Category: News

Scott Thellman, a first generation farmer, tells the story of how he started Juniper Hills Farms in 2006. His business savvy, interest in distribution systems, and passion for agriculture have meshed in this new enterprise.

It all began when Scott’s family moved to the country north of Lawrence in 1999. He began helping the man who rented the property with production work. 

Even in high school, Thellman began to purchase equipment to cut and bale hay.  Loving the work and realizing that he could make money, he bought more and better equipment with a youth loan he received from a USDA program. Even before graduating from high school, he expanded his operation to include more hay land and specialty crops.

After trying out several different university ag programs, Thellman graduated in 2014 with a degree in agri-business, economics, agronomy, and leadership.   About that time, he used what he was learning about food aggregation and local food distribution systems to leverage his investment in a large refrigerated truck by distributing for other producers as well as for himself. 

Growth was  steady until COVID hit.  At that point, Spellman adapted to the closing of his traditional markets in restaurants, schools, and grocery stores by creating Sunflower Provisions, doing pick up and deliver in and around Lawrence and expanding to serve more producers.

What lies ahead? For one thing, Juniper Hills will soon establish an industrial kitchen in North Lawrence. Spellman envisions producing salsa and marinara sauce using vegetables that might otherwise be wasted. He would also like to add to production of food-grade corn and soybeans.

Spellman will continue to experiment with ways to vertically integrate his business, a slow and steady growth pattern he believes is destined for success.

Ryan Bowersox, Director of Marketing and Outreach for Just Food, explains how the agency has expanded its programs in Douglas County beyond the food bank itself. 

Just Food serves 150-300 families each day, providing access to nutritious food while maintaining a sense of dignity for all.  The organization seeks to address the root causes of hunger and to cultivate self-sufficiency .  Just Food also works to establish a culture of stewardship, sustainability, transparency, diversity and equity.  Elizabeth Keever is Executive Director and is responsible for operations, working with an advisory board. 

Program elements consist of food recovery,  pantry shopping and mobile food distribution for rural areas of the county as well as a popular diaper bank.  The newly remodeled main facility hosts educational classes like Just Cook, which provides instruction in food preparation and nutrition.  Kitchen Works prepares people for careers in food service, and Just Grow teaches gardening techniques and makes garden plots available. 

Volunteers play a critical role by working in the food pantry, in the warehouse, as drivers and as instructors.  Volunteers also assist in putting on special food and fund raising events. 

Just Food collaborates with at least 19 agencies to deliver services. Partners include Bert Nash, the Lawrence Community Shelter, the Humane Society, the Willow Domestic Violence Center, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, the Lawrence school system, the University of Kansas, and Haskell University. 

The pandemic has contributed to a huge increase in hunger in the county. Eligibility requirements for service are minimal, and half of the people served are Caucasian. In 2020, 22,433 people were served, almost 2,000 home deliveries were made, 653,473 pounds of food was recovered,  57,600 diapers were distributed, 28 coaching sessions were conducted, and 11,901 volunteer hours were logged. 

Most Kansans do not realize the connection that George Washington Carver has to the state.  Rotarian Jim Peters explained that Carver not only attended school in Kansas but also homesteaded here early in his life.

A scientist, inventor, artist, and musician, Carver was born a slave around 1864 in Missouri on the farm of Moses and Susan Carver, a couple who were among the first settlers in the area.  Carvers were unionists and anti-slavery.  When the Civil War ended, the Carvers rescued George and his half-brother  and raised them as their own children. 

Because he was sickly, Susan kept George away from heavy outdoor work and taught him to help with  household chores.  Cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and performing other domestic tasks turned out to be the way that Carver earned his way through school.  As early as age 10, he walked to the town of Neosho, Missouri, to attend the only school available to Black children, rooming there with Mariah Watkins, herself a former slave, in exchange for doing domestic chores.

When the talented boy needed a better school, he moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, 75 miles away and once again cooked and cleaned for wealthy families in order to stay support himself.  During that time, Carver witnessed a lynching, upsetting him so much that he left the city.  Eventually, he earned a high school diploma in  Minneapolis, KS.

When Carver was denied admission to a college in Kansas City because of race, he decided to take advantage of the Homestead Act and try farming, joining a friend to start the town of Beeler in central Kansas.  He soon realized that farming was not what he wanted to do, so he went to Iowa to attend college again, enrolling at Simpson in Indianola where he studied art.  Carver studied agriculture at Iowa State University in Ames, IA, again supporting himself with a laundry business.  He was the first Afro-American to earn a Masters degree in agriculture. 

Booker T. Washington recruited George to teach at Tuskegee University in 1896.  Carver spent the remainder of his life there, teaching, starting the agriculture department at the school, and inventing numerous items to improve farm production processes.

Kevin Smith, Dean of Libraries at University of Kansas, spoke on the myriad of changes and challenges facing today’s academic students and librarians.  Smith is well qualified to address the topic as his academic credentials are extensive.  He did his undergraduate work at Hamilton College in New York, earned an MA Degree in Religion at Yale, a Masters in Library Science at Kent State, and a law degree from Capital University.  Before arriving at KU, Smith served as Director of Copyright and Scholarly Communications at Duke University.  In addition to his duties as Dean of Libraries, Smith is Director of Universities Press and teaches copyright for the KU Law School. 

The focus of Smith’s talk was on changes and challenges for academic libraries and academic students in the digital age.  The digital age has actually increased the importance of librarians as the challenge today is not so much finding information but navigating and evaluating the overwhelming amount of what is available.  Accordingly, librarians still have an important teaching role, including information literacy with an emphasis on authentication of sources and material. 

Present copyright laws were not created to deal with digital information on the Internet.  Information is mostly proprietary, and users must engage complex user agreements, licensing, and an array of new services.  These challenges come at a time when we have lost our traditional “canons of authority” for creating and conveying information.  Authentic information exists on the Internet along side false and purposefully slanted information. 

Smith also addressed new models of publication, including publishing on-demand and open source text books.  University students face great challenges in the digital age, but professional librarians are prepared to provide guidance and assistance.

On Wednesday, October 13, a group of Rotarians and their guests toured the Encountering John Brown exhibit at Watkins Museum.  LCR is one of the sponsoring partners of the exhibit which will be open noon to 8:00 p.m. through November 6. 

The exhibit tells the story of the radical abolitionist John Brown by utilizing first-hand accounts and illustrations from his time period.  Kansas artist Brad Sneed created large illustrated panels which serve to emphasize significant points in his story. 

Brown grew up in Ohio where he encountered strong abolitionist ideas.  He came to believe that he was an instrument of God in the fight against slavery and that violence was a just response.  Brown married Dianthe Lusk, and together they had seven children.  He worked as a tanner and a stock man through out his life, and was not always successful in business.  Brown also lived in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and became involved in the underground railroad.  In 1883 he married Mary Ann Day, and they had 13 more children. 

In 1856, Brown moved to Kansas to engage in the fight to keep slavery out of the territory.  He lead a bloody reprisal raid on a pro-slavery family near Potawatomie and fought in skirmishes at Black Jack and Osawatomie.  Brown then led an 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to spark a slave rebellion.  However, Brown was captured and several of his party were killed. 

Brown’s trial and execution gained national attention.  His actions inflamed the South and emboldened abolitionist, pushing the nation closer to war. 

At a meeting after the tour, Rotary members commented on the variety of Brown’s life experiences and on the number of famous people he encountered along the way (Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Robert E. Lee).  There was a good discussion about whether Brown was a martyr or a terrorist.  The jury is still out on that point, but there is no doubt that John Brown had a huge impact on his time.