Hellloooo hellloooo hellloooo!

Ahem. I knew it had been a long time since I last posted on this here blog, but I'm a little embarrassed to see that it was almost a full two months ago. Wow. There is much to report, though, and I hope to keep this little online journal going, sporadic or not, for whomever maintains interest in reading about our little life journey.

We are still on the farm in Iowa, although not for much longer. Yesterday was scheduled to be our last day until plans changed just a bit and Tim and Jan asked us to stay on a couple of extra weeks. We finished up our CSA delivery season the last week of September, and are spending these last 3 weeks doing various clean-up and maintenance chores around the farm. They also wanted us to stick around to help put up the second hoop house (also called a high tunnel). This is a much bigger project than I thought it would be, and I can now add pouring cement and using various power tools to the skills I've learned this summer.

So, what next? The big news is that we've decided to spend another summer here in Iowa at One Step at a Time Gardens. We'd decided by about July that we'd like to do another internship next summer and had started tossing around ideas for locations, size of farm, etc., when Tim and Jan approached us and asked if we would be willing to stay on with them another year. It was a little out of the blue for me - we really hadn't considered staying here - so it took a little while to think through the pros and cons of staying here vs. getting to know another operation.

Ultimately we decided that spending another season here gives us a more realistic view and understanding of what it will be like to run our own farm someday. We'll get to participate (are participating some already) in the off-season data analysis and planning for next year. We'll get to see the crop rotation and participate more in CSA deliveries and farmer's markets. Eli will get to learn more about the tractors here and will take a larger role in bed preparation and cultivation. (I would too, if I fit on the tractors. They're all 1940s models and I would have to be a contortionist to reach both the clutch and the gearshift at the same time. Oh well.) I will get to participate more in the outreach and marketing side of the business. I loved how Eli's mom put it when we told her we are planning to stay on another year: Oh good! she said, graduate school for you both!

So that's where we are. The last month has been has been really exciting as Eli and I are settling into the knowledge that this is the path we want to follow. We want to farm, small scale and organic. We'll take our first steps next summer as Tim and Jan help us with our own small scale venture that will be just ours. We're not exactly sure what it will be yet (leaning toward doing our own market) but whatever it is will include a business plan. We'll set a budget, identify our market, keep a lot of detailed records, and hopefully make at least a little bit of money. Owning and operating a successful farm is as much about (maybe MORE about) smart business practice as it is about growing stuff. You can't do one without the other, people keep telling us. So we'll spend some of our time this coming year trying to become savvy business people. Ha. Who could imagine??

Not much grows in Iowa in the winter, however, so it does leave a bit of an employment gap. We're heading back to Portland at the end of this month where Eli has lined up some work with his old tiling job, and I'll try and pick up some restaurant work here and there. I think we'll be on the West Coast about six weeks before we head to Indiana for my brother's college graduation and Christmas, and then likely to New York for New Year's Eve with Eli's family. Then there are 3 big wide open months of nothing planned until we're due back at the farm the beginning of April, 2011. Anyone looking for a couple of good natured couch surfers??

Love, love, love to all reading this, and I hope it won't be so long between posts this time around! Hopefully we'll have some good road adventures to share about through the winter, and there will definitely be more stories to share from the Iowoasis for at least another year. =)

Big love!! And a photo of me supervising the hoop house construction: