Evansville Courier & Press - Monday, June 11, 2007
ANTON, Ky. — Julie Robichaud has an herb garden in the back of her Hopkins County home.
Yarrow. Colts foot. Soapwort. Rosemary. Catmint.
Take the tour and she'll have you chew on cilantro and sample some stevia that she says is 300 times sweeter than sugar.
The 67-year-old woman will tell you that pineapple sage makes hummingbirds go crazy, that rosemary is sometimes used in landscaping and that it's not a good idea to mess around with foxglove because the stuff can kill you.
So what was the lady's background before she changed her focus to lemon grass, black cohosh and gooseberry bushes?
Mining coal.
"I worked at the face, and I drove a shuttle car. When I became boss, I was one of Peabody's first women in that capacity.
"I never was afraid of going down the shaft. The worst thing I ever saw was a guy who got in an accident and his eyeball popped out."
Julie Robichaud laughs.
"There wasn't any place for a woman to go to the bathroom where it was, you know, private. I wouldn't drink any water and just try to hold it the whole shift. If that didn't work, I'd turn my light out and back away from where all the men was and try to find a good place."
Her husband Richard, 72, is a retired building inspector. He doesn't share his wife's knowledge of horseradish, basil and lavender.
"All I know in that backyard is where the tomato plants are."
Julie Robichaud points to a patch of Indian cup that she picked up in Texas while visiting her children.