Do you own a small business in Union and surrounding counties? Do you have a farm or want to start farming? Then, please join us for meeting and dinner! Tennessee Department of Agriculture is presenting information related to business opportunities specific to rural Tennessee.

On Tennessee Tree Day 2022 we hope to engage 10,000 volunteers in planting 75,000 native trees in all 95 Tennessee counties, as well as counties in neighboring states, encompassing all watersheds that flow through Tennessee.  

Each year Tennessee Tree Day engages thousands of volunteers in a fun, meaningful, family-friendly, event that results in multi-generational benefits to our environment, communities and public health.

Sitting here and thinking about how some people start from humble beginnings and achieve great success in their path through life. I have found that most successful people come from rural parts of the country, grew up poor, but rich in family and friends.
The people that I have met who were successful were honest, straightforward in their dealings and had perseverance. They didn’t just give up at their first disappointment.

Have you ever been in a situation that started out pleasant and then it changed into something bad? I had that almost happen when I worked Baptist Hospital.
While I was in college, I worked there in the hematology lab. No, I wasn’t a lab technician. My job was to do the small stuff to so the lab techs had more time to perform tests. Also, I was cross trained in phlebotomy. It’s a fancy term for drawing blood. In the medical field, is also known as a “stick” or “sticking.”

I am always looking for ways to fix table grapes. Grape go well with almost any other fruit. I never thought about using table grapes in a salad until a group from church took a trip to Cumberland Falls in Kentucky. We ate lunch there. They serve the most delicious grape salad. This recipe is tasty, too.

1 Corinthians 15:19 KJV [19] If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
There once was a man who was a miserable man, and at first he didn’t even realize it. He was young and healthy and whatever pleasure he desired he joyously pursued it. He could eat or drink anything he wanted, seemingly without consequences. The world was his oyster, it appeared as if the possibilities were endless. Whatever pleasure he desired upon earth he had the finances to make it happen.

Mincey's Musings by Ronnie Mincey
I graduated from Lincoln Memorial University’s Ed.D. program in May of 2012. A sense of idealism seemed renewed in me as a result, and I felt a need to contribute something to the community in which I was raised and received my elementary and high school education. I decided to do three things to make myself a useful citizen.

No one window shops anymore. Few go downtown to walk the avenue admiring the new styles in the store windows. Their displays were changed often.

Here at Big Ridge we are about to get a new recruit ranger. His name is Josh Powell. Josh is a bright young man with a lot of ambition.
He grew up on a farm in Clinton not far from the Clinch River. He started his journey in state parks at Norris Dam State Park as a seasonal. He also worked for a summer a Cumberland Mountain State Park.

All jobs come with stress of some form during the day: deadlines, equipment breakdowns, something. And if you have the iconic “desk job” where you sit all day inside a building, those mental stresses are even more pronounced. Your lunch break should be a recharge time, but a lot of folks are working through lunch while swallowing a sandwich or doing non-restful things on their phone.