Editor’s Note: This post appeared earlier this week on BlogHer, but since I’m headed to the Iowa State Fair this weekend, I thought it was most appropriate to point you in its direction. The first time I visited the Iowa State Fair, I arrived armed with an annotated map. My friend Leah, whose father is [...]
Posts under ‘Iowa’
Cooking is my therapy
About six months before I moved to Iowa, long before I had any idea I’d be gardening, Steve and I were on the phone talking about our future living situation. We’d determined his first-year graduate school apartment wasn’t big enough for the two of us, and he’d been looking for another place for us to [...]
The great ice cream caper
In the carpool on the way home from work on a sunny and warm Wednesday back in April, my friends Betsy and Dan and I decided to go out for burgers. Snow had crept back in the forecast for early the next week, and we needed some ground beef and some sunshine to make ourselves [...]
How you can help Midwestern farmers
Back in the 1980s, when the farm crisis was breaking America’s heartland, my Uncle Charlie got involved. He was an economics professor at Iowa State University, and he focused on Extension and public policy issues. He, along with my Dad and their four other siblings, grew up on a small dairy farm in Upstate New [...]
Your stories and pictures can help Midwestern farmers
By now, unless you live under a rock, you’re probably aware that Iowa is suffering from some of the worst floods in memory. I’ve been watching the news from Iowa City with my mouth hanging open, and have mostly relied on reports from the Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Cedar Rapids Gazette to keep me [...]
Green Thumb Sunday: My last look at the Iowa garden
Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in Green Thumb Sunday every week. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.
Harvest preserved: The I.G. learns about root cellars
I have not been very good at storing garden food. I did a better job with freezing things this year, sure. But storing food in such a way that it hangs out and survives for a whole winter? Not so much. That’s not the case, though, for California native David Cavagnaro, a Decorah-area photographer who, [...]
Green Thumb Sunday: Prairiewoods sunrise, no. 3
Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in Green Thumb Sunday every week. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.
Green Thumb Sunday: Prairiewoods sunrise, no. 2
Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in Green Thumb Sunday every week. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.
Never according to plan
Not that I think all my readers set up a special calendar just to track my comings and goings (And, I might add, if you do, there is something wrong with you and you should get help immediately.) (Why are you still reading? Go get help!), but 50 minutes ago, I was supposed to be [...]
