More food labeling, not less, is needed

Given the sad state of affairs in today’s affairs of state – record federal budget deficits, record trade deficits, illegal domestic eavesdropping, the sale of key U.

Harvest is work for some, play for others

This season brings lots of work, though the work is tempered with the accomplishment of a year of planning and labor. As a kid, we saw the fun rather than the work at harvest time. While other kids were happily busy with raking leaves just to jump in to them, my sisters and I had

Politically contrasting opinions are OK

Reader recites quote and talks about Bush: “As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil they set out to destroy.”

Student life during the Depression

A new oral history project at the University of Illinois is helping to recover the routine and preserve the ordinary through the memories of Depression era undergraduates.

Rules put Ohio veal industry in jeopardy, some producers say

A petition has been signed by farmers who say they do not plan to be in business, under current proposals.

Winter is sneaking out the back door

How exciting! A chipmunk on the back porch! And six red-winged blackbirds! And snowdrops pushing through the snow! And robins galore splashing through the mini-lakes left by the melting ice! And a pair of geese establishing their territory, first in a swale in the pasture, then in a coppice where volunteer apple trees provide a

Are they superstitions, folk remedies or signs?

When I was a kid I’d hear some of the older farmers in the neighborhood talk of planting something by the dark of the moon, while other crops must be sown in the light of the moon. My own father and grandfather didn’t mention such requirements for farming operations so I never learned the ins

Agriculture changing as Marcellus Shale drilling gains ground

Tom Murphy, Penn State University extension educator for Lycoming County, sat down Jan. 26 for a one-on-one interview with the Farm and Dairy.

Murphy is co-director of the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.

Off-season activities to take up time

Hello again Steam enthusiasts. I hope you are all managing to keep warm in this frigid weather, if by steam or just hot air.

‘Wingmoms’ always have our backs

As we enter the thick of summer I find my kids, now teens, going in many different directions. Gone are the long hours spent blowing bubbles on the porch, sticky Popsicle drips and sandbox sand. These are the days of “Mom can I go / meet / do?” and “Mom I’ve got to work until