Madison County, Iowa: Farm Junk Paradise and Covered Bridges

I love love LOVE farm junk and antiques. I get giddy at the idea of farmhouse kitchens with old pie safes, primitive-style cabinets with glass doors, lots of antique nick-knacks, etc. (NOT to be confused with "Country Kitchen" decor: lots of periwinkle, gingham and apple motifs). But where I really want to go within your lovely farmhouse property is straight out to the deepest cob-webbed corner of the barn to uncover "farm junk".

That's exactly what I got to do on my trip to Old Crow Farm in late August. Old Crow is an amazing oasis in Southern Iowa where Jordana and her husband Kasey showcase the best kind of "farm junk": salvaged and re-purposed items that would probably be laid to rest in a landfill, if they hadn't rescued it. 

 

Discarded and un-needed items become creatively re-visioned as functional artistic pieces. Considering that Iowa once had 200,000 barns at it's peak, and now that number has plummeted to 50,000, this girl wonders if all those barns' contents ended up in a landfill. It reassures me that Jordana and Kasey are rescuing some of those items and putting them to use somewhere else. Although you are looking through  goods inside of their barn, farm junk isn't the only brand of salvaged goods. Many items have an urban and industrial feel as well, creating a nice balance. If you're not in the neighborhood of Southern Iowa anytime soon, check out their Etsy shop. If you do make it to Madison County, you can check out some their famous covered bridges. That was the selling point of the trip to anchor my mother as a co-pilot!

Iowa: Your Remote Midwest Paradise

Iowa isn’t what you consider a high-profile destination, and I’m pretty sure that’s why I love it. This girl loves an underdog. In the Upper-Midwest, it competes with the lakes and Northwood culture of Minnesota and Wisconsin; and then there’s the rugged, western terrains of the Dakotas. But don’t forget Iowa, folks.

Ok, so Iowa Blood runs deep in my veins. My Mom’s family on both sides has an extensive farming history in Northeast Iowa. Of course, her immediate family has left the farm, which makes me even more infatuated with the modern-day Iowa farmer. But I genuinely swear locavore culture originated in Iowa (probably out of necessity). And Iowans are far too humble to claim themselves as the innovators.  I have locavore nostalgia for my family trips to Iowa during the growing season.  I would watch my grandma eat each meal constructed from local foods: tomatoes and muskmelons sprinkled with salt, a minimum of three ears of sweet corn per day, BLTS’s and some concoction of cucumbers, onions and vinegar which I even witnessed (in Oelwein, Iowa) last summer at a lunch counter. As a kid, I figured this is how everyone ate in Iowa. My grandma even brings her own in-season Iowa produce to Minnesota when she visits, and refuses to eat Minnesota sweet corn!

Finally, this girl can’t help but embrace Iowa as a genuine pioneer of social justice issues.  Not only does Iowa recognize all varieties of families and domestic partnerships through their decision to legalize gay marriage, they have always been on the forefront on social issues. Iowa was one of the first states to “legalize interracial marriage and to allow married women to own property. It was also the first state to admit a woman to the bar to practice law and was a leader in school desegregation.” (MSNBC, April 2009). Hecks yeah, Iowa, you make me proud.

There is a current wildly innovative movement of salvaging and revisioning the family farm as not only sustainable small-scale family operations but also as perrenial flower farms, art workshops and my fave: shops brimming with re-purposed farm junk and antiques. In the next few days, my posts will highlight and celebrate these amazing places that make Iowa one of my favorite retreats.