What in your opinion would be an awesome place for a vacation getaway with your most significant other?
Once upon a time (yesterday, in fact) I visited a local organization to conduct business for another organization. While there I had an enjoyable conversation with two long-standing friends.
A story that emerged from our visit concerned a gentleman who had been married several years. After his wife died, he lived “in sin” with a woman for around a decade. He and this lady were on vacation to Florida.

Sumac is very common in our area, most often found in overgrown fields and forest edges. While considered a weed by many, it does have the virtues of providing cover and food for wildlife, and nice fall coloration for human enjoyment.

Sumac, or “shumate” in mountain speech, is a woody shrub that grows as multi-stem clumps with fairly smooth brownish bark spattered with small lines or dots. They average 7-10 feet tall but can reach 20 feet. The leaves are compound (more than one leaf) and configured like a feather with 10 to 30 leaflets. They are among the first to change color in the fall and are a brilliant red. Their flowers bloom in horn-like clumps at the tops of the branches, and around September those clumps form showy, bright red fruit that is quite striking. The shrubs are underutilized as a landscape plant for color and interesting form.

The Union County Farmers Market is hosting a Giant Pumpkin, Giant Watermelon and Ugliest Vegetable Contests as part of the Heritage Festival on October 4. Pumpkins and watermelons will be weighed on the market scale at 115 Durham Drive from 8 to 9 a.m. on festival morning. The Ugliest Vegetable will be judged on appearance only.

Learn to make cornbread at a free workshop on September 24, hosted by Union County 4H. Agent Abigail Thomas will teach you all you need to know to stir up and bake some warm buttery cornbread.

Attendees will demonstrate their skills at the October 4 Union County Heritage Festival.

Call 865-992-8038 or email athomas@utk.edu to sign up and reserve your spot for either cornbread making or demonstrating. Better hurry. Spaces will fill up fast!

New to this year’s upcoming Union County Heritage Festival is the Cake Baking Contest. The UC FCE Club will coordinate the contest and provide the judges. Participants may enter one cake that is totally homemade in each of three categories: Layered, Sheet and Bundt. A recipe card and a registration form must be submitted with the cake.

Cakes must be delivered to the UC Extension Office at 2721 Maynardville Highway on Thursday, October 2, from 4 to 5 p.m. or on Friday, October 3, from 8 to 11 a.m.

You might become an Olympian at the 21st Union County Heritage Festival on October 4. All ages can compete in the nail driving, so hunt up a piece of 2 x 4 and some 10-penny nails and start swinging that hammer.
Females have a chance to become an Olympian by tossing an iron skillet. So start practicing in the backyard now.
The Heritage Festival Olympics will be held from noon to 2:30 p.m. behind the 4-H cornbread concession stand. Sign up at the Information Booth on festival day.

At their August meeting, the Union County Board of Education approved a resolution to support the state’s attempt to investigate teacher workload and to allow districts to decide how often to evaluate high-performing teachers. By the board’s action on the resolution, it may become a part of the TSBA Legislative Program and be supported by districts statewide. Legislation with wide local support usually has a better chance of getting the Tennessee General Assembly approval.

I thought I had a good start on getting ready for a special occasion, but I was wrong. I was more behind than I realized. Have you ever done that? Let me tell you, digging out of that hole wasn’t easy.

The occasion was a party for our grandson Maverick’s first birthday. Naturally, the first one is special, but this one was even more special to us because he was born six weeks early and spent 24 days in the NICU at Children’s Hospital. Obviously, he has been through a lot. In all fairness we all experienced that as well. So, we all needed a special birthday party.

The Union County Commission will have a workshop on Tuesday, September 9, at 7 p.m. to discuss the jail site with the architects. Commission also scheduled a workshop to discuss the implementation of the salary schedule passed in 2023 on Tuesday, September 16, at 5 p.m. Elected officials and county employees are encouraged to attend the salary workshop.

Union County Family and Community Education (FCE) held its August meeting at the Union County Extension Office. This month’s meeting featured a yard sale fundraiser, which proved to be a great success.

Members brought a wide variety of items including clothing, jewelry, children’s items, home décor, and household goods. Community members showed up in wonderful support, browsing the sale and helping raise funds to support our FCE programs. A special clothing deal at noon added excitement, allowing shoppers to fill a grocery bag with clothes for just five dollars.