IOWA DIRT

06/13/2025

We love to help water gardens!
WITH NON CHLORINATED pond water 🐸
Reach out of you need some gallons headed your way 🥰 ☀️ 🚿

04/30/2025

🤩

The Stories of the Seasons Ecological Calendar is finally here!

For one year, a group of Iowa's land caretakers, farmers, and naturalists tracked changes in their local environments and compared seasonal markers like bird migrations, bloom times, planting dates, and much more. From these observations, the cohort created an ecological calendar, weaving together data, personal observation, and artwork. We hope this project will support climate adaptation efforts in Iowa over the coming years. Follow the link in our bio to view our digital StoryMap and explore the generous wisdom shared by this group.

Huge thanks to artist Caylin Jayde for bringing our cohort’s observations to life in this illustrated ecological calendar!

🍂 About the Stories of the Seasons Project:

Stories of the Seasons is a multi-year collaboration between the Women, Food, and Agriculture Network, American Farmland Trust’s Women for the Land national initiative, and Iowa State University to understand experiences of climate change through the eyes of Iowa land caretakers. Offerings from this project include our Stories of the Seasons Zine, the 2024 WFAN Community Poem, and now, an interactive StoryMap and a print ecological calendar.

04/28/2025

Moody skies 🎭

Feeling very thankful for the elevator to help make more space available!

04/28/2025

Busy weekend indeed!

Big thanks to everyone who had us out ☀️

04/17/2025

Another week / another bunch of garden beds filled up with great material 🥰 Big thx to Joan Nava for covering one in Ankeny while we were unavailable!

Also, a shout out to Lyssa Wade & Veggie Thumper, we are looking forward to healthy meals this summer from the bus 💪🏼

04/17/2025

Soil Quality Restoration 💚 ( intensive scope )

04/17/2025

Soil Restoration: 🏡 Full Scale Soil Health Refresh

Big thanks to Mark & Steph Nelson for having us out to do a real “deep dig” into his new property.

He built a new home in 2016/2017 and we had the opportunity to help tackle the landscape.

Like any new house build, the ground was left, shall we say… “a bit trampled” 😬

Heavy compaction, and depleted or even absent top soils are the norm in the post construction phase.

1. Trash cleanup & rough grade.
2. Import ~100 cubic yards of compost for 2” coverage.
3. Spread out, rip into existing ground, till & final grade.
4. Seed, straw, water, & apply liquid biological / compost extract early fall.
5. Tree planting, natural stone edging, native plantings and occasional stop to say hello while working in the neighborhood 👋

Can you see how beneficial this process was for the property? 🧐 Trees established faster, lawn from seed went extremely well and retains more moisture during dry periods. The grandchildren like it pretty well too 🥰

Let us know if we can help you to “restore soil health” at your new home!

04/09/2025

Super glad to see our friend Matt & Family out in Runnels.

This is the 3rd year we delivered garden mix and he has plans to add some more beds each year 🥰

Thx to Grade A Gardens for connecting us, it’s been a great thing 🌱

04/09/2025

LSI Global Greens 🥰

04/07/2025

It was a good day, as near as we can tell…

Choosing to share some of the photos and footage from today as it really tells a story, albeit only a fraction of it 😮‍💨

☑️ We fired up the machines and got the next 50cy of garden mix ready to hit the streets this week.

☑️ We got material safely delivered to West Des Moines, Ankeny, Grimes, & Granger.

Eager to visit our garden heros Grade A Gardens to drop off a sample of premium garden blend to use and test as they see fit 🥰

💪🏼 Big Thx to Dylan Richards & Meredith Causton who have been quietly helping build this ship over the past 4 years!! Together kept things moving along / tracked and will live to see another day 🙃

Please do share and send your friends, we are proud of the product and really could use your support.

“Iowa Cares” 🥰

Back to soil production & retail fulfillment tomorrow ☀️

04/06/2025

Covering some ground today!

☑️ 1cy Garden Blend to West Des Moines
☑️ 3cy Garden Blend to Ankeny
☑️ 5cy Garden Blend to Grimes
☑️ 3cy Screened Soil to Granger (Thx DeWitt!)
☑️ 1cy Premium Garden Blend to Earlham

☀️ Mixing up the next batch of garden mix 💪🏼