In the literary world, a catchy title or risqué focus may draw the eye of an interested reader, but have you ever thought about how influenced one may be by elegantly designed book cover art? Melissa Stevens saw the need for such involved illustrations in forums in the mid-2000s.

Melissa, who is an Anderson County native, is the owner and operator of a thriving graphic design and illustration business, Illustrated Author Design Services. She began in 2011, working with a small press.

The Boy Scouts of America has been teaching patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues to America’s youth for more than 100 years. It is an organization that children have been proud and happy to join for generations. Believing that scouting is a tradition worth supporting, local Cub Scout Pack 401 is raising money to build a scholarship fund to ensure no child is excluded from scouting due to the family’s inability to pay. This is a new project for the Pack to address a new need.

UT Extension provides a gateway to the University of Tennessee as the outreach unit of the Institute of Agriculture. With an office in every Tennessee county, UT Extension delivers educational programs and research-based information to citizens throughout the state. In cooperation with Tennessee State University, UT Extension works with farmers, families, youth and communities to improve lives by addressing problems and issues at the local, state and national levels.
Extension Month:

Good posture helps us stand, walk, sit, and lie in positions that place the least strain on supporting muscles and ligaments during movement and weight-bearing activities. The benefits of correct posture are as follows:

• Helps us keep bones and joints in correct alignment so that our muscles are used correctly, decreasing the abnormal wearing of joint surfaces that could result in degenerative arthritis and joint pain.

• Reduces the stress on the ligaments holding the spinal joints together, minimizing the likelihood of injury.

For those of you who don’t know my mother, I like to call her: “Ms. Pioneer.” She would have preferred to live in the pioneer days instead of today.

When I was still living at home, our water heater went out. Before it was repaired, my mother ran water in the tub and then marched into the kitchen. “I’m going to take a bath like the pioneers did.” She politely ran water in a large bowl and stuck it in the microwave. “I’m gonna pour hot water in the tub.”

Traditionally, Lent is seen as a time of sacrifice, of giving up something. Some people give up chocolate, or drinking alcohol, or fast food; I met a young woman last week who was fasting for Lent. I didn’t get a chance to ask her what kind of fast it was, but at our small group meeting and potluck the only thing she had was water. For the last couple of years I’ve given up social media for Lent, and it has been surprisingly easy to do.

Continuing from "From Hearth And Hoe": " In October, 1935, TVA Camps 7, 13, 16, 19, and 22, for example, were engaged in soil erosion projects and special work on TVA lands. Three 110-foot steel fire towers were erected. Camp TVA-13 constructed a stone masonry fish dam on Stiner Branch. The dam, 30 feet high and 145 feet long, created a lake used by TVA's Fish and Game division to raise fish. Camp TVA-16, consisting of about 206 young men, mostly from East Tennessee, was organized at Sharp's Chapel on August 15, 1935.

Have you ever felt like just getting away from it all? Perhaps in moments of trouble or frustration you, like I, have thought how wonderful it would be just to keep driving in the direction you were going, turning away from all the job struggles, family worries, quarrelsome friends, and debt.

Here is an easy version of chicken pot pie. The hard work of cooking the chicken, preparing the veggies and making the sauce and biscuits is all done for you. It does take a while to bake, but you can be doing other things while it does. Nothing beats finding an easy entree for supper.

The above high rainfall we’ve had past couple of years seems to have caused a boost in lichens. Lichens are those flat light green blotches or hair-like tufts you see growing on tree bark and rocks. Like all life on Earth, lichens have found a niche where they can grow without much competition. Most older trees in our area have at least a small colony growing somewhere.