I'm writing from a picnic table strategically placed under (what I think is) an apple tree about 50 yards from the "Little House" at One Step at a Time Gardens, where Eli and I are living for the summer. We finished our first full week of work yesterday, and I'm taking advantage of the low humidity, lovely breeze, and particularly strong internet connection to get this little experiment up and running on our first day off.
My back is pretty sore, my fingernails are incredibly dirty, my pants have a hole in the knee and the crotch and I couldn't be happier. The week has been busy, intense, hot, and information packed. We're learning so much, both by doing (planting, watering, weeding,) and by listening as we work. This here blog is mostly an effort to capture some of that learning, since there's no way to absorb it all at once. I'm not exactly sure where to begin or how to structure things, but I do want to lay out a general overview of where we are and who we're with. I think the details of why we're here will probably also have to wait, but I hope to explore that a little further.
I guess the very basics is a good place to start - Eli and I are interning on an organic vegetable and pastured chicken farm for the season. We packed up and left Portland Friday, May 7 and took two weeks to drive across the Pacific Northwest and Moutain West, visiting lots of excellent people and places along the way. We started work on the farm last Monday, and will be here until October 8. The farm, One Step at a Time Gardens (OSTG from here on out), is about 6 miles from Kanawha, (pronounced kuh-nah-wuh - I've been saying it wrong all these months!) Iowa and is owned and operated by a really fantastic and incredibly enthusiastic couple named Jan and Tim. Definitely more on them later - they are complete and utter characters whom we adore already. They have 2 kids, Jess and Andrew - Jess just graduated high school and is gearing up to be a summer camp counselor and Andrew is working at a tractor test center in Lincoln, Nebraska in between his junior and senior year at the University of Nebraska (yes, Dad, it's true - I am among Husker loyalists). We've met the kids briefly, but likely won't have much interaction with them.
The farm itself is about 130 acres, with 8-9 acres in vegetable production. Much of the rest of it is in conservation, meaning there are lots of open areas with prairie grass rustling, a couple good size marshes, and some really nice tree groves dotting the property. A 14 year old dog named Lion and a mare named Sass also live here, among the bunnies, ground squirrels, deer, muskrats, and dozens of bird species. The land is wavy, almost. I wouldn't go so far as to call it hilly but it certainly isn't flat. The majority of the farm buildings are located on top of the second largest hill on the property, and there is a constant breeze. To the east we can see about a dozen wind turbines that have barely been still since we arrived. Right across the road is a 500 acre wildlife preservation composed of two lakes (East and West Twin Lakes) and about 400 acres of woods. These qualities are at the root of the blog title I chose, since they are in complete contrast to what the rest of North Iowa is like. Corn is truly king in this state, followed closely by soy beans. Industrial row crop production is e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e., as are high occupancy hog and chicken houses. As we were driving to the farm for the first time Eli observed that it feels like a desert, albeit a desert of corn instead of sand or sage brush. Coming from Indiana, I didn't think I could be surprised by this much corn but it is ever so much more than what I've seen before. After a couple of days on the farm and a couple of trips to surrounding areas and towns the contrast between regular Iowa landscape and OSTG landscape became really evident and Eli dubbed the farm "IowOasis". It truly feels like an oasis in the midst of the desert that is industrial agriculture, and we are happy, happy, happy to be here, even with the occasional whiffs of hog houses that come our way. If local food production can thrive here, I believe it can happen anywhere.
OSTG is mainly a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture operation. I'll write a more detailed post on what that is and why it's important soon, but for now a CSA is basically a farm that takes subscriptions, or memberships, from local community members and provides fresh produce in return. So, a CSA farm member will pay a lump sum for a "share" in the farm at the beginning of the season, and each week receives a portion of the produce harvested. OSTG has about 120 members; this means they grow and harvest enough food to pack 120 boxes of produce each week. It is a pretty big operation. They also attend 2 farmer's markets and deliver a veggie share to a day care in Mason City each week. It is a busy, busy place in the summer!
The farm crew is bigger than we expected, but so is the farm itself. We thought we were coming into 4 acres of veggies, with 4 people to farm it. We are in fact farming 8 or 9 acres with anywhere from 5 - 9 people in the field on any given day. 4 or 5 of the summer crew are local high school kids from down the lane getting their first job experience and are only working 1 or 2 days a week. 2 of the ladies on the summer crew are farm members who pay for their produce share with sweat equity instead of dollars. So, we have quite a diverse crowd. We are the only non-Iowa natives and I am learning a ton already about small town mid-America life and culture. What an interesting place. I am super glad to be here.
I'd like to include more pictures, but they are really slow to load. Here's one for now, and I'll try to sneak some more in with further posts. Thanks for reading everybody!
I'd like to include more pictures, but they are really slow to load. Here's one for now, and I'll try to sneak some more in with further posts. Thanks for reading everybody!
Tuesday's sunset over East Twin Lake