We just had another great class at the barn - a whole animal butchery event featuring goat this time - and I felt inspired by the people who attended. After I cut out the loin chops, Beth seared them off and had the group taste them. As she walked through the group, I heard "Wow, this is really good" or a variation on that theme several times.  Having the people who raise goat taste it in a well prepared dish for the first time is awesome. I love to help people understand and enjoy what they are growing and eating--food is such an important part of who we are and how ..read more

John is scheduled to teach a Whole Animal Butchery class on March 5, 2024. And so I thought it would be good to repost the article he wrote about it from a few years back. Have any questions? Write to John at johnbutcherman@gmail.com I taught a butchery class last week, something I haven't done in 5 years or so, and while I felt like I stumbled through the process, most of the crowd seemed to appreciate the skills and knowledge that I did manage to display. It was an interesting class, not so much because I hadn't done it in a while, but because the people were of a completely different sort t ..read more

One of the weird but incredibly rewarding things that has happened since I wrote ,Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America is that people want to hear what I have to say. I had the amazing honor of appearing on Market to Market, the Iowa Public Television show about agriculture, when the book came out. But they invited me back last week and I talked with host Paul Yeager about the farm, rural America, our new barn, and what it means to be a good neighbor in farm country. (And btw—the, ,audio version, of the book is on sale for $5 until the new year, while the book version ..read more

This article also appeared in my Substack blog In the Dirt, which is part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Late fall is the season when things slow down on the farm, when the mad morning rush to move animals finally ebbs. The paddocks grow in size and the animals remain on the land longer—the cold weather means we don’t need to be so worried about protecting the delicate plants. Hay becomes a featured menu item in the diets of goats and cattle, and everyone grows a bit grumpy about it. The calves calved successfully this fall (Hallelujah!) and everyone is healthy. The buck Bucky completed h ..read more

In my grandfather's time, fall butchering was vital to survival. And, as an important event, it became a big event. Several neighboring families would bring their butcher animals to one family's farm where task became festivity. Butchering meat is a complex job - skinning, dipping, gutting, and cutting are the initial tasks, tasks that call for an all-hands-on approach. But to turn these meats into delicious cuts that would last the winter and into the spring, secondary, specialized tasks like salting hams, rendering lard, smoking bacon, and making sausages were needed. Individuals were often ..read more

Enjoy the blog and want to learn more about farming, writing, and how to make sausage?? Here are several upcoming events you won’t want to miss: October 14, 2023—Writing on the Farm, Lovilia, IA 9 am-5 pm This one-day workshop will take place in our new barn-house. Call me at 641-218-8480 if you’d like to attend—there are only a few spots still available. October 28, 2023—The Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, IA 1 pm I am excited to be in conversation with artists Roberta Condon and Lorraine Ortner-Blake about the changing rural landscape, the struggles and joys of life on the farm, and how our ..read more

In the first draft of this post, I wrote that we were "excited" about hosting people in our remodeled Barn-House. But then I got to thinking..."excited" is such an overused word these days; everyone is "excited" about everything on social media. What does it mean that I am "excited" about this next phase of our life on the farm? If you are new to this blog, the building is an 1880s, newly renovated barn that is now a house with a beautiful demonstration kitchen, a (small) event space, and a two-bedroom flat upstairs. We call it the "Barn," but it is a cozy, in-floor-heat, insulated barn for p ..read more

I have spent a lot of time this summer waxing poetic about the farm, writing "meditations" and sending marketing emails. "But what's going on on the farm?" people ask me, and I realized I have not dedicated very much space to an actual update about our lives on-farm. So here it is: Farm log September 1, 2023. The goat kids were weened and moved up to our farm (which is about two miles down the gravel road from John's family's land) about six weeks ago. John and our "new" Farm Hand Jacob (more on him, below) went to check on them a few days ago and they were gone. Not a single goat was in the p ..read more

Before I get to the meat and potatoes of this post, I'd like to address the question, "Why are you running two blogs with the same content?" Good question, and to be honest, I am still trying to figure it out. The blog you are reading now is linked to our farm website--iowa-farm.com--which includes all the info you might need about the farm and how to order our products. My other blog--In the Dirt--is part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, and is supposed to included content not related to the farm, but yeah...I don't get to write much that is not about the farm. So there you have it--subscri ..read more

Its almost mid-August--can you believe it! Too hot for inside cooking (except for this weird week!!). But bored of the same old, same old on the grill? Time to add a few new dishes to the grill repertoire. Our Summer Beef Bundles are full of easy to prepare cuts and ground beef, perfect for the grill on a late summer or early fall evening. But we are including cuts you might not have thought about for BBQing, cuts that can be easy to prepare for dinner and bring to work or school the next day. "Stew meat" is great for marinating overnight (to soften the meat) and used as kabobs Beef ribs can ..read more