Historic Union County

Spreading the good news of Union County

Grape Salad recipes are few and far between. Try this one, You'll like it. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir until bubbly, but not browned. Add milk and heat until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low. Add marshmallows and continue heating, and stirring until marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat. Cool 5 minutes. Stir in grapes, pineapple and pecans. Chill several hours before serving. Grapes may be cut in half if you prefer.

Right now if you’re outside much you are liable to catch a whiff of an almost overpowering flower smell, and if you investigate, you will likely find a bush loaded with small white flowers. This is Privet, a foreign shrub brought in as a landscape plant as early as the late 1700s. It has unfortunately gone Frankenstein and naturalized into the wild, where it is now very common to see along roadsides, woodland edges, and fencerows. It is bad news and a serious threat to our mountain farms and forests.

Sure, I knew that the American Legion New Liberty Post 212 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8682 shared a building up at the end of Veterans St. And I knew that it had something to do with military veterans. But I am not a veteran, nor do I come from a military family. So they really had nothing to do with me, did they? Well, I was wrong. As a community, we need to support these folks who train, work and fight to protect us. What they did was not easy and often left physical, mental and emotional scars. And we need to recognize their dedication to us and our community.

Union County Business & Professional Association presented scholarship awards to eight graduating seniors at the Union County High School Senior Awards and College Signing Day on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. Receiving the Jeffreys Memorial Academic Scholarship was Rileigh Collins. Rileigh will attend East Tennessee State University to pursue a dual major in physical therapy and business.

Union County elementary schools’ 4-H Clubs just wrapped up their annual pop top tab collection drive to benefit Ronald McDonald House, and students at Maynardville Elementary enjoyed an ice cream party to celebrate collecting more tabs than any other school. They combined their favorite choice of ice cream flavor and topping and enjoyed the sweet rewards of their success during the last in-school 4-H meeting of the year. What a great way to finish an exciting year of learning about community service and volunteerism.

Join us this Saturday, May 20, as the Union County Farmers Market kicks off our 2023 Nourish Kids program. This program has been designed to get children excited about local food and healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables. Once again, our market has partnered with Nourish Knoxville to present this program. Through a grant, Nourish Knoxville has been able to assist markets like ours throughout East Tennessee, providing materials and Produce Bucks making this program possible.

Farmers, Industry Professionals and Public Invited to Attend

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Researchers and Extension specialists with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture are teaming up to support the state’s growing ...

It used to be thought that the pain, stiffness and diminished function of joints due to arthritis were just an unavoidable part of the aging process. Advice on the topic was for some time limited to, “slow down.” We know now, though, that exercise is essential to managing the disease. Though chiropractors may be best known for working on the spine, particularly keeping its vertebrae, or individual bones, in line, they are trained in the operation of all the body’s joints and in the various therapies available to keep those joints working smoothly.

Have you ever had something happen that you thought you couldn’t explain? It happened to me as a child while I was being a “Smarty Pants.”
The women at our old church used to have a circle meeting once a month. In these meetings, each lady brought a covered dish so they could spend the evening in fellowship and discussing church matters. They would take turns hosting it in their homes. Then came the month when it was Mamaw Jo’s turn to host. At this time, I think I was around 9 years-old. I helped her clean house and set extra chairs out in the living room.

My nephew and I took a Saturday trip this past weekend to visit the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. The distillery is on the National Register of Historic Places. I had been there once, probably more than ten years ago, with my brother J. C. I had forgotten a lot of what I learned from my first visit.

Here is an easy lunch or supper entree. Use canned chicken breasts, with a bouillon cube and water instead of chicken broth. You should have all the other ingredients in your pantry. i do. Use a can of cream of mushroom soup heated with 1/2 cup milk or light cream for the sauce. Beat eggs until thickened. Add 1 cup milk, chicken broth, onion, seasonings, chicken and bread crumbs. Mix well. Pour mixture into greased 9 inch loaf pan. Set in pan of hot water. Bake at 350 F. for 45 to 60 minutes or until set. Invert loaf onto hot platter. Serve with mushroom sauce made with 1/2 cup milk and can of mushroom soup heated almost to a boil. Makes 6 servings.

With living green becoming a worthy cause these days, you’ve probably heard the benefits of composting yard and kitchen waste. It’s good fertilizer, adds organic matter, improves soil moisture, and the environmental upshot is you’re sending less stuff to landfills and septic systems. Despite the positives, few people compost for various perceived negatives: no room, maintenance hassles, too complicated, bad smell, etc. As a composter, I would be considered a passive one, bordering on lazy.

On Saturday, May 13 there will be no Union County Farmers Market due to UCHS graduation. As usual, our walking program, Nourish Moves, has partnered with Preservation Union County and promised to keep everyone moving by offering a walk on that day. To celebrate National Preservation Month, we will be exploring “Farming: Past, Present and Future” with a hike at Seven Springs Farm.

Over 300 people visited the opening day of the Union County Farmers Market on May 6, 2023. Deerinda Cooke, the new manager, kicked off the market with a flourish of musical entertainers and Smokey, the Bluetick Coonhound mascot.

The UCHS Tennis Team competed in the TSSAA District Tournament. The young team garnered two All District Athletes, Dalton Schreieck and Jace Walker. Schreieck, a junior, competed in boys individuals and took his opponent to a tie breaker in the first match before losing the second match. Janae Chapell challenged in the first round of Girls Individuals. Hannah Groot and Scarlett Gwaltney and also Ava Tiller and Saria Chapell competed in Girls Doubles.

Union County 4-H held its annual 4-H Acheivement Day on April 27th, 2023. 4-H members from all Union County Schools were invited to present a demonstration of "how to."

4-H Achievement Day Winners are pictured left to right in order. Each will move on to our sub-region contest in May in Jefferson County. 4-H Members who were not able to attend the county event should contact us to determine eligibility to advance in available project areas at subregion.

Robotic Milkers and Precision Livestock Farming on Display

WALLAND, Tenn. — Some very special dignitaries ushered in a new era of dairy research at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture on May 2 at a ribbon cutting and demonstration of UT AgResearch’s new robotic milking technology. Installed at the East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center’s Little River Unit, the new system allows cows to be automatically milked at their own will under a stress-free environment.

Fibromyalgia is a condition in which, essentially, a person “hurts all over.” Difficult to diagnose, fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain in muscles, ligaments and tendons and creates tender spots all over the body. In some cases, symptoms have begun to appear after a physically traumatic event, like a fall or car accident; after surgery or an infection; or in the aftermath of severe psychological stress. In other cases, though, symptoms may just build gradually. For some reason, women are more likely to develop fibromyalgia than are men.

Unlike most people, I don’t like quiet. To me, it’s deafening. It’s like a silent roar in my ears. When I was young, there was this one time where the quiet wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was rather eerie.

I have been a church attender all my life. Over the years, I have served as Sunday School teacher, occasional usher, trustee and treasurer. One of the greatest honors of my life was to have once been anonymously recommended as a deacon. I did not pursue that opportunity, but I found it humbling for someone to even have considered me worthy.