Do you have a child that loves spending time outdoors? Exploring, hiking, biking, climbing trees, playing with bugs, fishing, birding, orienteering—anything, as long as they can be outdoors. We are blessed to live in an area with an abundance of absolutely beautiful mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, parks and trails to explore; and exploring is one of our favorite 4H Outdoor Adventure project group activities.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

With winter coming on, folks start thinking about precipitation of the frozen kind. In what form frozen water come to us meteorologically depends on a whole lot more than what the temperature our thermometer says, and I’m sure you’ve see days when the weather goes from rain to sleet to snow and back again. So let us delve into the frozen world a little while.

Union County Business and Professional Association named Sidney Jessee Jr. and Tammie Hill as Man and Woman of 2024 at the 34th Annual Banquet on Friday, November 1, 2024. Martin Shafer, Man of 2022, and Tonya Atkins, Woman of 2023, introduced the recipients. The banquet was held at First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall in Maynardville and was catered by Pete's Place.

Zach Hodge wanted to teach, so he got a degree in English from the University of Tennessee and spent two years teaching. But he also enjoyed cooking and creating, starting at the Copper Cellar during college. He worked in various restaurants, but at the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro Knoxville in the Old City, he went from cook to shift leader to manager to chef. Lonesome Dove Western Bistro Knoxville features a wild game menu including duck, rabbit, rattlesnake, elk, quail and other wild game, as well as beef and seafood.

Was there something in your childhood that you were not too fond of other than getting shots at the Doctor’s office? For me, it was going shopping with my parents.

Here are more tips for the one in every two Americans that reported experiencing musculoskeletal (MSK) pain in a recent survey.

Throughout the years the Union County Homemakers have assisted the Agents in the Extension Office.

Retired Agents Bill and Debbie Morgan have helped with the Home School 4-H Programs. Bill has taught classes on how to make Blue Bird house and Debbie teaches sewing classes. They do so much more and our county benefits from their lessons.

Our native wild turkey has been in the Americas for a very long time. Fossil records show they have been around for eons and were once distributed continuously from the middle latitudes of North America to northern South America. The Aztec Indians were the first to domesticate the bird and it became an important staple to their diet. The Navajo gave up on keeping the hungry birds away from their scanty desert corn crops, and instead began to feed the turkeys and fence them in and provided a dependable source of protein and ornamental feathers.

I am familiar with the visual arts (painting, sculpture, ceramics) and the performing arts (music, dance, drama). But Culinary Arts? What exactly are ‘Culinary Arts’? Cooking? Heck, most of us can cook. Well, at least a little bit. (Popping popcorn or heating a Healthy Choice meal in the microwave do not count).

What a fabulous group of people gathered in Wilson Park for the First Annual Veterans Appreciation Family Picnic. So many veterans, families of veterans, and citizens who appreciate what our veterans mean to us showed up for comradery and good food. The barbecue was terrific and plentiful, there were more hot dogs than anyone could eat, the chicken from 33 Diner was, as always, delicious. Everyone who wanted a raffle ticket (including children) had a chance to win one of the fantastic door prizes.