Opinion

This week over 300 million people celebrate Thanksgiving in America, If you Google thanksgiving origins, you will find a mass of historical information regarding the start of a holiday we relegate to big meals and family gatherings. From harvest festivals to pilgrims, there is an abundance of information that gives an idea of how this holiday started. On a spiritual level, our holiday is only a shadow of a profound reality. The truth is that Thanksgiving started before America was ever born...

The Gaylon Lawrence family is reported by my sources to be the second largest farmland owner in the U.S., behind Bill Gates. When the Lawrence Group began buying farmland here in northwest Iowa this year, the first blush was that Delta LLC sounded corporate and therefore how are they circumventing Iowa's limitation of corporate ownership buying farmland? The answer is that the Laurence Group is not Cargill, Monsanto or John Deere … it’s the Lawrence family. ...

November is National Adoption Month. At my organization, Lutheran Services in Iowa, we take this time to celebrate the families who create bright futures for children in need of adoptive forever homes. But this year, we also want to spend this month raising awareness for the 780 Iowa children waiting to be adopted...

Last week, I had a reader ask me if I would bring back a holiday from a couple of years ago. As we move past Thanksgiving and turn our attention to Christmas and all of its associated feelings, spiritual celebrations and yes, bustling commercialism, I want to remind everyone of the need so many people face — hunger...

My family and I will be hosting Thanksgiving this year and if you’ve hosted before, you probably know about the days and weeks of prep leading up to hosting. On my “still-to-do” list this year is: organize the refrigerator, thaw the turkey, buy final groceries and keep an immaculate house while living with small children. I think for today, I will focus on the first three items on my list. Thankfully, the ISU Extension and Outreach website is here to help!...

Last holiday season, with the pandemic putting the brakes on the traditional totems of the holiday — big gatherings, Christmas parties with friends and trips to visit family far away, I put my mind to things which the COVID crisis hadn’t taken away...

I was recently invited to join Bob Milford, manager of the prestigious Diamond W Ranch, on a drive-around tour of the place. It’s a huge, private ranch, with tiny ex-logging roads winding around through 13,000 acres of pine trees and rocks. A real paradise...

Give the gift of spring this winter to gardeners and nongardeners alike. A pot of tulips, daffodils or other spring flowering bulbs is sure to brighten a dreary winter day and elevate the recipient’s mood. Spring flowering bulbs need 12 to 15 weeks of temperatures between 35 and 45 degrees to initiate flowering. This happens naturally in areas with cold winters. Bulbs are planted in the fall, receive the chill they need and add welcome color to the spring garden...

It's been more than five years since I first shyly slunk into a Clay County Board of Supervisors meeting with pen and paper at the ready. I don't know how many public meetings I've attended in our region since that day, but I'd say it's more than the average bear. And I was glad to have been present when something small but important happened at the most recent Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting...

Have you ever heard someone say, “Your breath stinks”? I don’t know about you, but that’s somewhat offensive to hear. True? Maybe! Even likely, but certainly not the words of affirmation that we “words” people like to hear. Over the past year, wearing masks has caused me to smell my own breath more than I care to!...

Last week the Clay County Sheriff’s Office allowed deputies in uniform to use the sheriff cars while they were being paid by a private entity. That private business was Summit Carbon Solutions and we had already refused their request to survey our land. Do our off-duty law enforcement officers have the right to use the county’s assets to intimidate us, as private citizens, on our own land?...

Two large-scale carbon capture pipeline systems are seeking permits to build their pipelines across the state of Iowa. Summit Carbon Solutions LLC and Navigator CO2 Ventures LLC both want to install over 1,000 miles of pipeline in Iowa. The basic premise of the lines is to carry captured carbon in liquid form from ethanol plants to be stored underground at capped sequestration points in North Dakota and Illinois, respectively. ...

It is almost Thanksgiving, and many may be saying aloud, or to themselves, "What do I have to be thankful about in 2021?" Depending on your point of view, plenty! There's the view that Thanksgiving Day is the start to a long weekend. It is always a Thursday, meaning you can watch the NFL starting at 10:30, with the Bears at the Lions. ...

In response to Jane Shuttleworth, I must say that people who cross our national border illegally are already criminals if only because they crossed our border. These people are not “immigrants,” not “asylum seekers.” They are thwarting our laws. Our current government is not doing their job of securing our borders against invasion. ...

Much has been written on the editorial pages of newspapers across the land concerning divisive, carping, negative behavior and verbiage. Would that those prone to such behavior observed World Kindness Day, which we celebrated this year on Nov. 13. In doing so, one is encouraged to remember that compassion for others is what binds us all together. ...