photo by: Richard Gwin

Joshua Lollar is the priest of St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church in Lawrence.

photo by: Kevin Anderson

Mark Edwards is the new classical music director at Kansas Public Radio.

photo by: Katie Bean

Floor pillows are a quick and cheap way to add extra seating.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Cathy King, of Kaw Valley Natural Pet Care, feeds her dog Nellie, 10, a natural diet of beet greens and salmon that to keep her healthy. Some pet owners have turned to homemade foods to keep their animal companions healthy.

photo by: Special to the Journal-World

Evie Bear was stricken when she learned her Cockatiel named Eyropia had contracted heavy metal poisoning from her diet. She has a memorial tattoo of the bird.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Elise Ruhlman, 13, Lawrence receives instructions from visiting artist Akiko Jackson during a Sculpting with Clay course at the Lawrence Arts Center.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Jacob Gillespie, 12, shapes a clay vessel at the Lawrence Arts Center in a Sculpting with Clay class offered through the center's new Arts Institute.

photo by: Kevin Anderson

Cathy Bylinowski, left, program manager for the Juniper Gardens training farm, conducts a field tour with Burmese immigrant farmers San Dar Myint and her husband, Soe Myint, and interpretor Joanne Sauter, second from left. Cultivate Kansas City helps to promote community farming in the Kansas City metro area. One of the farms, Juniper Gardens, thrives in a subsidized housing area in Kansas City, Kan.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Teaming up for an improv class are Graham Edmonds, 11, front, and Calvin DeWitt, 11, at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Leann Williams, right, a volunteer at CLO's Midnight Farm, assists Maria Buskirk, 11, saddle up Aussie before participating in the equine therapy program Tuesday, August 1, 2011. Williams has volunteered more than 400 hours at Midnight Farm since the program was launched in 2009.

photo by: Kevin Anderson

Jim Brabec, Olathe, checks the attachment of straw bales on the outside of the structure being built. About a dozen people gathered in Oskaloosa this week to learn how to build straw bale buildings. Straw and clay are a renewable building material that more people are turning to in Kansas.

photo by: Kevin Anderson

Phil Holman-Herbert was leading the workshop to build a straw bale structure on his property last week. In the background is his home he built with straw bales as well.

photo by: Kevin Anderson

Home owner Phil Holman-Hebert, Oskaloosa, checks the consistency of a clay mixture referred as "peanut butter" due to its lighter color. The clay is pulled from the excavation for the foundation on the straw building. It will be used to plaster the walls.