The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
(Vol. 19 No. 26)
IN THIS ISSUE...
WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
I share with you a couple thoughts this morning. The first coming
from the message conveyed in the sermon on Sunday morning, and the
second a quote from a noted American educator, Benjamin Elijah Mays. The
message from the sermon extends well beyond any religious beliefs, and
rather a way in which to look at your daily work towards its
fulfillment.
Simply stated, "focus on the trip, and
less on the destination." Another common quote is "stop and take time to
smell the roses." And yet another image is one of taking the back roads
and staying off the interstate highway. Those educators who focus on the
excitement of and passion for the journey and all that can be seen,
heard, smelled, tasted or touched, in a learning process will convey
that excitement to those learning with them. We affectionately call this
experiential learning. People are naturally attracted to persons who are
passionate in their quest to learn and understand, to observe and ask
questions, to allow their curiosity to instill learning along the way. I
sincerely hope for each of you that you take the time to focus on the
trip, enjoy what's happening around you, observe, seek understanding,
and allow your enthusiasm and passion to become a part of your daily
life as an educator.
And, I love this series of quotes from a
great American educator, teacher, preacher, scholar, and activist in the
civil rights movement.
"The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not
reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It
isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled. It is a calamity not
to dream.... It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars. It is a
disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is
sin." --Benjamin Elijah Mays,
American educator and president of Morehouse College (1895-1984)
Have a great week! --Daryl Buchholz
dbuchhol@ksu.edu
2013 AGROFORESTRY FIELD DAY
On Wednesday, May 8, Kansas Forest Service
is sponsoring an Agroforestry Field Day at Dave and Mary Hendrick's Farm
in WaKeeney. The
purpose of the field day is to provide landowners, farmers, ranchers
and natural resource professionals the opportunity to learn
science-based information regarding design, function, management, and
benefits of trees and shrubs within contemporary agricultural systems
for a variety of purposes. This year's field day focuses upon practices
that improve wildlife habitat. Topics
include: an Overview of Hendrick's Farm and Wildlife Conservation; Tree
Health Threats; Creating Mule Deer Habitat; Lesser Prairie Chicken
Habitat; Water Quality Concerns in Western Kansas; Managing for Upland
Birds from the Landowner's Perspective; Windbreak renovation, Assessment
& Funding Projects; Creating a Burn Plan for Prairie.
Registration
is $10, lunch provided. Mail registrations to Leslye Haller, Kansas Forest Service, 2610 Claflin Rd., Manhattan, KS 66502.
Call 785-532-3300, or email lahaller@ksu.edu if you have questions or need more information. Or you can visit our website to see a copy of the brochure at https://www.kansasforests.org/news/calendar.shtml.
Hope to see you all there! --Leslye Haller lahaller@ksu.edu
NAVIGATING DIFFERENCE - DEADLINE APPROACHING TO REGISTER FOR COLBY TRAINING
This is a reminder that the Navigating Difference training will be held May 22-23, at the Colby Holiday Inn Express. The training is open to all KSRE employees across the state. The Colby registration deadline is May 15, so go to one of the following websites to register: http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/employee_resources/p.aspx?tabid=206 or http://goo.gl/WsWcr.
If you are interested in the Salina training on November 13-14, go to the above websites to register at any time.
Questions about Navigating Difference, contact Zelia Wiley, zwiley@ksu.edu; Charlotte Shoup Olsen, colsen@ksu.edu; or any one of the other KSRE trainers, (Debra Bolton, Nozella Brown, Melinda Daily, Lehisa de Fornoza, Dale Fjell, Linda Lamb, Paula Peters, Brian Rees, Deryl Waldren, and Stacey Warner). --Charlotte Shoup Olsen
TWO SUSTAINABLE AG TOURS SCHEDULED
"Managing Drought on the Ranch" is the theme of a tour of Alexander Ranch near Medicine Lodge scheduled for 10 a.m., Saturday, May 11, at the ranch 19 miles west of Medicine Lodge on Highway 160. Alexander Ranch covers 7,000 acres and has flourished as a custom-grazing operation for nearly 30 years. Learn about practices used at the ranch to improve and maintain environmental quality. Speakers include Ted Alexander, ranch owner; David Kraft and Dwayne Rice, NRCS. Registration fee is $10 payable to the Kansas Graziers Association. To make a reservation contact Mary Howell with KGA at kfumary@gmail.com.
"Mom, Apple Pie, and Conservation Tour: Women Caring for the Land" is the theme of a northeast Kansas bus tour on Wednesday, May 15, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Registration and bus loading/unloading will be at the Glacial Hills Enterprise Center, corner of Kansas and 2nd Streets, Wetmore, KS. The tour is for women landowners, widows or heirs, farmers, ranchers, or any woman interested in learning more about conservation resource protection. Tour stops are in Brown, Jackson, and Nemaha Counties highlighting alternative stock watering, management intensive grazing and grass management, riparian filter strips and wildlife habitat, cover crops, no till, and stream bank stabilization practices. Pre-registration is encouraged before May 10 for free lunch. Registrations accepted by the Kansas Rural Center, 785-873-3431, ksrc@rainbowtel.net. Sponsors are the Delaware River WRAPS, Brown, Jackson and Nemaha Conservation Districts, Kansas Rural Center, KACD, and Glacial Hills RC&D. --Kerri Ebert kebert@ksu.edu
ALL KANSAS PRIDE COMMUNITIES ARE INVITED TO APPLY FOR 2013-2014 GET IT - DO IT! GRANT
At the recent Kansas PRIDE Day in
Wilson, the 2013-2014 round of Get It – Do It! grant applications was
announced. All Kansas PRIDE communities are eligible to apply for Get
It-Do It! PRIDE grants of up to $2,000.
Prior to this new funding announcement, Get It - Do It! grants exclusively supported health promotion activities conducted by youth-adult partnerships. The revised focus of the new Get It - Do It! grants supports the Kansas PRIDE goal of building leadership in rural communities especially among youth and young adults. New Get It - Do It! grants will support youth and adult
partnerships to plan and implement projects that strengthen rural youth leadership and that build a community's social and human capital.
The grant opportunity is sponsored by K-State
Research and Extension in cooperation with Partners in PRIDE, and is administered by
Kansas PRIDE and the K-State Research and Extension School of
Family Studies and Human Services (FSHS). FSHS Extension personnel will provide awarded communities
training and technical support during the project.
Grant applications will be accepted from May 1 to
August 15, 2013. Applications are available on line at the Kansas PRIDE website from
the Resources tab, then Funding: http://www.kansasprideprogram.ksu.edu/pride/prideresources/welcome.htm.
For more information, contact Trudy Rice, Kansas
PRIDE Coordinator, at trice@ksu.edu; Jaime Menon at the PRIDE office, jmenon@ksu.edu, 785-532-5840; or Elaine
Johannes, Get It-Do It program director and youth development Extension
specialist, at ejohanne@ksu.edu or 785-532-7720. --Elaine Johannes
DIVERSITY PROGRAMS OFFICE UPDATE
The Diversity Programs Office (DPO) had a very productive semester that we would like to share with you. The Kansas State MANRRS Chapter celebrated their 10th year anniversary, the 150 years of Kansas State University, and will continue to celebrate the DPO’s 10th year. We appreciate your continuous support of the MANRRS chapter and the DPO. There was a student delegation of 18 who attended the MANRRS Conference in Sacramento, CA and many of them participated in research contests or the quiz bowl.
It has been a busy but successful year for the K-State MANRRS Chapter. For the final meeting of the year the chapter hosted Dr. Dexter Wakefield, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, National FFA and President of the National Society of MANRRS. For this meeting, the K-State MANRRS chapter opened its chapter meeting featuring Dr. Wakefield to the Ag Education Club and Kansas FFA members. The meeting was well attended and offered helpful insights from Dr. Wakefield. This meeting also featured the installation of the K-State MANRRS chapter newly elected executive board for 2013-2014 school year by Dr. Wakefield. We would like to congratulate our new executive board for the upcoming school year as they take on these new roles of responsibility. Our officer training will be hosted by Cargill, Ag Horizons, Topeka, on May 10, 2013.
The Diversity Programs Office and MANRRS are working on hosting the 2013 Kansas City Cluster Workshop. The event will be held on the Olathe campus in the fall. The workshop will host the region IV of MANRRS. Stay tuned as we work out more of the details involving this event.
The DPO is preparing for the summer as we will be hosting the KSRE Multicultural Fellows Research Program which will take place June 3-July 27, as well as Multicultural Academic Success Program (MAPS) which begins June 15-July 27. The College of Agriculture will have 10 MAPS participants out of the 42 total. We cannot wait for the summer programs to begin!
Finally, the DPO will be partnering with Kansas State Research and Extension as we continue the Navigating Difference trainings. The next training will be held in Colby, May 22-23. You may contact the DPO for more information or to register for this training.
We wish you well as the year ends. Good Luck on Finals and have a GREAT Summer! --Zelia Wiley zwiley@ksu.edu
KARL CLASS XI TRIP TO PERU #7
We were ending day #5 when we boarded the Tarapotovia TACA Airlines to head north to Tarapoto, the center of spiritual passion, as one sign stated. Tarapoto, a thriving city, is the largest in the high jungle plateau of San Martin in the Upper Amazon. I don’t think I have mentioned before that we were privileged enough to have a lovely cultural guide, Kansas State University’s very own, Elsa Toburen. She hails from Tarapoto, and traveled with us as an educational, ethnic, and cultural guide. I’ll talk about Elsa’s treat to us later. After an hour-long flight from Lima, we arrived in the rain and went to our hotel to get a good night’s sleep.
We began Day #6 with a lovely breakfast before heading out to the Cascadas Ahuashiyacu (singing waterfall). We climbed 182 steps to the waterfall (cascadas), which was 131 feet long. The fall is located on the hill, La Escalera (The stairs). Along the way, we saw lovely geology surrounded by a variety of flora (ferns, orchids, and trees). The Fauna consisted of fast little frogs, and magnificent butterflies. They were too quick for good photos. The steps leading from the fifth (5th) floor to the top of the Kansas Statehouse number 296, so our walk up 182 steps was not as steep and had fewer stairs. It was the greatest of fun.
Once we arrived to the top, we took turns taking pictures behind, under, or in front of the falls. It was exhilarating being in the cool mist of the water. Remember, we were in the jungle, and the average humidity hangs around 70% when it’s not raining.
One of our great delights while in Tarapoto was our visit to an orphanage. Before our trip, we gathered books and items for the children and their house mothers. We were greeted by the head master’s wife, and the house mothers. The “mothers” stay in living quarters on the campus and each is responsible for up to ten children. The ages ranged from birth to mid-teens. The mother looks to each child’s health, nutritional, educational, and spiritual welfare of her children. There were about 62 children in residence. They looked happy, and the mothers appeared to be genuinely attached to her children. When we posed for pictures with the children, they were greatly affectionate. It was hard to leave them behind.
Another great treat was arriving at the Teacher’s Association Meeting Hall where we were entertained by the teacher (in-service and retired) who have a folk dancing group to keep the folk dances alive. Elsa’s mother led the group through several costume changes to represent the different dances. She was lovely in her native regalia.
Our last day in Tarapoto was filled with an informative discussion with representatives of St. Martin’s government. They discussed the Region under the government of Fujimori and how much better it is today. Cacao and coffee producers are better supported and connected to reliable buyers. They are working hard to decrease illegal deforestation of the Amazon, and they are trying to reach the isolated populations that are living in abject poverty. We could see the hope in their eyes as they looked back at a decade of continual improvement. Any Latin American country that improves the lives of its people ultimately can strengthen the world’s economies. More next week, and thank you for reading. --Debra Bolton dbolton@ksu.edu
APRIL EXTENSION AGENT PERSONNEL CHANGES
Gary Cramer, Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent in Sedgwick County, transferred to Assistant Professor, Agronomist-in-Charge of South Central Kansas Experiment Field effective April 5, 2013.
Jennifer Matthews, 4-H Youth Development and Community Development Agent in Rolling Prairie District, began employment effective April 14, 2013. Her email address is jlm323@ksu.edu.
Jennifer Murphy, 4-H Youth Development Agent in Southwind District, began employment effective April 14, 2013. Her email address is jen07m@ksu.edu.
Julie Traxson, 4-H Youth Development Agent in Wildcat District, began employment effective April 14, 2013. Her email address is jtraxson@ksu.edu.
Charlene Miller, 4-H Youth Development Agent in Butler County, began employment effective April 28, 2013. Her email address is cmmiller1@ksu.edu.
Michael Owen, Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent in Kingman County, began employment effective April 28, 2013. His email address is mowen@ksu.edu. --Stacey Warner swarner@ksu.edu
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