For those of you who have been following our blog about moving to Iowa, I want to apologize. I have not posted in a long time, largely because the anguish I have had over not knowing whether this dream of ours was ever going to work out. I hope to rectify this over the next few months and beyond, relating my thoughts and deeds as we move forward.
The last couple of months and years have been a series of ups and downs as Beth and I have tried to work out a plan for leasing my father’s land. Some of the trials we have documented in this blog, others have just been too crushing to try to relate because there just seemed to be no way it was going to work.
And even though Beth wrote in our last entry that the negotiations with my dad were done (see Farm Planning Hangover) it turned out that in fact, it was not. [Stay tuned...she is going to post about that shit show soon!]
But finally, I think, we are on the cusp of success. The last weekend of October, I fly back to Iowa and meet with Dad to sign the lease. Barring any major blow ups (and there have been several in the recent past), we will have a 5 year lease to farm the land that I grew up on.
That it is finally coming true is a little hard to come to terms with. I have been dreaming for so long that the reality is almost more than I am prepared for, so wish me luck as I thread the needle and draw together this fabric of my dreams.
In my next few blog posts, (if all goes well next week - fingers crossed) I will hold forth on farm business plans, soil tests, seed purchasing and milling white ash trees (which I cut because of the invasive emerald ash borer killing all the ash trees in Iowa). I’ll try to keep it all entertaining while laying out the basics, hopefully informing you, dear reader, as to the important facts involved.
We also are changing the blog name (it will be called "Iowa Farm"), and giving it a look and direction, which you can see on our home page now (new URL to follow). I take no credit for this, it is totally the product of our webmaster Beth. Give her the kudos, send her the palm d’or. I’m just here to keep it real.
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