This column will wrap up March 2023 and another month down in history. It’s unbelievable how fast time goes.

Yesterday we finished up with the rest of the beef. My husband Joe, son Joseph, and sons-in-law Tim and Dustin had dressed two beefs on March 11—that was the day we heard Aunt Lovina passed away. We waited to start on ours until we were back from Ohio. Dustin and Loretta split half of their beef with his brother Clint and Hannah. Clint picked up their two quarters and Dustins cut up their meat here. We had a lot of nice hamburger and steaks to fill our freezer. I canned some beef chunks, and now I want to make beef jerky today. We had another cold spell, which was nice to keep the beefs chilled. This puts an end to our butchering for this season. It sure is a relief to be done, but it is such a blessing to be able to have meat in the freezer and in cans.

April showers bring May flowers! There is a lot blooming at the library this month. The library will close at noon on Friday, April 7 for Good Friday. National Library Week is April 23-29, stop by and celebrate your library. National Library Workers Day is Tuesday, April 25, so give your favorite library worker a smile. Earth Day is April 22. Check out the library on Yodel, and be sure to like and follow.

This year a common question is how to control common insect pests of crops and vegetables, a task that is becoming more difficult. Farmers who use seed treatments and broad-spectrum insecticides to terminate pests generally also terminate the beneficial natural predators. Some common Ohio corn and soybeans pests include soybean cysts nematodes, stink bug, wireworm, seed corn maggot, black cutworm, and true armyworm.

PAULDING – Tickets go on sale Tuesday, March 28, for John Paulding Historical Society’s upcoming Spring Tea.

Ray and Maxine (Elston) Treece of Paulding will be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary on April 11, 2023. They met while attending school at Latty, Ohio.

Whenever I travel, I’m always on the lookout for the unusual. Sometimes it’s something that I’m not personally familiar with and other times I see things that are just flat-out odd. I find a unique beauty in most of them, whether it’s a plant with peculiar characteristics, geological features I’ve never seen before, or a piece of art that might not appeal to most, but it speaks to me.

My mother has enjoyed growing flowers nearly her entire life and she has made beautiful gardens in every place she’s lived. In each of them, she has had at least one dogwood tree. It was a white one that I remember from over fifty years ago when she showed me the symbolism found within its blooms.

“Be Prepared” is a phrase that was hammered into me at a young age through Boy Scouts. It is the Boy Scout motto, instructing me to always be ready, in mind and body, to do my duty. Being prepared meant having enough water for a hike or packing the proper clothes for a camping trip. I learned simple first aid, how to start a fire, and how to use a knife. Simple activities helped me to “be prepared.” It was a valuable lesson.