TOUR BUS STOPS FOR LUNCH They came to Des Moines for a conference about food.  They were from California, Maine, New York, Kentucky, Tennessee, Montana, Missouri, Mississippi,  Illinois, Kansas, Vermont, Massachusetts, Alabama, Washington, Washington DC, Uganda, Kenya, Nicaragua, Mexico ... and a few from Iowa.  They took a tour bus to Greene County Iowa.  They stopped to eat lunch in our barn.   What an impressive group! Story and photos coming soon!

Feature Story -
POTLUCK & MOVIE IN THE BARN -
A "FRESH" EVENT

We hosted a private screening of the film "FRESH" in our big white barn.  Featured along with the movie were the fabulous potluck dishes made with fresh local ingredients.  Click here to read more.

Art for Sale! "Left-Overs" by C. Wilbeck This photo was taken in the late afternoon on a crisp, cool beautiful Autumn day.  The left-over corn stalks seemed to glow golden.  This field is west of the little town of Cooper Iowa. Click here to see ALL our artwork for sale!

WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ....  Cousin Pat's "Lone Oak Farm" ... We've recently learned that cousin Pat Hankins raises 100% organic grass-fed beef on his 53 acre Lone Oak Farm in Tennessee.   His cattle receive no antibiotics, no hormone supplements and no animal by-product feed.   As stated on his website, "Talk to Pat for five minutes and you will quickly pick up on those things he finds important to farming - welfare for his cattle and a duty to see that they are humanely processed with a sense of compassion."  Pat is the son of  Dolores (McDermott) Hankins who is my father Joe McDermott's sister.  She and my dad and their four siblings (Colleen, Maurece, Pat and Patricia) grew up in Jamaica IA - on the Greene County side - under the care of my grandparents, Thomas and Louise.  I think it's time for a visit to Lone Oak Farm! "Passive House" design ... Passive Acceptance, an article in the November 2009 issue of Dwell magazine, describes the innovative concept for houses that use up to 90% less energy.  The key features of such structures include an airtight seal and the absence of a furnace.  And yes, for those skeptics who live with cold winters or humid summers like us, it is possible to build such a house that will weather such climates.  According to the article, the first Passive House in the U.S. was designed/built in Urbana Illinois in 2002.  To date, there are less than 15 passive design structures in the U.S., but almost 15,000 in Europe.  Looks like we have to do some catching up! "Transition Towns" ... At the recent Iowa Environmental Council's (http://www.iaenvironment.org/) annual conference, "2020 Vision:  Creative Solutions for our Changing World," we learned about transition initiatives.  As described on Transition Colorado's website, " The Transition approach empowers communities to squarely face the challenges of peak oil and climate change and to unleash the collective genius of their own people to find the answers to this momentous question:  For all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how are we going to drastically reduce carbon emissions (in response to climate change), significantly rebuild resistance (in response to peak oil), and greatly strengthen our local economy (in response to economic instability)?"  Started in Totnes England, the concept has been adopted and implemented across the globe.  Transition Colorado (formerly Transition Boulder County) was the first transition initiative in North America in 2008.  Seems like an important concept to embrace and explore.  To see a list of transition towns,  visit the website Transition Towns WIKI.

See us at these blogs: TINY HOUSE BLOG: Farm Buildings into Tiny Houses Farmhouse Life Update ZIPLINEGEAR: Camp Coyote Zipline Adventure