This week I had the honor to participate in Cumberland Horizon’s Heritage Day. This one-day event has been held for the past three years at the Crossville Community Complex and features a number of displays and events aimed at teaching and reminding us of our American heritage.

This is not a new thing. Since very early in our nation’s existence, we have sought to teach where we came from and what we went through to get here. Coming from around the globe, our people strove and suffered. They endured hardships and failures until by God’s grace they were delivered to a land of freedom and hope. Then they fought to keep it.

Cumberland County has worked to remember both the good and the bad. From Pioneer Days to Veteran’s Memorial statues, this town understands the investment our ancestors made to give us the lives we enjoy today.

The 2021 Heritage Day included a gospel music band – because despite what you see in America today, this land was founded by God-fearing people who were wanted a land where they could worship without persecution. There were displays of Revolutionary-War-era weapons, hand crafts, and of course local books. Homemade jellies and soaps were sold. And a ton of information was distributed about the beauty of unborn life, the American Constitution and the evolution of the American flag.

It’s obvious that I’m a fan of history. Well I am also a proponent of teaching and passing along history; events like Heritage Day are a great way to do both.

Whether you’ll spend the winter feeding stock or commuting to an office, the weather affects all of us. And this is the time of year we start looking down the winter road trying to predict how much cold, snowy-weather we’ll face.

There are lots of ways of predicting weather, and the nut crop is as reliable a method as any I suppose. If the Good Lord is supplying his little forest creatures for a hard winter, He’s done a fine job. There are a ton of acorns on the ground as well as hickory nuts. Right in my back yard, where the dog and cats keep the squirrels scared away, we are covered up with nuts. I took a little stroll through the woods just to see how many were still out – there were plenty there too.

Maybe you’ve heard the old adage that “even a blind hog gets an acorn sometimes”. When it comes to weather forecasting, that’s a pretty good description for me; yet even this blind hog can observe nature’s abundance. I’m putting it on my calendar right now to check back in and see how true this indicator holds.