Upper Iowa professors, can 'Talk Turkey' after tour of Istanbul in June

A variety of foods sampled by the group from Upper Iowa University that traveled to Istanbul, Turkey in June 2012.

By Janell Bradley

FAYETTE – A favorite quote of UIU associate professor Dawn Jacobsen is, “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn" – Haim Ginnott.

Jacobsen believes there's always more she can do to improve the way her students learn. And for more than 20 years, she's been an advocate for those with learning disabilities. Jacobsen was a preschool through 12th grade  special education teacher for 17 years before she joined Upper Iowa five years ago. She currently teaches classes in individual behavior and classroom management at the university in Fayette.

"In my classes we talk a lot about cultural acceptance," she says. Jacobsen lives with her husband and youngest daughter on a farm near Clermont. All five members of the family are either working as teachers or pursuing careers in the field of education. Oldest daughter, Molli Steffens, will teach 9th grade English at North Fayette this fall, and daughter Kelli, just began her career in Phoenix, Ariz. where she teaches third grade. Dawn's husband, Kirk, is a third grade teacher in the Valley School district, Elgin. Youngest daughter, Shannon, just began classes at Upper Iowa where she will be studying early childhood special education.

This past June, in her first travel outside the United States, Jacobsen weathered a nearly nine hour flight to Amsterdam, and then another three hours to her group's destination: Istanbul, Turkey.

The entourage from Upper Iowa University pictured while touring the Asian side of Istanbul, includes, from left- Joe Elsinger, Summer Zwanziger Elsinger, Sarahh Scherer, Jason Knight, Gary Waters, Don McComb, UIU Pres. Alan Walker, Dawn Jacobsen, and Cindy Waters.

The trip was part of the UIU Faculty Internationalization Program, to which Jacobsen had earlier applied to be a participant.

It didn't take the group long to realize how much they were in the minority as tourists in a country that is situated across both Europe and Asia.

Not speaking any other languages but English, she said she was initially frustrated in Istanbul: a city that is a melting pot of many cultures.

"I couldn't read the street signs, the menus, or even the newspaper."  After just those first few hours, she says she better understood the challenge for UIU's international students when attending classes on campus in Fayette. Because UIU has centers all over the world, the trip gave Jacobsen a new awareness of cultural contrasts.

"It really broadened my horizons about the differences and how we can accommodate those kids in our classrooms," she said.

The group of nine from UIU traveled from June 1-9. In addition to the professors, UIU President Alan Walker joined the group. As his father was in the military, Walker lived in Turkey while in high school. He was able to provide other insights and suggestions about sights to see.

During their Turkey experience, the group toured General Electric Headquarters. A CEO spoke to them about GE innovation, the Turkish work force and the local economy. The educators toured Big Blue Denim Factory, where they saw men working alongside women in sewing, distressing, achieving a 'prewashed' look and conducting quality control.

Jacobsen said the average monthly income for a denim factory worker is about $1,800 – not enough for a family of four on which to subsist.

She said over half the population of Istanbul is aged 29 or younger. Many of the older generation still reside in the rural areas of the country where labor isn't as mechanized. There appeared to be a strong work ethic in Istanbul, she said. At the denim factory they saw a lot of technology used as part of the process. The group also visited a leather goods' factory.

The group stayed in an historic area of the city where the streets were still cobblestone. Jacobsen said the presence of armed guards wasn't unusual on some street corners. She also marveled at the open air restaurants and lack of insects and bugs due to the proximity to the sea.

When dining out, the group did as the Turks do, and ordered 'meza' or starter appetizers. This often included bread, and perhaps fish such as calamari or smoked mackerel. There was bread, and then the main entree – sometimes they chose foods like lamb kebabs or there was the day they chose a restaurant where guests pick their own fish.

Jacobsen describes how a large platter of raw fish – yes, most had the heads and eyes intact yet – was brought to the table from which they were to choose. 

"They weigh it at the table and then you haggle for the price you want to pay per pound," she said. Seafood offerings included seabass, scorpion, and shrimp.

They also sampled "raki" an anise liqueur. Served in a six-inch tall, slender glass with a glass of water, when the water is poured into the liqueur, it turns milky and is referred to as, "lion's milk."

As most travelers to Turkey will do, the group went to a Turkish carpet and rug store. The owner took the Americans to an upper level where they sat on benches situated around the perimeter. Hundreds of carpets were rolled, folded, and stacked there. They were able to watch as a woman wove a rug on a loom. The tourists were offered a beverage and then provided a verbal history on Turkish rug making. As he spoke, assistants literally rolled out rugs demonstrating the techniques, styles and patterns from the various eras, peoples and regions.

During their eight days away from the U.S., the group cruised the Bosphorus on a 35-foot pleasure boat, at dusk. The Bosphorus is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia and connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. 

They saw the Blue Mosque and toured the Hagia Sophia, a former Orthodox basilica and now a museum in Istanbul. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except from 1204-61, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire.

Also during the week, the group walked through the Grand Bazaar, bought nuts at the spice market, saw the underground Basilica Cistern and they dined on the Golden Horn, a large inlet off the Bosphorus Strait that divides old and new cities.

As she reflected on the week, Jacobsen said she realized just how many more accommodations there are for the handicapped in public areas in the United States due to the American Disabilities Act. 

The group was unable to get access to any primary or secondary schools in Istanbul, but they did visit a nursery/preschool because their guide's child attended there. The curriculum used a project-based approach so there were numerous examples of art, sculpture and projects around the room.

"We didn't see any accommodations or evidence of students with any signs of disabilities," said Jacobsen. The building was on four levels and there were no elevators or ramps.

Beyond the education experience of the trip, Jacobsen is unlikely to forget the historical aspect of visiting Istanbul, and haggling to reach a price before making a purchase. She said it was a common joke amongst the group when determining the cost of an item in American dollars as they converted the price given in lyra: "how many doctorates does it take to convert money from the American dollar?" they good naturedly joked.

The Faculty International Grant (FIG) is available annually to individual faculty and supports a group experience abroad each year. Group grants such as this one, allow up to eight full-time faculty to travel together to an international destination where they can conduct collaborative or independent research.

Any full-time UIU faculty member is eligible to apply. The travel group will give a presentation to to the UIU community, most likely in September.

When water is added to the anise-flavored liqueur known as 'raki,' it turns milky white, hence the nickname, lion's milk.

A wide variety of jeans were manufactured in the Big Blue Denim Factory. Those are washing machines above the jeans on hooks – used to distress the fabric, and/or provide a stone-washed look. (Photos courtesy of Dawn Jacobsen & Cindy Waters.)

Cluck, cluck, cluck went the broody hen . . .

     When I was a working girl, having to leave our little acreage in a valley the locals call, 'Frog Hollow' to sit at a desk all day, often left me wondering what I'd missed while I was away from our beloved pets and small farm animals.

How often did wild turkeys munch on the acorns under our neighbor's three majestic bur oak trees? Were those whitetail deer helping themselves to an afternoon snack of peas in my garden? If I can't be there, who will protect them all from the occasional coyote predation?

But now that I have most mornings to myself working from home as a free-lancer, sipping coffee from my favorite recliner in our screened sun room as I write, I'm finding all is not quite as peaceful as I imagined.

Instead of admiring hummingbirds doing their half-circled dance at the feeder or delighting in the cheerful song of my vibrant-colored orioles, the din of chickens squabbling and squawking is far more prevalent. 

Nearly every day of the week, the clucking begins as a small aggravation, but then evolves into such a clamor that I am unable to carry on a conversation with my husband over the telephone.

The source of the discord? Seemingly unhappy chickens, competing for the same nesting box.

While I've kept a variety of birds for five or six years, I was apparently missing the most active part of the birds' day while I was away at work. 

For years, I wrongly believed that as I sat at a desk editing news copy, my "girls" were quietly enjoying their free range of our acreage, chomping pesky insects from my tomato plants and reducing the mosquito population. As a bonus, we figured they were busy at work, providing my husband with the mainstay of his breakfast: eggs laid in those distinctive brown and blue-green colored shells.

Now I know the truth: there's a cacophony of cackles in our yard that can be heard by the nearest neighbor, a quarter-mile away. It begins about 8 a.m. and doesn't subside until around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

Most days, my investigation into the reason for the squabbling reveals nothing more than anxiety in the coop.  Emmylou's intrusion into Big Red's moment of concentration while sitting on the nest – brings pandemonium. An hour later, when one chicken has left, another has resumed her place. But with Li'l Red finally settled into the nest, there's a braying that I fear will bring all the neighbors running. You'd swear a baby lamb had lost its mother. But no, it's just Li'l Red, warding off all intrusions by the likes of  Reba, Aretha and Jewel.

We've learned that no matter how many nesting boxes we provide, every chicken prefers the box that someone else has already chosen. I have even tried to lure the girls into another box with tasty treats like clover, but my efforts have been in vain.

Sometimes as I've peeked in the door, I've found as many as THREE chickens in the same nesting box, while two other boxes sit empty.

It's enough to make a farm girl weary.

Surprisingly, the discord amongst my 10 hens does little to disrupt life for my 15 lazy felines. The cats languish about the porch, back deck and yard as if there's never a reason for concern.

That is, until one of the pregnant mamas decided a nesting box in the chicken coop was the perfect accommodation for baby kittens.

Although it seemed a good idea to Mama Cat, imagine her surprise when one of the hens wasn't a bit dissuaded that something else occupied the nesting box one morning. The hen proceeded to share the nest with the cat, Tippy, until the chicken had laid the day's blue-green egg.

The kittens got a new home in a cardboard box on the porch and life in the chicken coop resumed some sense of normalcy.

But a few months later, when it was Lucy's turn to give birth, she too chose a nesting box in an old coop we hadn't been using for several months. Life went on as usual for about a week, until one of our Americaunas discovered the kittens.

At the sound of incessant squawking, I rushed to the chicken coop to find our perpetually broody hen, Clucker, attempting to mother six kittens. She'd managed to position herself over a couple of them as the others huddled nearby in a state of bewilderment. An agitated Lucy stood a foot away from the nesting box wondering what she could do about the situation.

I decided to lift Clucker out of the box. She retaliated with a sharp peck on my wrist. I tried again, and Clucker jabbed me hard enough to leave a slight bruise.

I covered my hand with my shirt sleeve and on the third try, Clucker was removed but not without voicing tremendous displeasure in the process.

Sadly, Clucker had to be locked out of the coop and a small hole was left in the top for the cat to enter and leave.

I learned an important lesson from my hen, Clucker, through that ordeal.

It's difficult enough to dissuade a broody hen from sitting on a clutch of eggs, but hopefully you never have to remove her from baby kittens.

Turning annoying wind into renewable energy near Hawkeye

A Terex crane with a lifting capacity of 660 U.S. tons, and using 11-ton counterweights raises the lower mid-section to place on the base, Wed., Aug. 15 near Bahr Park. 

By Janell Bradley

HAWKEYE – Folks in Bethel township, Fayette County, have long been challenged by wind that blows snow into drifts that close gravel roads and whips the laundry from the clothes line on summer days. Here, the wind is almost always blowing across the prairie.

But now, harnessing the wind will boost the local economy in this town of 451 as the $45 million Hawkeye Wind Farm goes online in October.

The project began in 2008 when a test tower began recording meteorologic statuses. Determining the atmosphere was adequate, RPM Access LLC, West Des Moines, started negotiations with landowners to lease property. 

Construction on the Hawkeye Wind Farm began last November. Six turbines were up as of Aug. 15, with the remaining nine in various stages of progress – but all 15 and a meterorological tower should be erected within the next week.

RPM purchased the property on which its substation is located, but all other land is leased from land owners for a period of 30 years. Landowners receive various payments – $200,000 annually, as a whole. Over the life of the project, landowners receive $7 million, says Kevin Lehs, project and construction manager for RPM.

The West Des Moines company has a 20-year contract with Central Iowa Power Cooperative, to buy the wind power. RPM estimates the Hawkeye project should generate enough electricity to power 4,000 to 6,000 homes each year.

While the wind farm was developed, the community benefitted from 200 temporary construction jobs as workers dined in the local cafes, stayed in area motels and shopped in local businesses. Two to three permanent maintenance and operations jobs result once the project is complete in a few weeks.

Diane Ungerer, owner of Diane's Cafe in Hawkeye, said her family will miss the workers when the project is complete.

"They stop in here at all times of the day. Sometimes it's for breakfast, or they take out sandwiches or baked goods," she said. "Other times they call ahead to have us prepare something for them."

Because it's a tradition in Diane's Cafe for those celebrating an event to treat, she said some of the wind farm construction workers have also treated the locals – one requested a peach upside down cake to share.

"You can't ask for more polite people," she said.

This is a view of the inside of one of five sections that make up each turbine tower. Notice the light bar at bottom left, the ladder, and then at right, cables that carry power from the generator. Each section also has a platform from which workers can stand to tighten the bolts from the inside on the upper sections as it's built.

For most of the year, RPM rented two apartments above the Hurd Museum in Hawkeye, to use as an office and for sleeping quarters for RPM employees traveling from afar.

Kevin Lehs (seated) and Kirk Kraft, production managers for RPM Access of West Des Moines, are pictured working from the Hawkeye Wind Farm temporary office in the upper level of the Hurd Museum in Hawkeye.

The company leased four acres of the town's industrial park on which to locate trailers used as temporary offices by the contractors from out-of-state. RPM purchased one acre at the site, on which it will build a permanent maintenance/operations center – constructed by a local builder.

Hawkeye Economic Development Corporation president Leon Dietzenbach said RPM's purchase of property in the industrial park allowed HEDCORP to finance extending utilities to the property – something the site lacked for the 25 years since it was established as an industrial park.

The wind farm, said Dietzenbach, "has put Hawkeye on the map." 

Now that utilities are extended, it makes the property more marketable to potential new business or possibly even additional housing on the property, he says.

"Our emphasis as an owner of this wind project is to get as many local people involved as we can," said Lehs. "When we walk away, we want everyone happy. By the end of the project, it's like one, big, family."

RPM paid the Fayette Firecracker 4-H club to cater a picnic supper for the landowners. The same youth served a safety recognition breakfast for 80 employees of M.A. Mortenson, of Minneapolis, the company constructing the turbines.

Additionally, Hawkeye Wind Farm pays taxes on the real property, valued at about $1 million per turbine. Fayette County will receive an estimated $1.8 million for the first seven years of operation, and $10.5 million over the next 18 years.

Just 15 acres of cropland was taken out of production as a result of the project. Nearly 12 miles of underground cable was laid to connect the fiber optics to the substation, located across from St. John's Lutheran Church-Richfield, six miles west of Hawkeye. While a picnic was hosted Thurs., Aug. 9 for the 43 landowners holding contracts, rain delayed a planned 'blade signing' event. Landowners will still get an opportunity to put their names on a blade that will turn 490 feet above ground while generating wind power.

RPM is also constructing a 41 megawatt Elk Wind project in Delaware County and a 50 MW project near Rippey. In 12 years, wind farms developed by RPM in Iowa, now generate 700 megawatts.

The company expects to energize the Hawkeye Wind Farm turbines by the end of this month. Commercial operation is set for Oct. 1. A ribbon-cutting event with local legislators is planned.