Dreams, everyone has them. We are no different. When you think about the future and you see being able to attain your dreams not just by your hard work but also with the cosmic alignment that enables you to succeed. This blog will contain information about our dreams. Our decisions on how to attain those dreams, our failures and maybe even a bit on successes. It is our intention that these blogs help to define who we are but also enable us to connect and relate to the world. We choose the written word for the ease of dissemination, the ability to be deliberate with our thoughts and the ability to cut costs and time.

To understand us you need to understand the context in which we currently exist. We are a married couple. Doug is a scientist who has spent a significant portion of his work history working in research and advancing knowledge. The other part is in industry. Natalie is an engineer, designer, organizer, Architect. No literally she builds schools and such. We have been married for 3 years and have been in Iowa for 4 years. We purchased this property in 2016 and it includes 5 acres, two barns, a shed and a large garage oh and the house was built in 1905.

Doug and Natalie have always had an environmental savvy and conservationist viewpoint. Doug comes from a family that until the previous generation to his was mostly farmers in Iowa. His childhood involved numerous trips to Iowa (as the son of a service member Iowa was home) and the farm that his father grew up on. His mother even lived on a farm for many years. Natalie spent a large amount of her youth living in New Hampshire in a heavily forested area with mountain lakes.

As we both grew up and proceeded in our careers we discovered that there are many things that could be changed in our world that would benefit all people regardless of their economic background. We noticed the lack of access to locally sourced, sustainably raised and thoughtfully priced products. Now if you have ever been to Iowa there are a large number of farms but little food is really grown. Raw materials are grown in large monocrops with added chemicals and fertilizers. Which works well for large farms. While Doug would love 500 acres he just would not want it to be of corn or soy beans. The idea of growing our own food was born. The dream is to be able to provide our own produce for daily consumption all year. Subsequently also hope to be able to provide an income via selling our excess farm products to our friends and neighbors to help them enjoy local farm products as well.

As often happens in order for these dreams to come to fruition there are other things that need to happen. We intend to use this blog to explain further some ideas, How we are doing things, Why we chose to go that route. We are not experts by any means. We are two people looking for a way to provide for ourselves as our ancestors have done in the past. We invite you on our journey with us. Hopefully you enjoy what we have to share.

Doug and Natalie