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Creating Seasonal Splendor in the Garden.
Gardens change costumes with the seasons, offering a year-round spectacle. Creating year-round garden interest is about understanding the cycle of seasons and choosing plants that will bloom in succession, providing constant color and texture. To begin, envision your...
Building Your First Garden Bed is Easy!
If you want to start a garden bed and never have before, it’s not as hard as you might think. First, location is paramount. Your new garden bed will need a spot that receives ample sunlight (at least six to eight hours a day) unless you plan to plant something that...
Time: A key element of investing
Who knows where the time goes? We’ve reached the end of another year, so it’s appropriate to reflect on the nature of time and how it affects us. And time certainly is a key element in the pursuit of your financial goals. As an investor, time can be your greatest...
What Charlie Brown tried to teach us
John B. Marek is a writer, farmer, outdoorsman and recovering economic developer. You can find his books at johnbmarek.com. The window on the mountain is presumably closed and locked. I am actually in The 'Ville (Statesville) today, spreading a little last-minute...
Garden Fitness Turns Gardening into a Workout
Gardening might seem like a serene, leisurely activity, but anyone who's spent a day weeding, planting, or turning compost knows it can also be a rigorous workout. In fact, for those looking to boost their fitness regimen, the garden offers a gym's worth of exercise...
Time for tax-loss harvesting?
It’s been a bumpy year for the financial markets — which means that some of your investments may have underperformed or lost value. Can you use these losses to your advantage? It’s possible. If you have some investments that have lost value, you could sell them to...
What’s on your ‘everyday carry’ list?
John B. Marek is a writer, farmer, outdoorsman and recovering economic developer. You can find his books at johnbmarek.com. The window on the mountain is closed tight this morning, as the storm system that dumped a couple of inches of rain (and a few snowflakes) this...
The Lazy Gardener: Low-Maintenance Plants for Busy People
The idyllic image of spending hours tending to our garden plots is often just that; an image. Enter the concept of the 'Lazy Gardener,' for busy folks that love plants but have little time to devote to them. This gardening philosophy is all about creating a beautiful,...
Consider these year-end financial moves
It won’t be long before we turn the page on 2023. But you still have time to make some financial moves that can pay off in 2024 — and beyond. Here are a few to consider: Review your progress toward your goals. Have you made progress toward your long-term goals...
Bowling for toast
John B. Marek is a writer, farmer, outdoorsman and recovering economic developer. You can find his books at johnbmarek.com. The window on the mountain is open today to a high in the mid-50s and mostly sunny skies – nice weather for the High Country in...
Oh, Dear! There’s Deer in my Garden!
In the twilight hours you might catch a glimpse of a gentle visitor amid the greenery in your garden. Scenic, bucolic, and… wait a minute? Is that deer eating your hydrangea like a salad bar!? The white-tailed deer, a common sight in many parts of the country, is both...
Don’t make mealtime a battlefield
John B. Marek is a writer, farmer, outdoorsman and recovering economic developer. You can find his books at johnbmarek.com. The window on the mountain is open an inch or two today, letting in the last of the brisk fall air before we are plunged into the deep freeze...