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PUBLICATION • FALL/WINTER 2020
Community theater ... with a touch of class
Donors and volunteers are setting the stage for a former school’s second act, as the star of the local theater scene *****ECRWSSEDDM***** Postal Customer
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Garden center owners show off their Hidden talents Bakery owner just loves her Noble profession Businesses get help making connections Couple makes a living vicariously ... PLUS: Where Is It in Ogle County?
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inside CONTENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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Magazine editor & Page design Rusty Schrader Published by Sauk Valley Media 113 S. Peoria Ave., Dixon, IL 61021 815-284-2222
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Community theater, with a touch of class
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Donors and volunteers are setting the stage for a former school’s second act, as the star of the local theater scene
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A Chana couple’s talent for turning backyards into gardens of delight is earning them two green thumbs up from customers
A Mount Morris woman is helping local businesses stand on their own two feet on digital platforms by giving them a bigger social media footprint.
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Monica Putnam and Jim Williams (not pictured) own Hidden Timber Gardens, a garden center nestled in a grove of pine trees near Chana.
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STORY BEGINS ON PAGE 8
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early 14 years ago, Monica Putnam and her husband, Jim Williams, wanted to grow a garden at their rural Chana home. That garden not only grew plenty of flowers and trees, it eventually grew into Hidden Timber Gardens, a business that sells plants, flowers, and garden supplies, and helps customers turn over new leaves. While the coronavirus has taken a toll on many business, home improvement has largely escaped being pummeled by the pandemic. As people stayed home, they began adding items to their to-do list, and crossing them off just as quickly. “Everybody’s stuck at home and people are working on their yards at their houses,” Putnam said, and that’s lead to business flourishing. More people have found Hidden Timbers and they’ve been wandering its rows of flower pots and taking in the sights of its many display gardens.
STORY CODY CUTTER PHOTOS MICHAEL KRABBENHOEFT| FOR OGLE COUNTY LIVING
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In the early days of the pandemic, though, the couple faced the same uncertainty their fellow business owners across the country were dealing with. In March, they weren’t even sure they’d be able to open and wound up canceling several orders. At first, they started offering curbside pickup and delivery, and eventually reopened their doors to the public. Since then, ”it’s been a real great year for home improvement places,” Putnam said, though he’s quick to add that he wishes the boost in business didn’t have to come on the back of a pandemic. Putnam said that in recent months, more customers have wanted to start a garden – but it’s not always as easy as one may think. That’s where Hidden Timbers’ expertise comes in. Customers can give the couple the size of the garden they want to start, or even bring in pictures of where they want their garden to grow, and Putnam and Williams can help them design a garden plan. They’ll usually start people off with day lilies and hostas, a pair of hardy plants that will survive and thrive just about anywhere Putnam said. Once those have taken root and gardeners get a little more confidence and experience under their belt, more colorful and sophisticated plants can be added. The center also offers classes on gardening and related topics. Continued on page 10
You won’t have to peruse pots of trees piled on pallets at Hidden Timber. The garden center uses a pot-in-pot system to get their trees off to a good start. Trees in containers are dropped into a liner pot container in the ground, which sits atop a bed of gravel and landscape fabric to provide drainage. The system makes for healthier plants with a more robust root system, protects the trees from strong winds, and maintains a better temperature. Here, Monica Putnam shows how the system works.
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The flowers, plants and grasses at Hidden Timber Gardens have it made in the shade. They’re grown in a natural, nurturing environment. And if you’re wondering how will your garden grow, you can find out by strolling through the display gardens, where customers can get a good idea of what they plants will look like in a garden setting, rather than just having them plopped in a pot and lined up in front of a store. Continued from page 9
“You have to know that they require maintenance,” Putnam said. “A lot of people just want to think that you can just put it in and forget about them. It’s just not realistic. If you set it up initially the right way, if you put down the right mulch, and you put down pre-emergent herbicide which stops weed seeds from germinating, it’s huge.” The experienced staff at Hidden Timber Gardens strives for one-onone contact with each customer. With new gardeners especially, they like to spend time getting to know them and find out what their expectations are. “If they do that, then we can walk through and say, ‘This will be good,’” Putnam said. “We really try to get with every customer and answer all of their questions.” Some of the new annuals for this year include Artemisia Sea Salt, Begonia Megawatts, Coleus Heartbreakers, Dahlia Venti Passion Fruits, purple Gomphrena Pinballs, cherry Lantana Bandanas, orange Thunbergi Suzies and lime orange Zinnia Queenies, New perennials include Delosperma Lavender Ice, Epimedium Fire Dragons, Veronica ‘Wizard of Ahhs’ and a variety of hostas and peonies.
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Sandy O’Rorke of Oregon has an acre of land with a woodland garden, white garden, a daffodil and daylily garden, and a bird and butterfly garden. She’s been trying to find a way so that deer won’t pounce all over her colorful arrangements, and she and Putnam have been working on a way to keep that from happening. Personal service like that is what sets them apart from big box stories and online retailers, O’Rorke said. “Everything I’ve gotten here has been quality merchandise,” she said. “I used to buy things from catalogs, and I spent just as much money as I do on these nice potted things [here] and they would die every year. So now I come here, I spend the same amount, and I get full-sized plants that are ready to bloom.” One way Hidden Timber Gardens keeps their trees ready to take root is with the use of a pot-in-pot system, an increasingly popular method with garden centers. They purchase trees in containers and drop them into a liner pot container in the ground, which sits atop a bed of gravel and landscape fabric to provide drainage. Continued on page 11
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The system makes for healthier plants with a more robust root system, protects the trees from strong winds, and maintains a better temperature. Harvesting is also easier, too — just lift the pot out of the socket. Customers don’t have to slog through muddy paths to check out Hidden Timbers’ hundreds of trees. Black platforms provide a path for people to peruse the selection, and they help draw sunlight to the trees, too. “It’s nice for the customer to be able to walk through and see the tree at the right height when it’s planted,” Putnam said. “It’s on irrigation, which is much easier for us and we can leave them out in the winter and not have to store them.” The garden center also hosts a Daylily Bloomfest, typically during the second weekend in July, where people come out and dig day lilies during peak blooming time. Even with the coronavirus, this year’s event went well, Putnam said. “There’s a lot of collectors of day lilies out there.” The couple is also planning a fall festival Oct. 3-4 with fall annuals, mums and fall blooming perennials; there’ll also be pumpkins and a scarecrow making event. “We just feel like people want to do something, and everything’s shut down,” Putnam said, “If we can keep it contained, and as long as we can keep people safe.” Running the garden and having fun doing it has been a passion for the pair. Putnam was a freelance paralegal for 20 years, and it eventually got to be more than what she wanted to do. After losing his job of many years, Williams took gardening classes and earned a landscaping degree at Kishwaukee Community College in Malta. After a couple of years of planning, the garden opened in 2008. “He started landscaping our place, and just kind of fell in love with plants,” Putnam said. “We started educating ourselves, and it’s grown to this.” n
MORE INFORMATION Hidden Timber Gardens, 462 South Chana Road, north of Chana, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday until the end of October. It plans to open back up during the third week of April, and also will be open on Sundays during the spring. Cash, credit or debit card and checks are accepted. Gift certificates can be purchased at hiddentimbergardens.com. Go to the website, find Hidden Timber Gardens on Facebook, email info@hiddentimbergardens. com or call 815-751-4162 for more information.
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Community
HEATER
... with a touch of class
Donors and volunteers are setting the stage for a former school’s second act, as the star of the local theater scene
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Steve Frank checks the stage lighting at the new Vince Carney Community Theater in Rochelle, in the former Lincoln School (right)
teve Frank remembers singing Christmas carols on the Lincoln School stage as a young L I V I N boy nearly 50 years ago. Today, he’s singing the praises of the theater company moving in to the former Rochelle school, and all the people helping make that move a reality. Steve, a Rochelle native, spent part of his childhood at the former school, which sat abandoned for nearly a decade, destined for demolition after a new school was built on the northwest side of town. Now, he and his wife, Amy, are helping breathe new life into the old school, spearheading the effort to turn it into the Lincoln Arts Center, providing a home for the Vince Carney Community Theater – and saving a 100-plus-year-old building in the process.
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STORY CODY CUTTER PHOTOS ALEX T. PASCHAL | FOR OGLE COUNTY LIVING
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KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
There’s a lot of sentimentality to this building because it’s been around for over 100 years ... Thousands of people have gone to school here, taught here, been principal here.”
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For Steve, the project is a trip down memory lane. “I enjoyed gym,” he said. “We used to play with the little scooters out here, and hockey, and dodgeball. We had concerts up there on the stage. “It’s just kind of fun. It’s a fantastic reuse for the old building,” he said. Having an actual place to call home is a first for the 40-yearold theater group; it had leased space for sets and props at various places throughout town, until now. The theater had been performing three shows a year at the James Paddock Hall at the soon-to-be-demolished Hickory Grove Banquet Center on the north side of town, and was looking for a new place to Amy Frank call home. That’s when a local President, Vince Carney Community The- business couple set the stage ater – shown above, with husband Steve, for the rebirth of the school. at the former Linconln School building Rick and Doris Kennay had acquired the old school, built in 1909, as part of a deal to purchase the former Hub Theater downtown for a distillery and bar, Kennay Farms Distilling. The Kennays initially wanted to use the building to store whiskey while it aged, but ultimately decided against it. Then they found out that the theater troupe was looking for a home. “We toured it, and it had higher ceilings and tons of space for storage, and for costumes and things,” Amy said. “There was no way we could have afforded to buy the building and renovate it,” she said. That’s where the Kennays stepped in – and stepped up. The couple donated the building and accompanying lots. “This was fantastic,” Amy said. With a $150,000 loan and a dedicated crew of volunteers, the theater started to take shape. By mid-August, it was about 70% complete, Steve said. They hope to wrap up work in time to have their first show there in February, just in time for the 40th anniversary of the theater group.
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The gym will be the theater area, the gym lobby a foyer where posters of upcoming shows will be displayed, and Steve’s former kindergarten classroom will be the main lobby and restrooms. Two more former classrooms are being retooled for a multipurpose area and a rehearsal room. The remaining classrooms will eventually take on new roles, too. The Franks have been a big part of the Vince Carney Community Theater. Steve once knew Vince Carney, who owned a clothing store in town and was an ardent supporter of the local arts. The theater was named in his memory and had its first show in February 1981. “He loved theater, and he loved music,” Steve said. “There would be a recital in Chicago, and he would take a half dozen kids there, treat them to dinner and expose them to the arts.” Amy, who performed in the DeKalb High School Thespian Troupe as a teen, has been involved with the Vince Carney Community Theater for 6 years, becoming president 4 years ago. When the time came to turn the school into a theater, she turned to Steve, a home remodeler, to work on the project. Nearly 90% of the theater’s funds come from donations and fundraisers, such as selling butter braids, holding mystery dinners and silent auctions. It’s also received several grants and donations from Union Pacific, City of Rochelle and private donors. The local Rotary Club also has pitched in with some work. About 50 volunteers have had a hand in the project – some were former students and teachers at the school – and more people are still welcome to chip in.
The former grade school offers plenty of room for storing props, sets and other tools of the theater’s trade. “We toured it, and it had higher ceilings and tons of space for storage, and for costumes and things,” Amy Frank said.
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“There’s a lot of sentimentality to this buildGo to vcctrochelle.org, Vince Carney Community ing because it’s been around for over 100 Theatre on Facebook, or join years,� Amy said, “and many, many – the Friends of the Historic Linc thousands – of people have gone to school oln School Vince Carney Community The here, taught here, been principal here.� atre Facebook group for more informa tion and “These people are excited about it being to volunteer time or money toward the repurposed,� Steve added. “They were sad Lincoln Arts Center’s restora tion effort. to see it closed.� With a place of their own, the theater troupe hopes to up its shows to five a year, and bring in other arts groups to utilize the place. “We have a lot more freedom,� Amy said. “When you’re renting space, kind of like renting a house, you’re limited; you can’t do this, or you can’t do that. Now, we can do whatever we want. If we want to add to it, we can.� Amy hopes having a place to call home will also draw more people to see productions, both locally and from outside of town. “There’s a lot of people in town that don’t even realize we’ve ever been around because we’re transient,� Amy said. “When there’s a pop-up show, they don’t realize that it’s a core community theater group doing it, and because we’ve been around for so long and never stuck our flag down, a lot of people didn’t really believe that we would or could make it.� “We’ve actually done a lot. Now we have believers.� n These double doors will serve as the main entrance for the theater.
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An occasional feature of Ogle County Living highlighting local landmarks, locations, and things off the beaten path. We’ll feature a photo and it’s up to you to guess where it was taken.
Look what popped up ... Hankering for a can of pop? Pull over and plug a couple quarters into this roadside oasis in front of an Ogle County residence. Where’s it at? Answer appears on page 23 PHOTOS: EARLEEN HINTON/SHAW MEDIA
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Meg Miller, seen here outside of Conover Square in Oregon
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STORY CODY CUTTER PHOTOS ALEX T. PASCHAL | FOR OGLE COUNTY LIVING
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eg Miller is an open book. But it’s not a self-help book. For her, it’s all about helping others. Miller is a content creator, another way of saying “influencer.” In a world where information can travel around the world and back again in the blink of an eye, Miller helps businesses see the value in using digital platforms without getting tangled up in a rapidly evolving worldwide web. “Teaching is my personality, so it kind of came naturally,” she said. It comes so natural that she’s willing to take time to help others, even when she’s not on the clock.
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I don’t hold anything back. If anybody asks me a question, I’m more than welcome to give it up through what I’ve learned. That knowledge that I’ve gained over the years, I’m more than happy to give it to other people.”
“I don’t hold anything back. If anybody asks me a question, I’m more than welcome to give it up through what I’ve learned,” she said. “That knowledge that I’ve gained over the years, I’m more than happy to give it to other people.” Miller, 27, of Mount Morris, is using her skills in digital communication to help local businesses spread their message using social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Remarkably, she doesn’t do it for the money. She helps local businesses for free, passing on to them what she learns from her full-time job as a content creator for larger, nationwide clients. How businesses advertise has changed drastically over the past decade, and it’s changing more exponentially these days. That’s where Miller can help: She works with businesses through the Oregon Chamber of Commerce to get them rolling on the right social media platforms to promote growth. Liz Vos, executive director of the Oregon chamber, worked with Miller in June to offer a seminar about way to expand or start social media platforms and how they help businesses succeed. Miller’s drive to help her community is what Vos likes most about her. “It’s a challenge for a lot of people, especially business owners. Some small business owners are in the store or are in the restaurant all day long, and sometimes it’s hard to remember to keep posting things on social media,” Vos said. “Meg’s very good at encouraging them and helping them out.” One of the local businesses she’s been working with is It’s a Breeze Dog Training in Oregon, owned by friend Bree Pazera. The two are working on creating a more active Facebook page and starting an Instagram presence. “People are more visual, from my experience and from my generation and a little bit younger,” Miller said. “They seem to have latched onto Instagram more than Facebook.” Launched in 2010, Instagram is a social media platform based on pictures that users upload to tell stories, as opposed to more written-word-based platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Two months after launching, Instagram had more than a million users; by May of 2019, it had surpassed one billion.
Meg Miller
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CONTACT MILLER Meg Miller can help businesses get going on social media. Check out what she has to offer on Instagram (@miller. life.mom), millerlifemom on Pinterest, Twitter @millerlifemom, and search for Miller Life on YouTube. Contact her at the.miller. life1@gmail.com Go to themillerlife.net to learn more about Meg.
Continued from page 20
One of Instagram’s features, “Stories,” allows users to group several photos in succession under specific themes, without the hassle of constant clicking and finding. “Now with stories, you can connect with people a lot more,” Miller said. “That’s what my biggest draw is. People can see you’re a real person in stories, whereas with just photos it kind of feels flat. Utilizing things like that and cultivating what you want to put in your caption to connect with your audience, that’s what I’ve found success in. “That’s what I’m showing to these businesses, how to connect with people that want to come to their business or use their service.” Miller’s day job involves working with companies such as Beech-Nut baby foods and ABC Mouse toys. From that experience, she’s passed on knowledge to local businesses such as Northside BarbaQ and Hazel’s Cafe, both of Oregon. “I would rather share what I’ve learned working with them and what knowledge the bigger brands have given me, and bring that to a smaller business here,” Miller said. Miller started out working with blogs, and then turned to more social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. TikTok, which does video sharing, is one of the newer platforms Miller is learning more about in order to help local businesses.
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Technology constantly shifting, changing, and social media platforms are no different, she said. “It’s always changing. We find new ways to be entertained and how we want to get our information. With YouTube, I feel like people can connect with me even more and trust me even more. They want trust. They want you to trust their product, and if someone you trust is talking about it, then they feel it must be good.” Miller is married to Alex, and they have a daughter, Tinley, and two dogs, Milo and Dean. She grew up in Oregon and attended Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon before transferring to Northern Illinois University. Her first love was journalism; she was editor-in-chief of the Redtail online student newspaper at Sauk, and later worked for the Northern Television Center in DeKalb. When she took a video production course, she became exposed to multiple platforms and software that can help people in many different ways. Using research skills she picked up in journalism, she set out to use these platforms to improve her community. “I’m proud of the fact that the chamber takes what I do seriously,” Miller said. “I know around here it can be hard because I know I’m one of the first ones that’s doing it around here. I’m just happy that people are taking this industry seriously around here. It’s a newer one, and I know sometimes change can be different.” “I’m just happy that our little town is accepting of me in such a big way.” n
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LIVING
VICARIOUSLY 22
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“I wanted to create an environment where I could meld a relaxed salon atmosphere while also creating a unique shopping experience” ... and that’s
just want Kara Bauer has done at Vicarioustyle, the Oregon shop/ salon she owns with her husband, Bradley. Customers will find home decor, jewelry, candles, artwork, and fashion accessories surrounding the salon chairs. In the photos on the facing page, clockwise from top left: a wall clock and mirror; jewelry; honey from Orion Organics in Franklin Grove; A sculpture by Martin Spei a local artist and Bradley’s uncle; pillows, pouches and more. (And if those little birds/wall sculptures flying over Spei’s work look familiar, that’s because there’s one on the store’s logo, seen at right on the sign outside the store).
STORY CODY CUTTER PHOTOS MICHAEL KRABBENHOEFT | FOR OGLE COUNTY LIVING
K
ara and Bradley Bauer have traveled the nation and met many people and artisans throughout the world in the nearly 20 years they’ve been together, and they love bringing a piece of what they’ve explored back home to their business. It’s become a nice complement to what began as simply a salon a few years ago, and has been restyled into the husbandand-wife’s downtown Oregon shop/salon, Vicarioustyle. Shelves of home decor, jewelry, candles and fashion accessories grace the front and rear of the store, while Kara and team member Emily Elliott have their salon booths in the middle. “I wanted to create an environment where I could meld a relaxed salon atmosphere while also creating a unique shopping experience where people can feel comfortable doing both in the same environment,” Kara said. Oxford English Dictionary defines “vicarious” as: “Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person.” Kara believes people can live vicariously through someone. She’s living proof of that. “I vicariously live through others when they’re in my chair,” she said. “Seeing their happy faces when they are done, that brings me happiness and I’m vicariously living through them.” Continued on page 24
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Continued from page 23
VicariousStyle owner Kara Bauer (left) and hair stylist Emily Elliott are ready to put a smile on customers’ faces. “I vicariously live through others when they’re in my chair,” Bauer said. “Seeing their happy faces when they are done, that brings me happiness and I’m vicariously living through them.”
Kara has styled hair for 15 years, and Elliott, who rents a booth from the Bauers, has 6 years of experience. They do cuts, colors, facial waxings, and bridal services in the salon and off site. Elliott also does Brazilian blowouts. Before settling into her own building, she ran her booth, Vicariousalon, at Conover Square. “Doing hair, you get to listen to others, and they listen to you,” Bradley said. “It’s almost as if you’re getting your hair done, and being beautiful, is therapeutic.” While the business may be relatively new, its confines are anything but: The building retains a good part of its original feel from the mid-1850s from the stone walls to the wood floors. Kara, who grew up in Mount Morris, opened up during the recent Autumn on Parade festival in October. It was a dream realized, as she was fascinated with the building as a child. She once had a thought of opening some sort of store there with her mother, however her mother passed away before Kara could make that dream come true. “When this became available, I felt like there was a piece of her telling me to just go for it,” Kara said. “She instilled the importance in me to shop small and share the love for handmade goods and each other.” International products include wallets made in Haiti, handbags from Mexico, baskets from Bangladesh and India, and pillows from India that are made from kilim rugs, which are used for prayer and meditation. Continued on page 25
RECYCLING GUIDELINES
YES! Clean & Empty
CARTONS
Milk, Juice, Broth, Soup & Other
No Plastic Bags No Product Wrap (return clean to retailer)
Replace lids & caps. No bags, put materials in loose
PLASTIC
Containers: Bottles, Tubs, Jugs, and Jars Only
METAL
Steel & Aluminum Containers and Foil
PAPER
No Tanglers (Hangers, Hoses, Wire, Cords, Ropes or Chains)
Cardboard (flattened), Office Paper, Newspaper, Magazines
GLASS
Containers: Bottles & Jars Only
No Shredded Paper (check with local authority for other recycling options)
! NO
No Big Items (Electronics, Wood, Propane Tanks, Scrap Metal or Styrofoam - check with local authority for other options)
No Clothing Textiles or Shoes (donate)
No Food, Liquid, Diapers, Batteries or Needles
These Guidelines represent the common items accepted in most recycling programs in Illinois. For greater detail on specific items or programmatic variations, reach out to your local authority. To find out more detail, including recycling and reuse programs beyond the bin, visit www.oglecounty.org or contact the Ogle County Solid Waste Management Department at 815-732-4020.
SM-ST1808530
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The vibe at Vicarioustyle is a blend of the classic and contemporary. Salon customers can get the latest style in a shop that retains much of the building’s 1800’s character, including stone walls and wood floors. Continued from page 24
The pillows have a special backstory that Kara says tug on her heart strings: They are made by a man who lost his family early in his life and was taught by his grandmother how to make the pillows; it’s the way he supports himself and his sister. Other products include stained glass window art from Los Angeles and blends of lip gloss from New York City. It’s not just world and national products that line the shelves: The Bauers dedicate a month to highlight a local artisan and their products. Whim & Form earpieces by Jordan Gale of Oregon are hand made from clay. BearMoon Soap creates flavored soaps, bath bombs, scrubs, body butter and lotion sticks from their Oregon shop. Orion Organics, located near the Nachusa Grasslands, cans honey from sourced from native prairie wildflowers at the grasslands. The store’s contents are inspired by her love of art and travel, places she’s called home, which include the Chicago area and rural Colorado Springs, and
people she’s met along the way through art fairs. She wanted to build a unique, artsy experience for her customers and clients and she hopes the pieces from around the world and around the block can impact others. Bauer said she enjoys shopping at small businesses herself, and the kinds of items found at Vicarioustyle reflects that. The store has supported more than 60 different artisans since it opened and continues to bring in new ones. “I wanted to add value to the town, and not take away,” she said. One won’t always find the same stuff every month or whenever one visits, and Kara wants to add some more shelf space before the end of the year. “I wanted to give back and do something cool in town that didn’t exist. I love what’s going on in Oregon right now and that inspired me to open this store. I think we have more shoppers coming into the area. It’s been great to see so much community support.” n
DAMBMAN LAWN MOWER HOSPITAL, llc
MORE INFO
Vicarioustyle, 221 W. Washington St. in Oregon, is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The salon is open by appointment from Monday to Saturday; call Kara at 815-978-2510 or Emily at 815-973-1233. Go to vicarioustyle.com, find it on Facebook, email vicarioustyle@gmail.com or call 815-978-2510 for more information.
We invite you to stop by and enjoy a multi-level shopping experience
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A n o i s s e f o pr
hop s n o g e r O n a f o r e n s? The ow e k a c g in d d e w s e k a nary li u c r e h d n a , e k Wondering who m a m e loves to h s ll a t o n s t’ a th t u b ll started a it d n a … says ‘I do!’ — e r o m r fo ming back o c s r e m to s u c ake p C e d e o k o F l e g n A creations ie P y arious Sk o R t a k S e tl it k S s u io with a Glor 26
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STORY CODY CUTTER PHOTOS ALEX T. PASCHAL | FOR OGLE COUNTY LIVING
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ove is in the air, and in the batter, for Barb Noble. For as long as the owner of Noble Cakery can remember, she’s been fascinated with weddings. Now, mix that with her love of baking and you get a recipe for a full-time business at her Oregon shop. The Lombard native specializes in made-fromscratch bakes goods, using whole ingredients and gourmet flavorings for her tasty salted-caramel macaroons, tiramisu mousse, blondes, Oreo gems, and chocolate white-chocolate and vanilla bean champagne cupcakes. But when she gets to combine her love of baking with a couple’s special day – well, that’s like the icing on the wedding cake. Growing up, Noble just couldn’t enough of weddings. She had her mom buy her wedding magazines and she’d tear out pictures and put them on a poster board to plan a mock wedding, she’d watch the Steve Martin flick, “Father of the Bride,” over and over again – she just couldn’t get enough of that marital bliss. Noble wanted to be a wedding planner, but found out it wasn’t as easy as she thought. “It was a lot easier in movies,” she said. Then she decided that baking might be the best way to get her foot in the reception hall door.
“Baking always has been a passion for me, something I grew up doing …” For Barb Noble, baking is more than just a job, it’s something she loves to do – a love that takes her back to her days when she and her mom would collaborate in the kitchen, making “anything and everything,” she says. “Cooking and baking was [Mom’s] love language, and it got passed down to me,” Noble said.
Photos on pages 28 & 29, story continued on page 30
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Here come the Barb Noble loves to bake, but she really loves to bake wedding cakes – and she’s got quite a flair for the flavors of love. Growing up, she was enamoured with weddings, and for a while she thought about becoming a wedding planner, but found out it wasn’t as easy as she thought – ”It was a lot easier in movies,” she said. Then she decided to mix her love of baking with her love and weddings and make wedding cakes. “I’ve always had a thing for design and certain aesthetics of what I want,” Noble said. A few samples of her work are shown here. No matter what kind of wedding cake you need, Noble can be there for you, for richer, for poorer, for batter, for worse ...
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Mastering Macaroons can be a tricky treat to tackle, but about 8 years ago, Noble decided to take up the challenge – and now the confection has become one of her specialties. “They are a real difficult cookie to get the technique down,” Noble said. “You read tons and tons of blogs about them, and there are failures and cookies exploding. They just have this special technique you have to do to make them. It’s an almond meringue cookie; the meringue has to have the right stiffness, you have to have the right ratio of dry ingredients, you have to fold it correctly, have the right texture and batter. All of these different elements have to be correct in order to make the cookies.”
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Continued from page 27
“I’ve always had a thing for design and certain aesthetics of what I want,” Noble said. “Baking always has been a passion for me, something I grew up doing, and the more I got into it I thought this was going to be my way to get into weddings. I love weddings so much.” Her love affair with baking began when she was 6, inspired by Nancy Willard’s children’s book “The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake.” “It was about a little girl who made an angel food cake for her mother’s birthday, and when she falls asleep angels come and teach her a lesson about being generous and giving,” Noble recalled. “She’s naturally that way, and she feeds them the cake and all the cake is gone for her mother’s birthday. She wakes up the next day and, magically, there’s another cake.” Not too long after reading the book, she made an angel food cake with her mom. Noble’s mother would later write all of the recipes she knew and put them in a book “with a chicken in front of it,” she said, for each of her children. They mostly were vintage recipes from more than 50 years ago. Together, mother and daughter made “anything and everything” – cakes, cookies, biscuits, you name it. Noble learned enough from her mother to whip up delicious treats of her own, and they soon met with satisfied taste buds and lots of rave reviews.
Noble decorates cupcakes for an upcoming event at her bakery. She specializes in madefrom-scratch bakes goods, using whole ingredients and gourmet flavoring
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Continued from page 30
“Cooking and baking was her love language, and it got passed down to me,” Noble said. “I kind of became the friend that was always making the cupcakes, or making the cake, or bringing the desserts.” All the while, she was making wedding cakes whenever she could. She remembers her first threetier wedding cake, at first considering it a disaster, but growing to love it. Weddings aren’t the only destination for her baked goods. She also caters corporate and school events, birthdays, graduations – just about any place where a person needs sweet treats. These days, wedding cakes come easier for Noble, but that doesn’t mean she’s one to shy away from a challenge. About 8 years, she tackled making macaroons, a meringue-based confection with egg white, icing and granulated sugar, almond meal and food coloring. Noble didn’t know what a macaroon was growing up, but it didn’t take her long to master the tricky treats, and now they’ve become a specialty. “They are a real difficult cookie to get the technique down. You read tons and tons of blogs about them, and there are failures and cookies exploding. They just have this special technique you have to do to make them. It’s an almond meringue cookie; the meringue has to have the right stiffness, you have to have the right ratio of dry ingredients, you have to
fold it correctly, have the right texture and batter. All of these different elements have to be correct in order to make the cookies.” Tackling tough creations is what satisfies Noble the most, but making a living out of it helps, too. When she lived in DeKalb County, she sold baked goods from home, before moving to Oregon about 3 years ago. Though the state’s “Cupcake Laws” allowed for that kind of baking business, Ogle County wasn’t on board, which disappointed Noble. She eventually found a way to have her cake and sell it, too. Opportunity knocked on an over door: Space was being vacated at Conover Square in Oregon, and she opened up shop there. Her open house had a sampling of her culinary creations, which have since grown to gourmet cookie sandwiches (butter cream sandwiched between two cookies), French macaroons, lemon bars, brownies, cake shots, chocolate Oreo gems, mini cheesecakes and Christmas cookie platters. “Getting feedback about how delicious something was, or hearing how their wedding cake was exactly how they wanted, or how any rave reviews about their cake, that makes me really happy to know that people are enjoying what I’m making for them. “It’s definitely evolved a lot further than I ever planned. I never envisioned this. I had a vision, but it wasn’t this. This is so far beyond what I could do.” n
MORE INFO The Noble Cakery is located at Conover Square Mall, 201 North Third St. in Oregon. Go to thenoblecakery.com, email barb@noblecakery. com, find it on Instagram @ thenoblecakery, or call 630484-6969 to place orders or for more information. Noble typically opens her store every other Friday for retail days. Upcoming days include Sept. 11 and 25, and Oct. 9 and 23. Check the website and Facebook for hours and more information.
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