Well today was a pretty busy, but great day. It started late compared to the past few days since us students remained at the house while the Neubauers went to church. Once they came back we had a number of things happening at once with some folks going to the neighbors to help with horses, some helping on the family farm with rocks that needed to be removed, and some going to the planter once rocks were pulled. I started with the gator (a golf cart without the windshield and a good bit more power) and rock moving. What I didn’t know at the time was that between the rain and cultivating large rocks tend to be brought to the surface so that there’s a constant need to remove them. Some of these were far too large to be picked up by hand, so I was actually with Scott Neubauer in the loader to get the large boulders. The loader looked like:

It was able to get any of the large rocks up and out of the farm so that the equipment wouldn’t accidentally run into it. Not only did I get to help use the loader by pushing the rocks on and latching it, but I also rode in the loading bin as we went rock to rock! We finished getting the main problem rocks out of the way, so planting could start, So we all went back to the house while Scott’s father called for the next round of seeds for the planter, so we tried to load a seed bin which is able to bring a large amount over at one time. We actually were called to bring over some seed in bags first so that they could keep going, but by the time we got back Scott had finished loading the seed bin, and I rode with him in his truck as we fully reloaded the seed bin with soybeans. He said they can plant probably 30 acres with a fully-loaded planter, and they plant 150 thousand beans to an acre so that gives one a sense of how many beans it plants. It was interesting to see the non-GPS guided way of running the equipment, too. The way to keep things even was an extended arm with a thick steel wheel on it to grind a mark in the soil about a half length past the planter, so if one follows the mark then you’ll plant the entire area. While planting I was able to talk about some farming ideas; how deep do the planters go, how its set to a different plant, how to decide soy vs. corn, etc. Scott was giving real answers about what he has to go through, and how to understand it, which is what I was really hopeful to get with this trip. After planting, I came back for just a second before running the gator next door with the HN’s great nephew and niece to supply part of the group at the Friests with some snacks. We saw the animals there one more time before heading back and then I joined a group at Dalona’s house to help with her gardening.

Dalona’s house was incredible with a number of cherry, pear, apple, and peach trees, at least 3 decent-sized plots for veggies (hand planted and managed gardens so under an acre sized), lavender and decorative flowers, cows, chickens, and cats. While there, I talked at considerable length with her husband who is an agricultural scientist at ISU. We all worked on planting tomatoes, weeding, feeding the cows, and collecting fresh chicken eggs. All throughout it I was asking about how they do things there and learning about the economics and politics from both Dalona and her husband, as well as how it’s physically done. They both admitted that without his paycheck from the university there would be no way to sustain that type of living since it simply doesn’t provide enough income. Even though it’s a small operation it’s still something that they easily admit requires near constant attention and wouldn’t be there without their love of it. It’s also very interesting to see the different plants possible due to the climate as some of the first plants I learned about on the Furman garden were Southern ones like okra and collards, which aren’t known here at all.  Iowa is the land of rhubarb, and it is completely new to me. Adam, Cecily, and I tried some raw rhubarb which surprisingly tastes like a celery version of a warhead (the super sour candies) and was really enjoyable to chew on while farming. Once we came back we enjoyed Dalona’s cooking skills with chorizo sausage lentil soup, which was a great introduction to lentils since I’d never had the soup (to my memory). We essentially just discussed tomorrow’s plans from there before heading to bed. It was great getting to do so much, especially while getting to talk to such nice people who were willing to put up with my over-inquisitiveness.