It is an interesting time to be alive in Iowa, a place known for its slow pace of life and laid back culture. It’s hard to understate what a hidden gem of the upper Midwest the once beautiful prairie state is, sandwiched between the mighty Mississippi and that lesser known Missouri River, Iowa has plenty […]
This is, of course, overstating the facts, but indeed it is, at least for the hopeful few, a possible harbinger of a small respite that is in order for the once sea of prairie that is not corn that covers the landscape of Iowa. Indeed, the news has been bleak for John Deere (especially their […]
“While the political parties rage and tear each other to pieces, and the multi-billion-dollar agriculture corporations turn a handsome profit, Iowa citizens pay a terrible price with every drop of water consumed.” Sometimes I feel as if I’m living in a strange cross between some Orwellian future, and 1984. The rains in Iowa have been […]
One of the best-kept secrets in the Midwest is the Lake Superior National Forest. Nestled in the tall pines of Northern Minnesota, close to that wondrous North Shore, the Lake Superior National Forest is home to wilderness and adventure unknown to most people who call the Midwest home. Most who visit the far north keep […]
Doesn’t it feel good to say I told you so? I know we are supposed to outgrow that after middle school, but, you know, some things just can’t be helped. As if out of the blue, like flying monkeys from the Wizards of Oz, the Des Moines public water works issued a statement and warning, […]
Who would have guessed? Not I. Bears in the prairies of Iowa? I suppose it’s not that big of a surprise for those astute readers of history. Many of the early settlers here in Iowa would mention the black bears that roamed the river and timber bottoms.
If you’ve lived in the Midwest any amount of time, you’ve probably heard the name Black Hawk in some context or other. There are counties named after him, a war named after him. To understand who Black Hawk is, who the people were, and why you hear that name around this Midwest, we have to […]
It’s funny how we (humans) think we live in the age of enlightenment, have learned our hard lessons from our forefathers, and swear never to make the same mistakes again. But history would prove us otherwise. It seems like we learn something for a moment, but you know that old saying about history repeating itself. […]
It’s hard to under emphasis the importance of Iowa’s Driftless region from both a historical and current ecological perspective. It feels like 3/4 of the state simply doesn’t know it exists, or has never taken the time to get to know it. Yet it is the home, no the heart, of Iowa at its finest […]