By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
Bucking what might be a national trend towards flashier or multi-media services, Iola’s First Baptist Church is staying traditional — and seeing growth because of it.
“When I came we were averaging 90 in worship” on Sundays, said Pastor Mike Quinn, who has been at the church about a year and a half. “In the past six months, we’ve averaged 120. I think we’re growing because we’re reaching out,” Quinn said.
The church has a focus group, “God Rewards Our Work,” that devotes Tuesday evenings to home visits, letter writing and phone calls to former members, visitors or those recommended by congregants.
The church also implemented a Southern Baptist Convention program, “God’s Plan of Sharing” during the Easter season, wherein each church goer was to spread the word of God through their daily lives.
In addition, Quinn said, “the first two Saturdays of March we walked through the community and we prayed at each house as we went by.”
Quinn said his group didn’t know the householders, but merely offered prayer for whatever needs those inside each dwelling might have. Then, “the next two Saturdays, we hung door hangers with a gospel presentation” — a Scripture verse, Quinn explained — and an invitation to church. About 1,000 hangers were left on doors around Iola, he said.
On Easter Sunday, almost 230 people attended services, Quinn said.
“We’ve made some contact,” he observed.
“Another thing we’ve tried to do is reach into the college,” Quinn noted. “We’re working with Campus Crusade for Christ ministry,” he said. Also, the church “started a new Sunday school class for college-age kids,” Quinn said. That meets at 9:30 a.m. at the church at 801 N. Cottonwood, along with its other classes broken into age groups including preschool, adult and senior citizen.
First Baptist does some promotion of the class on campus, Quinn said, and other outreach there such as a dinner on April 27.
“There wasn’t any pressure,” Quinn said of the meal. “They just came, had supper and had a good time.”
To capitalize on the interest, the church recently hired a youth pastor to work 20 hours a week.
“It’s really the 40 to 50 years olds that we’re shortest on,” Quinn’s wife, Becky, said.
Becky Quinn works as the church secretary and keeps track of attendance.
“We’re reaching all age groups,” though, she noted, with the greatest attendance in the 55-and-up range. Children and 18- to 34-year-olds also boast high attendance numbers. Youth in grades seven to 12 attend only slightly less.
That troubling middle-aged group is six to seven times smaller than the others, though, she said.
Neither of the Quinns could explain why, unless it had to do with commitment to family, they said.
“I don’t think churches should expect young families to be very involved in running the church” Becky Quinn said. At that age, she said, “Your children are your biggest ministry.”
MIKE QUINN entered the ministry in 1986. His family was never very religious, he said.
When “in 1983 I left to go to the seminary, I didn’t know the Bible or anything like that,” Quinn said.
It was a series of deaths that led Quinn away from — and back to — God.
Before his conversion, Quinn’s only experience with church came through a friend.
“His mom would take us to Vacation Bible School,” Quinn said. “But he was killed at 15 and I turned hard toward the things of God.”
Quinn’s father was not a man of God. Instead of church, the family would go fishing on Sundays.
He was hard-working, hard-drinking, Quinn said. “He was a big guy, rough and tough. I idolized my dad. Growing up, I wanted to be just like him.”
And so, more or less, Quinn was.
Quinn worked construction at the Callaway County Nuclear Power Plant in Missouri.
“We drank every day after work,” Quinn noted. Then, in the course of 1 1/2 years when Quinn was in his mid-20s, he lost four of his best friends.
“Two were shot and killed in a bar in Jefferson City, Mo., one drowned in a pond and one burned to death in a house fire,” Quinn said.
The loss was shaking.
“I looked around there wasn’t anybody left but me in that group.”
About that time, he said, “there was a pastor who moved into our community. He started visiting with me and I didn’t want anything to do with him.”
Quinn would hide in the closet, he said, and wait until his wife told him the man had gone.
“Just about every time something happened, he’d show up — and he didn’t know about it,” Quinn noted.
The coincidence got to be too much for Quinn.
“It caused me to think about death and if there is life after death, where would I end up? I knew I wasn’t right with God.”
Quinn spoke to the man.
“He shared how God forgives your sins and it didn’t matter what you’d done.”
Quinn believed.
“I didn’t see lightning or hear voices,” he said. But he was changed.
“The next night was Friday night and after work we stopped to get our liquor and I got a Pepsi,” Quinn noted.
His fellow workers made fun of him.
“They asked me what happened and I told them a preacher stopped by and I accepted Christ and that I didn’t think God wanted me to drink anymore — They said it would never stick.”
That was 1980. Quinn hasn’t had any alcohol since.
Shortly thereafter, Quinn said, his father threw him a birthday bash. He pressured Quinn to drink. Quinn went inside and told his wife to pray.
About six months later, his father, too, accepted Christ.
His son’s refusal to drink affected him, Quinn said. “He told me, ‘Whatever you’d gotten, I needed it.’”
QUINN’S CHURCH offers a Wednesday evening program, TeamKid, that pulls in children like he was, he said.
“We’ve got kids who come whose families are not members here.” Many don’t attend church at all, he said.
The program attracts students from kindergarten through grade 12, he said.
“I think for the most part (they attend) because it’s Christ-based,” he said of the program.
“Iola is more conservative” than Quinn’s home town between Jefferson City and Columbia, Mo., “but as a rule there’s a vast loss and spiritual darkness — not only here, but everywhere,” Quinn said. “I see that as a major concern as a pastor.”
Although church attendance surged post 9/11, Quinn doesn’t “think it lasted very long. Things just went back to where they were.”
Quinn believes the role of the pastor is “to get Christ to people. It’s the gospel that changes lives and transforms lives.”
To that end, he is exploring additional outreach opportunities.
“We’ve thought about doing a discipleship class on financial planning or parenting or marriage strengthening,” Becky said. Plans for a six-to-eight week Sunday evening program are tentative right now, she said, but in the works.
“I think typically across the board people are doing away with Sunday night services because people just don’t come back for them,” Mike said. A Sunday evening class would draw a different crowd, the Quinns believe.
“It’s just finding someone to lead who is capable of doing that,” she said.
As for the Wednesday night kids program, “We keep the youth group up all summer,” Mike said. And, “We have a gym; that’s a nice draw for the kids.”
Other venues of participation open at First Baptist are music worship teams, fellowship teams which plan monthly suppers, ministry teams that visit the sick, homebound and those in nursing homes, and an evangelism/mission team that deals with mission projects and spending of church funds, Quinn said. “The goal is to get everybody involved in some sort of ministry,” Quinn said.
As a pastor, Quinn listens to congregants, he said.
“They have ideas and I have ideas and we bounce them off each other. I believe if we do a few things and do them well, they please the Lord.”
Each day, Quinn spends about an hour studying the Bible, then does additional research for a total of 15 to 20 hours per week prep time for his Sunday sermon, he said.
“I look online to get illustrations” and use “books that inspire me or preach through a book of the bible,” Quinn said.
“The Bible talks about getting the whole council of God. That makes me deal with passages that are harder. I try to take it in its historical and grammatical context and how we can apply that to day — what’s it really saying — then and to us? And now that we’ve heard it, what are we going to do with it” Quinn asked.
Quinn said his greatest role is to facillitate the healing of families.
“It’s not what I do; it’s what He does,” Quinn said.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Rivertree combats modern isolation
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
Matt Bycroft admits to liking video games — it’s part of our culture, he said, and he’s OK with that.
“We’re a TV generation. A video game generation. We have short attention spans,” he said.
The seemingly global penchant for the visual is what makes the use of video acceptable in churches these days, he figured.
Bycroft, who pastors Rivertree Church at 301 S. Miller Rd., uses the tool in his services.
The church has two video screens — the one at the front is painted directly on the wall, the back is to post lyrics for the praise team.
“All the Scripture that is read is projected up front,” Bycroft said. “All the words to our songs. The sermon outline is put up there.” Using the screens makes people more comfortable, he said.
“I think it’s a handy thing. It gives people a mental break, or, if done right, it can really drive home a point.”
If he could, Bycroft said, “I’d like to use more, but it’s time consuming and expensive to do that.”
RIVERTREE is a relatively young church. Bycroft has been its only pastor. He moved to Iola to start it, a brainchild of Tyro Christian Church, where Bycroft’s father has pastored for 40 years.
“That’s the mother church,” Bycroft said of Tyro, which is near Coffeyville.
The churches are non-denominational independent Christian churches.
“Each church is independent. We hire our own leadership and staff. We base theology on what’s in the New Testament. We try to do church like they did then, building a bridge between the first century and this one.”
To attract those who might otherwise shy away, Bycroft said, “Our dress code is come as you are.” The service itself is “very light-hearted, but at the same time we try to deal with issues people have and try to reach out to them.”
Bycroft and his wife, Jennifer, moved to Iola in January, 2001.
“We drove around and talked to people at truck stops, restaurants, gas stations; we walked around the square and park and just tried to talk to everyone we ran into,” he said.
What they found was a hole.
“The vast majority of the people we met didn’t go to church at all, so we felt there was room” to proceed with Rivertree.
Rivertree’s first service was the Sunday after 9/11, Bycroft noted.
“A lot of our equipment didn’t show up because planes were grounded,” he said. “We had our first official service the next Sunday.”
It wasn’t easy to begin a new church.
“We were seen as outsiders, as trying to take from other churches. But our intention is to reach people who did not attend or who had stayed away” from church altogether, Bycroft said.
Growth has been steady, but not outlandish.
“Our very first Sunday we had 65. We’ve had 35 steady after that. We grew very slowly, then ... we had big growth,” Bycroft said. The overall result is that about 135 people now regularly attend the 10 a.m. Sunday service.
At Tyro, average Sunday attendance is 800.
“My dad says ‘I’ve been here 40 years and we’ve grown 20 people per year.’ It makes it sound easy, but it’s not.”
Church attendance ebbs and flows with the seasons, Bycroft noted.
“It’s higher during the school year. As soon as it starts getting nice out, people start taking weekends off.”
Rivertree just put a temporary hold on Sunday evening services, which averaged about 40 attendees.
“After the time change, we saw a big shift in that. It’s still light at 8 p.m.,” Bycroft said, which tends to keep people outside.
“We’ll return to the 6:30 p.m. service after the time change in the fall,” he said.
Rivertree’s Sunday evening service attracted shift workers, nurses, hotel employees and others whose jobs keep them away on Sunday mornings, he said.
That reflects current American lifestyles, Bycroft said, noting “20 to 25 percent of the nation’s population isn’t able to go to church on Sunday morning.”
Bycroft keeps abreast of current trends. He noted that “more and more non-denominational churches are offering Saturday evening or even Friday evening services” in addition to or instead of those on Sunday morning.
One Colorado church has its primary service on Friday night, with no Sunday offerings, he said.
At Rivertree, there are no weekday offerings, but there are sports.
Softball, soccer, baseball: all are played on the church’s adjacent fields.
“We have a couple of men’s softball teams; the handicapped kids in the Challengers play every Saturday through the summer; and the city uses the field for games,” Bycroft said. “Several teams from the men’s city league use it through the week to practice,” as well, he said.
The church offers the fields as a public service, not a ministry.
ALTHOUGH HE HAS done so, Bycroft didn’t set out to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“I wanted to go into wildlife biology,” he said. “I like science and I like being outdoors.”
But, Bycroft said, “I was in my junior year at Pittsburg State University when God showed me his plan. The next year I went to Ozark Christian College and graduated from there” with a bachelor of Biblical literature.
Bycroft said you can never know God’s plans or timing for your life.
He muses that he and his wife prayed for another child years ago — and only now, when their youngest is eight, are they expecting again.
The Bycrofts have two daughters, Macayla, 10, and eight-year-old Rachel. Bycroft and his wife are both in their 30s. They epitomize the congregation of Rivertree. “It’s mostly younger families,” he said.
That fact at first dictated the style of services, he said.
“When we first came here we thought having the modern sound would appeal, but most people in Iola have some church experience so they relate more to older songs,” he noted. Still, Bycroft said, “we try to have a mix.”
The praise team is made up of high school through young adult members who play piano, guitar, drums and sing.
It has only been in the last couple of years that Rivertree has “developed a deep sense of unity in the church,” Bycroft noted. The revelation has taken hold, he said, that “the building is not the church; we as the body of Christ are the church.”
Bycroft said Rivertree is actively working to combat the isolation that even members of the same congregation can feel.
“Most people come for an hour and leave and never get to know anyone else. Even with 130 people there’s not enough time” to get to know one another, Bycroft said.
“There’s a transition from big front porches to big back decks,” which isolate members of a community, Bycroft said. “There’s a false sense of community through technology like Facebook, Skype, or video chat. There’s not a true sense of conversation or engagement there,” he said. “ATM machines, drive-through foods, self-check outs, Facebook — you can do all these things and never have personal contact with anyone. It’s not just Iola — it’s everywhere.”
Bycroft sees churches as providing a venue to overcome societal loneliness.
“I think it’s incredible to stand on stage every week and know there is no reason (why Rivertree attendees) would ever get together except for that one thing they have in common: Jesus Christ.”
To nurture closeness, Rivertree is “trying to break up into small groups; we’re trying to get people to want to know each other, to see the value in that. As the church grows we’re (trying) to keep that sense of church on a more personal level. And we’re going to continue reaching out.
“We have the power to change things through the power of Christ.”
The goal of the church is simple, Bycroft said.
“Our mission is to make a positive impact on our community by making people fully devoted followers of Christ.
“I think it’s pretty cool that God can use someone like me, or you. Our personalities may not be perfect, or our giftedness.” But, he noted, “Somebody has to be the forerunner. John the Baptist only got to tell people, ‘Jesus is coming.’ If that’s my role, I’m satisfied with that.”
Register Reporter
Matt Bycroft admits to liking video games — it’s part of our culture, he said, and he’s OK with that.
“We’re a TV generation. A video game generation. We have short attention spans,” he said.
The seemingly global penchant for the visual is what makes the use of video acceptable in churches these days, he figured.
Bycroft, who pastors Rivertree Church at 301 S. Miller Rd., uses the tool in his services.
The church has two video screens — the one at the front is painted directly on the wall, the back is to post lyrics for the praise team.
“All the Scripture that is read is projected up front,” Bycroft said. “All the words to our songs. The sermon outline is put up there.” Using the screens makes people more comfortable, he said.
“I think it’s a handy thing. It gives people a mental break, or, if done right, it can really drive home a point.”
If he could, Bycroft said, “I’d like to use more, but it’s time consuming and expensive to do that.”
RIVERTREE is a relatively young church. Bycroft has been its only pastor. He moved to Iola to start it, a brainchild of Tyro Christian Church, where Bycroft’s father has pastored for 40 years.
“That’s the mother church,” Bycroft said of Tyro, which is near Coffeyville.
The churches are non-denominational independent Christian churches.
“Each church is independent. We hire our own leadership and staff. We base theology on what’s in the New Testament. We try to do church like they did then, building a bridge between the first century and this one.”
To attract those who might otherwise shy away, Bycroft said, “Our dress code is come as you are.” The service itself is “very light-hearted, but at the same time we try to deal with issues people have and try to reach out to them.”
Bycroft and his wife, Jennifer, moved to Iola in January, 2001.
“We drove around and talked to people at truck stops, restaurants, gas stations; we walked around the square and park and just tried to talk to everyone we ran into,” he said.
What they found was a hole.
“The vast majority of the people we met didn’t go to church at all, so we felt there was room” to proceed with Rivertree.
Rivertree’s first service was the Sunday after 9/11, Bycroft noted.
“A lot of our equipment didn’t show up because planes were grounded,” he said. “We had our first official service the next Sunday.”
It wasn’t easy to begin a new church.
“We were seen as outsiders, as trying to take from other churches. But our intention is to reach people who did not attend or who had stayed away” from church altogether, Bycroft said.
Growth has been steady, but not outlandish.
“Our very first Sunday we had 65. We’ve had 35 steady after that. We grew very slowly, then ... we had big growth,” Bycroft said. The overall result is that about 135 people now regularly attend the 10 a.m. Sunday service.
At Tyro, average Sunday attendance is 800.
“My dad says ‘I’ve been here 40 years and we’ve grown 20 people per year.’ It makes it sound easy, but it’s not.”
Church attendance ebbs and flows with the seasons, Bycroft noted.
“It’s higher during the school year. As soon as it starts getting nice out, people start taking weekends off.”
Rivertree just put a temporary hold on Sunday evening services, which averaged about 40 attendees.
“After the time change, we saw a big shift in that. It’s still light at 8 p.m.,” Bycroft said, which tends to keep people outside.
“We’ll return to the 6:30 p.m. service after the time change in the fall,” he said.
Rivertree’s Sunday evening service attracted shift workers, nurses, hotel employees and others whose jobs keep them away on Sunday mornings, he said.
That reflects current American lifestyles, Bycroft said, noting “20 to 25 percent of the nation’s population isn’t able to go to church on Sunday morning.”
Bycroft keeps abreast of current trends. He noted that “more and more non-denominational churches are offering Saturday evening or even Friday evening services” in addition to or instead of those on Sunday morning.
One Colorado church has its primary service on Friday night, with no Sunday offerings, he said.
At Rivertree, there are no weekday offerings, but there are sports.
Softball, soccer, baseball: all are played on the church’s adjacent fields.
“We have a couple of men’s softball teams; the handicapped kids in the Challengers play every Saturday through the summer; and the city uses the field for games,” Bycroft said. “Several teams from the men’s city league use it through the week to practice,” as well, he said.
The church offers the fields as a public service, not a ministry.
ALTHOUGH HE HAS done so, Bycroft didn’t set out to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“I wanted to go into wildlife biology,” he said. “I like science and I like being outdoors.”
But, Bycroft said, “I was in my junior year at Pittsburg State University when God showed me his plan. The next year I went to Ozark Christian College and graduated from there” with a bachelor of Biblical literature.
Bycroft said you can never know God’s plans or timing for your life.
He muses that he and his wife prayed for another child years ago — and only now, when their youngest is eight, are they expecting again.
The Bycrofts have two daughters, Macayla, 10, and eight-year-old Rachel. Bycroft and his wife are both in their 30s. They epitomize the congregation of Rivertree. “It’s mostly younger families,” he said.
That fact at first dictated the style of services, he said.
“When we first came here we thought having the modern sound would appeal, but most people in Iola have some church experience so they relate more to older songs,” he noted. Still, Bycroft said, “we try to have a mix.”
The praise team is made up of high school through young adult members who play piano, guitar, drums and sing.
It has only been in the last couple of years that Rivertree has “developed a deep sense of unity in the church,” Bycroft noted. The revelation has taken hold, he said, that “the building is not the church; we as the body of Christ are the church.”
Bycroft said Rivertree is actively working to combat the isolation that even members of the same congregation can feel.
“Most people come for an hour and leave and never get to know anyone else. Even with 130 people there’s not enough time” to get to know one another, Bycroft said.
“There’s a transition from big front porches to big back decks,” which isolate members of a community, Bycroft said. “There’s a false sense of community through technology like Facebook, Skype, or video chat. There’s not a true sense of conversation or engagement there,” he said. “ATM machines, drive-through foods, self-check outs, Facebook — you can do all these things and never have personal contact with anyone. It’s not just Iola — it’s everywhere.”
Bycroft sees churches as providing a venue to overcome societal loneliness.
“I think it’s incredible to stand on stage every week and know there is no reason (why Rivertree attendees) would ever get together except for that one thing they have in common: Jesus Christ.”
To nurture closeness, Rivertree is “trying to break up into small groups; we’re trying to get people to want to know each other, to see the value in that. As the church grows we’re (trying) to keep that sense of church on a more personal level. And we’re going to continue reaching out.
“We have the power to change things through the power of Christ.”
The goal of the church is simple, Bycroft said.
“Our mission is to make a positive impact on our community by making people fully devoted followers of Christ.
“I think it’s pretty cool that God can use someone like me, or you. Our personalities may not be perfect, or our giftedness.” But, he noted, “Somebody has to be the forerunner. John the Baptist only got to tell people, ‘Jesus is coming.’ If that’s my role, I’m satisfied with that.”
Cross-generational learning planned for Windsor Place
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
The generation gap aims to narrow this fall when a USD 257 preschool opens at Windsor Place in Iola.
The project grew out of a Windsor Place initiative to improve the life of its clients, said the Coffeyville-based company’s Executive Director Monte Coffman.
The addition of a classroom on site “enhances options for residents, from greeting (children) in the morning with a warm smile, to reading to them or participating in activities sessions,” Coffman noted.
The company already has established kindergarten classrooms in its facilities in Coffeyville and Jenks, Okla., Coffman said.
That was the model the agency proposed to USD 257 this spring, said Windsor Place Iola’s Administrator Linda Harrison.
However, said Superintendent of Schools Craig Neuenswander, the need here was for a preschool location.
“We really wanted to expand and add a classroom” to the current preschool program, which has been based out of Iola’s elementary schools, Neuenswander said.
The Windsor location — complete with a private outdoor patio — could meet that desire, Neuenswander said. With Windsor offering the school district use of the room for $1 a year, the board opted to secure the site.
When it was clear two preschool classrooms weren’t in the coming year’s budget, Neuenswander said the board decided to house the class at Windsor anyway.
“They’ll still be under regular school rules,” Neuenswander said of the students. “It will be just like any other classroom.”
Maybe not.
Preschool teacher Heather Maley intends to have the room painted in bright, stimulating colors. There is a refrigerator and sink at one end dedicated to class use. Observation windows along one wall will let the generations spy back and forth.
And there’s that private patio, with winding path, green space and a cement bench, ready to be filled with the happy shouts of kids at play.
In addition to the patio, Windsor is putting in an age-appropriate playground for the four- and five-year-olds in their main fenced yard.
“The fenced yard where the playgrounds equipment will be placed is an area residents have access to,” Harrison noted.
And, thanks to the addition of the equipment, “we’ll have more concrete around — paths for tricycles and the like — that will be good for residents” allowing seniors to walk along smooth, even surfaces, rather than uneven ground.
Playground equipment is being purchased with help from Iola Rotary Club and a city involvement task force, Harrison said, although funds are still needed. Kids Creation in Garnet will deliver and set up the equipment free of charge once it is purchased, she said.
“IT’S REALLY very exciting,” Neuenswander said of the new class.
Planned are joint exercise classes for the tikes and their elder companions. Story hours and meal times may also be coordinated, Coffman said.
As for health concerns, Coffman said, “children attending school in Windsor Place ended up missing fewer days of school that those in the regular school buildings.”
That was credited to the constant wipe-down of nursing home interiors, and the fact that residents’ health is regularly monitored.
“I think, for kids, this is a great opportunity for them to have experiences they may not get anywhere else,” Maley said. “They can learn to be around people that are different from us.”
Two sessions will be offered, Neuenswander said. The morning session runs from 8:15 to 11:15 a.m., with optional breakfast beforehand. Afternoons run from 12:15 to 3:15, with optional lunch at 11:50 a.m.
In addition to Windsor residents, preschoolers will also interact with upper level high school students, Neuenswander said.
“We’ll have a high school program in conjunction with Allen County Community College,” where students interested in early childhood education can get credit toward a college degree in that field, he said.
Parents interested in having their children attend the new preschool should stop by the USD 257 district office, 408 N. Cottonwood or 365-4700, for an application form.
Although the program targets at-risk children, guidelines for eligibility through the State Department of Education are not solely income based, Neuenswander said.
“There’s a lot of people who qualify who might not think they do.”
Openings are still available. Classes begin Aug. 19.
Guidelines and an application can be mailed if need be, Neuenswander said.
7.19.10
Register Reporter
The generation gap aims to narrow this fall when a USD 257 preschool opens at Windsor Place in Iola.
The project grew out of a Windsor Place initiative to improve the life of its clients, said the Coffeyville-based company’s Executive Director Monte Coffman.
The addition of a classroom on site “enhances options for residents, from greeting (children) in the morning with a warm smile, to reading to them or participating in activities sessions,” Coffman noted.
The company already has established kindergarten classrooms in its facilities in Coffeyville and Jenks, Okla., Coffman said.
That was the model the agency proposed to USD 257 this spring, said Windsor Place Iola’s Administrator Linda Harrison.
However, said Superintendent of Schools Craig Neuenswander, the need here was for a preschool location.
“We really wanted to expand and add a classroom” to the current preschool program, which has been based out of Iola’s elementary schools, Neuenswander said.
The Windsor location — complete with a private outdoor patio — could meet that desire, Neuenswander said. With Windsor offering the school district use of the room for $1 a year, the board opted to secure the site.
When it was clear two preschool classrooms weren’t in the coming year’s budget, Neuenswander said the board decided to house the class at Windsor anyway.
“They’ll still be under regular school rules,” Neuenswander said of the students. “It will be just like any other classroom.”
Maybe not.
Preschool teacher Heather Maley intends to have the room painted in bright, stimulating colors. There is a refrigerator and sink at one end dedicated to class use. Observation windows along one wall will let the generations spy back and forth.
And there’s that private patio, with winding path, green space and a cement bench, ready to be filled with the happy shouts of kids at play.
In addition to the patio, Windsor is putting in an age-appropriate playground for the four- and five-year-olds in their main fenced yard.
“The fenced yard where the playgrounds equipment will be placed is an area residents have access to,” Harrison noted.
And, thanks to the addition of the equipment, “we’ll have more concrete around — paths for tricycles and the like — that will be good for residents” allowing seniors to walk along smooth, even surfaces, rather than uneven ground.
Playground equipment is being purchased with help from Iola Rotary Club and a city involvement task force, Harrison said, although funds are still needed. Kids Creation in Garnet will deliver and set up the equipment free of charge once it is purchased, she said.
“IT’S REALLY very exciting,” Neuenswander said of the new class.
Planned are joint exercise classes for the tikes and their elder companions. Story hours and meal times may also be coordinated, Coffman said.
As for health concerns, Coffman said, “children attending school in Windsor Place ended up missing fewer days of school that those in the regular school buildings.”
That was credited to the constant wipe-down of nursing home interiors, and the fact that residents’ health is regularly monitored.
“I think, for kids, this is a great opportunity for them to have experiences they may not get anywhere else,” Maley said. “They can learn to be around people that are different from us.”
Two sessions will be offered, Neuenswander said. The morning session runs from 8:15 to 11:15 a.m., with optional breakfast beforehand. Afternoons run from 12:15 to 3:15, with optional lunch at 11:50 a.m.
In addition to Windsor residents, preschoolers will also interact with upper level high school students, Neuenswander said.
“We’ll have a high school program in conjunction with Allen County Community College,” where students interested in early childhood education can get credit toward a college degree in that field, he said.
Parents interested in having their children attend the new preschool should stop by the USD 257 district office, 408 N. Cottonwood or 365-4700, for an application form.
Although the program targets at-risk children, guidelines for eligibility through the State Department of Education are not solely income based, Neuenswander said.
“There’s a lot of people who qualify who might not think they do.”
Openings are still available. Classes begin Aug. 19.
Guidelines and an application can be mailed if need be, Neuenswander said.
7.19.10
Blue ribbons please bakers
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
The two first place winners in the Allen County Fair pie baking contest claimed no special secrets to their creations. Both Brenda Cash and Mary Ann Ritter were surprised at their feat, however.
“This is my first time,” Ritter noted of her win. “I’m so excited.”
Cash had only ever received reds for her efforts, she noted.
“The joke is I don’t have blue-ribbon pie,” she said. Until now.
Both women had had entries in previous contests. Neither had any thoughts they would win this year.
Judging was based on appearance, texture and flavor, said facilitator Linda Garrett.
Not in that order, said Gerald Jacobs, one of three judges.
Flavor, he said, comes first.
For him, Cash’s pie stood out.
“Pie No. 1 for me was it,” Jacobs said. “The filling was not runny; it stood up nice. The pecan taste came through. The mixture between flavors was really balanced — it won my heart.”
The pie was baked using a recipe Cash had acquired years ago from a family friend, she said.
“This is Ray Wilson’s pecan pie recipe,” she said.
“I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to ask people for their recipes, so when my mom said she really liked the pie I said, ‘I’ll get it for you.’”
The effort paid off.
“I haven’t made it for a long time,” she admitted. For the fair, she baked two. Her husband tasted the first, she said, “and declared it fit.”
RITTER didn’t note where her pie recipe came from, but she did say she uses light corn syrup and adds vanilla to the mix — “pure vanilla, not imitation,” she explained.
“The sheriff wondered what else I put in it,” she said. “That was it.”
Allen County Sheriff Tom Williams, along with Ray Shannon and Jacobs, judged the entries.
His qualification, he said, was “a life of eating pie.”
The other men noted similar experience.
“I’ve been married 60 years to an excellent baker,” Shannon said.
Jacobs said his late wife “made wonderful pies.” Since she died five years ago, though, he said, “I don’t eat much pie.”
Jacobs noted he was one of the original judges when the contest began eight years ago. He’s the only judge who has come back each year.
Entry numbers were up slightly this year, he noted.
“Usually we get four (pies),” said Garrett. This year, there were six.
No word yet on next year’s flavor choice, but Ritter said of her win, “This will inspire me for next year.”
8.4.10
Register Reporter
The two first place winners in the Allen County Fair pie baking contest claimed no special secrets to their creations. Both Brenda Cash and Mary Ann Ritter were surprised at their feat, however.
“This is my first time,” Ritter noted of her win. “I’m so excited.”
Cash had only ever received reds for her efforts, she noted.
“The joke is I don’t have blue-ribbon pie,” she said. Until now.
Both women had had entries in previous contests. Neither had any thoughts they would win this year.
Judging was based on appearance, texture and flavor, said facilitator Linda Garrett.
Not in that order, said Gerald Jacobs, one of three judges.
Flavor, he said, comes first.
For him, Cash’s pie stood out.
“Pie No. 1 for me was it,” Jacobs said. “The filling was not runny; it stood up nice. The pecan taste came through. The mixture between flavors was really balanced — it won my heart.”
The pie was baked using a recipe Cash had acquired years ago from a family friend, she said.
“This is Ray Wilson’s pecan pie recipe,” she said.
“I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to ask people for their recipes, so when my mom said she really liked the pie I said, ‘I’ll get it for you.’”
The effort paid off.
“I haven’t made it for a long time,” she admitted. For the fair, she baked two. Her husband tasted the first, she said, “and declared it fit.”
RITTER didn’t note where her pie recipe came from, but she did say she uses light corn syrup and adds vanilla to the mix — “pure vanilla, not imitation,” she explained.
“The sheriff wondered what else I put in it,” she said. “That was it.”
Allen County Sheriff Tom Williams, along with Ray Shannon and Jacobs, judged the entries.
His qualification, he said, was “a life of eating pie.”
The other men noted similar experience.
“I’ve been married 60 years to an excellent baker,” Shannon said.
Jacobs said his late wife “made wonderful pies.” Since she died five years ago, though, he said, “I don’t eat much pie.”
Jacobs noted he was one of the original judges when the contest began eight years ago. He’s the only judge who has come back each year.
Entry numbers were up slightly this year, he noted.
“Usually we get four (pies),” said Garrett. This year, there were six.
No word yet on next year’s flavor choice, but Ritter said of her win, “This will inspire me for next year.”
8.4.10
Queen title apt for involved girl
There is only one contender for Allen County Fair Rodeo Queen this year, but that doesn’t mean she’s a shoo-in.
Dallyn Beecher must still write an autobiography, undergo an interview with rodeo queen staff and complete tasks that demonstrate her prowess in horsemanship before receiving the crown, said queen selection chairwoman Angela Slocum.
“The rodeo people want that girl that is involved in the horse stuff and can handle a horse,” noted Fair Board Secretary Linda Garrett.
As part of the competition, Beecher must attend fair events, treat her horse humanely, dress in Western attire and run a reigning pattern supplied by the judges.
If successful, Beecher will receive — besides the title — an engraved belt buckle plus 10 percent of proceeds of all event tickets sold, Slocum said.
The ticket sale bonus comes from the fact there is no separate Fair Queen this year, Slocum said.
Last year, four girls vied for the nascent title of Fair Queen. They were selected by their 4-H groups.
To be crowned, the winner had only to sell the largest number of event tickets.
At the behest of numerous parents and others, rules were changed this year to make the contest more challenging. A separate rodeo queen was added with even more requirements. Perhaps, Slocum allowed, it was a bit too much.
But Beecher was undeterred. She initially signed up to compete for both titles.
Now, she’ll go it alone, against the judges, to see if she can become the monarch of the fair.
If she’s crowned, Beecher will participate in occasional events between this year’s fair and next, and help crown the 2011 Rodeo Queen.
Slocum also hopes she’ll meet with 4-H groups during the year to help refine the requirements for next year’s queen.
Beecher may just jump at the chance.
She has been active in 4-H since she was 7. She plans entries this year in sheep, steer, pig, goat, dairy cow, arts and crafts and photography.
“I cry over all of them,” she said of selling her livestock at the end of the fair. “This year I’m definitely going to cry when I have to get rid of everything.”
At 19, this is the last year Beecher can be involved in 4-H activities. “I’m going to miss it,” she said.
Beecher begins studies at Allen County Community College in the fall. From there, she plans to transfer to the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., to major in animal science.
She’s had a lot of experience with the care of animals. At her father Dale Beecher’s farm in Neosho Falls, she keeps sheep, goats, steers and a pig. In Colony, at her mom Kim Beecher’s place, she has sheep, goats and two horses. She has another horse at her father’s girlfriend’s house as well.
She cares for them all on her own.
As a child, growing up on the farm in Neosho Falls, she also used to participate in rodeo events, she said.
She rode amongst barrels, poles and captured the flag. And she did goat tying — “That was fun,” she mentioned.
“Hopefully after 4-H I’ll get back into that kind of riding,” she said.
Judging of horsemanship skills for the Allen County Fair Rodeo Queen will be at 9 a.m. July 31.
Crowning of the rodeo queen is at 7 p.m. Aug. 3.
7.19.10
Dallyn Beecher must still write an autobiography, undergo an interview with rodeo queen staff and complete tasks that demonstrate her prowess in horsemanship before receiving the crown, said queen selection chairwoman Angela Slocum.
“The rodeo people want that girl that is involved in the horse stuff and can handle a horse,” noted Fair Board Secretary Linda Garrett.
As part of the competition, Beecher must attend fair events, treat her horse humanely, dress in Western attire and run a reigning pattern supplied by the judges.
If successful, Beecher will receive — besides the title — an engraved belt buckle plus 10 percent of proceeds of all event tickets sold, Slocum said.
The ticket sale bonus comes from the fact there is no separate Fair Queen this year, Slocum said.
Last year, four girls vied for the nascent title of Fair Queen. They were selected by their 4-H groups.
To be crowned, the winner had only to sell the largest number of event tickets.
At the behest of numerous parents and others, rules were changed this year to make the contest more challenging. A separate rodeo queen was added with even more requirements. Perhaps, Slocum allowed, it was a bit too much.
But Beecher was undeterred. She initially signed up to compete for both titles.
Now, she’ll go it alone, against the judges, to see if she can become the monarch of the fair.
If she’s crowned, Beecher will participate in occasional events between this year’s fair and next, and help crown the 2011 Rodeo Queen.
Slocum also hopes she’ll meet with 4-H groups during the year to help refine the requirements for next year’s queen.
Beecher may just jump at the chance.
She has been active in 4-H since she was 7. She plans entries this year in sheep, steer, pig, goat, dairy cow, arts and crafts and photography.
“I cry over all of them,” she said of selling her livestock at the end of the fair. “This year I’m definitely going to cry when I have to get rid of everything.”
At 19, this is the last year Beecher can be involved in 4-H activities. “I’m going to miss it,” she said.
Beecher begins studies at Allen County Community College in the fall. From there, she plans to transfer to the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., to major in animal science.
She’s had a lot of experience with the care of animals. At her father Dale Beecher’s farm in Neosho Falls, she keeps sheep, goats, steers and a pig. In Colony, at her mom Kim Beecher’s place, she has sheep, goats and two horses. She has another horse at her father’s girlfriend’s house as well.
She cares for them all on her own.
As a child, growing up on the farm in Neosho Falls, she also used to participate in rodeo events, she said.
She rode amongst barrels, poles and captured the flag. And she did goat tying — “That was fun,” she mentioned.
“Hopefully after 4-H I’ll get back into that kind of riding,” she said.
Judging of horsemanship skills for the Allen County Fair Rodeo Queen will be at 9 a.m. July 31.
Crowning of the rodeo queen is at 7 p.m. Aug. 3.
7.19.10
E-waste collection Staurday
Allen Countians with electronic waste to dispose can drop it off between 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Recreation Community Building in Riverside Park.
Stereos, cellphones, satellite dishes and more will all be collected free of charge. Computer monitors require a $5 fee to cover disposal of heavy metals in the monitors. TVs cannot be collected.
The collection is a community service project of the Gifted Explorations class at Iola High School.
Students will take collected e-waste to an EPA approved disposal site in Topeka after the collection. Donations to help defray transportation and disposal costs are welcome.
Students noted that nationwide, 80 percent of all household electronics end up in landfills, including 130,000 computers each day. Unless properly recycled, e-waste poses an environmental hazard due to heavy metals inherent in the equipment, students said.
3.24.10
Stereos, cellphones, satellite dishes and more will all be collected free of charge. Computer monitors require a $5 fee to cover disposal of heavy metals in the monitors. TVs cannot be collected.
The collection is a community service project of the Gifted Explorations class at Iola High School.
Students will take collected e-waste to an EPA approved disposal site in Topeka after the collection. Donations to help defray transportation and disposal costs are welcome.
Students noted that nationwide, 80 percent of all household electronics end up in landfills, including 130,000 computers each day. Unless properly recycled, e-waste poses an environmental hazard due to heavy metals inherent in the equipment, students said.
3.24.10
Garden chosen as part of study
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
one 4-col. pic
If Carolyn McLean has her way, Iola’s Elm Creek Community Gardens will be in every traveler’s eye.
“I’d love a sign along the highway directing people to us,” she said.
Why the proposed hullabaloo? Elm Creek once again has found the spotlight, this time in the form of a research project/grant through the Shieflebusch Lifespan Institute of the University of Kansas.
“They selected us as the prototype community garden for the state of Kansas,” McLean said of the organization, which is pursuing “the establishment or expansion of five community gardens across the state,” she said.
“They want people who want to start community gardens to come and see us because they believe we’ve done everything right,” McLean said proudly.
McLean said researchers Sarah Sack and Patty Moore discovered Elm Creek through a link on the American Community Garden Association website. Elm Creek is a member of the group.
“So they came down and met us and were blown away by the garden,” she noted.
“After they visited a couple times and asked us to participate (in their research project) they asked us ‘What can we do to help?’”
“We told them, ‘We need shelter,’” McLean said.
The group has offered ECCG a grant to build two picnic/shade shelters, purchase two light-weight Mantis tillers for gardeners’ use, and purchase a four-wheeled wheelbarrow that is easier to handle for those with mobility or strength issues, McLean said.
“Most grants don’t pay for bricks and mortar,” she noted.
For their part, Elm Creek gardeners were asked to participate in a survey about gardening, physical health and socialization habits.
“Questions included how many people a day do you talk with, how often do you interact with people of a different background, how much gardening knowledge you had, and about any physical disabilities or health conditions,” McLean said.
The institute wants to learn if gardening helps people live longer, McLean noted. It’s studying mental health and whether individuals’ stress level is reduced through gardening, and if gardening helps increase socialization opportunities for those who, like seniors or the disabled, might otherwise live a more isolated life, she said.
Gardeners at Elm Creek were happy to assist.
The Institute sought 30 survey participants, McLean noted; 43 responded. “We just sent the surveys in Monday,” she said. A follow up survey will be conducted in August, to learn if the gardens had nutritional impacts on the target population as well.
Sack noted the study is funded through the United States Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration, which seeks employment opportunities for “persons with health conditions and disabilities.”
Because the study also focused on recreational opportunities, gardening was a natural fit, Sack said.
Gardeners can sell their produce to grocery stores or at farmers markets, Sack said, meeting the employment objective. Socialization through a community garden setting meets the recreation side of the study, she noted.
“We wanted both community gardens that were fully established and those just starting,” for the study, Sack said. Also included in the study are an established garden in Hutchinson, a one-year old garden in Wichita, and brand new gardens in Parsons and Fort Riley.
The Fort Riley garden is for returning veterans, Sack said. “It’s for wounded warriors,” she noted.
In Parsons, “we have 14 year olds who come out, whose families don’t garden, but they want to,” she said. “We have people in wheelchairs.
“We learned a lot from the other gardens, including Elm Creek,” she said of the newly-established 189-plot Parsons garden.
All together, Sack said, “our goal was 150 gardeners across the state,” for the study. “We have 370 registered gardeners with health or disability issues,” she said. “It’s amazing.”
7.12.10
Register Reporter
one 4-col. pic
If Carolyn McLean has her way, Iola’s Elm Creek Community Gardens will be in every traveler’s eye.
“I’d love a sign along the highway directing people to us,” she said.
Why the proposed hullabaloo? Elm Creek once again has found the spotlight, this time in the form of a research project/grant through the Shieflebusch Lifespan Institute of the University of Kansas.
“They selected us as the prototype community garden for the state of Kansas,” McLean said of the organization, which is pursuing “the establishment or expansion of five community gardens across the state,” she said.
“They want people who want to start community gardens to come and see us because they believe we’ve done everything right,” McLean said proudly.
McLean said researchers Sarah Sack and Patty Moore discovered Elm Creek through a link on the American Community Garden Association website. Elm Creek is a member of the group.
“So they came down and met us and were blown away by the garden,” she noted.
“After they visited a couple times and asked us to participate (in their research project) they asked us ‘What can we do to help?’”
“We told them, ‘We need shelter,’” McLean said.
The group has offered ECCG a grant to build two picnic/shade shelters, purchase two light-weight Mantis tillers for gardeners’ use, and purchase a four-wheeled wheelbarrow that is easier to handle for those with mobility or strength issues, McLean said.
“Most grants don’t pay for bricks and mortar,” she noted.
For their part, Elm Creek gardeners were asked to participate in a survey about gardening, physical health and socialization habits.
“Questions included how many people a day do you talk with, how often do you interact with people of a different background, how much gardening knowledge you had, and about any physical disabilities or health conditions,” McLean said.
The institute wants to learn if gardening helps people live longer, McLean noted. It’s studying mental health and whether individuals’ stress level is reduced through gardening, and if gardening helps increase socialization opportunities for those who, like seniors or the disabled, might otherwise live a more isolated life, she said.
Gardeners at Elm Creek were happy to assist.
The Institute sought 30 survey participants, McLean noted; 43 responded. “We just sent the surveys in Monday,” she said. A follow up survey will be conducted in August, to learn if the gardens had nutritional impacts on the target population as well.
Sack noted the study is funded through the United States Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration, which seeks employment opportunities for “persons with health conditions and disabilities.”
Because the study also focused on recreational opportunities, gardening was a natural fit, Sack said.
Gardeners can sell their produce to grocery stores or at farmers markets, Sack said, meeting the employment objective. Socialization through a community garden setting meets the recreation side of the study, she noted.
“We wanted both community gardens that were fully established and those just starting,” for the study, Sack said. Also included in the study are an established garden in Hutchinson, a one-year old garden in Wichita, and brand new gardens in Parsons and Fort Riley.
The Fort Riley garden is for returning veterans, Sack said. “It’s for wounded warriors,” she noted.
In Parsons, “we have 14 year olds who come out, whose families don’t garden, but they want to,” she said. “We have people in wheelchairs.
“We learned a lot from the other gardens, including Elm Creek,” she said of the newly-established 189-plot Parsons garden.
All together, Sack said, “our goal was 150 gardeners across the state,” for the study. “We have 370 registered gardeners with health or disability issues,” she said. “It’s amazing.”
7.12.10
Iolan receives scholarship
Iolan Madison Ford received a $3,000 Kansas Law Enforcement Association Scholarship Monday, winning out over 27 other candidates throughout the state.
The KLEA John Foster Memorial Scholarship is offered to a son or daughter of a current Kansas law enforcement officer who is a graduating high school senior seeking to attend an accredited Kansas university or college.
Ford is the daughter of Iola police officer Mike Ford and his wife, Nancy. She intends to enter Pittsburg State University in the fall as a junior after graduating jointly from Allen County Community College and Iola High School in May. Ford, 18, intends to study pre-med at PSU followed by medical school at the University of Kansas with the ultimate goal of becoming an emergency psychiatrist.
The scholarship honors the late John Foster, former Lenexa police chief and Johnson County sheriff.
The Foster scholarship is the largest offered by the KLEA, said Ed Pavey, director of the University of Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center. “Most law enforcement scholarships are in the $500 to $1,000 range,” he said.
7.20.10
The KLEA John Foster Memorial Scholarship is offered to a son or daughter of a current Kansas law enforcement officer who is a graduating high school senior seeking to attend an accredited Kansas university or college.
Ford is the daughter of Iola police officer Mike Ford and his wife, Nancy. She intends to enter Pittsburg State University in the fall as a junior after graduating jointly from Allen County Community College and Iola High School in May. Ford, 18, intends to study pre-med at PSU followed by medical school at the University of Kansas with the ultimate goal of becoming an emergency psychiatrist.
The scholarship honors the late John Foster, former Lenexa police chief and Johnson County sheriff.
The Foster scholarship is the largest offered by the KLEA, said Ed Pavey, director of the University of Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center. “Most law enforcement scholarships are in the $500 to $1,000 range,” he said.
7.20.10
Painless picking — octogenarian expands berry farm
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
2 pics
Long before the term was coined, Jim Smith believed in multi-tasking.
The former barber, who retired after 46 years in the business, also was a full time farmer.
Now, he’s a budding berry grower with a “you pick” operation that’s just two years old.
Smith began raising blackberries after passing through El Dorado a few years back and stopping at a pick-your-own operation there.
“He had 1,000 plants at least,” Smith said of the venture, called “Blackberry Heaven.”
“I asked what he’d charge for information, and he came back out with a handful of pamphlets,” Smith said of the operation’s owner.
Armed with new knowledge, Smith said he immediately sent away for 50 thornless blackberries.
Intent on keeping his fledgling crop secure, Smith took up a spray can with what he thought was insecticide.
“But I picked up the wrong one,” Smith said. “I killed them all. I sprayed them with Roundup.”
Undeterred, Smith ordered 50 more plants from a grower in Massachusetts and has been more cautious with his enthusiasm.
It’s worked. Trained on lines to keep them upright, Smith now has two 215-foot rows of bearing canes. All are thick with ripe berries and a bounty of red ones yet to darken.
With the onset of hot, dry weather, ripening will be rapid. Still, Smith noted, there should be at least four weeks of picking yet to come.
Smith, who can be reached at 620-496-2581, doesn’t have a name for his business, but he’d love to see a bunch of berry enthusiasts come out to share the harvest.
“We eat a lot of our own stuff,” Smith said. “We have a lot of blackberry cobbler.”
Prepicked quarts cost $5, Smith said, while the same quantity picked yourself will cost half as much.
Picking’s easy.
A woman came out Wednesday and got eight gallons in no time, he said. There’s that much and more on the canes still.
And with no thorns to worry over, picking is painless.
“She wore gloves,” Smith said of Wednesday’s visitor, probably to ward off any juice stains.
Marvelously, Smith’s berry variety is firm fleshed and doesn’t burst when plucked. Fingers stay clean, even when grasping dark blue jewels.
And they’re huge — easy to see, easy to grasp. A typical berry is larger than a thumb.
BLACKBERRIES are not Smith’s first venture into you-pick farming.
He and his wife, Helen, used to have fields of strawberries, he said. As those berries played out and Helen was less able to help care for crops, they plowed them under, he said.
Strawberries have a productive life of about three years. Blackberries keep growing.
Each year, the bearing cane must be cut out after fruiting. Each year, along with that cane, the bush makes what looks to be an empty branch. That branch will bear fruit the following year, Smith said.
Beneath the rows Smith lays wood chips “To hold in the moisture. And when it’s muddy you can still pick out here anyway,” he noted.
He also has a trick for propagation.
“Stick the end (of a cane) into the ground.” A new cane will sprout a little way away from the branch tip. That shoot can be transplanted to form new bushes.
Smith has moved 61 such baby bushes this year, he said. By next year, he will have a third row for picking.
Smith, 85, hasn’t considered not farming.
“I just like to do something,” he said.
In the past, he raised 85 sows on his 120 acres.
“We had little pigs all over the place,” he said of the breeding operation.
Fescue pasture also changed over time.
“I planted it to wheat one year and it made over 100 bushels an acre — that was when wheat was $5 a bushel,” Smith noted.
Now, that same ground is growing blackberries.
Smith’s farm is at 2981 Idaho Road. The easiest way to get there, he said, is through LaHarpe.
Head south on Main Street and go six miles from Highway 54. Turn east from 2600 Road onto Idaho — there’s a log cabin at the corner for a landmark.
Come anytime, Smith said, just call first to be sure there’s ripe berries on the vine.
7.22.10
Register Reporter
2 pics
Long before the term was coined, Jim Smith believed in multi-tasking.
The former barber, who retired after 46 years in the business, also was a full time farmer.
Now, he’s a budding berry grower with a “you pick” operation that’s just two years old.
Smith began raising blackberries after passing through El Dorado a few years back and stopping at a pick-your-own operation there.
“He had 1,000 plants at least,” Smith said of the venture, called “Blackberry Heaven.”
“I asked what he’d charge for information, and he came back out with a handful of pamphlets,” Smith said of the operation’s owner.
Armed with new knowledge, Smith said he immediately sent away for 50 thornless blackberries.
Intent on keeping his fledgling crop secure, Smith took up a spray can with what he thought was insecticide.
“But I picked up the wrong one,” Smith said. “I killed them all. I sprayed them with Roundup.”
Undeterred, Smith ordered 50 more plants from a grower in Massachusetts and has been more cautious with his enthusiasm.
It’s worked. Trained on lines to keep them upright, Smith now has two 215-foot rows of bearing canes. All are thick with ripe berries and a bounty of red ones yet to darken.
With the onset of hot, dry weather, ripening will be rapid. Still, Smith noted, there should be at least four weeks of picking yet to come.
Smith, who can be reached at 620-496-2581, doesn’t have a name for his business, but he’d love to see a bunch of berry enthusiasts come out to share the harvest.
“We eat a lot of our own stuff,” Smith said. “We have a lot of blackberry cobbler.”
Prepicked quarts cost $5, Smith said, while the same quantity picked yourself will cost half as much.
Picking’s easy.
A woman came out Wednesday and got eight gallons in no time, he said. There’s that much and more on the canes still.
And with no thorns to worry over, picking is painless.
“She wore gloves,” Smith said of Wednesday’s visitor, probably to ward off any juice stains.
Marvelously, Smith’s berry variety is firm fleshed and doesn’t burst when plucked. Fingers stay clean, even when grasping dark blue jewels.
And they’re huge — easy to see, easy to grasp. A typical berry is larger than a thumb.
BLACKBERRIES are not Smith’s first venture into you-pick farming.
He and his wife, Helen, used to have fields of strawberries, he said. As those berries played out and Helen was less able to help care for crops, they plowed them under, he said.
Strawberries have a productive life of about three years. Blackberries keep growing.
Each year, the bearing cane must be cut out after fruiting. Each year, along with that cane, the bush makes what looks to be an empty branch. That branch will bear fruit the following year, Smith said.
Beneath the rows Smith lays wood chips “To hold in the moisture. And when it’s muddy you can still pick out here anyway,” he noted.
He also has a trick for propagation.
“Stick the end (of a cane) into the ground.” A new cane will sprout a little way away from the branch tip. That shoot can be transplanted to form new bushes.
Smith has moved 61 such baby bushes this year, he said. By next year, he will have a third row for picking.
Smith, 85, hasn’t considered not farming.
“I just like to do something,” he said.
In the past, he raised 85 sows on his 120 acres.
“We had little pigs all over the place,” he said of the breeding operation.
Fescue pasture also changed over time.
“I planted it to wheat one year and it made over 100 bushels an acre — that was when wheat was $5 a bushel,” Smith noted.
Now, that same ground is growing blackberries.
Smith’s farm is at 2981 Idaho Road. The easiest way to get there, he said, is through LaHarpe.
Head south on Main Street and go six miles from Highway 54. Turn east from 2600 Road onto Idaho — there’s a log cabin at the corner for a landmark.
Come anytime, Smith said, just call first to be sure there’s ripe berries on the vine.
7.22.10
Big givers help new shelter
Iola Senior Citizens, Inc. presented Allen County Animal Rescue Facility with $500, “the latest installment” in donations amounting to $4,000 over the past year and a half, said Senior Citizens volunteer CeCe Huston.
Joe Hess, another Senior volunteer, noted “ACARF is one of 15 organizations we donate to regularly.”
Iola Senior Citizens raises money through sales — predominantly of used clothing — at its thrift shop on North State Street.
“ACARF is honored to be supported by Iola Senior Citizens,” said Art Chapman, ACARF board president. “We really appreciate their efforts.”
“It’s a very worthy cause,” Hess said of the low-kill animal shelter which opened quietly this month. A grand opening will be scheduled at a later date, Chapman added.
Joe Hess, another Senior volunteer, noted “ACARF is one of 15 organizations we donate to regularly.”
Iola Senior Citizens raises money through sales — predominantly of used clothing — at its thrift shop on North State Street.
“ACARF is honored to be supported by Iola Senior Citizens,” said Art Chapman, ACARF board president. “We really appreciate their efforts.”
“It’s a very worthy cause,” Hess said of the low-kill animal shelter which opened quietly this month. A grand opening will be scheduled at a later date, Chapman added.
Small livestock big responsibility
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
2 pics
Because they’re smaller, rabbits and chickens often aren’t considered as challenging to raise as larger livestock. But for Allen County 4-Hers, lesser size does not equate to lesser care or responsibility.
Katie McEndree has been raising rabbits for about five years. Three of her entrants in Monday’s rabbit show she’s had as long.
“How long they live depends on the breed and how well you care for them,” McEndree noted.
It’s not necessarily easy.
“I had one die here two years ago form heat stroke,” she said. “She was my favorite bunny.”
To prevent a similar occurrence this year, McEndree is putting ice bottles — frozen water bottles — in each cage. The rabbits lie against them to keep cool. Also, she said, she ensures they have plenty of fresh water each day, and uses fans to keep the air moving around the rabbits.
In her years raising rabbits, McEndree has learned much about different breeds and the standards they must meet to become champions. One of her rabbits, Hunter, a Holland lop, is a former grand champion.
This will be the last fair for McEndree, who turned 19 this year. She hopes to continue raising rabbits, nonetheless, “If I can fit it into my schedule,” she said.
She also works at Gates Manufacturing and will be attending Allen County Community College for pre-veterinary medicine come fall. She has horses to care for, as well.
Mercedes Trollope is a relatively recent comer to the art of raising rabbits. She’s had her Flemish giant, “Marshmallow,” for two years now.
Marshmallow was bred and sold by the Allen family — who also had rabbits at Monday’s show — just before the doe was named grand champion at the 2008 Allen County Fair.
“It was rather disappointing,” noted Casey Allen, 11, whose entrants this year included a young Flemish giant that already was the size of a full grown Dutch rabbit.
The Allens (Casey has a twin sister, Stevie), raise rabbits solely for 4-H. If they sell, “We donate half the sales price back to the baby barn,” noted mom Amanda.
Casey and Stevie take the showmanship portion of the rabbit show seriously. They groom their rabbits beforehand, and are careful in their handling of the animals. The 11-year-old twins have been raising rabbits about three years, they said.
Jack Colborn, Chanute, is the rabbit judge. He’s been at it 20 to 25 years, he said, and raised rabbits about 35 years before his health disallowed the practice. He still loves the animals, though, and tries to teach the 4-Hers as much as possible through his judging process.
The American Rabbit Breeders Association recognizes 48 breeds with specified standards of perfection for each, Colborn noted. He explained to growers the features — both good and bad — of each rabbit he judged.
A stickler for the standards, Colborn gave out few blue ribbons, but plenty of white ones.
Some rabbits, although beautiful to the untrained eye, were simply too heavy for their breed class. Others had color imperfections or too-slender hips.
Through it all, the young livestock raisers were attentive and pragmatic.
Allen’s young Flemish giant was a bit too small this year, but next year offers another chance, she said.
FOR POULTRY lovers, Monday’s poultry show offered a variety of breeds, from stocky “dual purpose” meat and egg hens to a slender chocolate runner duck and frizzy-haired Polish crested rooster.
Judge Jim Kramer, of Parsons, was more forgiving than Colborn had been. Going from cage to cage, he told the eager audience what made a good bird, what to look for in trying to raise a champion and why some were blue ribbon, rather than purple, poultry.
A set of three buff Orpington pullets received a purple for their uniform size, their demeanor and good feather form despite the heat.
Between two white rock hens, Kramer explained that one was close to champion material — she held herself well, she had smooth feathers and she walked upright, again despite the heat. The other, he noted, while larger, was more ruffled in appearance.
Stevie Allen noted that her hens — granite-colored silver lace Wyandottes — lived in their goat pen amongst the goats. “Sometimes they’ll sit on the goats backs,” she noted.
One, Casey Allen said, was named Helicopter for her habit of flying up and down off the goats’ backs.
Kramer, too, took the time to teach the youths about proper handling of the birds and how to present them in the future.
After judging, he held a brief impromptu lesson for the youth on the topics.
In showmanship, all got blue ribbons.
Register Reporter
2 pics
Because they’re smaller, rabbits and chickens often aren’t considered as challenging to raise as larger livestock. But for Allen County 4-Hers, lesser size does not equate to lesser care or responsibility.
Katie McEndree has been raising rabbits for about five years. Three of her entrants in Monday’s rabbit show she’s had as long.
“How long they live depends on the breed and how well you care for them,” McEndree noted.
It’s not necessarily easy.
“I had one die here two years ago form heat stroke,” she said. “She was my favorite bunny.”
To prevent a similar occurrence this year, McEndree is putting ice bottles — frozen water bottles — in each cage. The rabbits lie against them to keep cool. Also, she said, she ensures they have plenty of fresh water each day, and uses fans to keep the air moving around the rabbits.
In her years raising rabbits, McEndree has learned much about different breeds and the standards they must meet to become champions. One of her rabbits, Hunter, a Holland lop, is a former grand champion.
This will be the last fair for McEndree, who turned 19 this year. She hopes to continue raising rabbits, nonetheless, “If I can fit it into my schedule,” she said.
She also works at Gates Manufacturing and will be attending Allen County Community College for pre-veterinary medicine come fall. She has horses to care for, as well.
Mercedes Trollope is a relatively recent comer to the art of raising rabbits. She’s had her Flemish giant, “Marshmallow,” for two years now.
Marshmallow was bred and sold by the Allen family — who also had rabbits at Monday’s show — just before the doe was named grand champion at the 2008 Allen County Fair.
“It was rather disappointing,” noted Casey Allen, 11, whose entrants this year included a young Flemish giant that already was the size of a full grown Dutch rabbit.
The Allens (Casey has a twin sister, Stevie), raise rabbits solely for 4-H. If they sell, “We donate half the sales price back to the baby barn,” noted mom Amanda.
Casey and Stevie take the showmanship portion of the rabbit show seriously. They groom their rabbits beforehand, and are careful in their handling of the animals. The 11-year-old twins have been raising rabbits about three years, they said.
Jack Colborn, Chanute, is the rabbit judge. He’s been at it 20 to 25 years, he said, and raised rabbits about 35 years before his health disallowed the practice. He still loves the animals, though, and tries to teach the 4-Hers as much as possible through his judging process.
The American Rabbit Breeders Association recognizes 48 breeds with specified standards of perfection for each, Colborn noted. He explained to growers the features — both good and bad — of each rabbit he judged.
A stickler for the standards, Colborn gave out few blue ribbons, but plenty of white ones.
Some rabbits, although beautiful to the untrained eye, were simply too heavy for their breed class. Others had color imperfections or too-slender hips.
Through it all, the young livestock raisers were attentive and pragmatic.
Allen’s young Flemish giant was a bit too small this year, but next year offers another chance, she said.
FOR POULTRY lovers, Monday’s poultry show offered a variety of breeds, from stocky “dual purpose” meat and egg hens to a slender chocolate runner duck and frizzy-haired Polish crested rooster.
Judge Jim Kramer, of Parsons, was more forgiving than Colborn had been. Going from cage to cage, he told the eager audience what made a good bird, what to look for in trying to raise a champion and why some were blue ribbon, rather than purple, poultry.
A set of three buff Orpington pullets received a purple for their uniform size, their demeanor and good feather form despite the heat.
Between two white rock hens, Kramer explained that one was close to champion material — she held herself well, she had smooth feathers and she walked upright, again despite the heat. The other, he noted, while larger, was more ruffled in appearance.
Stevie Allen noted that her hens — granite-colored silver lace Wyandottes — lived in their goat pen amongst the goats. “Sometimes they’ll sit on the goats backs,” she noted.
One, Casey Allen said, was named Helicopter for her habit of flying up and down off the goats’ backs.
Kramer, too, took the time to teach the youths about proper handling of the birds and how to present them in the future.
After judging, he held a brief impromptu lesson for the youth on the topics.
In showmanship, all got blue ribbons.
Hot time to be had at cookoff
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
There’s more to official barbecue than pouring sauce on meat.
The 2010 Allen County Fair’s barbecue cookoff is a Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned event. That means contestants are serious about what, for others, is a simple backyard hobby, said organizer Katy Donovan.
“Ours is a state championship,” Donovan said. “The governor has issued a proclamation.”
And, the fair grand champion is invited to participate in the national American Royal Barbecue Oct. 2-3 in Kansas City, Mo., Donovan said.
“We’re one of the last contests (of the year) they can participate in” to qualify for the event, Donovan noted.
Those stakes lure former award winners to Iola, Donovan said. “KCBS is a big deal.”
This is the sixth year the cookoff has been held at the fair, and the second year the contest has been KCBS sanctioned.
“The cookoff starts Friday night, anytime after their meat is inspected.”
All cooking is done at Riverside park, in specially designed — and expensive — trailers that the barbecue aficionados haul with them from contest to contest each weekend throughout the region.
“Most of these contestants have typically done this for years and they’ve spent a fortune on their equipment,” Donovan said.
Contestants cook chicken, beef brisket, pork and ribs over smoke for judging.
“There’s no actual fire anywhere near the meat,” Donovan explained.
Competitors come from other communities and other states.
“These people plan these (trips) out starting in January. It’s a society of its own.”
Yet in the traveling world of competitive barbecue, Iola is highly ranked.
“We offer them free electricity, free water, free ice. We have the pool, the park, the shade; restrooms are open. They’re well taken care of,” Donovan said.
And, she noted, “we’ll have an ice cream social for contestants Friday night.”
THE BARBECUE community is friendly — to a point, Donovan said.
Cooks enjoy meeting with locals and shooting the breeze Friday evening, Donovan said, but come Saturday “they want to be left alone. They’re in competition mode.”
And that means business. Serious business.
One judge is brought in for every contestant. They are kept secluded from the cooks.
The contest is a double blind — cooks never know who judged them, and judges have no idea whose food they’ve tasted.
Each contestant receives four labeled containers, Donovan said, to place their product in. Containers are then relabeled before being passed on to judges, ensuring total anonymity.
“They take this very, very seriously,” Donovan said.
And well they should. Besides the specialized equipment needed, contestants buy their own meats and pay an entry fee of $115.
“This makes money for the fair, but it’s not a spectator sport,” Donovan said.
There is also a $3,500 pot surrounding the contest. The grand prize winner gets $1,000. The reserve champion receives $500. Even tenth-place winners receive $10 and a ribbon, Donovan said.
All winners are announced at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. After that, contestants pack up, put their remaining food on ice, and hit the road, back home or to the next sanctioned event.
For those who would like a taste of the smoke, barbecue meals prepared by Iola’s own Steve Hoyt will be available for $5 on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the New Commuting Building. A pulled pork sandwich, chips and a pickle are included in the price. Drinks will be available. All meal proceeds go back to the fair.
Register Reporter
There’s more to official barbecue than pouring sauce on meat.
The 2010 Allen County Fair’s barbecue cookoff is a Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned event. That means contestants are serious about what, for others, is a simple backyard hobby, said organizer Katy Donovan.
“Ours is a state championship,” Donovan said. “The governor has issued a proclamation.”
And, the fair grand champion is invited to participate in the national American Royal Barbecue Oct. 2-3 in Kansas City, Mo., Donovan said.
“We’re one of the last contests (of the year) they can participate in” to qualify for the event, Donovan noted.
Those stakes lure former award winners to Iola, Donovan said. “KCBS is a big deal.”
This is the sixth year the cookoff has been held at the fair, and the second year the contest has been KCBS sanctioned.
“The cookoff starts Friday night, anytime after their meat is inspected.”
All cooking is done at Riverside park, in specially designed — and expensive — trailers that the barbecue aficionados haul with them from contest to contest each weekend throughout the region.
“Most of these contestants have typically done this for years and they’ve spent a fortune on their equipment,” Donovan said.
Contestants cook chicken, beef brisket, pork and ribs over smoke for judging.
“There’s no actual fire anywhere near the meat,” Donovan explained.
Competitors come from other communities and other states.
“These people plan these (trips) out starting in January. It’s a society of its own.”
Yet in the traveling world of competitive barbecue, Iola is highly ranked.
“We offer them free electricity, free water, free ice. We have the pool, the park, the shade; restrooms are open. They’re well taken care of,” Donovan said.
And, she noted, “we’ll have an ice cream social for contestants Friday night.”
THE BARBECUE community is friendly — to a point, Donovan said.
Cooks enjoy meeting with locals and shooting the breeze Friday evening, Donovan said, but come Saturday “they want to be left alone. They’re in competition mode.”
And that means business. Serious business.
One judge is brought in for every contestant. They are kept secluded from the cooks.
The contest is a double blind — cooks never know who judged them, and judges have no idea whose food they’ve tasted.
Each contestant receives four labeled containers, Donovan said, to place their product in. Containers are then relabeled before being passed on to judges, ensuring total anonymity.
“They take this very, very seriously,” Donovan said.
And well they should. Besides the specialized equipment needed, contestants buy their own meats and pay an entry fee of $115.
“This makes money for the fair, but it’s not a spectator sport,” Donovan said.
There is also a $3,500 pot surrounding the contest. The grand prize winner gets $1,000. The reserve champion receives $500. Even tenth-place winners receive $10 and a ribbon, Donovan said.
All winners are announced at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. After that, contestants pack up, put their remaining food on ice, and hit the road, back home or to the next sanctioned event.
For those who would like a taste of the smoke, barbecue meals prepared by Iola’s own Steve Hoyt will be available for $5 on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the New Commuting Building. A pulled pork sandwich, chips and a pickle are included in the price. Drinks will be available. All meal proceeds go back to the fair.
Bake sale offers ribbon-winning treats
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter
Sure as the fair, the annual 4-H fair bake sale will be here again Aug. 2 from 1 p.m. “until sold out,” noted Southwind Extension District Family and Consumer Sciences Agent Kathy McEwan.
“It’s one of our bigger projects,” she said of the fund-raiser whose proceeds go to support 4-H Council projects such as scholarships for day camp and summer camp, McEwan said.
Typically, about 200 entries are received, she noted.
The bake sale is unique in that purchasers are buying the actual fair entry that a 4-Her submitted for judging earlier that day.
“They’ll bring a cake and the judge will take a slice for judging and maybe another slice for display,” mcEwan noted. “What is left is put up for sale.”
Loaves of bread, plates of cookies, cupcakes, caramel rolls — all will grace the table located at the northeast corner of the Recreation Community Building near the parking lot entrance.
Award winners will be displayed nearby, so buyers can see if they’re purchasing blue-ribbon baked goods — although everything should be tasty, McEwan said.
“We always have a nice variety of items,” she said.
“Come early for the best selection,” McEwan noted, because “within the first one to two hours,” most everything is gone.
Register Reporter
Sure as the fair, the annual 4-H fair bake sale will be here again Aug. 2 from 1 p.m. “until sold out,” noted Southwind Extension District Family and Consumer Sciences Agent Kathy McEwan.
“It’s one of our bigger projects,” she said of the fund-raiser whose proceeds go to support 4-H Council projects such as scholarships for day camp and summer camp, McEwan said.
Typically, about 200 entries are received, she noted.
The bake sale is unique in that purchasers are buying the actual fair entry that a 4-Her submitted for judging earlier that day.
“They’ll bring a cake and the judge will take a slice for judging and maybe another slice for display,” mcEwan noted. “What is left is put up for sale.”
Loaves of bread, plates of cookies, cupcakes, caramel rolls — all will grace the table located at the northeast corner of the Recreation Community Building near the parking lot entrance.
Award winners will be displayed nearby, so buyers can see if they’re purchasing blue-ribbon baked goods — although everything should be tasty, McEwan said.
“We always have a nice variety of items,” she said.
“Come early for the best selection,” McEwan noted, because “within the first one to two hours,” most everything is gone.
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