Aug. 5, 2019 - Tennessee Housing Development Agency has awarded a $500,000 HOME Program grant to make much-needed repairs to substandard homes for elderly and disabled residents of Union County.

The HOME program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is administered in part in Tennessee by THDA During the most recent funding round, THDA awarded 13 competitive HOME grants statewide totaling $5.5 million. Six of those 13 grants were awarded to local governments and nonprofits in East Tennessee.

Shannon DeWitt, UT Extension Director for Union County, Is One of Three Statewide Winners of the TAAA&S Hicks Award

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture recognized some of its top faculty, staff, researchers and Extension experts at UTIA’s annual Awards and Promotions Luncheon held on the UTIA campus in Knoxville August 2, 2019. Many of the awards are gifts made possible by past faculty, alumni and friends of the Institute.

ATLANTA - The U.S. Small Business Administration announced today that Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and private nonprofit organizations located in Tennessee as a result of rain and flooding from Aug. 1, 2018 through March 5, 2019.

At the latest Glam and Glo Alternative Beauty Pageant, it is with honor that Union County’s own Courtney Brown was crowned Miss Inked Knoxville 2019. Courtney is a distinguished model, along with being a very talented and creative cosmetologist and proud mom.

Hearing well has never been my strong suit. Over the years, that has led to a few misunderstandings for me. A good example of this is learning the Lord’s Prayer as a child.

One of my first memories of church is being in the small children’s Sunday school class. Our teacher was a dear lady named Agnes, who everybody loved. And she was a very talented singer. She taught us a few children’s hymns and we would all sing one every Sunday morning.

I was reminded again this past week about how the act of making a decision pushes the subsequent decisions in sometimes unexpected directions.

Up until recently, the backyard project I have been working on has been confined to demolition and hauling stuff to the dump. Nasty stuff. Dangerous stuff. Boards with nails and screws protruding, splintered ends, and unwieldy shapes and sizes. Finishing that (well, mostly finishing that) has meant that I could move from destruction to creation.

Mincey’s Musings
Year Two, Week Thirty

Leaving Leaves

Leaf After Leaf Drops Off

Leaf after leaf drops off, flower after flower,
Some in the chill, some in the warmer hour:
Alive they flourish, and alive they fall,
And Earth who nourished them receives them all.
Should we, her wiser sons, be less content
To sink into her lap when life is spent?
--Walter Savage Landor

This is really a quiche, but I can't eat the usual quiche so I call it a “Bake.” One of my allergies is related to egg yolk. How do I get around it with this recipe? Easy. I use the egg whites that come in a carton. One fourth cup equals one egg.

We had an uninvited guest a few days ago. It wasn't that he wasn't welcome, just unexpected. Have you had a rooster on your roof lately? A neighbor called. “What is a chicken doing on your roof?” He noticed the rooster when he heard it shouting its lungs out, “Cockle-doodle-do!” Where could it be? He finally spotted it on the front roof of our house, standing at the roof's edge, singing his heart out. I thought roosters only announced the dawn.

Bagworms are a common landscape pest this time of year, especially on evergreens, especially arborvitae. A large enough population can seriously damage and eventually kill a tree.