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Backyard Gardener: Shade Tree Selection

Hello Mid-Ohio Valley farmers and gardeners! We were a little on the dry side but that has all changed this week. Continual downpours since Sunday have brought several inches of rain and even flooding in areas around the valley. The forecast for the next few days is dry and sunny so we can catch up around the yard and in the fields with crop planting. This week I am discussing selecting and planting shade trees. Many homeowners around the valley, especially if you are building a new home or recently have purchased one, are going to plant trees in the landscape. Trees have many ...

It’s tough to be a young adult!

In the twenties, humans develop their sense of personal identity, set some of their goals for life and begin to find their place as adults in a topsy-turvy world. Sociologists generally list 5 markers that indicate an entrance into adulthood: (1) completing school, (2) moving out, (3) financial independence, (4) marriage and (5) having children. But today’s “twenty-somethings” are sometimes ridiculed for “prolonged adolescence” because they are pushing these markers further into adulthood. For example, in 1980, the median age for marriage was 24.7 years for men, and 22.0 years ...

The challenge to forgive and overcome evil with good

An old Chinese proverb says, “One who pursues revenge should dig two graves.” Anger and the accompanying desire for revenge poisons the life of the angry person, and this is true even when other words like “hurt,” “frustrated” or “irritated” are used because we don’t like to describe ourselves as “angry.” Psychologist Paul Meier says that 95% of the cases of depression that he treats in his clinic come from repressed anger at oneself or others. Anger is a normal reaction to being hurt, and it’s also quite normal to wish ill upon those who hurt us. Even some of ...

Hunting and fishing in early Marietta

Marietta’s first settlers had to find their own food. No supermarkets or convenience stores then. Some foodstuffs could be brought in from the east but not enough to survive on. Fortunately, the new territory was a hunting and fishing paradise. Colonel Joseph Barker’s journals provide ...

Backyard Gardener: Dianthus for Mother’s Day

Hello Mid-Ohio Valley gardeners and farmers! A blessed happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there in the valley. West Virginia has a special connection with Mother’s Day, as the first official celebration was held May 10, 1908, at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton. Anna Jarvis sent 500 white carnations in honor of her mother to the first formal Mother’s Day service. Over the next few years, Jarvis worked to make Mother’s Day a national holiday and President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day in 1914. Carnations became an integral ...

A tale of two (plus three more) Putnam Street bridges

The first was built in 1880. It was a big deal for the growing town - a FREE bridge (meaning no tolls) built with taxpayer dollars. That's the good news. The bad news: it was washed away by a flood in 1884. A replacement span was quickly constructed on the original piers. That's the bridge ...