State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Paul Deaton

  • August 2016

    While Europeans vacation in Italy and the South of France, I’ll be writing some 12,000 words on Blog for Iowa. August is neither recess nor vacation for low-wage American workers. I’ll have a chance to earn a little more money to pay corporations for things we need like fuel, communications, health care and insurance, loans,… Read more

  • 100 Days of Work

    Today begins 100 straight days of work. Monday through Friday I’ll be at the home, farm and auto supply store, Saturday and Sunday at the orchard, and in between there is writing, gardening, cooking, home maintenance, yard work and living. It’s not a life of fun. It is doing what’s needed to sustain a life… Read more

  • New Saturday Night

    Music filled the Saturday afternoon gap left by Garrison Keillor’s retirement. Not radio, but music recorded on audio cassette tapes. It is amazing there is even a player in the house. (There are two that work). The sound quality of this outdated technology was surprisingly good. While processing vegetables into meals and storage items, I… Read more

  • Cook or Quit

    I put on my rubber boots and went to the garden in the predawn sunlight. I left a trail where my boots scraped against the dew drops formed on the lawn. Fresh deer droppings lay moist under the oak trees and two rabbits stopped and watched as I made my way through the clover. I… Read more

  • Farm Transition

    RURAL CEDAR TOWNSHIP — Yesterday was the Practical Farmers of Iowa field day at Carmen Black’s Sundog Farm. Carmen and Susan Jutz explained their farm transition process in a simple duet about bankers, government agencies, insurance companies and community. Like everything Susan has done since I met her almost 20 years ago, the transaction of… Read more

  • A Brief Storm

    A brief storm made a decision for me. The last branches of the Golden Delicious apple tree blew over in a gust of wind during an intense thunderstorm. I hoped there would be fruit again but not now, not ever from that tree. I’ll chain-saw the stump for the fall burn pile, finishing the work… Read more

  • High Summer Harvest

    Photographs of kale can only be interesting for so long. The leafy green and purple leaves are producing in abundance — so much so I pick only what is needed, removing imperfect leaves from the plants to the compost heap. Seven kale leaves stand in a jar of water on the counter to keep them… Read more

  • Working the Story Board

    My work as fill-in editor at Blog for Iowa begins in three weeks. It has been easy to fill a story board with post ideas. What’s hard is picking what matters from flotsam and jetsam in a sea of social media. A goal of Blog for Iowa is to “harness the power of the Internet… Read more

  • Sundog Farm Field Day

    My friends Carmen and Susan are hosting a Practical Farmers of Iowa field day called “ZJ to Sundog: Sharing Knowledge and Passing on the Farm” at Sundog Farm on Sunday, July 17, from 2 until 5 p.m. The transition in farm ownership has been a long time coming and Sundog Farm is finally here. Susan Jutz… Read more

  • Why Not More Celery?

    Why don’t more Iowans grow celery? More specifically, why don’t more Community Supported Agriculture projects produce it for members and local food farmers for restaurants and markets? I’ve been asking this question of growers and the reaction has been surprise at my results and maybe an assertion they will try it. There is substantial demand… Read more