As I waited with my cup of tea for a webinar to begin, I jotted down what I knew about our National Agricultural Library. It belongs to Americans. It is related to the science of agriculture. And it’s a storehouse of valuable information.

I had no idea what that all entails. The USDA National Agricultural Library is one of five national ...Read more

If you’ve followed this column for a while, you know this is the week when I get to share jokes and groaners that may even be remotely related to food.

And as I can’t remember a funny story any longer than I have time to laugh, these have been gathered from various sources (with a few personal edits).

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A sandwich walks into a bar. The...Read more

We’ve identified Easter with eggs for a very long time, according to historians.

Ever wonder why? Through the ages, eggs were gifted to others in the spring to celebrate the season of new growth. And if you’ve ever witnessed a baby chick emerging from its shell, you can see how eggs eventually became a symbol of new life celebrated by ...Read more

We may joke about the prep involved for a colonoscopy (an exam for abnormal changes in the large intestine). But cancers of the colon or rectum are no laughing matter. In fact, when you combine the cancer death rates of men and women, colorectal cancer is now the second deadliest cancer in the United States, according to the American Cancer ...Read more

Our horses don’t adjust well to the water when we take them away from home. So I’ve experimented with some advice from seasoned horse travelers. Common guidance is to add something that will make the strange water taste more palatable.

Horses often refuse to drink when they are away from home, according to horse specialists at the ...Read more

We’re out horse camping in the Hill Country of Texas. And since this is our second year here with horses and dogs in tow, we are officially what locals here call “Winter Texans.” At least for the next few weeks, we’re off the grid…but not really.

We have electricity and running water, woo-hoo! And we are surviving without television ...Read more

It’s only about the size of your fist. Yet it pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood throughout your body every day. If you could stretch out the complex network of blood vessels in your body through which your heart pumps oxygen and nutrients, it would extend over 60,000 miles.

Pretty amazing, these hearts of ours. And pretty sad when they get ...Read more

I wish everyone could have the same airport experience we get each time we fly out of our hometown (population 8,000). Mind you, we only have two flights a day and the plane only seats nine people. So the service we get is first-class.

Recently, when we arrived for our early morning flight, we got our usual friendly greeting from TSA agents.

�...Read more

Historians credit Richard Cadbury, son of chocolatier John Cadbury, with the invention in 1861 of heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolates. The box—after the candy was consumed—was intended to store sentimental love letters or locks of hair, which were common practices in the Victorian era.

Of course chocolate has been around much longer ...Read more

Call it brain freeze. These past weeks of painfully cold weather seemed to freeze my mind as well as my feet. I shouldn’t have complained. The frigid weather gave us time to get projects done in the house. But it also made me feel a bit grouchy…for no particular reason.

Once the weather warmed so my nose hairs didn’t freeze when I went ...Read more

A column on probiotics brought this response from Don S. in Arizona: “One of my docs thinks supplements are important, the other thinks they are worthless. A continuing mystery until I read your quiz. My question: How do I know my (probiotic) supplements are alive? The capsules are kept at room temp for up to 4 weeks and the predelivery ...Read more

John T. reads this column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and writes about his experience with COVID-19: “I had minimal symptoms with the exception of my loss of taste and smell. I am a little concerned as it is approaching 8 weeks since I have been negative for COVID and I have never recovered from my loss of taste and smell. Will this just ...Read more