Change starts with a good story.
It’s not easy growing chemical-free pears, chestnuts and berries amidst 23 million acres of feed and fuel. Powerful people have set up food farming to fail in The Heartland.
You make it easier when you become part of the experience with each postcard from Draco Hill Nature Farm, where we’re changing the story about farming and rural America.
Each week you’ll
Learn like an orchardist. Growing perennial food on chemically-addicted land teaches us lessons we can employ in everyday life.
Think like a poet. A chainsaw is inspiration for unbridled political action. The wood splitter elicits a critique of identity politics. Yes.
Get curious like a journalist. What makes table food farming a political act in Iowa? Why is it on life support in The Heartland? Who loses if we succeed?
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Why me?
40 years of storytelling experience
I’ve written for newspapers, magazines and academic journals and authored or co-authored 9 books. I’ve worked as an editor, publisher and writer for hire.
Walking the walk
I serve as board secretary of the Iowa Farmers Union and treasurer of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation. Member of 100 Grannies for a Sustainable Future and lifetime member of Practical Farmers of Iowa.
Passionate about family farms
I jumped feet first into the fight to save the family farm in the 1980’s and returned to Iowa to end up founding SILT to make diversified family farms viable into the future.
A unique perspective
My writing and organizing career allow me to see how economic systems work for and against the people in them. This informs every Postcard.
See the Des Moines Business Journal “Fearless” featuring me here.
This presentation at a presidential summit is my take on land consolidation in Iowa.
*No AI: All words, thoughts and photos in this newsletter are original unless otherwise noted.
What Readers are Saying
Jim Gl "…Your work is good for all of us."
Andrea Rissing "Your voice is beautiful, and your stories are illustrating the beauty--and complexity--of rural life in this weird state. "
Dan Mays "I read your little postcard and was delighted. It was what I like to call a 'mental snack'. I recently retired and found myself unsubscribing from most publications I used to read. They just began to seem rather vapid and/or shallow. This postcard provided some of the cerebral sustenance I have been seeking of late. I subscribed for a year."
Jeanette Wigim "I support your work because your farm is amazing and you are on the right side of the issues."
