Farm to Table

Our afternoon at the farms in Urbandale began in the 1700s, with the recreation of an Ioway Native American farm. It featured some very keen white guys weaving willow and carving buffalo bone. The guy carving the bone was passionate about Ioway culture and really knew his stuff. He was curing a bison skin that came from a nearby bison farm, and was working with some anthropologists to make an authentic teepee with it. Here are some other bison leftovers.


We left the Ioway site and went on to the recreation of an 1850s farmstead. We smelled it before we saw it.

Pigs really are happy rolling around in it.

We soon came upon the staff finishing their lunch.


In the village of Walnut Hill, they had made chicken stew with dumplings and a cherry pie. At the Ioway farm, it was bison stew and some kind of corn bread. I expected something similarly simple and rustic here but it turns out they had a tomato and basil salad. In Iowa in 1850? In this kitchen? Tomatoes, yes, but basil? I'm not sure...


This guy, on the other hand, definitely ate appropriately:


The final farm --circa 1900-- felt more familiar. Look! Farm equipment!


Pantries and kitchens!



Farm animals!






I know this looks sinister, but the calf is not being led to slaughter. It was blistering hot and time for it to get some shade ... but it did not go willingly.


Orange cats!


Sunlight through old windows!


And interesting signage. (If you're sensing some themes in my photography, you're right.)


It seems only appropriate that one of our last sights on the farm was this pig turning tail and heading into the barn.


Leaving the farms, we headed south to the town of Norwalk, where we visited the La Quercia prosciuttificio. We couldn't take any photos but got to tour this splendid facility which is built in sections to mimic the seasons, and where the prosciuttos are rotated through the seasons to cure. We started in cold, wet winter, and as we moved through the year, the sweet salty smell of slowly curing ham grew stronger and stronger. I've never been in the presence of so much good (and ethically produced) pork! For a sense of what it's like, you can watch this clip from Michael Gebert's film Sky Full of Bacon. And if you'd like to see what I did with their speck (a lightly smoked prosciutto), you can check out this recipe. As Julia would say, Bon Appetit!