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"Garry-nee-Dule" is the herb farm on which Mrs. Toole raises her products. The name is an Anglicized version of "Garrdha-ni-Tuathail"—which in ancient Gaelic or Irish means Garden of the Tooles.

Mrs. Toole, who had long been an avid reader on the subject of herbs, began raising herbs during the early depression years, using just a small corner of her husband's farm. At first she raised only the more familiar herbs—parsley, thyme, sage and a few others. Then, as she became more interested in herbs and herb cookery, she sent to Europe for seeds of the more unusual herbs—tansy, lovage, basil and others. (At that time there was little use made of herbs in the United States and few seed companies over here stocked them).

BEFORE LONG, as so many hobbyists do, Mrs. Toole was giving away her products to friends, relatives and neighbors, with suggestions for their use in cookery. Then, when perfect strangers began asking for the herbs, she decided it was time to sell them instead of giving them away.

She decided too, that as long as she was going to sell the herbs, she might just as well sell them on as large a scale as possible, to bolster their sagging farm income. To that end, she began writing to various women's clubs, gardening groups and church societies, offering to display her herbs at any bazaars or fairs or exhibits they might be having.

A large number of groups responded with requests for displays and for demonstrations on the use of herbs. One of the selling stunts Mrs. Toole used at these various affairs was to serve herb tea and crackers spread with subtle herb jellies to her audience. This, of course, made more converts to the cause of herbs than a dozen speeches could have done.

At each affair, Mrs. Toole asked all those interested in receiving her proposed herb catalogue to sign their names and addresses in a book she provided. Since these lectures took her all over the Midwest, the mailing list of prospective customers which she acquired this way was quite sizeable.

"This may seem to be a lot of bother and expense, when a business is barely beginning," Mrs. Toole says with a smile, "but I think it's true of many businesses that you must put in a lot of work before you begin to reap a profit."

IT WAS during this beginning period of her herb sales that Mrs. Toole's "Herb Kitchen" came into being. She feels that this authentic Early American kitchen, fragrant with bunches of dried lovage, tarragon, rosemary and rue, is a potent sales force for her herbs.

"People always exclaim that they feel as if they had stepped into a history book when they enter my kitchen," says Mrs. Toole. "And, since the charm of herbs is in their old world history, that is exactly the way people should feel to become enthusiastic about herbs."

Although the kitchen is now used only as a showroom, in its early years it held all the herb operations, from sorting and drying, right on through to the packing for sale.

With its dark, hand-hewn beams, rough smoke-blackened fireplace, and random-width siding and flooring, the kitchen looks as if it must be 300 years old, although actually it is less than fifteen. The antique look is by no means an accident—in fact, it took a lot of strict supervision to make sure it was made as plain and functional as the puritans would have made it.

"The stone mason I hired to build the fireplace," Mrs. Toole recalls, "wanted to fancy it up too much. He insisted on putting in colored rocks and he wanted to outline the edges with a black line. We finally dismissed him and put one of our farm handymen to work on it."

Even with a new worker on the job, Mrs. Toole kept a close watch on the proceedings to make certain it was done right.

"I kept running in to check," she recalls with a laugh, "and every once in a while I made him take out a rock he'd just put in. The poor man was a nervous wreck, but in the end I got it just as I wanted it."

WITH THE completion of the herb kitchen, Mrs. Toole set to work on her catalogue of herb products. She entitled it "Herb Magic"—and made it a "real adventure in herbs. It was liberally sprinkled with herb recipes, bits of information on herb growing, quaint quotations from seventeenth century herb cook books, and other touches all her own. It made one's mouth water just to read it.

"Herb Magic" carried an invitation to anyone who was interested to come to see the Herb Kitchen, a sketch of which was printed on the front cover. Mrs. Toole sent the catalogue to everyone on her newly acquired mailing list. Gradually her orders began to increase, and visitors were being welcomed daily at the Herb Kitchen. Advertisements placed in home and garden magazines, as well as several Midwest newspapers, brought in requests for catalogues, and additional business.

When World War II came along, and European herbs were no longer on the market, people from all over the country began to order in quantity from Mrs. Toole, and the herb operations overflowed into every available shed, storehouse and greenhouse on the farm.

The problem of extra help became a vexing one, because an ordnance plant in Baraboo had recruited every available person for work there. Mrs. Toole had to hire teen-agers and elderly men and women who could not have done the nerve-racking work in a war plant. One helper during the war was a woman in her eighties.

Business increased to such an extent that it became almost a full-time job just to do the bookkeeping. Mrs. Toole mourns her lack of time to do the actual work with the herbs these days.

"Herbs are such a relaxing and rewarding hobby," she says wistfully. "I'd like to hire someone for the office work so that I could go back to the outside work."

HERBS ARE a particularly good hobby for older people because, so little work produces so many herbs. And yet, the busy housewife, the active teen-ager, or the semi-invalid all can find pleasure and profit in even the smallest of herb gardens.

Anyone with a small patch of ground—even rather poor ground—can make a profit from herbs.

"Most herbs do their best in ordinary or even poor soil, with a porous subsoil to insure drainage," says Mrs. Toole. "Rich soil gives you profuse foliage, but the plants then have a lower content of the essential flavoring oils."

Annual herbs are easily started from seed. The perennials may also be started from seed, although Mrs. Toole recommends buying perennial plants to procure faster harvest of herbs. Herb plants require no special care or watering.

A dozen plants of each of five or six favorite herbs can be the nucleus of a small, but worth-while herb business. Mrs. Toole suggests parsley, thyme, sage, mint, lovage and tarragon for a start.

THE PROCESSING of herbs for sale is a simple, leisurely undertaking. Most herbs are harvested just before they come into flower, which is the time their flavor is strongest.

The stalks are cut from the plants with, a sharp knife. The herbs are then spread on a table where they are carefully sorted. All stems and any bad leaves are discarded. The good leaves are put into a colander for washing, and the colander of leaves is left to drain outdoors a short time.

"I leave my herbs outdoors less than an hour," Mrs. Toole explains, "especially if the sun is hot. They are drained only enough to prevent excess moisture from rotting them before they can dry thoroughly.

"Herbs must not be dried too rapidly, as in an oven," Mrs. Toole comments, "nor should they be dried too slowly—that may result in mold. Sweet marjoram is especially inclined to mold under these conditions. Drying too slowly, or drying in the sun also results in color deterioration. A well-ventilated room or attic is best for home drying of herbs."

For Mrs. Toole's own large operations, a special drying room is necessary. It is heated with a coal stove, and air is circulated with a fan. The room is furnished with large racks on which screened-bottom trays (which have replaced the colanders for large scale operations) are placed. In some cases, the herbs become crisp and dry overnight. In other instances, however, it may take several days for the herbs to dry.

NEXT COMES the step which spells the difference between the good and the mediocre in dried herbs: the pulverizing.

"Herbs should never be crushed or ground," Mrs. Toole warns, "Too much of the flavoring oil escapes that way, We use a machine which chops, rather than crushes, the herbs, in order to preserve their flavor. The home herb grower can force the dried leaves through a colander or strainer to obtain the same effect."

For small herb operations, the next step is to pack the dried herbs into glass jars or cellophane bags.

"To have fresh tasting herbs, they must never be packed in cardboard," warns Mrs. Toole. "The flavoring oils are transferred into the cardboard and the herbs are left tasteless."

Actually the herbs at Garry-nee-Dule are stored in large, air-tight tin cans until there is time to pack them into their glass containers. They will keep indefinitely this way.

"Some people have the idea that they must get fresh herbs each year," Mrs. Toole says, "but that isn't true. As long as herbs are kept in air-tight containers they may be used indefinitely."

SURPRISINGLY enough, this advice, and Mrs. Toole's frequent admonitions to customers to "use herbs sparingly," have a tendency to increase the amount of herbs sold at the Herb Kitchen.

"Herb cookery must be approached cautiously," Mrs. Toole advises. "A small amount of an herb in your food brings out the goodness of the food. A large amount overwhelms the food and, consequently, your family will decide they don't like that particular herb."

By repeating this over and over again to her customers, Mrs. Toole manages to add more and more herbs to the list which each customer likes, thus increasing her sales.

It is difficult to say how much of an herb to use in any particular dish, but Mrs. Toole suggests one teaspoon of dried herbs for each serving for six to start with. This can then be varied to suit the individual taste.

"You can always add more if you like," Mrs. Toole smiles, "but you can't take it out if you've put in too much." A little sage in chicken soup, a little tarragon in your tartar sauce, a bit of thyme with a veal roast, or a hint of mint in a fruit cup are all tried and true combinations. You can develop others to suit your fancy.

ALTHOUGH SHE constantly advocates sparing use of herbs, Mrs. Toole was amazed at what she termed the "very spare" use of a certain herb vinegar by one of her customers.

"This customer told me," Mrs. Toole relates wonderingly, "that she uses just two drops of the herb vinegar in a salad for six. Each half pint jar of the vinegar lasts her three years!"

On the other hand, another customer asked if the herb vinegars were bottled in gallon containers because she uses half a cup of garlic vinegar for each salad!

The herb vinegars are a product which Mrs. Toole has added only in recent years, and they have proved to be a very good seller.

"Herb vinegars are wonderful for adding just the merest hint of a flavor to the food," says Mrs. Toole. "With the dried herbs it's easy to add too much, whereas, with the vinegar the flavor is diluted."

Another advantage to using the vinegars is that there are no specks of herb in the food—it is all flavoring.

"While most people expect to see specks of seasonings in their foods, some object to this," Mrs. Toole says, "and they sometimes crush the dried herbs into a fine powder that turns the food a sickly green. There are two ways of getting around this: one is to boil the herbs a few minutes in a little water, or soak them in warm milk, and use the flavored liquid in the food. The second, and simplest, way is to use herb vinegar. The vinegar taste disappears, leaving only the herb flavoring."

Herb Kitchen vinegars are made with fresh herbs infused in cider vinegar. After many weeks' infusion in wooden barrels, the flavored vinegars are strained, filtered and sealed in glass jars.

THROUGH THE years, Mrs. Toole has added many other products to her line of herbs. Particularly outstanding are her six herb jellies, which she packages for sale in boxes of four or six jars, each containing three ounces. The flavors are sage and cider, thyme and grape, marjoram and lemon, savory and grapefruit, mint and honey, and rose-geranium and orange.

Each jelly was developed by careful experimentation with recipes and methods.

"You start out knowing just about what you'd like to have in the jelly," Mrs. Toole explains, "but you must experiment to find out just how much of each ingredient will make the perfect blend."

Some of the herb mixtures sold at Garry-nee-Dule are also the result of Mrs. Toole's experiments. The "Salad Herbs" blend is a combination of ten herbs for seasoning salad dressings, or for sprinkling on leafy salads and various salad mixtures.

"Savory Meat Herbs" and "Fish Herbs" are very popular with hunters and fishermen, who frequently stop at the Herb Kitchen for these seasonings before starting on a camping trip.

For the beginner in herb cookery, Mrs. Toole has made up what she calls a "sampler" box, consisting of twelve small packages of herbs. These include basil, lovage, mint, sage, tarragon, thyme, and six of her special herb mixtures. She only charges $1 for this box, which is her entering wedge to higher sales.

"From the sampler boxes," Mrs. Toole explains, "people learn which herbs they like, and they then buy larger quantities of those herbs."

Every year Mrs. Toole gets requests for some new by-product which she then adds to her stock. Her catalogue now lists herb teas, seasoning salts, medicinal herbs, spices, fragrance jars (made of dried flower petals), sachets, pine pillows, and even herb magazines and books. The spring edition of Herb Magic includes herb plants and seeds, Wisconsin ferns and wild flowers, as well as all the regular herb products.

MRS. TOOLE is continually amazed at the way in which her business grows, and often thinks back, wistfully, to her first herb hobby days.

"I'd like to go back to raising herbs only as a hobby," she'll tell you. "I'm not a big-business woman at heart—just a housewife who loves herbs."

Mrs. Toole would like to spend her time doing more experimenting with herbs. One customer has asked her to develop a sauce for canned mallard ducks. Another wants a special sauce for planked fish. Requests are continually coming in for new mixtures.

"Some day," Mrs. Toole says, "I'm going to retire, and do nothing but develop new recipes. I've been collecting herb recipes for years, and I'll soon have enough to write that herb cookbook I've been planning for so long."

But, until that time, Mrs. Toole will still be the guiding spirit of the Herb Kitchen at Garry-nee-Dule. And she will continue to prove that if you have a hobby, there is no reason in the world to dread growing old!

TWO RECIPES FROM THE "HERB KITCHEN OF GARRY-NEE-DULE"

NEAPOLITAN SPAGHETTI

¾ lb. spaghetti
1 lb. chopped beef
4 tbsp. olive oil
4 tsp. garlic vinegar (or two cloves garlic, minced)
1 onion, chopped
5 tbsp. minced green pepper
2 cans tomato sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. dried marjoram

Place olive oil in frying pan, add garlic vinegar (or minced garlic), chopped onion, green pepper and chopped beef. Cook slowly ten minutes. Add tomato sauce and all remaining seasonings, stirring well. Cook for twenty minutes, stirring often. Meanwhile cook spaghetti in boiling salted water and drain. Combine spaghetti with sauce and serve with grated cheese.

CORN MEAL AND SAUSAGE CASSEROLE

2 cups cold corn meal mush, cut in one-half inch cubes
1 lb. small pork sausages
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
3 cups white sauce
Salt, pepper and paprika
1 tsp. minced parsley

Fry sausages until brown. Remove them and in the fat simmer the cubes of mush until they begin to turn color and the edges begin to crisp. Remove them, and then cook the onion until it begins to brown, stirring in the rosemary the last minute or so. Pour off some of the fat. Put the sausages and the cubed mush into a casserole, being careful not to break them. Cover with the white sauce. Sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika over casserole and heat in oven. Sprinkle with parsley just before serving.