Martial arts have long been valued for building physical strength and skill as well as internal strength and discipline. Now, a growing body of research shows that the arts have even more far-reaching benefits—reducing stress, improving cardiovascular and neurologic health, and lessening inflammatory response.

If you know Ashland, you might think of hippies, open-mindedness, co-culture and free spirit. And that is exactly what Michelle Weinberg thought when she moved to the Rogue Valley five years ago.

If you’re looking for a heating and cooling system that provides high-level comfort with low impact on the environment, look into heat pump technology.

Jeff and Jan Pratt opened The Heat Pump Store in 2007 after Jeff joined with Bonneville Power Administration and Monmouth Power & Light to work on a pilot ductless heat pump project in Monmouth, Oregon.

Kung Food Kitchen is Ashland’s latest innovation in healthy eating. The brainchild of herbalist and acupuncturist Kara Miller, Kung Food Kitchen lets you go online, choose from among eight healthy basic items each week, combine them according to your diet and taste preferences, and have them delivered to your door.

Face it: for many of us, the words “You’ll need to go to the hardware store” set us into a tailspin of anxiety. The idea of wandering aisles of pipes, tubes, and miscellaneous metal objects with no clue to what we are searching for is not our idea of a Saturday morning well spent.