This morning started with Dalona and me making biscuits and gravy. It was the first time I made it without help, and it was kind of an adventure. It wound up much thicker than normal, but it still tasted pretty good. I hope everyone liked it.

After that, Renee Zoske talked to us about Crop Insurance. She went really in depth and, much like the banker, most of it went over my head. I learned a lot about how much the government does or doesn’t subsidize crop insurance and that regular crop insurance does not cover 100% of a farmer’s crops. Renee was very interactive, though, so it was pretty easy to pay attention.

After a long drive, we arrived at Seed Savers in Decorah. I really enjoyed this place. Basically, the idea was to collect as many rare and old seeds to preserve many diverse breeds of plants. I really liked that their purpose was so pure; they didn’t seem to care hardly at all about money. Our tour guide, Toby, was fun and easy to relate to. Her garden was gorgeous! She decided to create a theme for her garden: foods and plants from different countries focusing on Mexico, Italy (where she spent a year), Korea, and Germany.  It was really creative, and I can see why they hired her in Seed Savers Education Program. Seed Savers also had the very first chicken breed in the United States and a rare breed of cow, Ancient Park Whites. We didn’t get to see the chickens and we only saw the cows from a distance, but they looked huge! They were really pretty, though. I bought a t-shirt and some seeds as my first and probably only Iowa souvenir.

In the second long drive of the day, we watched the movie My Father’s Garden. I was given the task of making the DVD work in the mini-van, and I figured it out!  Although repetitive of what we’ve heard before, I did like it. My favorite part was how they showed the difference between soil that had been sprayed with chemicals and soil from an organic farm. After all this time, I’m finding myself leaning with organic farms. It just seems better all around, for the environment and for the people who eat it.