Almost every farmer has said this in one way or another, ?My life begins with the land.? Look at it any way you want, but this bedrock principle remains as it has for generations. Land ownership is the key to this business of farming and ranch?ing. Farmers are proud of the crops they grow and the land they work. From […]

More than 125 people attended the 69th annual Marion County Conservation District?s dinner and meeting. In addition to recognizing conservation award winners, Rex Buchanen, interim director of the Kansas Geological Survey?University of Kansas, was the guest speaker. Buchanen?s presentation, ?Recent Seismic Activity in the Midcontinent: Events and Responses,? focused on the possibility of earthquakes associated with saltwater disposal from hydraulic […]

Emma Noble. Photo Patty Decker / Free Press Emma Noble, a fourth grader at Hillsboro Elementary School, was the first-place winner in the poster contest sponsored by the Marion County Conservation District. Noble, along with the second- and third-place poster winners, was recognized during the annual meeting Saturday at Eastmoor United Metho?dist Church in Marion. Her poster will also be […]

Feb. 4 is World Cancer Day. This year Feb. 4 is my five-year ?cancerversary.? On this day in 2010 I was told I had stage IV anal cancer and an uncertain, and perhaps short, future. My husband and I reminisced about that morning over dinner last night. We had fried chicken and, as we were enjoying the less-than-healthy extra crispy […]