Annual Spring Dessert event April 20

For some the onset of spring brings forth a time to plan vacations, spend time with family members and friends, and most importantly, a time to sit back and enjoy the flowers. Purdue Extension and Indiana Extension Homemakers invite you to the annual Spring Dessert event at 7 p.m. , April 20 at the Putnam County Fairgrounds.

The event, hosted by Indiana Extension Homemakers Association club Tuesday Tigers, assisted by Allspice, will include a time of enjoyment and delicate delights. This year’s theme will focus on “The Secret of Life is enjoying the Passage of Time.” The keynote speaker will be DePauw University Professor Barbara Steinson.

Steinson taught women’s history and 20th-century U.S. history at DPU from 1978 to 2016. She served as president of the Indiana Association of Historians, and a six-year term as co-coordinator of the Rural Women’s Studies Association.

She completed a series of essays on rural Indiana with funding provided by the Indiana Historical Society. Her speech, “Sharing Our Stories, Sharing Our Lives: The Indiana Extension Homemakers’ Oral History Project,” will talk about methods and results of the Indiana Extension Homemakers Association’s oral history project in the early 1980s. With training by the Indiana Historical Society and leadership by Eleanor Arnold, more than 300 IEHA women throughout the state conducted interviews with friends, relatives and neighbors. This effort resulted in six edited volumes filled with poignant, humorous, and matter-of-fact recollections of life in early twentieth-century Indiana. While their families were first, women repeatedly emphasized the loving sisterhood they experienced in their “Home Ec” clubs.

Today, Indiana Extension Homemakers “Home Ec” clubs continuously give to the county and their neighborhoods through contributions of time, finances, lessons learned, and fun! In fact, each month Extension Homemakers participate in an educational lesson approved and often taught by Jennifer Cannon, the health and human science Extension educator.

Visit www.extension.purdue.edu/putnam or call 653-8411 for more information regarding this week’s column topic or to RSVP for upcoming events. It is always best to call first to assure items are ready when you arrive and to RSVP for programs. While many publications are free, some have a fee.

Upcoming Events

April 12: Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing Day 2, Community Building.

April 14: Extension Office closed.

April 20: Diagnosing Plant Diseases for the Average Person webinar, noon. Register at https://ag.purdue.edu/Extension/wia/Pages/webinars.aspx

April 27 -- Gardener Gatherings: Vegetable Gardening 101, Extension Office, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Register at 653-8411.