Today we began with a community breakfast in New Providence. This breakfast is held on holidays and every third Monday and gives the surrounding area a chance to dine together. Donations are encouraged as a form of payment to fund the wonderful breakfast of omelets, pancakes, cocktail weenies, biscuits and gravy, sticky buns, orange juice, coffee, and toast. Members of the community ate together and, unlike us, seemed to know pretty much everyone in the room. Following breakfast, we popped into the oldest hardware store in Iowa and then set off for the Farm Services Agency.

The first woman we talked with was from the NRCS and she talked to us about farm programs that can give farmers subsidies for following environmentally friendly practices like protecting wetlands and promoting soil health through no till, crop rotation, cover crops, and nutrient management. The second woman spoke with us about rural development plans where farmers can be given grants to build high tunnels and solar arrays to help with efficiency on their farms. The next man talked to us about the Iowa State extension program which assists farmers with programs like 4-H youth development programs, hail information meeting and nutritional education programs. Programs like these help support farming communities and ultimately the farmers themselves. Lastly, we went upstairs to talk to one last woman about farm loans that can be provided through the FSA if a farmer has trouble getting a loan from other funders. Our trip to the FSA provided a wealth of information (and handouts) that educated us on how much the government and the state of Iowa supports farms.

We had lunch at an old-fashioned soda shop where everyone dined on sandwiches, phosphates and chocolate malts. Late in the afternoon, four of us participated in the milking and cheese making at Lost Lake Farm. This was a great experience for me because I’d never milked cows before and I was surprised at how clean the operation was. Cows are muddy creatures but Tom, the milker, made sure all the udders were clean and showed us the filtration process the milk goes through to ensure top quality in the find product. Kevin took us on a walk through of the property first to bring the cattle in and show us the different types of grasses and the rotation process the cows go through. They get fresh grass every 12 hours. AND THERE WAS A NEW CALF BORN TODAY. Kevin hadn’t been out in the fields since earlier that morning and was delighted at the early arrival of a new bull calf. While Tom milked, Kevin went up to his house to shower and have dinner. When he returned, we began the mozzarella making process which involves more steps and chemistry than I can begin to understand, but it involves cultures, large metal tanks, hot salty brine and lots and lots of stretching. Kevin handles 100% of his operation and spending the 6 hours with him that we did would’ve felt a lot longer if we were on our own. It was pretty amazing to see a product come directly out of the fields and into a consumable product that we will see this weekend at the Des Moines Farmers Market.