Try this recipe at home! You have all the ingredients, and you can cook it slow or fast. When it’s done you have good, nutritious food in the form of nutritious soil that feeds your plants with a healthy diet. If you’re growing vegetables, they will return the favor and nourish you with healthier produce than big agriculture can provide.

Celebrate Earth Day

• Celebrate the annual migration of the sicklefin redhorse, a crucial fish species in the Hiwassee River Valley with an educational viewing Thursday, April 22, at Welch Farm in Marble, hosted by Mainspring Conservation Trust and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Attend at 8 a.m. or 6 p.m. to watch aquatic biologists tag the many fish that will be caught in fyke nets in the Valley River. For directions, visit www.mainspringconserves.org/be-a-mainspring/properties/welch-farm.

By Susan Mahoney, CNO/Clinical Leader, Haywood Regional Medical Center

Life has changed in ways both big and small over the last year. Plans were suspended and priorities shifted as we cautiously made our way through a situation that we had never experienced, much less imagined would happen.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and here are some staggering statistics about how child abuse impacts children, their families and their future.

By Hannah Minick • Guest Columnist | To say that we are currently living in unprecedented times is an understatement, and it is absolutely true. If there is one thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught me, it is that we are all connected and what affects one of us affects all of us. As we have learned, the time period we are in requires innovative and collaborative community solutions as we move forward together, through the multitude of issues and challenges we collectively face. I believe it is imperative for our community, Haywood County, to continue to proactively implement evidence-based community interventions.   

To the Editor:

Since last Earth Day the Atlantic hurricane season saw a record number of storms and the rapid intensification of storms. Dry conditions and record temperatures in the West produced one of the worst fire seasons ever. Sea level rises and entire villages have to relocate. 

To the Editor:

Why do we do it? Why do stand out in the rain, wind, snow, and hot sun for eight hours (sometimes more)? Who are we?

To the Editor:

While lawmakers at the federal level stall on a $15 per hour minimum wage, let’s remember that we don’t have to wait. We can do what 29 other states have done and raise our state minimum wage. We just need the political will to do it.  

Western North Carolina teenager Evy Leibfarth will represent the United States in the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo this year after placing first in two Olympic Team Trials competitions last week. 

Despite a continued pause on distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and flagging demand for appointments, the past week saw continued progress on local vaccination rates and a reversal of the upward trend in confirmed cases.

Mountain Heritage Day, the festival of cultural traditions presented by Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, is again being planned as a live, in-person event on Saturday, Sept. 25.

Leigh Forrester, who served as executive director of the Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) for four years has announced her retirement, effective May 31. 

Q: Are there herbal teas that I could drink that will help with weight gain during pre-menopause or menopause?

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year is extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021.  It is estimated that one in five people have unclaimed Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) monies available to them, that can only be accessed through filing taxes.

FRANKLIN – For the first time in its five-year history, the national veteran and Gold Star organization Special Liberty Project, which expanded here in September, completed an onsite Vitality Retreat on its own property. 

For up-to-date info on local brewery and restaurant shows, be sure to check the A&E section of the SMN Calendar regularly. Here is a list of upcoming shows, and venues that are open for live music.

Women have made slow progress in attaining corporate executive roles, but once reaching that level, their pay is typically less than men in similar leadership positions, a new study reports. 

The road to financial security, like many long journeys toward important goals, can be filled with ups and downs. The financial markets can be volatile, shaking up your short-term investment results, and illness or downsizing may temporarily disrupt your career – and your earnings. In fact, just 46% of adults feel financially stable, according to a survey by Morning Consult and Edward Jones. Still, there’s much you can do to gain stability – and you can chart your progress by marking three important milestones:

An online public hearing at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, will take input on terms of a proposed wastewater permit for Blue Ridge Paper in Canton. 

Equinox Ranch will welcome combat veterans to its inaugural program this June. 

A 91-acre area known as the Roan Mountain Gateway is now in U.S. Forest Service ownership after the Southern Appalachians Highlands Conservancy recently transferred it to public ownership. 

An outdoor sculpture showcase now up in the N.C. Arboretum’s gardens will showcase the work of 17 local and national artists through Sept. 26. 

WaysSouth, a regional nonprofit organization working to protect the unique heritage and environment of the Southern Appalachians by promoting sustainable transportation practices, commends the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the final proposal put forward for the Corridor K highway expansion project.

To the Editor:

President Joe Biden has recently made very appropriate reference to the need for strengthened gun control legislation.

To the Editor:

I read the March 30 article “Senator Corbin again leads health care push.” The article makes clear that North Carolina needs elected officials to support actual Medicaid expansion that would provide health care insurance to people who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid but too little to qualify for a marketplace subsidy. That is about 600,000 North Carolinians. The N.C. General Assembly has voted multiple times against Medicaid expansion. 

To the Editor:

Although I am not a resident of your area, I am very grateful for your articles on the proposed Catawba Casino in Cleveland County. Contrary to the perception given by our local media, there are a number of people in our county opposed to this casino.

To the Editor:

Calling Ken Burns! Calling Ken Burns! We need you to get busy on a new documentary. It should cover two current movements in America. 

To the Editor:

I’m a citizen and voter from Sylva, and we all know it’s time to put an end to the filibuster, a Jim Crow relic that was created to undermine our voice as voters and slow progress on critical issues. Historically, it’s a loophole to block civil rights legislation and now means that 60 out of 100 senators have to vote for almost all legislation.

Staff caring for patients at Swain Community Hospital have won the Blue-Ribbon Award presented to departments receiving the highest scores on patient satisfaction surveys. The patient surveys are part of the National Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems measurement administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is the highest award the state of North Carolina can bestow upon an individual. It is awarded to individuals who have shown extraordinary service to the state.

Do you think a low or no carbohydrate diet is safe?

Haywood County Health and Human Services have received notice of another COVID-19 death, bringing the total number now to 95.

A Franklin man admitted in Macon County Superior Court to forcing his way into a woman’s house and sexually assaulting her, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said this week.

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said a Franklin man admitted this week in court to sexually abusing a child. He will serve at least nine years in prison.

Dear anyone that has owned a pet — As you walk into your house, screaming at the top of your lungs, grunting and cursing the world — your pet greets you with its tail wagging so hard she literally piddles on herself (and the floor) as she jumps on you like you are the best thing since raw meat.

Man or woman’s best friend, as cheeky as your pup might be, they’ll never let you down when it counts and they’re the one creature who is always overjoyed to see you. So don’t you think you owe them a birthday celebration that will have them jumping up and down and round and round?

The WNC Historical Association's 2020 Outstanding Achievement Award will be presented to Ann Miller Woodford for her work preserving and promoting the history of African American people in far western North Carolina at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 18 via Zoom.

Often we hear that different vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements may help with everything from our skin elasticity to gut health and from joint pain  to the symptoms of the cold or flu.

The N.C. Arboretum in Asheville will resume offering guided trail walks this spring, with groups setting off at 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays April 10 through Oct. 30. 

A targeted law enforcement effort aiming to combat litter resulted in 37 stops including 25 verbal warnings and 13 citations on the northbound Spur of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park March 28-29.

By Martin Dyckman • Guest Columnist | A political party that stakes its future on allowing fewer people to vote does not deserve a future. A democracy that accommodates such a party will not have a future.

That is our nation’s present crisis, 234 years after the Constitutional Convention created a government with no prescribed role for political parties.

To the Editor:

Sylva is a beautiful small town. It is its small-town charm and beautiful surroundings that brings people to Sylva and it is what keeps them here. As a 22-plus year resident of Sylva, it is my passionate belief that the four-story, 84-apartment building project that is being proposed at 710 Skyland Drive does not fit with the statement in the 2040 Land Use Plan (2020) Overview that “Sylva is poised to take advantage of and build upon these assets by planning for and promoting growth while maintaining its small-town form and character.”

A Buncombe County man pleaded guilty April 6 to two counts of first-degree statutory sexual offense and four counts of indecent liberties with a child, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said.

More than 16 months after animal cruelty allegations were filed against Haywood resident James Lunsford, justice has finally been served. 

Students enrolled in Haywood County Schools’ exceptional children’s program will soon have a new home at no taxpayer expense. 

By Theresa Ramsey • Guest writer | The Women’s History Trail project of the Folk Heritage Association of Macon County adopted an activity in 2018 that continues each March as a part of Women’s History Month. 

This annual celebratory event honors a special “WHT Macon Matriarch” and her role as trailblazer to help shape a better future for Macon County.

Western Carolina University’s regional COVID-19 vaccine clinic will deliver its 10,000th vaccine to a student around 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7. 

Western Carolina University’s Special and Digital Collections at Hunter Library has digitized a collection of interviews conducted between 1986-1989 with Black residents from Western North Carolina, all of whom were older than 69 at the time.