Fresh Wagon Celebrates Five Years of Serving Union County Families

Submitted by Abigail Thomas on

Maynardville, Tenn. – Fresh Wagon is celebrating their five year anniversary of providing locally sourced food to families of Union County and the surrounding areas by hosting an event at 12:00pm on June 16th at First Bank Maynardville.

Fresh Wagon is a mobile food distribution program that works to provide community members with local meat, dairy, eggs, honey, jellies, and produce with an emphasis on local farm partnerships. These partnerships have led to over $20,000 being given back to the local food economy.

6/6/2026 Farmers' Market

Submitted by Shirlee Grabko on

Debbie Sylvia-Gardner is the hard-working volunteer Market Manager for the Union County Farmers’ Market. It is her job to organize the weekly markets, assign spots, maintain records of each vendor's sales, and manage the various programs offered by the market. Market attendees may join the Loyalty Program. If you sign in at every visit, you receive a $5 Farmers’ Market Buck each time to spend with any vendor in the Market. Marketgoers may choose to borrow a pedometer at each visit as part of the Walking Program.

Meat Eat

Submitted by Steve Roark on
It is totally unfair to compare eating bacon with eating bugs, but economically the bugs win out.

The average American diet includes one of three meats, either beef, pork, or chicken. I always thought we ate more beef than anything, but chicken has of late given beef a run for its money. And if you look at it on a global scale, it turns out that beef is often not “what’s for dinner”.

Play a guessing game with me. Take a minute and jot down what you think are the top 10 land animals butchered for food on the planet, based on the number of animals, not pounds of meat. You got it? So, what’s your number one? If you picked chicken, give yourself a drumstick. A staggering 50 billion chickens are consumed annually. Considering how many ways you can eat chicken in a Chinese restaurant, that’s not surprising. How about your number two? The surprising answer is duck, coming in a 2.6 billion. Pigs come in 3rd at 1.3 billion, so take that, McDonalds! 4th place goes to another surprise: rabbits at 1.1 billion. Next is turkeys at 630 million, sheep are 6th at 520 million, and goats are 7th at 400 million. So where’s the beef? Eighth place at 293 million cows, followed by water buffalo, and finally camels.

Tennessee's New Kratom Ban Takes Effect July 1: What Residents Need to Know

Submitted by Rebecca Hughes on

Beginning July 1, 2026, kratom will become illegal in Tennessee under a new state law known as Matthew Davenport's Law (HB 1649). The legislation was signed by Governor Bill Lee in May and will prohibit the possession, sale, manufacture, and distribution of kratom throughout the state.