Carolee Snyder began growing herbs for teas in her backyard in the 1960’s.  By 1978, she was growing a wide selection of herbs on a small farm in southern Indiana, selling to farmer’s markets, restaurants, and mail order.  In 1992, she dug and moved 80,000 plants on 22 U-Hauls to her new location in Blackford County, IN.   Now, as one of the MidWest’s largest retail herb farms, Ms. Snyder grows over 2,000 varieties of herbs, perennials, everlastings and old-fashioned flowers.  Carolee’s Herb Farm has 20 display gardens, hosts dozens of workshops and special events each year.  Her current passion is her U-Pick field of lavender, where she grows 47 hardy varieties, with another 10 tender varieties in the greenhouses.

When she’s not in her gardens or cooking up herbal goodies,  Ms. Snyder travels throughout the country, encouraging gardening, speaking on the pleasures of landscaping and crafting with herbs, or giving slide presentations on the gardens of the U.S. and England.  She also authors articles for  magazines and newsletters on gardening and herbs, and has written three booklets, Midwest Herb Growing,  Thyme and Thyme Again,  and A Fairy Herbal.   She has served as the Herb Editor for “Create the Dream” magazine. And for eight years, her weekly radio show “Carolee’s Herb Garden” was heard throughout much of Indiana and Ohio on WHBU Radio.

Her first novel, Herbal Beginnings is a spellbinding mixture of gardening, herb lore, romance, local history and mystery.  It is receiving excellent reviews and increasing her travels.

Ms. Snyder is a member of the Herb Society of America, the Central Indiana Herb Society, the International Herb Society, and Garden Writers of America.  She is also active in several horticultural societies and garden clubs.  She has traveled throughout the U.S., England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and France in pursuit of gardens and great plants.   Ms. Snyder has a degree in Education from Indiana University, is the wife of retired Muncie engineer, David Snyder, has four children, and six grandchildren.

Carolee's husband, David, prefers driving his 1946 MGTC English sports car or playing golf to gardening.  However, he is invaluable at keeping the farm's mailing list up to date, posting invoices, organizing data, and all the other computer work that makes Carolee's life easier!  As a retired engineer, he's also a great travel companion, business consultant, and detail person, when he's not too busy volunteering for other organizations.