SHOP LOCAL AS AN ACT OF PATRIOTISM
December 2, 2025
As we prepare to celebrate America’s 250th birthday in 2026, our thoughts are already beginning to turn to who we are, where we came from, what we value, and what has sustained us as a community and a country for nearly two hundred and fifty years. One of the most enduring American traditions, long before online shopping became the status quo, is the tradition of supporting your local craftsmen, entrepreneurs, and neighbors. Today, we call it shopping local. Years ago, it was simply called being an American. I am sure many of us can remember the trips to the corner store for penny candy, or the stops at the local dairy where our milk came in glass bottles and, if we were lucky, Mom would buy us a pack of Lance crackers from the glass jar on the counter. When we shop local during the holiday season, we are a part of something that reaches far beyond the exchanging of money for items. It’s a small but powerful act of patriotism, a way to support self-reliance, community pride, and neighbor-to-neighbor support that built this country. This entrepreneurial spirit was seen very early on in the establishment of our Juniata River Valley, as our founding mother, Dorcas Buchanan, and her husband ran a trading post. When you think about it, the trading post was a very important part of any community. It’s success or failure often determined if a settlement would prosper. It provided the very essentials settlers needed to survive such as tools, food, clothing, ammunition, and more. Learn More

One Shot, Many Memories
December 2, 2025
Last weekend, while taking a hike in the woods, I was surprised to realize that hunting season now includes Sundays. I was ill prepared: tromping through the trees in a brown sweater, my dogs bounding about with no safety gear. It had been a long time since I’d been in the woods as a hunter, and somehow, I’d missed the memo. That realization sent me down memory lane to my short, and fearless, stint as a hunter. The “fearless” part is said entirely tongue in cheek. What I did have was time with my dad, uncles, and cousins, and those hours were worth more than any trophy. Hunting season in our family was a sacred ritual, beginning on Thanksgiving Day. The moment the pumpkin pie was served, and the plates were cleared, someone would grab a rifle and head to the woods behind the house to “shoot in” their guns, to make sure everything was working properly. I always suspected it was timed so we could dodge the mountain of dirty dishes. Learn More

Have We Forgotten How to be One Nation?
October 27, 2025
Since when did we become such a divided nation? When did words of hate begin rolling off our tongues more naturally than words of love and acceptance? Lately, it feels like everywhere I go whether it’s a coffee shop, grocery store, a community event, or just scrolling through social media, I hear people expressing the same thing: they’re tired. Tired of the negativity. Tired of the arguing. Tired of feeling like we’ve lost something important along the way. It doesn’t matter who you are, rich or poor, black or white, young or old, urban or rural, we’re all feeling the weight of this division. It’s like a fog that has settled over our country, masking our sense of unity and dimming our faith in one another. I keep thinking of the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who once said, “We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions, bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality.” Those words have never felt more needed than they do today. If only we were still living by them. Somewhere along the line, we stopped focusing on what binds us together and started fixating on what sets us apart. Learn More

Winds, Waves, and Legends: An Outer Banks Adventure
October 27, 2025
For all the traveling I have done in my life, across oceans, and through many parts of the United States, there was one destination surprisingly missing from my list: the Outer Banks. It was a place that I heard a lot about since many of my friends vacation there, but I had never visited. That changed this year, when my husband, knowing how much I love an adventure to someplace new, surprised me with a birthday trip to Cape Hatteras. Since we’re the kind of couple that enjoys exploring national parks, we were excited to discover that Cape Hatteras is part of the National Park Service system, officially designated as the country’s very first national seashore. There are only 10 national seashores in the United States, so to be the first meant this place must be something remarkable. The designation was not only about scenic beauty, it was also about caring for the environment, preserving history, and protecting oceanfront land from over development and commercialization. Learn More

Holy Lots of Sunflowers
September 22, 2025
Last Saturday, I found myself standing in the midst of what can only be described as sunflower heaven. We’re not talking about a few flowers in someone’s back yard. No, these were sunflowers as far as the eye could see, a golden ocean stretching toward the horizon. I stood there absolutely awestruck, soaking in the sea of proud yellow blooms swaying in unison, cradled in the arms of a warm breeze. Each flower seemed to have a personality of its own, but together they moved like a perfectly orchestrated, captivating floral dance with a host of bees along for the ride. It was almost hard to believe that just a few short months earlier, these very fields had looked very different. They were full of wheat, also golden, waiting for harvest. Once cleared, they were planted with sunflower seeds. By July 22, the infant plants were only an inch and a half tall, small, fragile, and easily unnoticed. Yet less than eight weeks later, they had transformed into towering stalks supporting blooms larger than dinner plates. It’s a reminder of how quickly nature can turn an ordinary field into something extraordinary! Learn More