Tag Archives: iowa farm bureau

April 11, 2013 · 7:50 pm

Villages (of Van Buren County) Folk School – places to go summer of 2013

It’s been awhile since I last visited the charming Villages of Van Buren County in southeast Iowa but this month’s issue of Iowa Farm Bureau’s Family Living (which my husband edits) had some good suggestions of places new and old to visit there:

– Villages Folk School – Opened in 2009, this place  (which appears to be on 1st Street in the village of Bonaparte) offers weekend classes in “traditional arts and crafts” from rug weaving and blacksmithing to artisan bread baking. There are some weekend classes in pastel painting and out-of-town students can stay at the pretty Mason House Inn in Keosauqua. Another option is the Bonaparte Inn, an 1890’s building in Bonaparte.

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November 1, 2012 · 4:26 pm

New in Iowa City – Iron Hawk restaurant for all things pork

The Tenderbites ($7) at Iron Hawk are breaded pieces of pork loin served with a choice of barbecue sauce, chipotle ailoi and ranch.

The Tenderbites ($7) at Iron Hawk are breaded pieces of pork loin served with a choice of barbecue sauce, chipotle ailoi and ranch. /

It’s hard enough already deciding where to eat in Iowa City – so many options, so little time. But here’s another restaurant to add to the “to try” list courtesy of Family Living, the Iowa Farm Bureau publication (that, full disclosure, my husband edits): Iron Hawk Restaurant serves pork from a local family farm in nearby Kalona. There’s pork burgers and pork marinara sandwiches, pork loin appetizers, even pulled pork atop pizzas.  And of course that Iowa staple, a pork tenderloin sandwich. Seems like good timing since pork is so popular these days at restaurants. (We ate it all over New Orleans).

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May 19, 2012 · 4:51 pm

Grab that pitchfork for an “American Gothic” photo op in Eldon, Iowa

A long time ago, I visited the sweet little house in Eldon, Iowa that Grant Wood based his iconic “American Gothic” portrait on – but now apparently you can borrow a pitchfork, overalls and glasses when you pose in front of the house, as we all tend to do there. The house is now owned by the Iowa State Historical Society. Other Grant Wood sight-seeing options, according to Iowa Farm Bureau’s Family Living (full disclosure: my husband edits it) include:

– The Grant Wood Studio and Armstrong Visitor Center in Cedar Rapids, open for tours on weekend afternoons.

– The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art which has the world’s largest collection of Grant Wood paintings (but if you want to see “American Gothic” you’ll have to visit the Chicago Art Institute.)

– I didn’t know that Wood designed a  sun porch  at the Brucemore estate in Cedar Rapids.

– Anamosa has the Grant Wood Art Gallery and Riverside Cemetery where Grant is buried. The 40th Annual Grant Wood Art Festival will be held there on Sunday, June 10, 2012 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. (I thought it was held in Stone City, where Wood ran a summer art school in the early 1930s.)

– For more info on the Grant Wood Trail,  which includes 19 sites across Iowa, most free, see: http://www.crma.org (and click on the “Grant Wood” tab.)

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