyme belongs in every herb garden. It is easy to grow and does well in pots. Gargling with thyme tea is excellent for treating bronchitis, sore throats, laryngitis and tonsillitis. This plant has been in our planter from the start and does very well.

     SAGE, Silvery green sage looks beautiful in the garden and it’s as beneficial as it is good looking. Sage tea is an old remedy for hot flashes and was used to reduce fever. Sage has been used for centuries to improve memory and cognition, and a number of studies have suggested that the herb has the potential to treat age-related memory deficits as well as attention disorders in children.

     Parsley, Yes parsley is more than just a garnish. Some say it is Mother Natures breath mint because fresh parsley is a very effective cure for halitosis. Parsley is a diuretic and parsley tea is recommended for treating and preventing urinary tract infections. Many people swear it also prevents and shrinks kidney stones, detoxes the liver and helps you lose weight Warm compresses of parsley tea are used as a treatment for sties and inflammation of the eyelids.

     So that’s my suggestions for the beginning herb Gardner. It’s amazing how many ailments you can treat using just the fresh leaves of different herbs. And since they are the same herbs you cook with, you know they are safe.

     As Henry David Thoreau once said “A man may esteem himself happy when that which is his food is also his medicine”.

     That’s it for now folks, see you at the potting party.

Happy Spring,
Tom

Driving up to his family’s cottage in Northwest Wisconsin, Darrah Beebe has often stopped at the Rest Area honoring Aldo Leopold and his pioneering Sand County Almanac. When it came time to choose a project for his Boy Scout Eagle Rank, his grandmother suggested that he build some of Leopold’s iconic benches.

Leopold designed his simple and comfortable bench during the first part of the twentieth century to create a place where people would pause to rest and contemplate nature. Trying to think of an appropriate place to put his project, Darrah immediately thought of the Kruse House Museum Garden in his home town of West Chicago. The house was built in 1917 and reflects the typical life of a railroad family at that time. The Kruse sisters, who donated the house to the people of West Chicago, were avid gardeners and the West Chicago Garden Club has established and maintained a public garden there in their honor. What better place to honor Leopold’s love of nature than in a quiet garden in the midst of a busy shopping area?

The garden club agreed to pay for the materials and Darrah and Troop 99 went to work. Now people can pause in this lovely garden (which was featured in The Secret Gardens of Chicago on HGTV) and and become part of Leopold’s vision of “harmony with the land”.

The Historical Society is busy readying the Museum House for the 2017 touring season.  The featured display this year is Cookie Jars.  Do you have any old cookie jar that you would like to add to the display?  Contact Tom. He can get that arranged and the HS would appreciate it.  Can you imagine how much work it is to get all the precious doodads that the house contains dusted, and shelves and floors cleaned, and cobwebs swept each Spring?  Guess that embodies the term “spring cleaning”! The Kruse Museum House opens for tours in May…every Saturday 11 am to 3 pm.  Here is a bit of information from the Kruse House web site.  Note that the house is 100 years old this year!

“The Kruse House is a 1917 four-square home depicting the Fred Kruse family life style. Fred was a Collector for the Chicago and North Western Railroad. The house is furnished with period furnishings and collections including china, quilts, jewelry, toys, cut glass, and Chicago and North Western railroad history. You are invited to tour the period gardens which have been restored and are being maintained by the West Chicago Garden Club.”

Kruse House Gardens:

It’s Spring!  We better hurry!  And Scurry!  There’s so much to do!

Well, the Kruse House Gardeners are seasoned hands and it will take more than the beginning of a new year in the garden to rile us.  This isn’t our first rodeo and we know it will all get done in good time.  However, don’t interpret that to mean we don’t need every minute of help we can get.  Many hands = light(er) work.  And yes, we do have a sense of urgency about our Spring work.  It’s just that we’re getting too old to be too crazy!  Come work in the garden with us on Wednesday mornings officially starting in May.  It’s a fabulous way to get to know each other! 

We are looking forward to delightful garden displays like these from previous years.      -Billie