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.

As stated in the title, today was spent entirely within a 5-mile radius of our humble homestead (at least for most of us).  After Dr. HN got back from church, he separated all of us into various farm activities with Denny, the Friests, and the Fiscuses (a.k.a. “Fisci”). Some of us began the day by picking up rocks in the fields.  We pick up rocks because large rocks can inflict thousands of dollars of damages on the machinery.  I was not one of those tasked with this activity, but you can read about it on Adam, Hedley, or Kris’s posts.

Instead, I went to Brent Friest’s farm to accompany him while he sprayed a neighboring field with herbicide.  Hedley and Rachel came along, but they helped one of Brent’s daughter’s clean the horse barn before going riding.  Farmers spray herbicide over the planted seeds right after planting and a second time after a few weeks. If necessary, they also spray pesticide as well.  They use chemical applicators, or “sprayers,” that can span 40+ feet.  One such sprayer is the Hagie STS, which cost $300,000 and reached 80 ft., if I remember correctly.  Unfortunately, as with most farmer-y activities, it did not go quite as planned.  We spent over an hour trying to fix the motor that would pump the herbicide into the sprayer.  We broke five or six pull chords only to find out that it just needed oil.  In our defense, we had already checked the oil, but apparently it needed to be completely full before starting.  Then, we got about two rows from finishing the field before running out of juice. Dangit.  Nonetheless, this was a really good opportunity to see precision farming in action.  Brent had the most modern technology in the cab guided him within inches of where he need to be in the field.  Even more amazing, the computer kept track of which parts of the field were sprayed, and the computer would turn off individual nozzles if they passed over a line that had already been sprayed.

So, Brent then dropped me off back at the Neubauer farm, where Dr. HN was disconcerted by the fact that I still had not seen planting.  Luckily, Denny and Scott (Denny’s son) were coming back to fill up the bean grain cart for planting in the field that we cultivated yesterday.  Denny drove me back to the fields in a really nice pick up truck, and we then proceeded to planting.  In true farmer fashion, we had to stop several times to fix something, all accompanied by an extremely loud alarm in the cab.  First, we stopped to clear dirt off one of the planter sensors, which would otherwise keep freaking out until we did something about it.  Second, according to Denny, one side of the planter often runs out before the other.  To fix this, we had to manually transfer the seeds from one side of the planter to the other to even out the amount of seed in the individual planters.  After riding and talking for a little over half an hour, Denny nonchalantly stops the tractor in the middle of the field, gets out of his seat, and says “Ok, your turn.” I was immediately dumfounded because there was absolutely no warning.  He did not preface the move with anything at all.  At first, I had a little trouble with following the line and overcorrecting, but I eventually got the hang of it. Apparently, Denny’s allowing me to drive the tractor is a big deal.  Dr. HN wasn’t allowed until he was 52 years old, so I have thirty years on him.  I have to start somewhere, right?

 

*By the way, check out Hagie’s awesome promotional video for its chemical applicator/sprayer.

After a half-week of an overload of informational activities I was excited to have my first full day of truly hands-on tasks. I finally got to experience planting and got to ride with Denny in the planter while he planted soybeans in one of the neighbor’s fields. It was mind-boggling to see how easy Denny made steering the huge planter and how he managed to turn such a huge piece of machinery around in order to farm in perfectly-spaced rows. At one point the marker broke, and I thought we were going to have to stop but of course Denny just got out, took some tools out of his overalls, and fixed it up in less than 15 minutes. Overall the planting experience and the gigantic machinery involved was really overwhelming. My hands-on experience then continued back at the farm where I made some guacamole. I got to use the Vitamix and that was a new thing for me, it turned out so well that I think I might want to get a Vitamix one day in the future.

The highlight, and the dirtiest, of my hands-on experience was gardening back at Dalona’s house. I plan to one day have a small garden whenever I settle into my own home and grow fruits and vegetables and herbs. But I have absolutely zero experience doing any sort of yard work, let alone growing things. We planted some green beans, lettuce, zucchini, and tomatoes, which required some tilling and hoeing. I decided early on that this was a milestone event for me, and I abandoned my gardening gloves early on and dug my hands into the soil and compost as a symbolic gesture of my intentions. For the tomatoes we put down some of the compost that Dalona makes from the food scraps into the already fertile Iowa soil. Then we got to collect the eggs from the two chicken coops they have, feed cows, and play with a newborn kitten. I loved Dalona’s farm and really respected how most of what her family eats is from her garden and the few animals they keep.

I really respect subsistence farming, and in my ideal world I would one day have the time and resources to be able to do something similar. It was great to have Dalona explain to me all the hard work that goes into it and how knowing when to plant things can be a tough calculation. This made me realize how much work even such a small enterprise could be. She mentioned how there are a lot of sacrifices involved such as never being able to go on vacation and having to always be around at sunset to tend to the hens. But even if I can never have quite the set-up that her family has I hope to one day at least have a small garden for me to get my produce from and a few hens for eggs. I hope that I get to go back to Dalona’s place sometime in the next two weeks, so I can get some more experience gardening and learn more about how it is done.

This morning was the first time we’ve gotten to sleep in since we’ve been here so I was very grateful. I was slightly unsure what the plans were going to be today, but the first thing I was called on to do was to pick up large rocks in the field with Hedley. Rocks have to be removed from the fields because they will do damage to the farming equipment. I really enjoyed doing that chore actually because I got to drive the Gator around the fields which was fun. There was this one really big rock that I wanted to pick up but Hedley sadly couldn’t lift her side, so Kris and Scott had to get it with the loader.

My favorite part of the day and possibly my favorite part of the trip so far was going over to Dalona’s house to meet her family and to learn about the things they do around their farm. The cool thing about their farm was that everything that they produced was for their own consumption, so they were not making money off of it. The diversity of crops that were being grown and animals that were being raised really impressed me and made me want to have the same types of operations on my property whenever I am fortunate enough to own a house. We planted lettuce, green beans, and tomatoes in the garden, and I got to try raw rhubarb for the first time, which I really enjoyed. It was refreshing to plant something by hand because I feel like that really gave me a connection with the land. We also helped feed their cows and gather eggs from their chickens. I have been vegan for 10 months and haven’t eaten eggs since, but I think I would eat eggs again if I raised chickens like them on my own property and was collecting the eggs myself. While all of the different things going on around Dalona’s property were very impressive, what might have been the most impressive was how amazing her family was. Both her husband and all of her children made me feel very comfortable and were really enjoyable people to learn from, work with, and just talk to.

   

This morning began a little later than most but was still just as busy. I began with the Iowa tradition of picking up rocks with Adam and Kris. We went with Scott down to the fields, and Adam and I got the pick-upable rocks while Kris and Scott used the loader to get the larger ones. There was one rock, however, that Adam thought we could lift, but was just too large. While we were trying to pick it up he told me, “you need to get stronger” thinking it was just my side that was the problem. However, I did not see the rock lift up or budge at all when he was lifting on it. His blog may claim differently, but he is wrong.

After the rocks were picked up, I went with Rachel to the Friest farm to take care of the horses. We started by brushing them and washing some of them off. Then I took some pictures of them for Brent because he is looking to sell some of them. After that Rachel showed me how a lot of stuff works. She taught me the proper way to work a horse in a round pen. Once we were done warming them up, we saddled them. It took a while because we had eight horses to get ready for riding. Once we finished getting set up we had to wait for Brent to get ready to go because he was spraying, so Rachel and I went to see the cows. They let us pet them, and I finally got my picture with a cow!! Once we finished we were ready to go and drove down to a public park to ride the trails. It was so nice and a beautiful wooded scene. We walked and galloped a bit and then headed back after a few hours. Once we got back we had to unload and brush them all down again. Horses are an intense amount of work, but definitely worth it for the experience we got on them.

I spent most of today with the Friests and Hedley. We brushed and saddled horses all day and then got to go on a trail ride in a state park. I rode Sunny and Hedley rode Patty, the horse I rode yesterday. Both were really good, and I have to admit that Sunny took Teaka’s place as my favorite horse here! I really enjoyed spending so much time with the family. The kids actually opened up to me and were playing around with Hedley and me. Jocelyn is such a wonderful person to be around, and it’s nice to have someone my age who loves horses as much as me. Sydney is still so much fun to be around, too. It’s so funny to hear their accents though, especially their incessant use of the word “pop.” They also apparently don’t say “y’all” around here, either. Brent likes to make fun of my accent.

Today was a much needed day, from sleeping in to spending the day with horses. I feel reenergized and ready for the week ahead!

Today presented the broad gamut of agriculture from before the seed hits the ground to the finished products at the super market.  Plus, we got to see an engaged representation of the development of farming in Iowa.

We started off the day by leaving a little earlier for the Des Moines Farmers Market.  It was absolutely huge!  There were at least one hundred vendors, selling food, crafts, flowers, produce, and anything in between.  It was almost overwhelming!  I literally didn’t know where to start.  Then again, I’ll admit that I’ve hardly gone to the farmers market to shop.  Instead, I’ve usually gone simply to have a good lunch, but if something catches my eye, then I may buy it and save it to use in a later meal.

Before we left to go spend Dr. HN’s money (meaning our tuition), he tasked us with thinking about the role of farmers markets in representing, filling, and expanding the market for local and/or organic foods and also whether the poor and those on food stamps have adequate opportunity to participate in this market.  First, I believe these markets can be productive in getting people excited about local foods.  If some of the products weren’t local, the sellers definitely were.  For the most part, the vendors seemed happy to talk about the food, only as long as there wasn’t a line behind you and if you ask a question with specifics.  Nonetheless, for those living in and around Des Moines, the market gives them a chance to taste the freshest food and put a name and face to the producer.  However, the vast majority of the attendees were white and middle class and up (and apparently dog lovers).  It got me thinking that although the opportunity is technically there for all people to participate, the poor may be going through a different experience.  First, the prices are more expensive for goods that do not keep as long, and farmers markets sell ingredients for the same price as some supermarket-bought prepared dinners.  Buying at supermarkets would still save time and money when shopping and preparing meals.  Second, farmers markets don’t offer the same ease as supermarkets in comparing prices.  One would have track down all the relevant stalls across a couple blocks, compare prices, then go back.  Apparently, the new Farm Bill allows food stamps to be used at farmers markets, so it may provide a good incentive for the poor to go.  However, I’m still wary that doing so would not be the most economical decision.

After spending some hours at the farmers market, we then traveled to Living History Farms, an “interactive outdoor museum” that educates people on the true historical “Midwestern rural life experience.”  There were several stops that exhibited rural life on a 1700 Ioway Indian farm, 1850 pioneer farm, 1900 horse-powered farm, and a replica of the town of Walnut Hill in 1875, and each had period actors that told about life during that time.  I thought it was a very enlightening experience, and the actors were very educational.  However, I only wished that there were more people that were actually going through some of the motions of farming.

I ended the day by finally getting on a tractor!  Once we saw how nice a day it was, Dr. HN observed that all the farmers would now be rushing to plant their seeds for the season.  Therefore, almost every minute not talking to us, he spent talking to farm neighbors who could possibly let us tag along during the planting.  We were in luck!  Brent Friest was planting, while Denny and his son, Scott, were cultivating Denny’s mother-in-law’s land.  For those not familiar with the farm lingo, cultivating essentially means plowing the land to rip up weeds and loosen the dirt to get it ready for the seeds.  It was awesome! We’ll be able to have a few more chances to interact with Denny and Brent and see more farming in the coming weeks.

Today we woke up early and went to the Des Moines farmer’s market. I have been to farmer’s markets before but each one has something different to offer and Des Moines is a fairly big city, leading me to believe that the farmer’s market would be extensive. I bought some kettle corn from a local vendor who I didn’t interact with much which was very tasty. Next I went over to a vendor that was making all raw vegan food, which I was especially excited about. While I was there, I ended up buying some raw vegan tacos, some beet lemonade, and an aronia berry cup. I had never actually heard of aronia berries before, and learned that they were native to North America and were a health food that is on a current rise in popularity. After eating at the raw vegan place, I went over to Big Daddy’s barbecue sauce stand and bought some barbecue sauce from Big Daddy’s grandson himself. The last thing I did at the farmer’s market was talk to a man selling nettle tea about how he grew nettles and had just cut the tops of them the night before so the tea that he allowed me to sample was made with extra fresh nettles. I think overall I really like the idea of purchasing my food from farmer’s markets and would like to do more of it in the future. As far as safety of the food goes, I do not really trust the government to tell me what is safe to put in my body so the fact that there might not be as many government regulations on food sold at farmers’ markets does not bother me. The only downside I could see to them is that the food could be more expensive than that at a conventional grocery store, thus making it harder for those in the lower economic classes to shop at something like a farmers’ market.

I think the other thing I really enjoyed about today was riding in Mr. Friest’s tractor with him while he planted soybeans. We learned a lot about how farm equipment works and precision agriculture on our second day so it was really interesting to see a lot of that information in action on the farm. It really amazed me how complicated and precise farming has gotten, compared to what it used to me. While I knew that more technology was utilized in the farming industry, I did not know that it was utilized to the extent that it is.

I was super excited about today’s schedule because unlike the biodiesel and pork association my mind can easily engage with Farmer’s markets and the living history farm exhibit. When I first envisioned what the farmers market would be like I imagined an idyllic scene of roads lined by friendly farmers selling fresh produce and other products from their family farm. I was only half wrong. There were many Iowans selling their farms freshly harvested asparagus, which is apparently one of the only things in season right now. I found most interesting how nettles, a plant that seems very unfriendly due to its poisonous and stinging leaves, has been utilized by Iowans due to its growing in abundance. I talked to one man who was selling nettles he had picked who let me sample nettle tea. The most infamous example of the opposite of my expectations for the farmer’s market are the store bought Georgia blueberries one vendor was selling. Since I find it hard to resist blueberries I purchased them without asking the right questions only to find out later that they were repackaged store-bought blueberries from Georgia. I found it interesting that it could not be assumed that everything being sold there was genuinely local, and the store-bought detail made it seem especially deceptive. I still feel like I redeemed this experience by purchasing some radishes from a man’s Iowa Greenhouse and another woman’s grandmothers jam.

The highlight of my farmers market experience was by far the raw vegan tacos. I was perplexed at how the “meat” of the tacos was made from walnuts and sunflower seeds. And I was impressed by the “cheese” that was replaced by a “cashew cream” which was surprisingly cheese-like, add avocados, sun-dried tomatoes, and a romaine taco shell and you have me eager to make them myself. I was also excited about the barbecue spice pack I bought which I am going to use to make red potato barbeque fries sometime this week. This experience has just made me really eager to go to farmers markets every weekend I can when I get back to Greenville. I was never really concerned about the quality or safety of the foods being sold at the farmer’s market but the blueberry incident has taught me an important lesson. I now know that in the future I need to be more intentional about talking to farmers and learning where their products came from.

The day began with a trip to the Des Monies farmers market. The first stop I came to was a man who sold blueberries and when I asked him where they came from and if he grew them, he told me no, they were from Georgia and he just repackaged them. This response was very surprising to me and made me realize this farmers market was not all local. The purpose of them, I thought, was to eat local, and I would think they would restrict all products from locations other than Iowa. Also, while trying to ask questions to other venders I found they were not interested in talking. The lady Kris bought his honey from did not seem interested in talking or very knowledgeable about the bee farm either. Most people, that I encountered at least, seemed as though they wanted to sell their product rather than inform the public about them. Other stands however had great selections of Iowa grown produce and one man was sure to fill us in about everything about the mushrooms he found on the farm. He told us that the picking season is limited to two weeks and that was why the price was so high. So I guess it is just a mix of personalities at the market and cannot make one generalization. Also, I did notice one stand was selling what they called “ugly” fruit and were available at a cheaper price, so it did seem practical for families to shop at who have a low income.

The next stop was at the living farm exhibit where we walked through time beginning in the 1700s. We began with teepees and ended with pop tarts in the modern kitchen. It was fun going through the town and seeing the old-timey pharmacy, bank, and other stores. So much has changed from the 1900s and it was neat seeing the drastic differences. When we got back, I went on the tractor with Brent Friest, who is the son of Denny Friest, one of our hosts families here in Radcliffe.. He told me all about the precision agriculture and his current trials to see if 15 inch rows were more efficient than 30 inch ones. It was awesome to ride in the tractor and watch the process of the seeds getting planted.

P.S. Adam and I tried to make coke slushies today in 3 seconds and they did not come out as planned. This will become on ongoing science project to determine the exact time and location of the bottle necessary to produce the perfect amount of slush along with the precise taste of coke.