The shortening days and the changing colors of autumn are visual reminders to me that another year is coming to a close. Fall finally arrived with full force on our farm when we had several nights of...

The towering bluffs were shrouded with fog and ribbons of lightning flicked across the dark sky as I said goodbye to the waning hours of the summer. It was the morning of Sept. 22 and I was heading...

I’ve had a fascination with caves as far back as I can remember. My first recollection was when I was maybe 4 years old living near Milwaukee. Dad said we were going to meet some friends in the cavern....

Be it for the good or the bad, we are from whom we descend. While our ancestors don’t define us, we wouldn’t be here without them. My descendants and their lives were on my mind recently when my...

Labor Day has come and gone, marking what many celebrate as the last blast of summer. Technically Labor Day is a holiday to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers and not...

A wise man once said “measure twice, cut once.” So let me tell you a tale about the fool who measured two times but then forgot the number. In fact, I can tell it from a first-person perspective. Recently...

School is back in session, a sure sign that another summer season has flown by. This year all four of my grandsons will be in school, with the oldest in eighth grade and the youngest starting kindergarten. Seems...

“Time to catch some fish,” Grandpa whispered.   I jumped out of bed in my grandparent’s home in downtown Franklin in Jackson County. Downtown meaning it was at the corner of Highway N...

The lifebl ood of any farmer is the soil that provides their livelihood, so taking care of it has to be a top priority.   That care involves more than simply adding fertilizer and chemicals...

One certainty that I have learned over my long years is that nature moves at her own pace. Yes, we’ve done our worst to mess with the climate and destroy ozone, but nature slowly responds to the changes....

Let’s set the record straight – I am not an economist – which the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines as “an expert who studies the relationship between a society’s resources and its production...

Back Home by Chris Hardie Download this column as a Word document Download the photos that accompany this story Chris Hardie’s headshot   Last week I wrote about the remaining...