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Because change starts with a good story.

Draco Hill Nature Farm is the inspiration for Postcards from The Heartland. We grow fruits, nuts, tallgrass prairie and native trees. The only thing ordinary about this Iowa farm is the color of the river. Photo credit: John Johnson and Kristel Sexton.

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 every postcard you open from Draco Hill Nature Farm, you help change 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?

Free subscribers

• Get a short essay with original photos in your inbox each week.

• Hear powerful, grounded stories about rural life today, couched in the bigger political and economic picture.

• Provide moral support to write this newsletter in today’s political climate.

Paid subscribers

• Get everything above plus…

• Allow us to give free eggs to people who can’t afford them.

• Help plant a tree. One fruit tree is planted for each annual subscription.

• Receive a curated tour of the inspiration for Postcards - Draco Hill Nature Farm.

• Receive a monthly Lessons We’ve Learned video, the inside scoop on what went wrong, because something always does.

Learn more and enjoy the photos under “Why me” on the About page.

Chilly, Gunnar, Lil Bit and I look forward to seeing you in the Comments and at the farm someday!

*No AI: Words, thoughts and photos in this newsletter are original unless otherwise noted. Occasionally, I’ll see if AI can come up with a better headline.