Growing Greenup Mother’s Day and Youth Development Anne Stephens I hope everyone had a Mother’s Day weekend full of smiles, hugs, and happy memories. In my family, we celebrate my mother’s birthday and Mother’s Day together because they are always close together. I have a terrific mom and I am glad that my family always gets together to enjoy special occasions with each other. We have a good time together and for that, I am thankful. Without the need to cite a reference

I’m A Server Loren Hardin The Ashland Beacon I’m revisiting my old friend, Doug, this week. Doug was sixty-seven years old when he enrolled in outpatient hospice services with end stage congestive heart failure. You may remember Doug’s previous column titled, “Your Sins Will Find You Out.” When Doug and his friend, Jerry, were six years old, they decided to play cowboy and round up all the cats in the neighborhood. Doug recounted, “We caught every cat we could find.

The Lost Colony Jarrod E. Stephens The Ashland Beacon May is celebrated as the month in which the first permanent English settlement in America was established in Jamestown, Virginia. May 14, 1607 marked a glorious day for the establishment of what would become America. If you only take a glance at the story then it sounds quite glamorous and exciting. However, when you dig deeper and discover the grueling struggles that the settlers faced, the story becomes a lot darker.

Growing Greenup: Home Gardening and Farmers Market Container Gardening Source: Jamie Dockery, UK Extension Horticulture Agent Not everyone has acreage or land where they can just dig in the soil. As long as you have a sunny spot, whether it be a balcony or parking lot, if you can get sunlight, you can grow flowers or vegetables in containers. It isn’t difficult. Just about any container will do, but the smaller the container, you will be m

Understand Lora Parsons The Ashland Beacon In the world of English Language Arts teachers, there are three recognized reasons for writing. One is writing to demonstrate learning where you show your teacher what you learned. The second is writing to communicate where your purpose is to inform or persuade an audience. And, the third is writing to learn where the writer is also the student figuring out what he or she thinks about a topic as they go through the process of wr

Your Sins Will Find You Out Loren Hardin The Ashland Beacon Doug was sixty-seven when he enrolled in outpatient hospice services with end-stage congestive heart failure. Doug is an interesting fellow. He is interested in world events. He keeps abreast of the news and is politically opinionated. He asks probing questions. We talked about the conflicts in the Middle East and Doug asked me if I thought it was a sign of the end times. He even asked me if I was afraid to die

Jesus Will Comfort You Loren Hardin The Ashland Beacon Wilma was in her late eighties when referred to hospice for renal failure. I could tell by the way she looked at me that her trust had to be earned. She admitted, "I’ve been alone and depressed much of my life. I’ve never had any real friends. I’ve always been a loner. When three or four people were together, I usually ended up sitting and saying nothing." Wilma was perplexing; lonely, but content. It jus

The Cumberland Gap Jarrod E. Stephens The Ashland Beacon If ever you travel across the Bluegrass State, you will quickly gain an understanding of how diverse our landscape truly is. Whether you visit the Bluegrass region, Western Coal Fields, Eastern Coal Fields, Knobs, Pennyrile or Jackson Purchase you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the natural scenery. While urban areas have sprung up over the centuries and farmland has sprawled across some areas, much of southeastern K

Growing Greenup Anne Stephens The Ashland Beacon Are there public spaces in your home community that are important to you? Do you take your children or grandchildren to a park to play? Do you like to walk in an area close to home where you feel safe and comfortable? Have you ever volunteered to help your community plan or maintain a public area? The following publication about placemaking is interesting because it guides you to think like a landscape architect and unders

Their Works Follow Them Loren Hardin This is part two of a two-part series about Jun and his wife, Pat. Jun enrolled in our outpatient hospice service with end-stage cancer. He was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and a retired postmaster. Jun was soft-spoken, gentle, and tender to the needs and hopes of others. Pat recounted, “He was always doing something for somebody, but you’d never know it.” Pat’s testimony reminds me of the exhortation of Christ Jesus; “

The Life of Lincoln Jarrod E. Stephens If you were to ask someone to name their favorite US President or one who was the most impactful while in office, a majority of the time the name Abraham Lincoln would rise to the top. Honest Abe left his mark on history not only for his leadership through the American Civil War but also with his hardworking spirit and honesty. Being a lifelong resident of Kentucky, I have always had an interest in Lincoln and how that he is the only

Growing Greenup Handcrafted Weekend Part 2 of 3 Anne Stephens If you are a weekly reader of this column, you know that last week started a three-part series about the Handcrafted Weekend event at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park, sponsored by the Greenup County Tourism Commission and organized by the Community Arts program at the Greenup County Extension Service. This week, we will focus on some of the demonstrations and hands-on activities that you’ll find at the lodge on A

I Hope You Dance Loren Hardin Shirley was in her seventies when she enrolled in our outpatient hospice services with terminal cancer. Shirley married at age fifteen and explained, "I got pregnant and then I got married, but I think you’re supposed to do it the other way around." Shirley reminisced about how she and her deceased husband, used to love to dance: "My husband had to have a few beers before he would dance, but I didn’t need anything. I just loved

Ships That Don’t Come In Loren Hardin How can I describe Cinda without it sounding like exaggeration? Cinda was tough-minded, determined, untamed, resilient, and downright ferocious at time. But on the flipside, Cinda was passionate, honest, empathetic, and generous. Cinda had type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile onset diabetes. Cinda was diagnosed before the advancements in diabetic treatment, before insulin pumps with continuous monitoring and insulin dosi

Justice Lora Parsons The Ashland Beacon I’ve been thinking lately about the word “justice” and how much it sounds like our two words “just us.” I also have thought a lot about how we as humans long for that when things go wrong. When crimes are committed, we want justice. Sometimes we talk about it in terms of wanting justice for the victim, but at other times we talk about it in terms of wanting justice for the perpetrator. That’s odd that it’s possible to want one thing

Growing Greenup Ticket Handcrafted Weekend Part 1 of 3 Anne Stephens The Quilt Show at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park is a long-standing Greenup County tradition. In 2023, the Greenup County Quilt Guild partnered with the Greenup Extension Community Arts Program and Greenup County Tourism to grow and expand the quilt show into a whole lodge artisan demonstration event we call Handcrafted Weekend that takes place on the second Saturday in April every year at the Jesse Stu

Precious Memories of Springtime Jarrod E. Stephens Sitting on a hard pew in our church, I recall as a child hearing the song “Precious Memories.” One verse says, “And old home scenes, of my childhood, precious sacred scenes unfold.” I never really gave it a thought at the time because I figured every kid lived on a farm like I did and would never grow to miss the labors of the field and the simple country life. Boy was I wrong! While I’m not old, I am not a child eith

But I Didn’t Take Their Advice Loren Hardin The Ashland Beacon Gene was seventy-nine years old when he enrolled in outpatient hospice services with end-stage prostate cancer. Gene owned and operated a local floor covering business for fifty-three years. His radio advertising jingle was, “Go scootin’ to Euton’s”. Gene was a free-thinker and nonconformist. He declared, “I’m a Baptist Catholic. I won’t totally follow any man or preacher. I’ll only worship God.” G

Growing Greenup Quick Stops Smart Snacks – PART 2 – If you missed it, please read part 1 in last week’s paper! Anne Stephens For The Ashland Beacon Healthy Eating at Convenience Stores By: Heather Norman-Burgdolf and Anna Cason, Dietetics and Human Nutrition, and Laken Campbell, Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Convenience stores, often found attached to gas stations or within neighborhoods, are a reliable source of food in the community. In some areas, they may

I’ve Never Been Without Something To Love Loren Hardin For The Ashland Beacon Daisy enrolled in hospice services when she was ninety years old. Daisy was born in Kentucky, married when she was fifteen and shortly afterward, she and her husband moved to a farm in Pike County, Ohio. Daisy worked as a nurse aide, and her husband owned and operated a small sawmill. Daisy reflected, “We didn’t have much but I always wanted a real pearl necklace, and my husband sacrificed an