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Harvest, 2009 Celebrating the Abundance of Iowas Local Foods, Season by Season Number 13

Our Daily BreadFrisian Farms Gouda

Bluff BrewhausFarming, Floods and FootballThe Murder of Nikolai Vavilov

edible

Member of Edible Communiti

IOWA RIVER VALLEY

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ContentsHarvest 200

Departments

4 Grist for the MillHarvest time

6 Notable EdiblesTasty tidbits to savor around Iowa

16 Edible ImbibablesBrewing Close to HomeBy Katie Roche

21 The 99Louisa CountyBy Kurt Michael Friese

24 1,000 WordsChiles at the Market

26 Behind Closed DoorsLileah HarrisBy Rob Cline

29 Local HeroesTime to vote for the best of food around

30 The Last WordPeter Pringlese Murder of Nikolai VavilovBy KurtMichael Friese

Features

7 Frisian FarmsTwo Iowa brothers make Gouda the old fashioned way by Eve Adamson

10 An Iowa Girl in ItalyA doctoral candidate revels in her work By Rachel Horner Brackett

12 Farming, Floods and FootballA visit to Krouls Farm By Michael Knock

18 Our Daily BreadDoing the Lords work in Laurel By Allison Gnade

20 Teaching The Science of Diversitye Sand Hill Preservation Center By Renee Brinks

31 Learning to Growis campus garden is empowering students By Brian Morelli

Harvest 2009 www.EdibleIowa.com

On the coveJocelyn & Lydia. Photo by Kurt Michael Fri

All of us atEdible are proud to call these folks ourPartners. ey understand the importance of

supporting local farms, local food, and the localeconomy. Be sure to visit the Edible Partners listedhere, and thank them for supporting sustainable

food andEdible Iowa River Valley

To join the growing list of Edible Partners, please con-tact sales manager Rachel Morey Flynn @

319.241.4442 or [email protected]

Augustapg. 27Blackhawk Hotelpg. 14Blendpg. 23Bread Gardenpg. 32BrewNostpg. 22Cafe Dodicipg. 12Cafe del Sol Roastingpg. 15Cart by Cartpg. 15Design Ranchpg. 28Devotaypg. 9Edible Communitiespg. 31Edible Communities Marketplacepg. 25

e Englert eatrepg. 5Fireside Winerypg. 23Hills Bankpg. 15Iowa City Farmers Marketpg. 15Iowa Wine Trailpg. 23

Jasper Winerypg. 28Johns Grocerypg. 20La Reynapg. 14Local Food Conferencepg. 22MidWestOne Bankpg. 27Motley Cowpg. 28Muddy Creek Winepg. 14

New Pioneer Co-oppg. 20Oneota Community Co-oppg. 28Robinson Family Wellnesspg. 5Scattergoodpg. 29Shmuggle Knitspg. 23Sutliff Ciderpg. 14Tassel Ridge Winerypg. 2UNI Museumpg. 15

Wheatseld Co-oppg. 29

edibleIOWA RIVER VALLEY

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grist

for the mill

Dear Eater,

With Relish,

4 www.EdibleIowa.com Harvest 200

Publishers Kurt & Kim Friese on RAGBRAI, 200

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & PUBLISHERKurt Michael Friese

MANAGING EDITORKim McWane Friese

WRITERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS

DESIGNED BYKurt Michael Friese

ADVERTISING SALESTo become an Edible Partner, please contact sales manager

Rachel Morey Flynn @ 319.241.4442

or [email protected]

CONTACT USEdible Iowa River Valley

22 Riverview Drive, NE

Iowa City, Iowa 52240-7973

Telephone: 319.321.7935

Fax: 888.704.1235

CUSTOMER SERVICEEdible Iowa River Valleytakes pride in providing its

subscribers with fast, friendly service.

Subscribe Give a Gift Buy an Ad

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Edible Iowa River Valleyis published quarterly by River Valley

Press, LLC. All rights reserved. Subscription rate is $28 annually.No part of this publication may be used without written

permission from the publisher. 2009.

Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings, and omissions.If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our

sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.

Proudly printed in Iowa.


edibleIOWA RIVER VALLEY

Eve Adamson

Renee Brincks

Rob Cline

Bryan Cline

Kurt Michael Friese

Allison Gnade

Rachel Horner Brackett

Ben Minkler

Brian Morelli

Criss Roberts

Katie Roche

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notable

edibles


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Frisian FarmsTwo Iowa brothers make Gouda the old-fashioned way

By Eve Adamson

Its good to be a cow at Frisian Farms.Perks include lush pastures for grazing, anopen-air barn for munching on hay orbasking in the shade, twice-daily milking,and a big bristly cow brush that rotateswhenever a cow leans into it to clean,scratch, or groom herself. Its all aboutcow comfort around here, says JasonBandstra, eyeing the cows jockeying forposition against the spinning brush, whichruns 24 hours a day.

Im not sure that brush pays for itself,Mike mutters.

Fans of Frisian Farms Gouda cheese wouldsurely disagree. e washed-rind cowsmilk farmstead cheese has a fresh, tangytaste when young, and mellows into arich, complex, nutty, sophisticated cheeseas it agessurely the nal, happy result ofhappy cows.

e Real Gouda

A small dairy farm off of small countryroad outside of Oskaloosa, Iowa, and notfar from neighboring Pella, Frisian Farmsis not just a family business but a businessdeeply rooted in the Bandstra familys

Dutch roots and generations-long connec-tion to dairy farming. Were 100%Dutch, said Jason, and we grew up on adairy farm.

After earning his BS in agronomy from Iowa State University, Jasonand his wife purchased Frisian Farms in 2002 and Jason began buyingcalves. Meanwhile, Mike earned a BS in dairy science and spent sev-eral years in Maryland managing an organic dairy farm for HorizonOrganics, where he learned how to manage a healthy heard withoutbovine growth hormone or preventive antibiotics, practices the broth-ers employ in their dairy today.

e Bandstras herd of just over 70 cows enjoys a diet of approximately70% forage, which makes the cheese richer. A diet higher in grain re-

sults in more milk output but a lower fat cheese, so we try to maximizeavor rather than milk output, said Jason. Cows can come and gofrom the barn as they please and spend most of their time in niceweather out in the pasture. ey give birth in an open-air calving pen,mostly without any help, and while the cows are typically articiallyinseminated, the resident bull does his part. Hes better than we are atguring out which cows are ready, Jason says. Its all very natural.

After several years of producing only milk, the Bandstra brother de-cided to expand into cheese making, specically the cheese their ances-tral home is most known for producing: Gouda. e Bandstras hireda Dutch cheese maker to visit their dairy and train them in the art andtechnique of producing genuine farmstead Gouda. is is nothing

like the gouda in the red wrapper you buin the grocery store, Jason explained.at cheese is melted into a big 400-pound block so it has no cracks or eyes,and thats how they get the uniform tex-ture. Its mass produced. is cheese ishandmade, the authentic way. ey expothe red stuff, but this is the kind of cheesthe Dutch cheese makers pride themselveon, the cheese they sell in Holland.

From Cow to Cheese Wheel

e cows at Frisian farms get milked twiceach day. Most of that milk goes to Swis

Valley Farms, a co-op of small dairies whpledge not to use bovine growth hormonHowever, one milking each week is re-served for making cheese.

On cheese day, the cows le into the milking parlor and take turns at the milkingmachine. e raw milk is piped into thecheese vat in the in the cheese house wheit is heated to 145 degrees for 30 minutesthe minimum required for pasteurizationthe state of Iowa.

Most cheese is ash-pasteurized at 212 dgrees in the pipeline, which kills not only

all the bad bacteria but all the good cul-tures, said Mike, who is chief cheesemaker. We think our way results in a beter tasting cheese. Mike laments that Io

is just one of 7 states that requires pasteurization of all cheeses. Othstates like Wisconsin dont have to pasteurize their cheese if they age for 60 days. You can sell raw milk cheese in Iowa, but you cant pro-duce it, which puts us at a disadvantage. We follow the rules and wethink we still come out with a pretty good cheese.

After pasteurization, the milk is cooled to 85 degrees, then Mike stirsin the traditional Kazu culture for Gouda cheese. We mix in the cuture for 20 minutes, then add rennet to coagulate the milk. We let itsit for 30 to 40 minutes. It still looks like milk but the texture be-comes more like gelatin.

Next, paddles cut the milk until the curd is broken down to pea-sizedpieces. Using a screen, we drain off about half the whey, then heat tmilk back to 95 degrees to rm the curd and wash out the lactic acid

We mix it for 10 minutes, drain the remaining whey, and then put thcheese into molds that we press for 4 hours.

ese molds sit overnight, then are soaked in brine for 4 days. We them every 24 hours, Mike says. After brining, we let them dry andcoat them with edible wax.

Cheese-making day is a long day, beginning with the 4:00 a.m. milk-ing and ending with the pressing. We take them off the press at abo

e Bandstra brothers, Mike and Jason, with their cheese

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7:00 p.m., Mike says. After that, most of the work is in the waiting.e Bandstras put the wheels into a temperature-controlled storagearea on cedar shelves at about 50 degrees and 86% humidity. Weip the wheels weekly and age them for about two months for youngGouda and leave others up to a year , says Mike.

Although theyve only been making cheese for about a year,the Bandstras plan to age some of the wheels for two to ve years.Most of their aged Gouda has been aged for about 6 months. Ourrst thought was to age them for two months, but we thought the re-sult was still a little bit too much like a cheddar or even a mozzarella,Jason said. Aging for 6 months gives the gouda a more authentic,mature avor.

A Gouda Future

Locals not only want to try the Gouda, but they want a glimpse intothe world of Frisian Farms, and the Bandstras admit they underbuilt.We thought we would have a viewing room so people could comeand watch the cheese being made, Jason said. We thought we couldhave a little shop and sell the cheese. Now were using that room forstorage. We just dont have enough space.

e Bandstras could probably spend a lot more time giving tours oftheir dairy, hosting events, and selling their products, if they had thetime and space. For a recent tour the brothers expected would be

small, 100 people showed up. ats our goal for Phase II. Moreroom, more help, and more production, Jason said. We would liketo make a nice reception area and be able to show more people whatwe do here. Were learning as we go.

If the quality of Frisian Farms Gouda is any indication, the Bandstrabrothers must be quick learners. ey already have fans, not only fromaround the state, where gourmet shops and wineries carry and featuretheir young, aged, smoked, and cumin seed gouda, but from as faraway as the west coast, where Steve Jones, an Oskaloosa native whoowns Steves Cheese in Portland, Oregon, carries the brothers Goudaand calls it head and shoulders above most American gouda.

I was home last year and saw the Frisian Farms cheese at Tassel Ridgewinery, Jones said. I picked up a piece and was quite pleased to dis-

cover that not only was it from my hometown, but it was actually verygood. I called the guys up and Ive been buying it ever since.

When You Go...

If you stand at a high spot on the gravel drive that heads out to thbarn on Frisian Farms, you can see Tassel Ridges winery just a few

miles away. Tassel Ridge not only sells Frisian Farms Gouda cheebut has featured it during wine and cheese pairing events in the paSteve Richardson, vineyard manager and certified wine educator f

Tassel Ridge, offers his recommendations for pairing Frisian FarmGouda with Tassel Ridge wine:

The Frisian Farms aged Gouda goes nicely with the semi-sweet, uoaked Candlelight Chardonnay, Richardson says. However,

Richardson himself, and other red wine fans at the winery, think goes even better with Twilight, their 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Everyone at the winery agrees that Frisian Farms smoked Gouda anTassel Ridges new wine, In the Dark, make a perfect pairing. Inthe Dark is made with about two-thirds Iowa grapes, including SCroix and Marachal Foch, and about one-third California Syrah

grapes, Richardson says.

Frisian Farms Gouda is available at farmers markets, restaurantswineries, food co-ops, and Hy-Vee grocery stores in Des MoinesAmes, Pella, Oskaloosa, Council Bluffs, Cedar Rapids, Iowa CityCoralville, and other locations. Or, buy it online. For more info

mation on where to nd Frisian Farms Gouda cheese, visit theirwebsite.

www.FrisianFarms.com.

2321 Highland AvenueOskaloosa

641.673.3306

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FlaAn Iowa Girl in Italyu

A University of Iowa Doctoral candidate revels in her work

By Rachel Horner Brackett

is afternoon my lunch was inter-rupted by an all-too-familiar exclama-tion from the drivewaye pigs areout again! Growing up on a familyfarm in northwestern Illinois I heardthis refrain regularly. We would hurryto pull on muddy shoes and make amad dash outside to chase our hogsaway from a vegetable garden or prizedower bed. As a PhD candidate in cul-tural anthropology, I never imaginedthat I would relive this scene decadeslater and thousands of miles away in

Italy. My interest in food traditionsand heritage animal breeds led me tothe hills of Tuscany to study the CintaSenese, a strain of hog that was on thebrink of extinction twenty years ago.Today the breed is being rediscoveredby artisanal salumi producers and con-sumers, who prize the distinct andmouthwatering avor of its meat. Inorder to better understand the story ofthese pigs, as well as the people whoraise and butcher them, I have spentve months living and working at theTenuta di Spannocchia, a 1,200 acreestate that roughly 150 Cinta Senese

call home.e Cinta Senese originated in therocky meadows and forested hills southof Siena. eir distinctive white belt,or cinta, was carefully selected by me-dieval breeders who needed to separate their stock from other,wilder breeds living in forests nearby. e Cinta is uniquely adaptedto the areait withstands the hot summers, demonstrates a markedresistance to infection, and thrives on the acorns and other vegetationof the region, offering local farmers an income from otherwise unpro-ductive land. However, the advent of industrial farming and subse-quent introduction of larger, more prolic breeds like the Yorkshirenearly wiped out the Cinta population in the 20th century. eCinta is a grazing pig, and requires wooded areas for foraging in ad-dition to a typical grain diet. ey tend to be lively and energetic(i.e., they have a hard time staying within the connes of their pens!)and take up to two years to reach market weight. ese factors led todecreased popularity of the Cinta among area farmers, and it has onlybeen through the efforts of local breeding consortia and groups likeSlow Food International that the breed has mounted a comeback.

Demand for Cinta Senese meats has driven the resurgence of thebreed. My own work at Spannocchia has focused on the butchering,processing, and curing of traditional Tuscan salumi products. Everypart of the animal is utilized, and all of the processing is done by handin Spannocchias small transformation kitchen. Under the guidanceof an expert butcher and the estates farm manager, four Cinta arebutchered approximately every three weeks. In Italy, all salt-cured,

aged products are known collectivelyas salumisalame is only one of tproducts that fall into this category.In fact, the salame we make from thCinta often contains some of the becuts of meat. Because salame is ofteone of the more affordable items, logfollows that if a producer is making exceptional lesser piece of meat, thsame care will be taken with the moexpensive cuts. At Spannocchia ittakes our small team about 3 dayto process the Cintas into a variety o

products. In addition to the prizedprosciutto hams, which are aged forleast 18 months in a humidity-con-trolled cellar, we craft several othercured products. ere are rigatinoand gotino (forms of Tuscan pancettor bacon), lardo (creamy white slabsback fat aged in salt and herbs), capollo, and nocchiona (cuts aged with

wild fennel seed). Fresh salsiccia(sausage) is a best-seller at the localmarket, as is the traditional buristo(blood sausage) and sopressata (headcheese avored with nutmeg and othspices).

e unique and delectable avor ofthese Cinta products cannot be undestimated. One of the best parts ofmy job is representing Spannocchia local markets, and introducing peop

to the Cinta salumi. ere I have watched more than one connoisseswoon when he or she rst samples a perfectly aged, hand-carvedpiece of our prosciutto. Likewise, I have seen elderly Italians growmisty-eyed when they take a bite of buristo and remember the avoand textures of their own childhoods. Without the concentrated ef-forts of small-scale Cinta producers and the traditional knowledge amethods of area butchers these experiences would disappear.

e Spannocchia estate offers an ideal environment for the Cinta anthe people who work with them. Until WWII the land was operate

under the mezzadria tenant farmer system that dominated Italian agculture for centuries. e natural beauty of the area is apparentevery window seems to open upon a bella vistabut traditionalagriculture has played an equally important role in preserving andshaping the countryside. When the current proprietors took overmanagement of the estate in the early 1990s the land was not beingutilized for farming. eir original plan was to restore the 900 yearold tower and accompanying villa and farmhouses, but it soon becamapparent that these physical structures were intrinsically part of somthing bigger. It was impossible to improve the buildings without recovering the rural landscape surrounding them. Today the estateholds a wildlife refuge, a sustainable forestry program, certied or-ganic farmland, and a thriving agri-tourism program. In addition t

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the Cinta Senese, the farm raises heritage breeds of sheep and cattle;there are also native plant breeds in the extensive organic gardens. Inmany ways, bringing back a small-scale, diversied farming systemwas integral to the preservation of the property itself. Conservationand sustainability are central themes herein addition to maintain-ing the natural environment, Spannocchia works to sustain the cul-tural landscape of Tuscany.

It is easy to fall in love with Spannocchia. Cypress trees line the cen-turies-old stone walls, and grapevines and olive trees dot the hillside.A highly dedicated and energetic staff keeps the estate running with

the help of eight interns, who spend three months volunteering andgaining a hands-on education in sustainable agriculture. Guests fromaround the world can stay in one of the agriturismo rental houses orin the restored villa, and have the opportunity to take traditional Tus-can cooking classes or historical tours of the estate. ere are com-munal meals every evening, where we feast on fresh, seasonal producefrom the organic gardens, meats that were raised or hunted on theproperty, and a seemingly endless array of pastas and dolce (desserts).Before dinner the community comes together to enjoy a glass of winethat was produced organically on-site, either in front of a cracklingre or on an outdoor terrace overlooking the sunset, depending onthe weather and season. Without a television or reliable internetconnection conviviality takes on a new gravity. Good storytellersare highly valued here, and impromptu concerts by musically talentedstaff and guests are common. Nightlife is a moonlit walk on the

property, often spurred by the hope of sighting one of the chinghiale(wild boars) that venture out of the forest after dark. We are onlytwenty kilometers away from the city of Siena, but Spannocchia feelsvery remote. Chasing after a few escaped pigs is a small price to payfor this experience.

For more information about Spannocchia,please visit www.spannocchia.org.


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Farming, Floods and Football

A Visit to Krouls Farm

By Michael Knock


This fall is business as usual at Krouls Farm Gardens and Greenhousejust south of Mount Vernon. On this warm Saturday afternoon inSeptember the sun is shining in a bright blue sky. Tanner, a 14-year-old border collie, snoozes outside the greenhouse while owner Kay-lene Kroul talks sweet corn and Hawkeye football with a customerinside.

Business is steady, especially now that the big game is over. Iowa beatUNI, 17-16 in an exciting finish, and its a topic of conversation ascustomers some dressed in Iowa black and gold and others in Pan-ther purple show up to buy the homegrown produce.

Did you hear who blocked the kick? one customer asks Kaylene inreference to the recent game as she bags up two dozen ears of sweet

corn.Kaylene follows the Hawkeyes closely. Her son, Matt, started at de-fensive tackle for Iowa for four years, earning academic All-Big Tenhonors before being drafted by the New York Jets last summer. Today

was a big day in the Kroul household. In addition to working theCedar Rapids farmers market, the Kroul family expected to learn

whether Matt had made the Jets practice squad.

I forgot to put out my Go Hawks sign this week, she responds bfore changing the subject back to the corn. Weve only got two rowof sweet corn left to pick and then were done.

The customer looks disappointed.

I probably should have bought more then, he says. Have you heaanything about Matt? Did he make the team?

What a difference a year makes. Kroul and her husband John havebeen farming this land for 28 years. Theyve got 525 acres and aprime location along Highway 1 in the Cedar River valley where thraise both the traditional corn and soybeans along with garden pro-

duce including beets, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and pumpkins.Though technically not organic, Kaylene says they never use chemicpesticides or fertilizers on their garden crops. That produce makes throunds as do the Krouls at a trio of weekly farmers markets inCedar Rapids, North Liberty and Mount Vernon.

The land in the river valley is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, thsoil is rich, and you cant miss Krouls along the well-traveled route oHighway 1. Its a spectacular spot almost equi-distant from Solon anMount Vernon.

In 2008, however, the river was not the place to be as the Cedar weover its banks and wiped out much of the growing season.

I came home that Monday from my mail route and I said to John,think we need to start moving things, Kaylene remembered. But didnt believe me. By Thursday, he was starting to change his mind.Kaylene said friends and family helped them move their equipmentthe higher ground. While the farm had experienced some flooding the past, the water had never reached the greenhouse.

The water has always come up to the back greenhouse, but no far-ther, Kaylene said. I thought to myself, The Krouls have lived heall their lives, and if they say it wont flood, it wont flood.

But this was 2008. The water rose, and it just kept rising. Ultimatelit nearly filled the basement of the Krouls home rising to just a fewinches below the ceiling. It also inundated the greenhouse where thfamily had stored their air compressor and generator.

We ended up just shutting the doors so things didnt just float awayKaylene said.

Still, the Krouls kept their perspective. Their neighbors lost theirhome in the flood. It was also a year in which Kaylenes father andbest friend died. After the water started going down on Sunday, thestarted cleaning up and salvaging what they could.

We didnt cry about (the flood), Kaylene said. There was nothingyou could do.

A year later, the farm is back. Kaylene said the vegetables have rarel

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looked better and sales have been good. Not even another flood thisone in late August could slow them down. Moreover, unlike lastyear sunny days followed and helped dry out the soil. The Krouls alsobought a vegetable washer to help them clean up the produce beforesending it off to market.

Dont you have any pumpkins this year? asks a customer whostopped in to Krouls on her way back home after the game.

They were flooded last week, Kaylene replied.

Again? the customer asks with a look of surprise on her face. Whowould have thought that would happen two years in a row.

Kaylene assures the woman that the pumpkins will be fine. Johnagrees.

After last year, its all good, he said. It was a little tough on the hay,but its OK now.

Its a good thing. Pumpkin season is a big time of the year at Krouls asthousands of people descend on the farm to explore a maze built outof hay bales or to look for the perfect Jack o Lantern for Halloween.Friends and neighbors help pick the pumpkins every year before har-vest. Some do it out of a sense of neighborliness or to return a favor John often helps out with haying on nearby farms - while others have

something else in mind. Years before when John coached football atMount Vernon, his players would help out on the farm at pumpkintime, looking, in Kaylenes words, to show the coach what they coulddo. Nowadays, some pumpkin pickers have other motivations.

The rule is if you want to deer hunt on our land, you have to pickthree loads of pumpkins first, Kaylene explains.

One volunteer is Rose Pedersen. Rose, whose specialty is flowers, hasvolunteered out at Krouls for years. Kaylene said Pedersen is alwaysteaching them something such as the proper way to deadhead gera-niums - to make their flowers look better or last longer.

Have you seen the new vegetable washer? Kaylene asks Pedersen ashe stops through the greenhouse.

Pedersen says that she has. In fact, she says got soaked with waterwhen she tried to shut it off.

Did you have a good market this morning? Pedersen asks.

It was really good, Kaylene replies. It was very busy, and we soldout of sweet corn.

At that moment, another customer arrives and the cycle begins allover again. Have you heard anything about Matt?

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edibleiowa river valley

Opportunities are available for upcoming issues.Contact sales manager Rachel Morey Flynn @

319.241.4442 or [email protected]

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My basement laundry room smells likebread spread thick with jam, a perfect mixof yeasty sweetness and anticipation. WhereI normally fold my daughters clean clothdiapers, a nice French Russo wine is fer-menting in a 5 gallon Bisphenol-A (BPA)free plastic bucket. We soon transfer it bysiphon to a glass carboy and then its si-phoned into clean re-used wine bottles withhomemade labels ready for gifting in theholiday season. A little will be corked insmaller re-used beer bottles to sample peri-odically over the coming years, to see how itages. For ninety bucks in juice and approx-imately 4 gallons of our own filtered tapwater, well gross 30 bottles of wine at $3 apiece for very little work. I hope to call itthe Three Legged Red after our belovedtripod dog Mitra who passed away just lastyear.

In this economy its no surprise that DIYenterprises like home brewing are takingoff. I bought my Russo juice and equip-ment cleaner from Jerry Anderson, theowner, operator and resident brewing ex-pert of The Bluff Brewhaus, Dubuquesneat little brewing supply store. Jerryopened his doors in 2006 and the limp-ing economy has yet to throw a crutchinto his business. In fact, his risky jumpfrom a 20 year position as an engineer tofollow his bliss and open The BluffBrewhaus has only helped to solidify hisdisenchantment with the corporate envi-ronment he found himself slugging away in. With his well stockedback room lab, Jerry Anderson is perfecting recipes that will be massproduced by Dubuques Bricktown Brewery where he is now, thank-fully (after years of shifting brewers), serving as master brewer. Whilerestoring Bricktown to quality, The Bluff Brewhaus is booming, orrather brewingand this once brew for fun guy is now supplying allthe ingredients for decade tested recipes and advising hordes of new-bies and tinker happy brewmeisters on how to create their perfect liq-uid inspiration.

Right away you know that Jerry knows what the hop hes talkingabout. The kind faced and cool Mr. Anderson has been experiment-ing and brewing for a long time: 25 years to be exact. While hangingout in his store I spoke with one customer named Chris who startedbrewing three years ago. With Jerrys help hes acquired some booksand loads of advice, which have helped him tweak standard recipes toappease his palates desire. As a beer brewer Chris mentioned the sav-ings in making your own beer and the innovative make-your-ownkeg-erator parts that Jerry has gathered at the Brewhaus. Take a basiccooling system like a dorm fridge on max, some Co2 and plastic lines,some old stainless steel 5 gallon Cornelius kegs that Jerry bought out

when Pepsi went to a bagging systeand voila! Some simple putting-to-gether and you have a quality thisaint no PBR home brew that canlast about 2 years, cold and ready todrink on demand. The supplies forsuch a set up pay for themselves aftonly one batch as compared to 2cases of a comparable craft beer.Plus, you have bragging rights be-cause you made it yourself. In Chricase you also have the ability to fulfyour wifes request to make her a dabeer of her choosing, perfect forcoaxing breast milk, as a reward forthat sweet little baby she carriedaround for nine months. Lucky ga

Before my husband Sicilian Joe andstarted brewing with our friendsCanadian Jason, Brooklyn Pete, Leprechaun Micheal and Bacon Candy

Anna, we thought you had to be arocket scientist to brew. In fact,Canadian Jason ISa rocket scientistso embarking on the endeavor withhim was, at first, slightly intimidat-ing. Canadian Jason smartly set us ease with these fabled words: Canyou clean a dish? Yes!, we repliedemphatically, I can clean a dish!

Jason then explained that bacteria isreally the only enemy of home-brewing. Follow the steps and if your system is clean, you are liable to make

something drink-ably delicious that will NOT, I repeat, will NOTmake you go blind. Boil those bottles, use a sulfur cleaner, explorenon-sulfur cleaners and do what you have to do- but if its clean, itson.

The thing that got me really excited while talking to Jerry Andersonwas his line on rhizomes, the clippings from the root balls of hopsplants. One little clipping (between $10-70 depending on the sourand its proven brews) vines 25 feet in one season and grows way mothan one home brewer needs for even the most avid operation. Hopcan be stored frozen or used fresh. With the worldwide hop shortagthat happened in 2008 you might even be sitting on a new form ofcurrency. After about three years you can dig up the root ball, sell thclippings and replant the rest. Repeat. I am planning a shade trellisdraped in hops in my yard and trying my hand at farming some ofmy own brewsky. Take that Canadian Jason. The student now chal-lenges the master.

So, maybe wine and beer just arent what your interested in. Jerry hall the goods and expertise to have you sitting on a nice Meade, somserious Sake and even a nice and fizzy lambic. Sake sounds especial


Edible ImbibablesBy Katie Roche

Brewing Close to Home

Everything you need for a batch of Bluff Brewhaus IPA

8/9/2019 EIRV 2009-10 - Issue #13


fun because good sake is kind of pricey and bad Sake is readily avail-able. We Americans tend to drink our Sake hot because its actuallynot very good and the warmth disguises the ick. A good sake can besipped cold or even room temperature and should have a lovely, hardto pin point, cloudy taste and the same hard to nail down cloudy ef-fect. A sakes alcohol content is determined by the amount of riceyou use (more rice = higher alcohol content) and the bite or lackthereof is defined by the kind of rice you use. You can make a killersake for about $20 plus a bag of tasty jasmine, which is my prefer-ence.

I personally cant stand most commercial lambics (the traditionalfruit-infused beer of Belgium), but the lambic I sampled from Jerryskit was silly good: light, not too sweet, not too syrupy (which tends tobe the problem) and not a trace of vinegar. Jerry can also walk youthrough the fairly simple process of making a nice Meade. This mayend up being my new signature wedding gift as the term honeymooncomes from the Northern European tradition in which newlywedcouples drank this bittersweet wine, then called metheglen, for amonth after the wedding to bring them good luck in the marriage.Jerry has some nice honey in stock, but you could also grab a honey(local to you or the couple) and make it really personal. Heck, brew-ing could even be a family activity. Get the kids making their ownsoda and make them work for that teeth rotting treasure. With Jerrys

help you might even be able to make it kind of healthy. Kind of.

Jerry has plans for classes in the works, but for now youve got his at-tention one on one. He can walk you through the malt, show you theway to corking and best of all the store is almost entirely free ofkitsch. With only a few bumper stickers and knick-knacks to throwyou off course, the store is simple and practically perfect for everyonefrom the amateur to the lady trying to get her hoppy brew to bite herback. Tell Jerry hi for me when you stop in and let him know I havethe Three Legged Red almost ready for his critique.

When You Go...The Bluff Brewhaus:

Open M-F 10-6, Sat. 10-5(Sunday hes brewing at Bricktown)

372 Bluff Street, Cable Car Square, Dubuque563.582.5420

www.BluffBrewhaus.com

8/9/2019 EIRV 2009-10 - Issue #13


Our Daily bread

Doing the Lords work in Laurel

By Allison Gnade

Folding her hands together, Teresa Paul looks up. In response to myquestion about whether their family farm is more inclined towardspromoting their business or their lifestyle, Ive asked her to separatetwo sides of the same coin. As Teresa explains, theyre indivisible, andtheir family business is a benefit to their great lifestyle. For the Paulfamily, growing grains without chemicals, milling them into top-qual-ity stone-ground flour, and inviting customers out to their idyllicfamily farm tucked into the rolling hills of central Iowa are embeddedin the fabric of their daily life.

Steve Pauls parents, Wayne and Betty Paul, started the farm in 1959just outside of Laurel, situated midway between Marshalltown andKellogg amongst the rolling row crops of Iowa. Waynes education inagriculture from Iowa State University taught him to farm corn andsoybeans with chemical-input methods, which he pursued for several

years. By 1964, however, with the influence and encouragement of afriend, Wayne felt that God wanted him to create something less ma-nipulated by man and turned to chemical-free, organic methods offarming. After implementing crop rotations and applying organic fer-tilizers and other natural cultivation methods, they were convincedthat they had chosen the right path, fulfilling their role as good stew-ards of the land.

The family started by milling cornmeal, and soon added steel-cut oat-meal and whole wheat flour to production. Their specialties of 7-Grain Flour, Cereal, and Pancake Mix soon followed. The familybusiness has since grown with the new generations their online store(www.paulsgrains.com) now offers nineteen varieties of whole grains,twelve cereals, and fifteen flours. Additionally, the family raises grass-fed beef and free-range eggs.

All of their fields and grains are certified organic. Certification ex-penses made certifying their milling room unfeasible, thus, they pro-mote their organic grains as Chemical Free.

2006 brought the opportunity for Steve and Teresa to carry on thefamily business. Luckily, the family members were, as Teresa tells me,all created by the Lord with different interests. Teresa acts as secre-tary and processes their online orders while her husband Steve mansthe bookwork and mechanical jobs around the farm. Of their sixchildren, the eldest daughter Abigail designed and created their web-site, Susanna mills their grains and also keeps bees and goats, Danielaccomplishes all their field work, and the two younger daughters helpwith bagging their flours and grains.

Devotion to their customers who depend on them for wholesomeIowa grains motivates their family business. As for their business phi-losophy, they simply aim, Teresa explains, to produce a product asnatural and wholesome as possible as close to the unadulteratedgrain that God originally created since it is healthier for our bodies.In a state where the vast majority of crops are inedible to humans be-fore extensive processing (and furthermore are frequently slated foranimal feed rather than for human nutrition), the crops the Paulsnurture are unique.

Following their understanding of Gods desires includes improvingthe lives of their neighbors, as Matthew 23:37-39 insists: Thou shaltlove the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and

with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, And thsecond is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Topromote the wellbeing of their fellow neighbors across the country,they feel that part of loving our neighbor would be to provide products that are wholesome. Amidst a food system that can be complicated and impersonal, the Paul family shows great respect for both teater and the land, and promotes the connections between the two.

The family shares a wealth of information on their website, includinrecipes, photos of the farm, and tips for people with allergies to glutand other foods. Unlike many businesses with online stores, the Paufamily also comes face to face with many of their customers, who stoby the farm to pick up their orders. Surprisingly, about half of theircustomers place orders over the phone and pick them up themselvesdirectly from the farm. In this great example of the farm-to-table

movement, the Pauls invite their customers onto their own homeground to see for themselves the people and environment that culti-vated their food. The grains, raised naturally without chemicals, havested by real people, milled by real people, packaged and sold by repeople, benefit a real family.

The Pauls have a bounty of farmyard animals that children, studentsand adults alike love to admire. Chickens, goats, beef cattle, cats,dogs, a dairy cow, and guinea hens flock the family farm. Patience,one of their two dogs, has been trained to herd the stubborn nannygoat, Clarinet, back into her pen after her daily escape. The guineaclimb to a precarious roost in the trees every night, and the layinghens retreat into their coop for nighttime protection. Teresa tells mabout evenings spent around a bonfire near the guineas tree, singingsongs backed up by the guineas crooning. The lifestyle comes to th

family naturally.

Customers also come naturally to Pauls Grains. The business spendno money on advertising and depends on word-of-mouth to spreadtheir name. Staying a small business is fine and preferred by thefamily: If you get too busy, then its work, Teresa explains. Al-though theyve been encouraged by customers to sell their products larger grocery stores, the Pauls prefer to maintain their close, personconnection with their loyal customers through their small family buness, a situation they feel can only be found by keeping their businesmall.

Some customers come once a year, some every few weeks. Carloadscollege students (such as those from the Grinnell College local foodsbuying co-op) and families drive to pick up their grains, eager also to

visit a diversified family farm. Farms like these have become a rarity

The demand for their grains has grown over time, through satisfiedcustomers spreading the word to others looking for excellent, localfoods. Though many of their original customers were individuals

with a desire for a healthier lifestyle stemming from health problemsa more widespread interest in healthy eating is currently spurring thinterest of a broader audience. Many come to them looking for foothey can trust, unadulterated by chemical practices, from real people

Return customers are a testament to the quality of their grains. Be-cause their flours are milled-to-order and contain no preservatives,they taste fresher than most grocery store flours. In my own compa

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son of their whole wheat flour against another organic whole wheatflour from a large company in the Midwest, I found the Pauls Grainsflour truly to be more flavorful. In a raw state, their flour had a nuttyflavor, while the other had very little flavor. In bread, their flouradded an appealing, earthy taste to the loaves I made with it. In termsof freshness, Pauls quite obviously has the upper hand.

Flours without preservatives (such as theirs) need to be refrigerated orfrozen to maintain the stability of its oil. Flours that can sit aroundfor a year and not go rancid, Teresa explains, probably contain preser-vatives. Customers, showing their conviction by becoming regulars,also tell the Pauls that they can taste the difference.

On a bit under a hundred acres of certified organic farmland, the Paulfamily grows spring and winter wheat, spelt, barley, corn, rye, soy-

beans, and buckwheat. They produce familiar items like cornmeal,pancake mix, oatmeal, and grits, and they offer a very broad variety ofwhole grains, fresh milled cereals, and fresh milled flours. A steel burrmill cuts their oats steelcut oats retain more of their nutrients thanrolled oats, which must be steamed first and two stone grinders milltheir flours. Their flours are milled to order, heat sealed, and almostimmediately picked up or shipped. Combination packs of their hotcereals and their best sellers entice the curious customer. They alsooffer grains that they cant meet the demand for or that cant be raisedin an Iowa climate like rice, quinoa, and unbleached white flour

(which must be processed more than whole wheat flour) from othorganic farmers.

In addition to their online store, Pauls Grains are featured at GatewMarket in Des Moines, Henrys Village Market in Homestead (nearthe Amana Colonies), Linn Street Market in Marshalltown, throughthe Farm to Folk CSA (Community Supported Agriculture share) i

Ames, distributed more widely by United Natural Foods, Inc., andbrought to the local public through farmers markets in Grinnell anDes Moines. Occasionally the family also offers their grains at streemarkets and craft fairs in central Iowa, posting on their website to inform their customers on where to find them.

The Pauls love the flexibility of their family farm schedule so they cget to know their customers. On their farm daily, amongst the ani-

mals, the grain crops, and their family, is a certain place to find themIts farms like these that Iowa should be known for.


When You Go...Orders can be placed online at www.PaulsGrains.com or by phon

at 641.476.373. They appreciate two days notice for pickuporders at the farm, which is located at 2475-B 340th Street, Laure

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Teaching the Science of Diversity

Glenn Drowns and the Sand Hill Preservation Center

By Renee Brincks

Glenn Drowns planted his first veg-etables when he was five years old,in a shallow square of sawdusttopped by soil swept off a dumptruck.

Dad made his living by going outon federal land and finding littlepockets of soil. He hauled it intotown in a dump truck so that peo-ple could cover up the lava rock andplant a lawn or small garden, saysDrowns, who grew up in ruralIdaho. Our land was just rock big rock.

Lettuce, radishes, turnips and greenbeans grew in those early days. Ashis yields increased, so did Drownsinterest in gardening and plantbreeding. Eager to live where theland was rich, he moved to Iowa after graduating from college in1984. Four years later, using money saved from his teaching job,Drowns purchased 40 acres near Calamus. The seeds for Sand HillPreservation Center were sown.

Today, Drowns and his wife, Linda, sell more than 2,000 types ofheirloom seed, including 600 varieties of tomatoes, 400 kinds ofsquash, 130 types of sweet potatoes and some 100 sweet corn vari-eties. They tend their 10-acre organic garden mostly by hand, andthey pack seed orders the same way. More than 230 breeds of heritagepoultry scratch about the farm, shipped in batches of 25 chicks to allcorners of the country. Sand Hill Preservation Center customers havecompact plots along the California coast, expansive Midwest back-yards and urban rooftop gardens in New York.

M. Ames of Templeton, CA, buys Sand Hill poultry and plants thecompanys tomatoes, corn and rutabagas, among other vegetables. Shesays Sand Hill fills its packets with more seeds than other suppliers; inaddition, the enticing range of options often inspires her to buy moreseeds than fit in her garden. However, Ames orders from Sand Hill forreasons beyond just value and variety.

I like to use heirloom varieties a lot I think its good to preservethem but I also like to support Sand Hill Preservation Center.Theyre really nice to work with. The company has a lot of integrity,

she says.

Sand Hills primary mission has always been genetic preservation, ex-plains Drowns. Some tomato varieties sell out every year; othersmight not register five sales in a season. Regardless, they remain in thecatalog.

Similarly, Drowns has raised Barred Holland chickens since 1992though he once went five consecutive years without a single sale of thebreed. Then, this year, the Barred Hollands sold out.

If it makes it as far as our catalog, whether its a chicken or whetherits a pepper or whether its a pumpkin or a tomato, then it has some

genetic worthiness that I thinkshould be kept. It may sit on theshelf for ten years, but finally somthing kicks in and the interest picup, Drowns says.

In addition to maintaining rarebreeds and uncommon seeds, SanHills founders reach out to educaothers. The center is not open tothe public, but small groups occa-sionally tour the garden by appoinment. Drowns partners with SeedSavers Exchange in Decorah, dis-playing heirloom poultry at the fa

cilitys Heritage Farm. He judges4-H poultry competitions and, asfull-time junior high and highschool science teacher, brings hisplants and animals to class whendiscussing animal behavior, genet

and related topics.

The third arm of the Sand Hill Preservation Center mission relates,quite simply, to earthworms and butterflies and songbirds and boxturtles. When Drowns purchased his 40-acre farm, he set aside 10percent to leave untouched.

When I got the place, I shouldnt have been able to afford it. So, Ikind of said I would give 10 percent of it back to Gods creatures anthats what Ive faithfully maintained, he says. Ive just let naturetake its course. Whatever blew in has come up there, and I have allthese native trees and vegetation that have started growing.

Several species enjoy that vegetation, including a number of birds notherwise spotted in the area. Drowns has since stopped farming another -acre patch of flood-prone land. The decision brought greagrief from the people who cut his hay, he laughs, but reactions to happroach have been positive.

It is not conventional, but I think most have been supportive, hesays. Most people probably think its just the crazy science teacherdoing something bizarre. That doesnt bother me.

Drowns methods are different, in part, because of the challenges hefaced before moving to Iowa. As an Idaho gardener, he battled hung

pests, frost in July and such rocky, high-pH soil that vegetables somtimes couldnt grow. In response, he developed plants better suited ttough conditions. His early-maturing Blacktail Mountain watermel

withstands cool night temperatures, and his short-season sweet corngrows just 2 to 3 feet tall but produces ears in about 50 days.

Weve sent that seed as far north as the mountains around FairbanAlaska, and theyve had sweet corn, Drowns says. In Iowa, you loat it and think Who would want to grow such short little stuff? Bu

when I was little, I dreamed of having fresh sweet corn. Only aboutone in three years did we get it. Thats something you dont thinkabout here.

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Understanding growing conditions in other regions helps Drowns bet-ter serve Sand Hill customers, and they value his experience and can-didness. Dan Barker, who gardens in Neenah, Wis., says the companywill send trial seed packets and make helpful suggestions. He finds theperspective useful.

In the catalog, I enjoy the descriptions. You can tell Glenn is growingthese. Its not like hes just buying bulk seeds from somebody andrepackaging them. He knows his product, Barker says. Its very hon-est, and you can be confident that what he says youre going to get,youre going to get.

While many suppliers are environmentally conscious, he adds, fewseem to be living the philosophy in the same way that Glenn andLinda Drowns do.

Its just him and his wife, and hes doing this because its his passion.He cares very strongly about it, Barker says. I dont think hes doingthis to get wealthy. I think hes doing this because its what he reallywants to do and he feels its important.

Drowns maintains those connections to his customers and his prod-ucts by keeping Sand Hill Preservation Center small. A few employeesassist with orders and garden work as needed, but the owners alsoweed their own plants, produce their own catalogs and put in severalhours of chores and bookkeeping duties each day all while maintain-ing jobs off the farm.

The reward for this effort comes not in income or recognition,Drowns believes, but in saving rare and old-fashioned breeds. He cites

a customer who recently ordered several packets of a tomato seed de-veloped by her grandfather. The family thought the variety had beenlost.

To be able to give back to family members something thats so specialto them, that is the reward, Drowns says.

He also finds satisfaction in consumers growing awareness and appre-ciation of heirloom seeds and poultry. Twenty years ago, many consid-ered his preservation work a fringe hobby. Today, he senses anattitude shift.

In 1988, if you dealt with these weird seeds, there was something alittle wrong with you. Why wouldnt you want the biggest and themost modern and the best? It was the same thing with the poultry.

Now, people are realizing that the modern commercial chicken has noflavor and its the old-fashioned ones that do, he says. That changehas been the most outstanding and the most gratifying: to see thatpeople are going back, understanding more the importance of whatthey eat and how what they eat is grown.

Critiques of industrialized food, such as those in the films Food, Inc.and Fast Food Nation, contribute to these changing attitudes. WhileDrowns hasnt investigated a link between the release of such moviesand an increase in his sales, he does see anecdotal effects.

There are times when we get this rapid interest in catalogs, and Lindaand I say, What is the reason for that? I have no doubt that certainthings that are triggering peoples thinking about this, he says.

In addition to a curiosity about their food sources, consumers are increasingly concerned about their own environmental impact. Drowsays customers often ask how they can make a difference when theydont have the resources or space for a large garden.

You dont have to go out and try to save 150 varieties of sweet pottoes just to make your mark, and thats not why I do it, either. Buteverybody can do something no matter where you live, even if its nmore than hanging a bird feeder or planting a tree that attracts birdor beneficial insects. I leave a few milkweed plants in, because if themonarch butterfly doesnt have milkweed, its not going to do any-thing...It doesnt have to take a great deal of effort. Everyone can dosomething to make this planet just a little bit better place.

Sand Hill Preservation Centerwww.SandHillPreservation.com

563.246.2299The Sand Hill Preservation Center website includes instructions fo

requesting catalogs and ordering seeds. The center is not open tothe public, but small groups sometimes can visit by special

arrangement.

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Lileah Harris job isnt terriblyappetizing.

As a pathologist at St. LukesHospital in Cedar Rapids, shespends much of her time examin-ing and diagnosing patient sam-ples, and my guess is that thedetails of her work, while nodoubt fascinating, would makelousy dinner conversation.

Nevertheless, Lileah is an undeni-ably delightful conversational-istsoft-spoken, but inquisitive,engaging, and kind with a readysmile and a quick wit. Her inter-ests are wide-ranging, and she isalways curious about the passionsof others.

While I have known Lileah forless than a year, I have knownor known ofother members ofher large, prominent, and tal-ented family for a long time. Herfather, Percy Harris, was the LinnCounty Medical Examiner formany years and I often chat withhim and his wife, Lileah, atHancher and other culturalevents. Her brother Grant and Iwent to high school together, andback then his impressive trumpetplaying presaged his career as aprofessional musician. Herequally musical brother Peter wasa member of Bruce Hornsby andthe Range in the late 1980s. I met her sister Sarah at the Jane BoydCommunity House and Sarahs enthusiastic efforts helped my wifestart a dance program there.

Until recently, Sarah was also the coach of Jane Boyds LEGO Leagueteam, and my son is a passionate participant in the program. Lileahsdaughter, Lark, is also on the team, and so it is through the world ofcompetitive interlocking brick play that I met Lileah and her hus-

band, Randon.The aesthetics of lemonsIm a lemon lover, Lileah revealed as we opened up her KitchenAidSuperba to reveal the brightly colored fruit in her produce drawer. Shelikes lemon in iced tea and in water and, of course, as the source offresh-squeezed lemonade, something she had recently served when shehad her family over for a summer dinner.

But she also appreciates more than just the tart taste of the fruit. Ithink lemons are pretty because theyre bright yellow, she said. Ithink citrus fruits are beautiful.

Emphasis on the organicQuite a few of the items inLileahs refrigerator are organic.For example, she has a jar of Dicinsons Organic Blueberry FruitSpread. This is my favorite one(of the companys varieties) and keep it around, she explained. usually try to have a back-up jarthisone in the fridge and one the pantryso I dont run out.

A bottle of R.W. Knudsen FamiOrganic Concord Grape Juice wsitting on an upper shelf, but itisnt Lileahs favorite of the com-panys beverages.

It doesnt taste anything like thOrganic Just Concord Grape

Juice, she said. The juice is astand-in for the actual fruit. Ilove Concord grapes, but you cahardly find them anywhere in anstore.

While Lileah does much of hershopping at Hy-Vee in CedarRapids, she does make an effortget down to Coralville with somregularity.

I try to go to New Pioneer Co-about once every three months.Thats where I prefer to buy produce because its always nice andits more organic.

Take out and Tex-MexWere kind of heavy on take out food this week, Lileah said, pointing out leftovers from Oasis Falafel in Iowa Citya recommendatiofrom her brother Davidand food from two Mexican restaurants,Gringos and Carlos OKellys.

Despite the double dip of Mexican, Lileah hasnt found an area restarant that satisfies her longing for the Tex-Mex she enjoyed when sheand Randon and Lark lived in Houston. Since moving back to CedRapids in 2005, shes been on a quest for that taste.

She sites the exceptional popularity of the breakfast burritos on offeat the Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market as evidence of thepaucity of what shes looking for in the area.

You can get them anywhere in Houston, she said wistfully.

Behind Closed DoorsBy Rob Cline

Refrigerator Diagnostics

St. Lukes pathologist Dr. Lileah Harris (right), and her daughter, Lark

8/9/2019 EIRV 2009-10 - Issue #13


Beans for breakfastSpeaking of breakfast, Lileah keeps one of her morning meal favoritesin the freezer.

I love soybeans, she said. I eat those for breakfast in the car on theway to work.

There were also plenty of lima beans in the freezer.

Thats a vegetable that Lark likes so I try to keep that around. The

recently replenished supply featured Birds Eye Fordhook Lima Beans.

Coffee in the freezer, coffee in the fridgeA couple of cartons of Haagen-Daz graced the freezer, a fat free rasp-berry sorbet and another branded with the five logo which is in-tended to let the consumer know that there are only five ingredientsin the ice cream: milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and, in this case, coffee.

When coffee is desired as a beverage rather than an ice cream, Lileahcan reach for the Yuban Premium Coffee in the fridge.

A delightful parting giftBefore we wrapped up our conversation, we sat down to enjoy a bev-eragecoffee for Lileah and Lark, and Tazo Organic Darjeeling teafor me (my son, photographer for this edition of the column, politelydeclined). Though Im a fan of other Tazo varieties, I had never hadthe Darjeeling, described on the box as A refined tea with floral &nutty notes. More succinctly: its tasty.

When I said as much, Lileah graciously grabbed an extra box fromthe pantry, sending me on my way with a new favorite to add to mycollection of teas at home.

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The 99Louisa County

The search for thebest food in each ofIowas 99 countiesrolls on as we makeour way up river

from Lee and DesMoines counties toLouisa. Togetherthese three countiesmake up the Delta,in a sense, of the Edi-ble Iowa River Valley its where the re-

gions three big rivers,the Des Moines, theCedar, and the Iowaall meet with eachother and the mighty

Mississippi.

In a region onceknown for spectacu-lar melons, LouisaCountys farms have like so many oth-ers mostly succumbed to the era of fence-row to fence-row corn andsoy. Not all of them though, as is evidenced by the presence of Tom

Wahl and Kathy Dice, whose Red Fern Farm nurtures a wide variety

of fruit and nut trees near Wapello.

Most notable among his trees are the paw paws, which you may re-member reading about in these very pages (issue #4, summer 2007),and the chestnuts. Tom and Kathy are active members of the PrairieGrove Nut Growers Association (formerly the Southeast Iowa NutGrowers Association). They also grow hazelnuts, heartnuts, persim-mons and Asian pears. Nows the season for the chestnuts though, soorder soon through their website or by phone.

In downtown Wapello try Johnnie Bs, right there on the river, for bigsteaks and traditional Iowa family fare. After a fire last year JohnnieHess rebuilt in a larger facility across the street so as to take advantageof the river view. Most locals say its their favorite place in LouisaCounty.

Travel west from there on busy Highway 92 and youll find ColumbusJunction though youll need to watch closely because the bridge thattakes you over the confluence of the Cedar and Iowa Rivers there alsotakes you right over downtown. So take a hard right on 2nd Street andcircle around to Main for a plethora of Hispanic culture in a singleblock.

There youll find numerous bodegas and taquerillas serving up au-thentic Latin food of all types. One favorite is a bakery and restau-rant called Panaderia Santa Ana, where the tacos and tortas are allfresh and hand made, with a variety of homemade hot sauces, as youenjoy an ambience of displayed Mexican-style wedding cakes and

Spanish-language soapoperas on the TV. We epecially like the chickenor steak tacos with a theoil-based chile sauce.

If great tasting food andno-nonsense atmospherare your thing, then travanother half mile alongHighway 92 to the aptlynamed 92 Roadhouse.They have a catfish fryevery Friday thats worththe drive, as well as Waleye fingers, and good

burgers too, all at fairprices. But the highlighis definitely the pies, allhomemade by the ownemom, we can especiallyrecommend the chocolacream. Not sure whatthat special kick is in thpie, but we suspect maymom sneaks behind thebar when she makes thitreat.

So take an afternoon, enjoy the fall colors along the Iowa and theCedar, and enjoy the taste treats of Louisa County. And look for T

99in Muscatine County next time.

The 99Every Iowa County, One bite at a Time

Louisa County

e 92 Roadhous in Columbus Juncton has a catsh fry every Friday

When you Go...Red Fern Farm

13882 I Avenue, Wapello319.729.5905

www.RedFernFarm.com

Johnnie Bs210 Van Buren Street, Wapello

319.523.5024

Panaderia Santa Ana Restaurant and Bakery214 Main Street, Columbus Junction

319.728.5010

92 RoadhouseHwy 92 West. Columbus Junction

319.728.2215

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8/9/2019 EIRV 2009-10 - Issue #13


On a late August evening here in Iowa City, the scene at the Univer-sity of Iowa student garden is one of celebration and reunion thereason, a feast. For this college town, August is a return to normalcy;students are back from summer break.

Thats part of why these friends are all smiles, but only part.

Reconnecting always makes a great excuse for a good meal. Ripe pro-duce is another. But this season at the U of I student garden is some-thing special. It will be the organic gardens very first autumn harvest.

We are all learning together, said Kyle Sieck, a former U of I studentwho works on the garden. We are developing an economy here.This is the beginning of a food system change.

Some of this group tended the garden through the summer. For oth-ers, they sowed the seeds in the spring and returned home in late Mayor June. They last saw the garden when it was still taking hold. Atthat time the bounty could hardly be imagined. Now, tomato andpepper plants stand six-to-eight feet tall in the greenhouse; broccoli is

waist high and starting to seed; zucchini plants are crawling along theground in full bloom; and sunflowers are stretching for the heavens.

About 30 students have worked together to cultivate the garden fromscratch since it was tilled in March.

On this picturesque day with a full sun and rich blue sky, a group of

students sit in the grass by the garden. Sieck, who also works onEchollective Farms in Mechanicsville, grabs hold of a cantaloupe, lait on a wooden cutting board and slides through it with a long bladas juices dribble out. Inside is a vibrant orange flesh. Then, he passslices around the circle.

Wow. This is amazing, said Giselle Bruskewitz, 20, a U. of I.sophomore from Elgin, Ill.

The melon is merely an appetizer. Group members weave throughthe garden popping off a green pepper, unearthing radish and carroand trimming kale. This will all go in the main course a well de-served one at that.

The students have reason to gorge on the fruit of the earth. After ait is a result of their effort both on the front and the back end.

Students really spurred the garden project on from the beginning.Emanating from a student group called the U of I EnvironmentalCoalition, students worked with U of I facilities officials to get theland early this year - about one-third of an acre on a largely undeveloped, far west part of campus. They talked the student govern-ment into paying for a greenhouse that will ideally allow vegetables grow year round. They created a memo of understanding with foodservice officials where U of I agrees to purchase at market value whathe garden grows and use it that is after the gardeners eat theirshare.

Learning to Grow

is campus garden is empowering students

By Brian Morelli

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Its a real sense of empowerment to be able to grow your own food,said Mike Loots, a U of I senior, as he rinsed carrots in a bucket. Tocook this food with my roommates definitely beats eating RamanNoodles.

The passion from the students that was self-generated. Or was it?

Interest among students in developing campus gardens seems to begrowing across the country. No identifiable groups track this, butcampus gardens are seemingly sprouting up all over: Southern IllinoisUniversity-Carbondale, Western Carolina University and Universityof Kansas, among others. Others, such as University of California-Davis, Michigan State University and Iowa State University have gar-

dens as well.

Richard Geer, U of I. food service manager who has helped the cam-pus garden project take off, worked with the University of Californiaat Davis garden and helped launch campus gardens at Bryant Collegein Rhode Island and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

There is a growing knowledge base out there between students andfaculty, Geer said. I think everyone has become aware of what weneed to do as a population to preserve our planet for the next genera-tion and the generation after that.

U of I food service workers make two trips a week to the student gar-den to pick up produce, Geer said. Quantities vary and veggies varyas the seasons change. The food is featured in the salad bar, it goes on

special catering menus and otherwise is fit into dishes by chefs, Geersaid.

We take anything and everything they give us, Geer said. Thechefs love it because they know what is coming. They know howfresh it is.

Students and Geer say they hope they can get more land for the gar-den to grow.

There is adjacent space, but whether that will happen wont be de-cided until the project gets a formal review between Thanksgiving andChristmas, Geer said. Thus far, it has been a success, Geer said.

In addition to food, the garden has served as a resource for academics.

It has been a classroom and fits into environmental majors and certifi-cates. There is also a plan to start a farmers market with producefrom the garden in the campus student hub called the Iowa MemorialUnion. It didnt quite make it up this year, but Geer said he expectsit to happen next year.

Still, right now the garden is merely an experiment. At best, it sup-plements the food supply at the giant university. At some point,though, the hope is that the garden can truly support the bellies of thestudents.

The garden can definitely expand, Sieck said before dinner. Wecould definitely put a lot more in the UI food system.

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The Last Word

By Kurt Michael Friese

The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov

Journalist Peter Pringles seminalbook Food, Inc. may not havebeen the basis of the recent hard-hit-ting documentary of the same name,but it was likely its inspiration, as hisparticipation in the companionguide to the movie would seem toindicate. at said, I would hopethat his most recent book, e Mur-der of Nikolai Vavilov, does becomea major motion picture, because it isa ripping yarn of danger, intrigueand betrayal set in pre-and-post rev-olutionary Russia and other points ofinterest around the globe.

Now thats quite a statement to makeabout a biography of a botanist.ey are not exactly known to mostas gallivanting adventurers. ButPringles account of the life andtimes of the man he calls one of thegreat scientists of the twentieth cen-tury is a non-ction account that

would put even the ctional IndianaJones to shame. Nikolai IvanovichVavilov, academic, professor, vision-ary, is portrayed as both hero andtragic gure in the true Shake-spearean sense, betrayed by his ownbrother, as well as the very peopleand government he worked for.

Heres our hero trekking to the roofof the world, the Pamirs, on theedge of the Russian Empire just before the fall of the Czar; Here he isin post-revolutionary Petrograd, then called e City of Ravens forthe starvation all around; And here he is in Afghanistan, risking hislife to nd the origins of specic grains; en in the Carpathians asthe second great war erupts across Europe, characteristic ill-tting fe-dora and all, being arrested and sent to a remote Siberian prison.

In a real-life irony hard to dream up for ction, the man who foundthe keys to feeding a starving, war-torn nation, died of starvation inStalins Gulag before that same brother could save him.

I spoil no surprise endings here of course, its right there in the title.What makes the story worthy of interest is the contributions this manmanaged to make in the face of unbelievable obstacles, both his ownand those that history thrust before him. It helps that Pringle is a

journalist and story-teller of the rst order who can make the simplesearch for seeds into an unputdownable epic.

Beginning with Gregor Mendels laws of heredity, Vavilov laid outgrand plan for sculpting plants to human needs long before Watson

and Crick had broken the geneticcode. No precursor to Monsantohe did not envision genetic maniulation in a lab but rather in theeld, through controlled natural lection, based on ideas he hadlearned in Darwins own library iCambridge.

Nikolai Ivonovich Vavilov was abogatyr, as the Russians say, a maof incredible powers, a Hercules.

He was indeed an international ure, a fearless explorer, a planthunter who saw more varieties thany other botanist in his time. Hcollection of seeds from ve contnents captivated the scientic

world.

Vavilovs work may well have savemillions during Stalins terror, buinstead he was blamed for the samstarvation he set out to prevent.

When his brother Sergei, once anapparatchik himself, learns of hisbrothers death not even execu-tion but rather Dystrophy fromprolonged malnutrition, he wroin his diary:

A terrible cable. e cruelest deaamong my kim. My reaction: tdie, by all means to die. AndNikolai wanted so much to liveGod, is everything a mistake?

Today though the legacy of Nikolai Ivanovich lives on. In a doomsday vault on a Norwegian island about 800 miles from the northpole, and in two smaller vaults at the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. Pringle concludes:

Now, seven percent of the earths arable land is sown with geneticalmodied crops, new varieties heavily patented by agribusiness that hno plans to share them. And, for the moment, each nation will havaccess only to its own seeds (in the Norwegian vault). Even so, thesseeds will hopefully be safe from anti-science demagogues, ideologycensorship, willful neglect, and political expediency.

ough I remain hopeful, my studies of the agribusiness corporatiomake me skeptical at best.

e Murder of Nikolai Vavilov: e Story of Stalins PersecutionOne of the Great Scinetists or the Twentieth Centuryby PeterPringle. Published by Simon & Schuster, New York 2008

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