Archive - In the Dirt

Asking Tax Payers to Foot the Bill

Let’s start with the price: $7170. That’s the insurance quote I got this week from the only company that will insure us. The only company. Apparently…

Apr 20 •

The Good, The Bad, And Mother Nature

There is no avoiding it. Every year—multiple times a year—on a farm you are forcefully reminded you are not in control. Whether we lose calves or kids…

Apr 3 •

March 2024

Time to Grow Up

Gun laws should not be based on "wants"

Mar 17 •

A New Way to Honor Native Land

Last week the Iowa legislature passed a bill to block foreign ownership of land. We need to stop the Chinese from buying up the nation, our Iowa…

Mar 2 •

February 2024

How to (Not) Write a Midwestern Psalm

I bet there are a lot of things that AI does well. But writing songs apparently is not one of them.

Feb 16 •

Making sausage in a renovated 1880's barn

Feb 4 •

January 2024

What the Neighbors Think

What did the neighbors think, my family, friends, and book readers always wanted to know. How did they react to our grass-finished beef ways, our…

Jan 27 •

It's Complicated

A trip to Cuba was an eye-opening experience

Jan 18 •

"Local" Schmocal

I was in the grocery store in Oskaloosa, Iowa this past week and saw a sign advertising “local” apples for sale from Sparta, Michigan. “Local” was from…

Jan 11 •

What's in a Name?

Whippoorwill Creek inhabits my earliest memories, days of sun and water, rain, freeze, and flood. It sustained my small self, encouraged my imagination…

Jan 5 •

December 2023

Farm Meditation: Retreating from the Chaos

We have passed the Winter Solstice, Hanukah, and Christmas, and are headed full steam ahead into New Year’s. Yet here in Southern Iowa, winter hasn’t…

Dec 30, 2023 •

On Farming and Neighboring (video)

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…

Dec 20, 2023 •

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