So far our Iowa visit has been filled with adventure, education, and chance meetings with incredible people! Today is no different as we sit in Reid’s Beans Coffee Shoppe in West Branch, IA, the birthplace of Herbert Hoover. Today’s ride was supposed to take us to Fulton, IL to visit Honey Girl Honey. We were starting to get a little nervous as today was one of those days starting a little slow - first, we woke up most comfortably and clean in the house of Bedstemor’s dear friend, Dody, who was incredibly kind to offer us a place to stay when we diverted our route south a little to visit ZJ Farms, a small, family run ,very diversified farm with a huge CSA, at the Iowa City Farmer’s Market. We had a hearty breakfast with Dody and got on our way, but stopped shortly to make some phone calls and work further on our route. We rode on again, with a few stops here and there, trying to pin down our directions on the back country roads. And now we find our selves in Reid’s Beans, talking with Laura (”the coolest grandma” in West Branch, IA - Iowa is full of very cool grandmas!!), who has set us up to visit Scattergood Friends School, a college prep school, rooted in Quakerism and running a full organic farm. And so, the route changes slightly today, as we make our way to the school, excited to visit with the students, sharing our tale and seeing their hard work. Honey Girl Honey and our following farms will be pushed back one day - we hope we don’t interfere with everyone’s schedules too much. For those farms in the coming two weeks - we’ll be giving you a call or email to clarify our visit before we get there and we apologize for any inconvenience we may make with our visit! We may be able to make up some time, but that is the one thing we are starting to dread - the quick time of change as we are seeing the colors change on the leaves of the trees. Winter is chasing us and we still have so many farms to visit!
Wow, you two are really zipping along! It is so much fun to read where you are at, then look on a map. May the wind be on your backs. Take Care, Chiara (the gal with buffalo meat. We met at Square Peg Farm)