The Bradford Pear Blues

Submitted by Steve Roark on Mon, 04/08/2024 - 16:16
Bradford Pears have become common along roadsides, and while pretty, they are invasive and aggressively compete with native trees for growing space. Their numbers are growing exponentially.

Bradford Pears have become common along roadsides, and while pretty, they are invasive and aggressively compete with native trees for growing space. Their numbers are growing exponentially.

You have no doubt noticed all the white flowering trees that have been putting on a show the past couple of weeks along roadsides, fence rows, and field edges. They are Bradford pears, a popular landscape tree, noted for their beautiful flower blitz, symmetrical round crowns, and supposedly sterile so as not to produce messy fruit to clean up. That last part was a total failure, and the tree has gone Frankenstein and spreading rapidly to become what is called an exotic invasive plant, and a threat to our native plants and even our farmlands. This wasn’t supposed to happen, so what the heck?

Womens back country camping

Submitted by Holly Frerichs on Wed, 04/03/2024 - 17:11
Womens back county camping at Norris Dam State Park.

Join Ranger Holly Frerichs for an overnight experience in the back country! This is a beginner friendly workshop for women where we will learn best practices for overnight camping and some survival tactics. The hike to the campsite is 3.5 miles in and the same route back out. It is a moderate trail but very beginner friendly. This workshop is open to women and girls 15 and older.

We will meet at 12:00pm to check off the gear list and pack up everyone's bags, then hit the trail after that!

UCBPA 2024 Prayer Breakfast "Just Believe"

Submitted by Marilyn Toppins on Tue, 04/02/2024 - 22:47
Speaker at 2024 prayer breakfast, Suzanne Stelling

Suzanne Stelling, artist, baker, and author of The Woodbine Chronicles: A neighborhood love story, keynoted the 2024 UCBPA Prayer Breakfast.

From President Tammie Hill”s passage from Romans 8:32 “for all things work together for the good to them that know God” to the closing song Amazing Grace, the message of the 27th Annual Union County Business and Professional Prayer Breakfast on Good Friday, March 29, was “come together and ‘Just Believe.’”
Rev. Corey Carroll, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Maynardville, welcomed everyone to the gathering at the church and reminded them of the significance of Easter and the sacrifices that Jesus made.

UC raises funds for safe water in Uganda

Submitted by Desiree Hensley on Tue, 04/02/2024 - 22:44

UNION COUNTY, Tenn. (March 27, 2024) – Three local churches are sponsoring the 2024 Walk 4 Water Union County Fundraiser on Sunday, May 19.
St. Teresa of Kolkata Catholic Church, Irwin’s Chapel United Methodist Church and Miller’s Chapel United Methodist Church aim to help raise funds for two deep water wells for remote villages in Uganda that do not have access to clean, safe water. All funds raised will go toward the drilling of safe water boreholes for the villages of Kaseun and Amonikakinea B in Eastern Uganda.