Family: Husband Chris; three grown children; and four grandchildren
Hometown: Lebanon, Mo.
In Town: Jeania Schmalhorst, who served eight years in the military, including serving during Desert Storm, has been a graphic designer for more than 25 years. She has worked at B & E Printing in Springfield, Mo., for the last three years.
“I design anything from a logo to a brochure, to a form for the printers. Sometimes, the idea comes sketched out on a restaurant napkin or the back of a used envelope. Sometimes, it’s not written down at all, just something someone describes to you. I love taking someone’s idea and turning it into a printed piece. Our tag line is, we make you look good on paper.”
In the Country: Jeania and her husband Chris’ Double SS Farm in rural Laclede County includes 20 acres, 17 Boer goats, a variety of chickens, eggs and four beehives.
“Of course, we love the babies,” she continued, while holding up two empty baby bottles, having just come from the pen of the newest baby goats. “I also really enjoy the beehives. I had five, but lost one this winter. My father, my grandfather and my uncles were all beekeepers. One of the family stories is that even as a toddler, I was out there with them, looking into a hive and not afraid of the bees.
“They told great stories about capturing wild swarms including one about my grandfather sending his boys to bang on pots after a swarm that had left one of his hives. He said the idea was the noise would resemble a storm and have the bees collecting around the queen to protect her. Who knows if it was true or just an old wives’ tale but the story is that they re-captured the swarm back into another hive so that’s the main thing.
“We enjoy our farm each day after work. We have what I call cheap, hillbilly entertainment a lot of evenings, sitting here with a cold drink and watching the chickens just be chickens.”
