Connecting from My Little Corner of the World

 

As I've said before, the creative person who wrote the Skyline High School Class of 1975's Prophesy for our 26 members predicted my future as a journalist at The New York Times

It didn't turn out that way. But I've certainly done my share of writing in the 46 years since I left good ol' Skyline High. (Oh my goodness! That math caused a bit of a GULP. It's been 46 YEARS! Yowzah!)

While my writing has been centered on the Kansas plains, it's still brought me some connections to far-off places. 

Earlier this summer, I got a request from Professor Helmut van Emden, Emeritus Professor of Horticulture, The University of Reading, School of Agriculture, Policy & Development, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading, RG6 6EU, UK & School of Biological Sciences.

His Google search for alfalfa harvest in the States netted a photo from a July 2016 Kim's County Line. In his email, he asked for permission to use it for an article he was writing for the journal, World Agriculture. If I agreed, he asked for a higher resolution photo and wanted to know how to credit my work.

I always appreciate when people ask permission. Sometimes, I'll see someone has "appropriated" one of my photos for their own Facebook page or some other use. I usually don't care, as long as they share attribution and don't imply it's their own image. Lots of times, that doesn't happen. 

But it's been fun to connect with people all over the world in small ways when people do take time to ask permission.

Back in 2019, I got an email asking for permission to use this owl photo. Here's her request:

Hi, 

Recently, I ran across your blog featuring a photo of an owl.  

I am currently writing an informational booklet for 5th graders in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.  The booklet features public domain photos to illustrate the 'science lesson' of the booklet.  

I've not run into a good public domain photo of a squinting owl, until I found your photo. 

I'm wondering if you'll allow me to use your photo in my booklet.??

The booklet is about 24 pages, published in Kenya.  There will be about 1,000 copies of the book printed, and then distributed among the schools of Missions of Hope International.  (http://mohiafrica.org/)  The books are not sold.  The printing costs are paid for by donations to the mission.  

Thank you for considering this.

LeeAnne Forman

 

  

That particular photo was from a 2011 blog post. I granted her permission, but I also asked her to tell me something about herself. Here's what she wrote back:

 

I am a teacher from Gresham, Oregon and about 15 years ago a friend of mine (who is a life-long missionary in Kenya) asked if I would come to teach the teachers in their little mission school in the slums.  The students live in the slums, as well as most of the teachers.  The teachers were simply high school grads and didn't know a thing about teaching.  So, I took my sister (who is also a teacher) and off we went.  

After three weeks of working with the 10 or 12 teachers, it was time for us to come home.  The teachers asked us what we would teach them NEXT year.  Ha!  We were thinking we were doing this only once.  The next year we took a few of our friends (and our husbands, too).  And so, ten years later, we passed our duties off to a Christian college here in Oregon.  They, now take a group of intern teachers and many of their professors to teach the Kenyan teachers how to teach other teachers.  (sort of a mini-teacher college.  

Over those ten years, several things happened.  God grew that little mission school into a 'going concern!  Check out the website.  More than 20 schools, spread over all of Kenya, 17,000 students!  Not just schools, but medical clinics, churches, tech school training.  Wowsa! 

Also, the USA teachers realized that it's hard to teach reading without any books.  There are books available in Kenya, but the quality of stories and such is not topnotch.  So, a few of us started writing and illustrating books.  Another friend of mine in Naivasha is a publisher.  I send the books to him, he edits and prints them, and delivers them to the main school (where they get distributed to the other schools).  It costs about $1.50 for each book and the funds are provided by donations from peole in the USA.  So far, we've done about 25 books.  We print about 1,000 copies per book.  Most of the books are for the K-2nd graders, but every so often I throw in a book for the older students.  That's the case with Eye Wonder, a science book about eyes.  

 I would never have known anything about it without this random photo request.

 

I got another email from Kenya, which prompted a few back-and-forth emails, but, unfortunately, no photos from a Kenyan farmer:

I was impressed by the farm, the progress on the land, the water and the cows to me seemed the best and blessed hands of a farm wife.

Your lovely and happy family, its such a blessing.

I am in Kenya but I have just taken 4 hours going through Kim's County Line. I am so impressed.

Thanks,

Abel Mwema

Also in 2016, I had a request from a United Methodist minister to use one of my daffodil photos for a Service of Remembrance at their church.

 

 

He wrote:

I am a United Methodist pastor in southern Wisconsin. My congregation is planning a service or remembrance for late April, in which we honor the memories of departed loved ones from the past year. Our theme is "Seeds of Promise" inspired by the hymn, "Hymn of Promise."

 

In searching for a possible visual image to use in our bulletin, Web announcement, etc., I came across this image on your blog.

 

I am asking for permission to use that image. It is by coincidence (or not?) that I notice that photo was posted in an entry recalling Maundy Thursday, which, of course, we are preparing for this very week.

 

Blessings to you,

Pastor Steve Scott

The United Methodist Church

Milton, Wisconsin

As a lifelong member of the denomination, I loved hearing from a UMC minister who also talked about one of my favorite hymns in the hymnal. I also illustrated the hymn in that blog post. 

 

Back in 2017, I heard from a farmer in Ireland, who had a question:

 

Hi Kim, 

I hope all is good in the USA and that your harvest is going good. 

I am emailing you from Ireland.  I came across your photos of your farm , they are really good. 

Me and my sister have been looking at crops and the problem of variable germination in say canola or corn due to cold wet weather / showers . 

We are trying to figure out is there anyway to help the seed at the start. 

I saw the photo of Randy filling the tank with nitrogen fertilizer to give the seeds the best possible start, and how you describe the plants like little soldiers

Have you ever experienced the problem of poor germination or have any neighbours you know experienced it ?  It moves around year to year depending on the weather and I see reports of farmers who say they sowed on say Thursday but got a weekend of cold weather and now the germination is poor. 

I think the farmers know they want warm weather but at the same time they are moving through the sowing window.

Any thoughts would be great.

Thank you,

Mark Marco O'Carroll

We exchanged an email or two. 

 

Sometimes, the request isn't from so far away. 

 

I've had people request prints after exhibiting at the Kansas State Fair. Requests included this one:

 

 And this one:

An email from Jeremy asked for permission to use a photo I took as a neighbor moved cattle past our house. 

He was putting together a new website for Stafford County. I don't think anything ever came of it, but it was still fun to see.

 

Another rural scene was used by a Texas writer. Last August, I wrote about it here.

In the email, Col. Edward (Eddie) Boxx asked if he could use one of my photos featuring longhorns and sunflowers. I took it in 2011 as the Kansas Cattle Drive came through our area in honor of Kansas' 150th birthday. (Click here for the blog post. Also here.)

 

He wrote an article for the Heritage Village Museum in Tyler County, Texas, about the Old Beef Trail, and he sent me a screen shot to show how the photo was used.

I have a couple of blog friends in Australia and others from across the U.S. It's great to connect with others from my little corner of the world.