Hello, CALS,
This week is truly the start of summer! But we’ve been at it for at least a month here in the world of higher education!
I hope your summer work and vacations are all going very well. Our students are out and about, including those on our many study abroad and Study USA trips, from Greece to Uganda to Montana and beyond. When they get back, don’t forget to ask them about their experiences! The same for those working over the summer – back home or for companies, agencies and non-governmental organizations here, there and everywhere.
Among many of us that will take time this summer for travel and family is Ramesh Balayar in sociology and criminal justice, who teaches in our agricultural and rural policy studies program. He just returned from a long-awaited visit to his family in Nepal, and sent me a couple terrific pictures (see below). Who else has or will travel so far to see family this summer?
Summer means heat, and without enough rainfall, it can be tough on our farmers. The circa two inches of rain we received in Ames over the weekend was great, and perhaps not yet reflected in this Current Conditions and Outlooks map, which shows we still have significant concerns about the status of our moisture conditions for farming.
Also, wishing you a happy Juneteenth, 158 years after enslaved African Americans in Texas, post-Civil War, and then the news spreading nationwide, were informed of their freedom. Remarkable.
My best - Dan
Scenes from CALS
In this panoramic view from this past weekend, you can see from left to right in the distance behind thriving crops: the new Stanley L. Balloun Turkey Teaching and Research Facility (white roof) next to the Robert T. Hamilton Poultry Teaching and Research Facility (green roof); then further to the right amongst trees, the Ag450 Farm; and then immediately across the road, the new Alliant Energy Solar Farm going in; and behind it under the hoop houses the Compost Facility; and behind it the ISU Dairy Farm. A beautiful day on the central Iowa farm landscape!
Joel Rybolt, animal science, shared this photo of a baby preying mantis that was spotted on his back deck. He said this one just one of several, all less than one inch long. He suspects they just hatched out, as he has never seen any this small before. He also shared an image of a showy milkweed, a bit different than the common milkweeds we usually see.
Baling season is underway, as can be seen in this photo of a first-cutting in a field near Ames under a grey, stormy sky.
Ramesh Balayar, sociology and criminal justice, shared these images from a recent visit to his home country of Nepal. The first image is of Ramesh and his father sitting in front of his father's water buffalo, lovingly named Kali, which is translated to "Blackie" or "Black." The water buffalo is used for milk.
Ramesh's family has a small farm of less than one hectare. His father lives with Ramesh's younger brother and family. They are subsistence farmers growing rice, wheat, finger millet and many other important crops and vegetables.
The final photo is of Ramesh's village in the mid-hills of Sudurpashchim Province of Nepal, Banedugrasain Doti, on the West Seti River (far western Nepal, 400 miles from Katmandu).
