our house isn't done yet, but this is what it looks like now.
Sunday, september 26th, we're having a party.

Yes, there are other things happening that day, like the barnowl band concert, and maybe an art-fair in ames, but nonetheless, we hope you will also come see us.
1;30-3;30pm: digging
if you want to experience sweet potatoes in their entirety, you can help us finish our harvest. please bring a shovel or digging fork, and clothes that like to get dirty.
4pm : House blessing
4:30pm: pot-luck.

I wanted to give everyone a little update as to our new friends that will hopefully be occupying the new bat house.

I was a little late in erecting the house because most temperate bat colonies start dispersing in late July as young begin flying. In August, most are in the process of migrating. I hope to have a few bats in the home before winter, so that when they roost to form a nursery in the spring they will flock in large numbers.

I think I saw this one yesterday:

Hello Mustard Seed community!

This summer has seen many people enjoy a multitude of experiences at the farm and I am no exception. I know there are many of you who wish they could come to the farm but are unable so I thought I would share a short mulling about a potato digging experience I had in hopes you might get a glimpse into a experience at the farm and enjoy it as much as I did.

Kind wishes,
Chantal

Potato digging

(some text/illustration by nicholas)

Is this global warming? We got 10-15 inches of rain in about a week, which seriously messed up our soils structure and water content, while also carrying part of our soil away (see more pictures below).

Today we harvested our honey for the year. Above you can see about half of it. In total, we probably got a little less than 2 gallons of honey, a good portion of which will go to our CSA.
Here's what the honey comb looked like before we harvested it:

Here's some pictures from the field day we and the ISU Student Organic Farm (SOFa) had July 31st. The field day was sponsored by the Practical Farmers of Iowa who are pretty cool. More pictures below:

The brown box on the right. Omar just put this up on Monday, followed by about 9 inches of rain, which caused some problems with cement drying. So hopefully these pictures are still accurate. It's called the rocket, and it should hold a few hundred bats once the population reaches its height. This should help some endangered bat species and cut down on some of our pests. More photos below.

our creek is usually less than knee deep in August, and 15 ft wide

what with the flooding, the potable water difficulties, and the potential for more rain tonight and tomorrow, we will not be having a potluck tomorrow night.

hopefully we will be able to reschedule a discussion about conscientious eating in the future.
- nicholas

Here are some pictures from the Stephanie and Micah's last day on the farm (a few weeks ago now.)

We had some great events last week, and as usual very delicious food. We even got in the newspaper - so check it out below. This Friday, NIcholas and Alice will lead a discussion on Anarchism and Cooperation.

Here's a short article about Practical Farmers of Iowa, with a picture of Nicholas as a young leader of a really cool farm.