As a boy growing up in Spencer, Iowa, Trent Walker spent summers helping on his grandfather’s farm, picturing that he someday would follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become a farmer himself. During harvest season, he trick-or-treated at his grandpa’s grain bin site as trucks came in from the fields. He was particularly drawn to […]
Iowa farms
Posted inCommunity/News
At a cult compound in rural Iowa, death prayers and doomsday prep gave way to ‘natural’ health grifts and costly tests of faith
On Dec. 12, 1972, cult leader John Robert Stevens made a big announcement: he was a time traveler. “I had a real meeting with the Lord,” Stevens told his followers in the Living Word Fellowship (LWF), also called the Walk. “During this meeting, I was projected seven years ahead of the present time. It was […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa produces the most factory farm waste in the country, new report shows
Factory farms in Iowa produce 109 billion pounds of waste each year, according to a new report from Food and Water Watch about concentrated livestock operations in the U.S. That’s 25 times more waste than what all Iowans combined produce, according to the report. “Factory Farm Nation” is an analysis of the 2022 U.S. Department […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry’ by Austin Frerick
Austin Frerick’s captivating and necessary book Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry (March 2024, Island Press), is a road trip through America’s heartland — but not the one depicted in Grant Wood’s paintings of rural Iowa. Where Wood depicted an early 20th century lush with rolling fields of green, Frerick’s contemporary […]
Posted inUncategorized
Photos: Goat cuddling at Howell’s Greenhouse and Pumpkin Patch
Goat cuddling at Howell’s Greenhouse and Pumpkin Patch is happening now until Monday, June 26 starting every morning at 10! Share the play pin with the kids who spend their time relishing the attention, fighting over napping spots, getting random zoomies, or having a tasty snack — whether it be clothing or grass. And when […]
Posted inBread & Butter Dining Guide
Herbivore hangouts in the CRANDIC
Iowa is home to the fifth highest number of organic farms in the United States, so it’s no surprise that the first place to look when seeking out vegetarian fare in the Hawkeye State is at your local farmers market. There you can find fresh, local produce of a bewildering variety sold alongside Amish pies, […]
Posted inCOVID-19
‘Microfood’ operations flourished in the pandemic, from home bakers to couriers
The COVID-19 pandemic taught many of us how to switch gears and pivot. In March 2020, as the regular 9-to-5 ruptured, many people quit their desk and retail jobs and started doing the things they’d always wanted to do, either as a side hustle or completely new beginning. “As a person who works in the […]
Posted inCommunity/News, Top Story
The ‘War on Meat’ isn’t real, but small Iowa farmers face an uphill battle against Big Ag
By Zoe Pharo and Paul Brennan For most Americans, the 2021 War on Meat was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in conservative culture-war politics, the kind typically sparked by a red Starbucks cup or the marketing of a slightly more gender-neutral Barbie doll or Mr. Potato Head. By the time Fox News announced on April 23 that […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Wilson’s Orchard evolves their image with a focus on new crops, sustainability
Since Wilson’s Apple Orchard first opened to the public 35 years ago, the visitor experience has been centered around exactly what you would expect: apples. Over the last four decades, thousands of visitors have journeyed to the orchard in autumn to pick apples, sip apple cider slushies, eat apple turnovers and buy Wilson’s merch featuring […]
Posted inCommunity/News
As large-scale agriculture struggles, small farmers are getting creative to meet increased demand
Spring is a busy time for farmers. Typically their market and crop planning was done over winter, and they are now outside: seeding vegetable transplants, monitoring newborn lambs and piglets, preparing fields for planting and doing maintenance on machinery. But this spring, in addition to all of the usual demands, local direct-to-consumer producers are having […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Mental health care providers in flood-stricken rural areas are short-handed, but expecting more demand
Iowa does not have enough psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists or other mental health care providers to handle an increasing need to care for farmers dealing with relentless flooding this year, several mental health experts IowaWatch interviewed warned.
Posted inCommunity/News
Solon couple follows their dream of a sustainable farm life
Early morning is Bridget Fonseca’s favorite time of day — even if she and her partner Jake Kundert don’t get their coffee until after all the chores are done.
At 6:45 a.m., the usually quiet flock of Suffolk sheep bleats loudly into the cool June morning. The sheep spot Fonseca and Kundert and immediately anticipate breakfast. The lambs follow their mothers to the feeders, trying to nurse along the way.
Fonseca and Kundert’s dog, Henry, gazes at the sheep skeptically from outside the fence as if, after all his visits, he still has not decided whether or not to fear the flock — especially as the budding rams grow to reach more than 60 pounds.
