Mia Effler is eleven years old and can be recognized by her hard work, dedication, and success in her own business. A sixth grader at Horace Maynard Middle School, she enjoys soccer and fishing on Norris Lake, but with the help and support of family, Mia invests much of her time planting, picking, and selling produce for her business, Mia’s Market.

As the runners took their places on Saturday May 4, 2019, Union County Chamber President Thomas Sibinski's vision of Union County’s first 10k run became a reality. Thomas was looking to bring something different to town. With support from the Chamber board, a 10k, 5k and Fun Run was scheduled to start from Union County High School.

Now that spring is here, and the weather is warming up and leaves are turning green, many people will spend more time outside planting bulbs, mowing the lawn and pulling weeds. Gardening can provide a great workout, but with all the bending, twisting, reaching and pulling, your body may not be ready for exercise of the garden variety.

Mincey’s Musings
Year Two, Week Seventeen

A group of Baptists met at Cheddar’s on Clinton Highway yesterday for lunch after the morning church service. Two different people in the group ordered onion rings as appetizers, and they were exceptionally delicious.

I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw the expression on my mamaw’s face. Let’s just say it didn’t exactly relate joy.

We had just pulled into the driveway after our week long trip to Florida. Our daughter Sara, who was 9 years old at this time, was showing Papaw all the treasures she had amassed at Sea World. That was when Mamaw whispered to Tim and myself, “I need you all to come down to the carport to look at something.”

Yep, this was not good.

My mother could put together a soup even when there didn't seem to be enough food in the house to make a meal. I grew up on soup, especially in the winter time. With a little meat to season it and the vegetables we had on hand, she could make a hearty soup for not much money. Cornbread goes well with most soups and goes well with this one.

This week, my column is going to be diving into stuff I really don’t know much about. I’m not feeling too inferior though. No one knows much about this topic, even people who are deemed experts are really just scratching the surface. So, you can roll your eyes and shake your head at some of the things I’m going to say, but it won’t rattle me in the slightest – and not just because I can’t see you on the other side of your computer or phone screen.

There really is a film industry in Tennessee. One day, while we were living in Niota, my husband was driving home and was stopped by a gentleman wanting directions. Imagine his surprise when he recognized the man as Claude Akins. Mr. Akins was in Tennessee filming scenes for the forgettable movie, King Kong Lives.

If you drive down the road right now and see patches of blue in the green hayfields and pastures, it’s liable to be Lyre-leaf Sage. I have a lot of it in my fields for the first time that I can remember, as does my neighbors. It’s always been around, but I normally only see it along roadsides and field edges. It is in the same family of plants as the herbal sage used in cooking and such.

I read a recent article that celebrated the health benefits of squatting and said that we should be doing this regularly (as opposed to spending all our time sitting or standing, I guess). I was offended by this outlandish disregard for the heritage and history of a good portion of the population, not to mention the language.

Where I come from, people don’t squat. They hunker down. Allow me to illustrate the distinction: