2025 is almost upon us (like a rabid squirrel about to pounce) and so we bid a farewell to 2024, a year that was pretty good here on the ..read more

I have been trying to write. Trying…and not succeeding. I’ve had a rather intense case of brain fog ever since the election. I feel both ..read more

John's fun update about the farm--calves, bucks, and bulls ..read more

The Freak Out Season (aka, summer), of getting cattle and goats moved daily from paddock to paddock setting up waterers and scrambling to ..read more

We celebrate this most giving of months with our August Abundance farm to table dinner on August 24th ..read more

The temps are ramping up as we hit mid June, looking toward another record year as global heating begins to really take hold.  The farm is pretty resilient with our pastures and forests being rotationally grazed for a while now, but we have apparently failed with our front yard, which has already begun to fade from green to brown. Our goats are cool cucumbers in the pasture however, even doing some sunbathing during the hot days, between munches in the brush. They may be the perfect animal for our farm as our summers get hotter and longer, so it may behoove al ..read more

This post was also published on Beth's blog In the Dirt. Officially summer doesn’t arrive until the end of June. But the days are now shorts-wearing-warm and the grass has grown waist-deep and is already going to seed. The spring frenzy to plant everything in the garden has almost closed its window. And soon we will be knee-deep into the annual anxiety over hay (when should we cut it, will it get rained on, will it be ruined…?). Yet this summer brings new adventures too—our barn is up and running and we have a lineup of classes and events we hope will inspire more people to visit and stay ..read more

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