Every year, family farms in Southern Iowa opens their farms to the public on a day called Farm Crawl. This year seven farms participated on a beautiful sunny, Sunday afternoon.
The seven farms included
- Blue Gate Farm – (Jill Beebout & Sean Skeehan) – a Certified Naturally Grown, chemical-free produce farm with pastured eggs, and honey bees servicing our CSA and DM farmers market.
- Coyote Run Farm – (Matt Russell & Patrick Standley) – a 110 acre farm rebuilding to profitability through relational marketing and sustainable agriculture that grow chemical-free produce & cut flowers, pastured poultry & eggs, hormone-free beef & grass fed beef, hay, and mules.
- Dan-D Farm – (Dan & Jana Dennison) – 18 acre corn maze, racing pigs, barnyard animals, hay rides, and a giant slide.
- Pierce’s Pumpkin Patch – (John & Joy Pierce) – thousands of different pumpkins, squashes, gourds, and decorative corn.
- Reichert’s Dairy Air – (Lois & Jack Reichert) – a state licensed goat micro dairy that recently moved into a custom built milking barn and cheese-making building.
- Schneider Orchards – (Arnie & Jane Schneider) – fresh Iowa grown apples!
- White Breast Pottery – (Sharon Seuferer & Carol Oliver) Local clays in making pieces that reflect our area.
By the time we had gotten out of church, rounded up all the kids, and ate lunch, we were only able to make it to three farms. Reichert’s Dairy Air, Pierce’s Pumpkin Patch, and Blue Gate Farm. I was a little saddened to have missed Coyote Run, however, I have already spent a day on their farm helping them process chickens which you can see here.
Follow me along as I share a bit about some of our outstanding family farms! To see all of my pictures please visit me at flickr.
Reichert’s Dairy Air
Lois and Jack Reichert’s goat micro dairy is impecable. It’s a beautiful clean facility with healthy La Mancha goats. Lois Reichert uses the milk to produce one of our communities most popular goat cheeses. From Chevre to Robiola, Lois Reichert has mastered the skill of cheesemaking! I wish I would have been able to hear more about the production, however, I had 3 rambunctious kids to catch!
Fabulous photos! Congratulations on your well-deserved nominations!
I love that turkey photo!
And congratulations on nominations from me too 🙂
what a lovely post I am thrilled u are nominated u deserve it
Thank you so much!!
what a wonderful day out! i loved the "moco del pavo".
besitos,
pity
Sounds like a wonderful event!
I love this post! The farm crawl sounds like a wonderful event. Thanks for sharing all the info about the farms and farming methods as well as the beautiful pictures. That's how our food is supposed to be made…
Also, congratulations on your Foodbuzz nominations! You SOOO deserve them!
I am fully of envy. I grew up on my family beautiful farm in OH. They owned there own slaughtering house and the full 9 yards. I miss that sooo sooo much.
Congrats on the nomination. YOU DESERVE IT!!
Diana, this is a great post. My kids and I have never been to a real farm before and thanks for enlightening us with your this write out. Glad your family enjoy this outing :))
Fabulous photos! Simply awesome
learn spanish madrid
thanks for the share
Wow. This would be one of the best places I could visit. It's all about community, the kids are having so much fun and appreciating what nature has to give us. The animals are so cute. It's obvious I live in the crowded city of Metro Manila.
About the legumes, my resources came from different books and my own experience. I don't have specific books for legumes alone. But Rebecca Wood's books talk about whole foods and their preparations.
By the way, congratulations on your nominations. 🙂
Beautifully photographed and described all around, Diana!
You make me want to visit my own farm : )
Thanks so much for sharing your enthusiasm! We look forward to having you back out for a visit sometime soon for your own private tour.
Hola Diana! Thanks for leaving a comment in my blog :D.
The pictures are great and you seemed to have such a good time!
Espero verte de nuevo por mi blog ;D.
Un abrazo.
How cool!!! We have something kind of similar around here…local, small organic farms on a farm-hop sort of thing! Thanks for giving us this virtual tour 🙂
This looks like a lot of fun! Our kids would love something like this.
Thanks everyone!!
sounds like a fun event, I love the photos as well. congrats on the nomination!
Your little one enjoying it so much. Great to see them having fun there! I learned milking when I was in New Zealand 20 years back…he he! A real farm with lots of white sheeps and milking cows.
I love this post diana…I bet you all have fun & love the last photo with your cute little son (showed that he really had a good time) 😀