DARDANELLE, Ark. - Bug spray shouldn’t be the automatic first response when insects seek the warmth of your home as cooler temperatures dominate outdoors, says Van Banks, Yell County extension agent for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

“It can be annoying when beetles, box elder bugs, crickets, stinkbugs, spiders or any of the various other million or so different insect pests invade your home this time…[more]

Many people who buy cordwood for their home wood stoves admit they don’t understand the transfer process. Some dealers talk in terms of a “rick,” a “rank” or a “pickup load.”

Others mention a “face cord” and still others talk in terms of a cord or fractions of a cord. Sometimes the definitions vary from dealer to dealer and from locality to locality.

“We would like…[more]

As a way to help retail and wholesale businesses and the public find treated wood products in Missouri, the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) today announced a new tool in making that search easier. The searchable treated timber database located on MDA’s Web site at http://www.mda.mo.gov provides many benefits including ensuring timber dealers are purchasing treated wood products from licensed wood treaters, provides dealers with the ability to search…[more]

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - As with other petroleum products, the projected cost of home heating this winter has triggered interest in using firewood. An unusual number of trees were downed during storms in 2008, creating an abundance of this renewable heat source.

Grandpa’s philosophy on firewood was to produce two heatings! The first came each summer when he loaded up a half-dozen grandsons to cut, split and haul firewood.…[more]

To folks in the Ozarks, they are either a nuisance or gold. It’s time for black walnut trees to begin shedding their fruit and many Ozarkers will be out there rounding up as many as they possibly can.

Those that see the green, slightly-larger-than-a-golf-ball sized spheres as a nuisance probably just have one or two trees on the property and have to pick up the nut and hull…[more]

The following is a press release from a company in in Oldcastle, Ireland, that has invented something we could actually all USE… a robotic lawnmower that cuts the grass without your help!

“A MOWER which cuts the grass by itself is being marketed by a co Meath entrepreneur Patrick McCann. Patrick, who hails from Oldcastle, has an impressive track record when it comes to innovative technology. Back in…[more]

Kansas City, MO - Extreme summer heat is costly-in both energy and human terms. Strained by rising energy costs, companies and individuals ardently seek ways to keep cool and save money. Simultaneously, “green” and sustainable energy solutions are in demand.

The radically higher cost of fuel is forcing building owners, facilities managers, architects and contractors to seek innovative ways to reduce costs while securing environmentally responsible construction and…[more]

The Little Rock City Beautiful Commission is requesting nominations for the 2008 City Beautiful Landscape Awards.

The Judging Criteria are: Landscape design must exceed the minimum ordinance requirements; Site maintenance must be above average with year-round interest; the project must display sensitive treatment of site grading and circulation design; landscape design…[more]

LITTLE ROCK - The upcoming nationwide switch to digital broadcasting has been cause for concern for people currently receiving free analog television.

At midnight on February 19, all television broadcasts in the United States will convert from analog to digital, which may cause thousands of sets across Arkansas to go black.

“The vast majority of Arkansans won’t notice the change to digital television. Anyone who subscribes…[more]

ST. LOUIS, MO – The Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today a national takedown of mortgage fraud schemes, the culmination of substantial coordinated efforts during the last three and a half months to identify, arrest and prosecute mortgage fraud violators through the United States. Operation Malicious Mortgage highlights the strong enforcement response undertaken by the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners to combat…[more]