Teachers touch the lives of all of us, and at the vulnerable ages of school children, teachers have such power to change lives.

It is remarkable to remember that many of the teachers in the one-room country schools were teenagers.

Isaac Werner describes in his journal a snowstorm that raced across the prairie, dropping temperatures dangerously, even indoors. 

Sometimes teachers stayed in the schools overnight to avoid making daily trips to and from distant homes, and apparently young Miss Goodwin was doing that the night the blizzard arrived.  Isaac recorded that she suffered severe frost bite to her hands at the school house during the storm.

Not all the teachers were young single women, however.

My great grandmother, Susan Beck, taught in the one-room schools in her community.  Her daughter, Anna Marie Beck, followed in her mother’s footsteps to begin teaching when she was still in her teens and devoted her life to education, as a teacher, a superintendent, the Stafford County Superintendent, and working in the education department in the state capital in Topeka.

The recent series sharing the 1895 8th Grade examinations showed the challenging curriculum these teachers, many of whom were quite young themselves, were expected to teach.  The influence of teachers, then and now, may be the most important profession in our nation.

When I was a college student at Fort Hays State University majoring in elementary education, part of my required training was Practice Teaching. 

I was assigned to a Master Teacher at Lincoln School in Hays, Kansas.  She was incredible, and more than all my classes, although they were important in training me, my master teacher taught me how to teach.  Her life lessons have stayed with me long past my years as a teacher.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten her name.  I looked for it in my old college year books, but she was not a regular faculty member, so her name was not listed.  I had given up on finding her name in order to thank her.

Recently, I was attending a luncheon at my alma mater and found myself seated next to a woman who had been an education major at the same time I was.  I happened to mention my respect for the Practice Teacher I had and my disappointment in having failed to locate her name in order to thank her.  Based on my description, the woman said, “I believe you are describing Emma Kolb.”

It is amazing how often serendipity leads us the things that had eluded us.  Sadly, Emma Kolb died in 2016, making it impossible for me to thank her for the positive influence she had on my life.  This blog is my way to say thank you, to her and all the teachers who influence the lives of students in Lyn ways that positively change their futures.

Emma Kolb was born May 21, 1918 and died November 20, 2016.  She began teaching in 1937 at Zion, Rush County, Kansas, and later, taught at Lincoln Elementary School in Hays, Kansas for 33 years.  Following retirement, she volunteered there for an additional 22 years.  She was named a Kansas Master Teacher and was inducted into the Kansas Teacher Hall of Fame.  She was often heard to say, “Remember, children are not your job; they are your privilege.”

One of the things she taught me was never to avoid admitting I did not know the answer to a question a child asked.  Rather, to tell them, ‘I don’t know the answer to your question, but it is a good question and I will look that up and share the answer with you later.” 

For the many things you taught me that have influenced me beyond the classroom, thank you Miss Kolb.  I wish I could have told you that, but perhaps I was mature enough to tell you that when my time under your tutelage ended.  If not, perhaps teachers reading this blog will be reminded of how much what they do is appreciated, even when students forget to tell them.

Lyn Fenwick, Macksville, is a graduate of Fort Hays State University. She has a weekly blog and is working on a manuscript about a Kansas homesteader and the Populist Movement.

Watch the Eagle Community TV Forum interview about the Wizard of Oz collection of Lyn and her husband Larry Fenwick.

Are weeds showing up in your new alfalfa?  If they get thick, your alfalfa will suffer.  Check your fields today after listening to some options to control those weeds. 

Alfalfa seedlings compete poorly with weeds.  Control decisions can be difficult.  Vigorous weed growth this spring might be making it extra tough for your seedlings to compete with these weeds.

When weeds, especially broadleaf weeds, threaten seedling alfalfa, one common method to control them is mowing.  If used, adjust mowing height so several leaves remain on alfalfa seedlings after clipping to help your alfalfa seedlings regrow rapidly.  Also, do not smother small seedlings with clippings.  So mow weeds before they get so tall that they produce a large quantity of clippings.

If you would rather spray broadleaf weeds than mow them, use either Buctril, Butyrac, Pursuit, or Raptor.  Buctril controls most small broadleaf weeds fairly inexpensively, but alfalfa injury can occur when temperatures exceed 80 degrees.  If you expect those high temperatures when you spray, it might be better to use Butyrac, Pursuit, or Raptor.  These herbicides control most small broadleaf weeds, but weeds must be less than three inches tall or results will be inconsistent.  Pursuit and Raptor are more expensive but their soil activity will continue to control weeds throughout much of the season.

Mowing is not very effective with grassy weeds.  To kill grassy weeds use Poast or Select.  Use the appropriate adjuvant and make sure you spray before grasses get 4 inches tall or control will be spotty.

Weeds reduce growth of new alfalfa by shading and competing for moisture.  You can prevent these problems by acting quickly.  Exam your fields soon and control weeds as needed.
 
BE READY FOR FIRST CUTTING
Got all your corn planted?  Working on the beans?  Don’t look now, but alfalfa harvest is approaching fast. 

You’ve been busy planting crops and getting work done with the late start this spring.  But don’t relax just yet because your alfalfa soon may be ready to cut.

Being aggressive on the first cutting is critical if high forage quality is needed.  Alfalfa’s forage quality changes faster during the first spring growth than at any other time of the year.  Plants are maturing and temperatures are increasing; both cause quality to decline.  So don’t delay if high quality is needed.

But what about alfalfa for beef cows?  That might be a little different story, especially if you need to rebuild hay supplies.  Normally we get our highest total yield by waiting until alfalfa is near full bloom.  Not only is yield highest, this also uses available soil moisture most efficiently for alfalfa growth.  Some dryland fields may need quite a bit more rain for good summer and fall harvests since many deep subsoils remain dry.  But with a good first cut you at least will have some hay of good enough quality to feed your beef cows next winter.

Timing of hay harvest is important whether your needs are for high quality or for high yield.  With alfalfa becoming ready to cut soon this spring, don’t miss your best time.

Alicia Boor is an Agriculture and Natural Resources agent in the Cottonwood District (which includes Barton and Ellis counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact her by e-mail at [email protected] or calling 620-793-1910.

Rightly or wrongly, certain First Amendment issues tend to dominate the national conversation more than others. Bring up President Trump’s tweets criticizing the news media, college campus protests of controversial speakers, or the possibility of the government regulating Facebook and you’re bound to inspire a rousing and possibly heated discussion. Mention that state laws protecting critical infrastructure might actually erode the right to assemble and you’re more likely get blank stares and a hasty topic change. After all, it’s an issue that combines the freedom of assembly, which barely anyone knows about, with state and local law, which barely anyone cares about. Throw in the word “infrastructure” and it’s practically anti-clickbait.

Nevertheless, it’s an issue worth paying attention to. At the end of March, legislators in Louisiana and Minnesota proposed bills that would criminalize the activities of groups protesting the construction of oil pipelines (that would be the infrastructure we’re talking about). At least five other states have passed or are attempting to pass similar laws, seemingly inspired by the protests at Standing Rock, which delayed construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization of state legislators with libertarian principles, even wrote a model policy for states to use as a template. ALEC’s rationale? “Whether it’s vandalism or protesters turned violent, a few people can cause tremendous harm to their fellow citizens by damaging critical infrastructure sites. Stopping the flow of a pipeline can cause pressure to build and puts thousands at risk of harm from an explosion. While peaceful protests are an important part of Americans’ right to free speech, causing damage and putting others at risk of harm is not.”

You may be thinking that this sounds reasonable enough. But the proposed Louisiana and Minnesota laws go beyond preventing protesters from causing damage to infrastructure. In Louisiana, it’s already a crime to trespass into a critical infrastructure facility. If the new law passes, it would be a crime to conspire to trespass into a critical infrastructure facility, one punishable by up to five years of prison. (The sentence increases to six to 20 years in prison if it’s determined that the conspiracy to trespass could lead to disruption of the infrastructure.) To be clear, the term “conspiracy” merely requires two or more people to agree to do something and at least one of them to take some action to further that objective. The proposed law also expands the definition of “critical infrastructure” to include pipeline construction sites. To review: If this law passes, a protester could go to prison for participating in a peaceful protest at a pipeline construction site…or for taking part in a discussion about that possibility.

In Minnesota, the proposed law would allow anyone who “recruits, trains, aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires” with someone who trespasses into a critical infrastructure facility to be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by one year in jail — or a felony, punishable by 10 years in jail, if the trespasser intended to “substantially disrupt” the facility. Again, this could mean jail time for people who simply take part in a discussion about a peaceful protest, or even people who provide protesters with water or medical attention. And as the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law puts it in their U.S. Protest Law Tracker, “the phrase ‘significantly disrupt’ could be construed to encompass peaceful protests that block access to infrastructure, for instance, which under Minnesota law is broadly defined to include bus stations and bridges.”

As Americans, one of our core freedoms is the right to assemble peacefully in a public space. Like all of our rights, it’s not without limits — the government can place restrictions on when and how we exercise it, and it can decide that certain facilities do not qualify as public spaces. But these proposed laws seem specifically designed to intimidate and dissuade people from protesting at all. If you show up for a protest that takes place in a public space near a pipeline construction site, will you face criminal charges if some of your fellow protesters start talking about trespassing onto the site? Will you face charges if you show up at a meeting to discuss ways to oppose the pipeline and the possibility of trespassing comes up? It’s hard to be certain, and that seems to be the point.

Both of these bills are currently pending (the Louisiana bill is slightly further along, having been approved by the state’s House of Representatives in April). Whether you’re a staunch environmentalist or a lover of pipelines, and however far you might live from Louisiana or Minnesota, this should concern you.

Lata Nott is executive director of the First Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum Institute. Contact her via email at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @LataNott.