- Sandy Engle. On March 21, five visionary farmers will be presenting at the “Spring Into Health” event at the Randolph Community Center, located at 1657 State Route 44. This event is dedicated to promoting the health and wellness of farmers and gardeners, and the intention is to instill hope and provide workable solutions.
- Op-Ed Contributor. The short answer to the title question is: It depends. If that doesn’t satisfy your curiosity, please read on.
- Master Gardener Volunteers. The solution to many plant problems begins in the soil. The soil your plants grow in is a living system made up of organic matter, minerals, water, air, and billions of microbes. Understanding soil and promoting soil health is one of the most effective ways to keep plants healthy and maximize your harvest.
- Ruth Ann Bartholomew. The Easter Bunny will be making an appearance at the Charlestown Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday March 28 at the township park. The egg hunt will begin at 1 p.m.
- Mary Louise Ruehr. Much of our discourse today is about the Epstein Files and the abuse of minors. I turned to several memoirs to learn the facts from actual victims. Caution: There’s no fiction here.
- Master Gardener Volunteers. Planting seeds, indoors or outdoors, creates the right environment for dormancy to break and new life to begin. Watching a seed sprout feels like magic. Starting seeds indoors is a rewarding, inexpensive way to grow hundreds of healthy transplants and get a head start on the gardening season.
- Tom Hardesty. When I heard the news earlier this week that Lou Holtz had passed away at the age of 89, my mind immediately drifted back to a spring evening 32 years ago.
- Laura Nethken. I always have a plan, no matter what we're talking about: yard sale shopping, grocery shopping, paying bills, even losing weight. I want to get into better shape. I'm going to try to do in my 60s what I haven't been able to do my entire life— get rid of these "thunder thighs" as my brothers so aptly named them.
- Shirley Mars. For over 45 years, the spirit of neighborliness has been alive and well in our community, as residents wholeheartedly lent support to the Brimfield Community Cupboard and created a legacy of caring for our own.
- Kathy Baker. My words to you this month were inspired by the following quote, written in the fourteenth century by the great Persian poet and mystic, Hafez: “The small man builds cages for everyone he knows. While the sage, who has to duck her head when the moon is low, keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners.”
- Ben Wolford. At least once a week and sometimes more often than that I receive an email or a call from a reader telling me they need to update their credit card because it was stolen or hacked.
- Op-Ed Contributor. Talking about poverty is not easy. Not because it is unimportant — not when tens of millions of Americans live in poverty’s vice grip. Talking about it makes us uncomfortable because it forces us to confront hard questions about fairness, responsibility, and whether the systems we have built are working.
- Letter to the editor. Kent’s board of education is considering an issue that should alarm district residents as well as good people across Ohio. Board members are studying whether to oppose a benign-sounding but actually pernicious piece of legislation in Columbus: Ohio House Bill 42.
- Mary Louise Ruehr. Myths are among the world’s oldest stories, and the Greeks had some fantastic tales. These were usually based on the deeds of the gods, who were often mean and sometimes downright horrible. There are plenty of modern retellings of the stories, and I found these three particularly fun.
- Sandy Engle. Last fall, a tragic incident at Waterloo High School left Chastity grief-stricken. She contacted Representative Heidi Workman, who calmly listened to Chastity’s concerns. Now, Heidi and Chastity frequently converse regarding ways to help teens be more resilient and by engaging in service work Chastity has rediscovered joy!
- Master Gardener Volunteers. Many homeowners do not know when or how to prune— so they don’t. Not pruning is a big mistake. We may think it is wrong to remove healthy growth, but just the opposite is true. If you want to minimize disease and insect pressure during the growing season without pesticides, then proper pruning is a must. But what is proper pruning? Let’s explore the when, why, and how of pruning.
- Letter to the editor. Thank you to The Portager (and Kent State Today) for the sad news of Jerry Lewis’s passing. Many in the Kent community knew Jerry as a colleague as well as for his tireless work documenting and preserving a record of the shooting by members of the Ohio National Guard on May 4th, 1970. I also knew him as a friend.
- Nicole Sweet. The Village of Windham is looking for vendors for the farmers' market at the Windham Community Building, from 5 to 7 p.m. every third Thursday, February through April. Local food and craft vendors wanted. Call 330-646-9361 for more information.