The stores and shopping centers glitter with Christmas from October to January. Santa and reindeer, tinsel and garlands, Christmas trees and poinsettias sit on the shelves calling for someone to buy them. Their message is clear: “Buy me and I will make your Christmas the best it has ever been.

Fires are awful occurrences; they leave you feeling demoralized and defeated. I submit that they are as bad as any natural disaster. After an earthquake, tornado or flood, there are often widespread calls for assistance and aid. In most cases of natural calamities, groups from across the nation pour in to help people get back to normal or as close as possible given the circumstances. A fire is an individual disaster, singularly devastating and frequently without the public call to help.

New Year’s Eve traditions vary all around the world, as customs are meant to encourage luck and prosperity or chase away evil spirits. In Holland, they toast with hot spiced wine. In Belgium, they exchange gifts.In Spain, they eat 12 grapes between the first and 12th stroke of midnight.

Her name’s on the note at the Valley Bank, boys Though she might have questioned the loan She signed her John Henry ’neath yours on the line And she will ’til the kids are all grown.

As part of my work here in the New York City Watershed, I visit a lot of family farms. Here in the Catskills, farms are relatively small, and the farm families have one or more family members employed off the farm.

Most online readers didn’t deviate from their usual schedule when they weaned their calves this year.

The King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management (KRIRM) hosted the 11th Annual Holt Cat Symposium on Excellence in Ranch Management, bringing together the top industry experts on sustainability to offer a more clear picture on sustainable beef production and discuss what this issue means to the beef industry’s future.