2011 Featured Speakers and Participants
March 16th, 2011 | Published in Past Highlights
Susan Belsinger: Growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers organically, harvesting them at their peak, and bringing them into the kitchen to create healthy, good-tasting dishes is a way of life for Susan Belsinger. She is a culinary herbalist who delights in kitchen alchemy—the blending of harmonious foods, herbs, and spices—to create real, delicious food, as well as libations, that nourish our bodies and spirits and titillate our senses. Susan teaches, lectures, and writes about gardening and cooking, and is a food writer, editor and photographer who has authored/co-authored 20 books and been published in numerous national magazines and newspapers. Currently, she blogs for Taunton Press at www.vegetablegardener.com and has been contributing editor to Herb Companion for over ten years.
Kathleen Bennett: A gardener, writer and herbalist, Kathleen has a BA in Psychobiology and Sociology. She is a Masters candidate in Herbal Medicine at Tai Sophia Institute in Laurel, Md.
Arlene Bobonich, MD: Dr. Arlene is always one of the most popular speakers at the Pennsylvania Lavender Festival. She received her M.D. from Ohio State University and is Board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. She is the Chief of Palliative and Hospice Care at Harrisburg Hospital.
Susanna Reppert Brill: Susanna was born to the herb trade. Her mother, Bertha Reppert, founded Rosemary House in Mechanicsburg, Pa., more than 40 years ago; some of Susanna’s earliest memories are of her helping her mother at herb and garden shows. Now the manager of Rosemary House, Susanna brings to the festival a lifetime of knowledge about herbs.
Linda Guise: Linda has been designing herbal and floral arrangements for 20 years and has been creating dried arrangements for Willow Pond Farm for nearly half of that time. She grows and dries many of her own flowers.
Don Haynie: Don was our first featured speaker ten years ago. A native of the Northern Neck of Virginia, he had a successful floral business for 25 years in Warsaw, Va. and also taught floral arts at Rappahannock Community College. A mid-age interest in herbs developed into the creation of Buffalo Springs Herb Farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in 1991. The herb farm closed in 2007. Don is now doing garden consulting and still lecturing on herb related topics. Don has written several herb related books, the most current being The Season of Advent.
Heather Kelley: Many festival participants will be acquainted with Heather who has been a member of the Willow Pond Farm staff for a decade. From propagating lavender and other herbs to crafting everything from herbal teas to wreaths, she is uniquely qualified to address questions of growing and using lavender.
Grace Lefever: Grace Lefever graduated from Kutztown State Teachers College in 1946. She spent two years in California with Brethren Volunteer Service which led to the position of Assistant Director of their Training Center in New Windsor, Md. She married Harold “Tim” Lefever in 1955; a natural food store evolved on their chemical free farm in York County. Together they created the York Natural Food & Health Association and helped form the Pennsylvania Natural Living Association. Her interest in herbs and “weeds” led her to study with Dr. John Christopher, Ann Wigmore, Euell Gibbons, Evelyn Snook, Bertha Reppert and her daughter, Susanna, to name a few. She has been leading “Weed Walks” for decades. Visit www.sonnewald.org for this season’s schedule.
Cathy Olson: After three careers (Peace Corps volunteer, pharmacist, and real estate broker) Cathy has retired to a more relaxed life. A Penn State Master Gardener, she brings her pharmacist’s training and knowledge to bear in her Herbal Teas workshop.
Chef Joe Renfroe: Winner of the 2010 gold medal of the French Societe Culinaire Philanthropique, Chef Joe has been a teaching chef at the York Culinary Institute for more than a decade. He is fascinated by the use of lavender in both savory and sweet dishes.
Jennifer Vasich: Jennifer, author of The Lavender Gourmet: Culinary Recipes for Entertaining and Every Day, thrived on living in the big city and working her way up the corporate ladder in sales and marketing. But a less metropolitan life kept beckoning, and she realized that she was really a country girl at heart. Jennifer welcomed her new natural lifestyle with open arms and began studying massage, aromatherapy, and herbs. Along the way, she met lavender which altered her path once again.
Madeline and Tom Wajda: Tom and Madeline Wajda (pronounced Vy’da) have been growing herbs for fun for 30 years and commercially since 1994. They are both Master Gardeners. The Wajdas entered the herb business after 32 years in the U.S. diplomatic corps, a career that took them to Iran, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Senegal, New Zealand, France, and Canada with a number of tours in Washington, D.C. While in Paris Madeline studied French cuisine under Chef John Desmond and received his coveted certificat; she creates all of the food products sold at Willow Pond Farm.
Tom Wajda grew up on a small farm in northeastern Ohio. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1963 and served in seven different countries. Since retiring from the diplomatic corps in 1995 he has devoted himself to growing herbs, with lavender a specialty.
