Wingard’s Market selected for June feature in National Publication

  June 21, 2023

Wingard’s Market’s Backyard Nature Center and innovative gardening concepts has been selected for the June edition of Garden Center Magazine’s “Spotted” feature. Tucked inside the newly expanded Wingard’s Produce Center,…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: business-services, conversations, environmental, hospitality, life, local-industry, marketing-and-communications, media, on-the-move, retail

Your Continental Divide

  June 15, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Something trendy comes along that’s annoying and you resist. Some manager at work decides to implement a new work procedure. You don’t like it. “C’mon now,…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move

Nothing ever happens the same way twice

  June 15, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   One of the great principles in life I learned from Aslan in one of the Chronicles of Narnia movies. Aslan is by far my favorite character…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

Rescuing Buster

  June 8, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   One day last week I was driving to work and as I came to an intersection in our neighborhood, there was a bulldog out in the…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

Life’s Healing Elixir

  June 8, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   A Sunday sojourn found me at Healing Springs near Blackville, South Carolina. There I stood on Gods Acre, property deeded to God. Palm Sunday it was,…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

If something is free

  June 2, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   Every summer I get to do a camp with a children’s home at Garden City Chapel.  One of the main reasons that Garden City Chapel (GCC) was…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

Drumming Up White Feathery Memories

  June 2, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Long before I moved to South Carolina, family vacation trips took us over Charleston’s “New Cooper River Bridge.” To be accurate, we drove over the Silas…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

Blink Book Review #1 – The Art of Calm by Roger Hutchison

  May 31, 2023

By Reba Hull Campbell Roger Hutchison’s recently released book “The Art of Calm” is the perfect mix of thought-provoking, immensely readable, practical and insightful helping bring new awareness to our…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

The perfect place to play & stay

  May 31, 2023

Do you remember vacationing as a child? Remember the freedom and excitement of exploring a new location with tantalizing adventures around every turn that kept you wanting more? From sights…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

When we are thankful

  May 25, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   Sorry there was no Friday email last week… was scrambling to get out of town to speak at a camp for a children’s home. I got…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

Highway 61 Revisited

  May 25, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   From 22,000 miles high, a satellite dropped an uncanny merging of highway and music into my path. XM Radio played the comedic ACME siren whistle that…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

Choosing to be entusiastic

  May 18, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   Back at a student session several years ago, after I had announced that snack break was over and it was time to get back at it,…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

Memories Of Zebco Reels & Red Wrigglers

  May 17, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   I drive west, Georgia bound, and pass it yet again, a place that pulls at my heart. My father had a worm farm, and my grandfather’s…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

Keep your shoulders pointed forward

  May 10, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   Just yesterday, I re-watched some film clips of Earl Campbell.  If you don’t know who Earl Campbell is, he was a running back in the NFL for…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts

Behind The Lens

  May 10, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Thirty-seven years ago I wrote “Worth The Wait,” a feature on photographing wildlife. South Carolina Wildlife magazine photographers Ted Borg, Robert Clark, and Phillip Jones gave…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, the-arts

20 Lessons Learned: From Diploma to Today

  May 10, 2023

By Reba Hull Campbell   ‘Tis the season for college graduations. USC’s recent graduation weekend makes me realize I walked across the Carolina Coliseum stage 40 years ago to pick…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: advice, life, on-the-move

Desi Banks announces the Purpose Chaser Tour

  May 8, 2023

Tickets Go On-Sale Friday, May 12 at 10 am local Comedian Desi Banks announced today he’ll bring the Purpose Chaser Tour to the Koger Center for the Arts in Columbia, SC on…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: entertainment, life, on-the-move

We’re Sending You To …

  May 3, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   In the 1960s my father visited the Central State Hospital in Georgia. He may have gone to visit a relative. I recall a heated family gathering…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

The glories of “no”

  May 3, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   The “no’s” of life can also be glorious. None of us like a “no.”  There is the feeling of rejection, dejection, deflation, frustration, and extreme disappointment.  (And the…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

Automatic faucets

  April 27, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   Have been on the road a lot this week and have hit quite a few rest areas and quite a few truck stops… and quite a…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

The Joy Of Scholarships

  April 26, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland After high school I hoped to land a scholarship to play football. I played first unit on the junior varsity team and started three years on the…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

The Home Place

  April 19, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   It’s a scene Normal Rockwell would have liked. We see an old hand-dug well, a corncrib, and an outhouse. A fine old cedar leans back as…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz   Category: life, non-profit, the-arts

The Green Of Winter

  April 13, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   Pine pollen yellows my deck, but the green of winter colors my thoughts. Two things I like about winter. One, winter’s cold bones lay the land…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

Receiving and trusting

  April 13, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   Last August, I was with a children’s home heading back on I-40 East. We were coming from Arkansas where we had had a great week at…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

Just taking it all in

  April 6, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   On Tuesday night, I was at a Board meeting for Our Place of Hope.  It was in a new spot for us… in the facility of a…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

Thirty Years—The Mountains To The Sea

  April 6, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   I remember the year well. 1984. It was my first year working as a staff writer for South Carolina Wildlife. I had just spent six years…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, non-profit, the-arts

A perspective of honor

  March 30, 2023

By Jeff Becraft   On their 50th wedding anniversary (they were married 68 years), my Dad gave my Mom a Lincoln Town Car. My Mom had grown up during the…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

A Walk In Winter Woods

  March 29, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland   I like boardwalks. Those that take you through protected natural areas. Several come to mind. The lovely boardwalk at Woods Bay takes you 1,150 feet through…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

New rankings show healthiest and least healthy counties in South Carolina

  March 29, 2023

Beaufort County ranks the healthiest in South Carolina and Allendale is the least healthy county in the state, according to new County Health Rankings data from the University of Wisconsin…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz   Category: conversations, health-care, life, on-the-move

Why I love the gym

  March 27, 2023

One man’s reflections on his penultimate past-time By W. Thomas Smith Jr. I LOVE THE GYM, which is why it baffles me when people regularly work-out at the gym yet…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move

We Need Tree Scholars

  March 23, 2023
Tom Poland

By Tom Poland The January-February 2023 issue of South Carolina Wildlife magazine ran my story on Edgefield County’s Curryton Magnolia. The old tree’s close to being a state record magnolia…

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Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts

Making adjustments

  March 22, 2023

By Jeff Becraft Years ago, I was coaching an 11-13 year old basketball team in an inner-city neighborhood. We were a .500 team during the regular season… but that is…

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Posted in: midlandsbiz   Category: life, on-the-move