COOKIE TIPS One cookie dough can make a variety of cookies. For example, after rolling and cutting out sugar cookies, top with sprinkles before baking. Bake others plain and, after baking, dip them halfway into melted chocolate and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Or, frost the cookies with royal icing and add fancy flourishes to your… Continue reading.

Make a list of the recipes you plan to make, noting all the ingredients you’ll need and how much. Then translate that into packaging terms. Example:7 cups of butter = 14 sticks. Buy 4 packages.6 cups of sugar = 3 pounds. Buy a 5-pound bag.12 cups of flour. Each cup is about 4.5 ounces so… Continue reading.

Daviess County might be named for a Kentuckian, but it’s embraced, produced, perpetuated, and exported one of Indiana’s greatest crops: basketball — including bushel baskets of ballplayers. Washington High School ranks third in the list of most Indiana High School boys basketball state championships. It has seven, one behind Marion and Muncie Central, who are… Continue reading.

Just what is 25 years? It’s 300 months. It’s the “Silver Anniversary.” It’s a quarter of a century, and, for the average American, it’s a third of a lifetime. Come January, it’s also the amount of time editions of the Cooperative Calendar of Student Art have been adorning walls of electric consumers all over Indiana…. Continue reading.

To celebrate October as National Cooperative Month, here are some factoids you may not know about Indiana’s electric cooperatives. Boone REMC was a model for other rural electric groups in the country. The REMC received the Rural Electrification’s first loan on July 22, 1935. It was energized on May 21, 1936.  Claude Wickard, a member… Continue reading.

While co-ops operate in many industries and sectors of the economy, seven cooperative principles set co-ops apart from other businesses. The principles were first established in England in 1844 by the Rochdale (rhymes with “Scotch-Dale”) Equitable Pioneers Society, the first modern co-op organization. Over the years, the original guiding principles have been altered and added… Continue reading.

Cooperatives in America are as old as the nation itself.  The first successful U.S. cooperative was organized in 1752 when Benjamin Franklin formed the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire — the nation’s oldest continuing cooperative. It continues to operate today. Electric cooperatives began because investor-owned utilities did not find it… Continue reading.

The hills of Monroe and Owen counties will be alive with the sound of music — not to mention the whirring of wheels, grinding of gears, huffing and puffing, and oohs and aahs of Indiana autumn splendor. The Hilly Hundred Weekend returns Oct. 21-23 for its 54th annual go-round … and up and down.  The… Continue reading.

As one of Indiana’s most rural counties, Warren has fewer than 23 people per square mile. Much of its 366 square miles is devoted to agriculture, especially in the county’s northern and western parts where Indiana ends and the open prairies of Illinois begin. The county’s farmland is among the most productive in the state…. Continue reading.

By Richard G. Biever Jaime Walker came out of college 14 years ago wanting to be a crusader for good. “I know that sounds a little cheesy,” she admits, “but I feel as if I was put on this earth to help people.” While she wore no superhero cape, she ducked inside her local REMC… Continue reading.

By Emily Schilling Beware of “Bless your heart.” I’ve heard that Southerners will sometimes utter this seemingly sweet phrase as an insult with hidden meanings like: “Bless your heart. (It’s not your fault that you’re an idiot who screwed up again.)” Yikes! These three words — spoken with a drawl and a smile — prove… Continue reading.

For decades, you’ve collected paychecks from an employer. But after you retire, you’ll be paying yourself — that is, withdrawing money from the nest egg you’ve saved. Unfortunately, many retirees, flush from having sudden access to a large sum of money, overpay themselves early in retirement. Some folks deplete their savings at a stage in… Continue reading.