Homestead in the Heartland

06/30/2026

It’s always a GREAT sign when the cows are happy happy! 😃

This summer we are trying kind of an experiment with grazing 🌱
In previous years, we run out of grass in the summer… not good
We have a 12 acre alfalfa field we usually baled into hay 🚜

After Ben ran the numbers, we realized it didn’t make sense to keep doing that. It’d make just as much sense to buy hay and graze the alfalfa.

There are some concerns with grazing alfalfa, one being that livestock can quickly bloat, which is not always serious but sometimes it is. We learned that if you know when to graze it and when to not based on rainfall, you can avoid bloat, which our cows have!

The benefit to alfalfa is that it keeps growing even if it gets hot 🥵 or stops raining 🌧️. So, hopefully 🤞 this summer, ALLLL summer, we have happy cows 🐮

06/18/2026

We will be at the Pella Farmer's Market today 4-7 pm!

You could get your entire Father’s Day meals for this weekend at the market today!! 🍳🥩🥕🧁

Come see us for your eggs and bacon for breakfast with delicious brats or thick cut Iowa Chops for your grill out! Then go see the other awesome vendors for your produce, cinnamon rolls, bread, and dessert!!

Place an order online or DM us by 2 pm for pick up at the market. Is the family in town this weekend? TODAY place a pick up order of PORK for $25 or more and get a FREE pound of bacon!

06/02/2026

Come see us this Thursday at the Pella Farmer's Market!
There are so many unique vendors and the perfect place to shop local
We will have our farm fresh, pasture-raised eggs 🥚
and NEW this year is our pork!! 🥓
We will have anything from bacon, to brats, to your Sunday dinner roast.
Excited to see you there!

Welcome to Week 4 of Pella Farmers' Market! This week is the first week of Thursdays In Pella so the uptown fun promises to go up to a new level! Pella Farmers' Market is supporting their themes for the next several weeks so the whole square is alive with a similar vibe.

This week's theme of 😄Level Up Your Fun will bring out a beautiful community spirit that is wholesome and family-friendly with activities for everyone!

But don't forget to come out and support our hard-working vendors with their fresh garden produce, flowers, handmade and artsy items, coffees, and sweet deliciousness of all kinds. We also welcome back the Pella ArtMobile and Book Bike who will be distributing $1 Pella Farmers' Market Bucks for children.

🌻Remember to bring your Pella Farmers' Market bag and receive $1 token!

This week's vendors:

Abrie’s Crafts
Art 101
Beaming Belly Bakes
Coal Miner’s Flavored Cinnamon Rolls
Colorful Curiosities
Crust & Crumb
Em’s Sourdough
Forest Dweller’s Boutique
Freedom of Expression Ink
Gifts by Laidlaw
Grandma Pearl’s Dutch Letters
Heartland Reformed Church
Homestead in the Heartland
Hoyt’s Creative Design
Jireh Macrame & More
Johnnycake Lavender
Lisa Van Gilst
Mahaska Native Plants
Miles Goodyk Photography
Miss Harper’s Macs
Pauline & June
PFM Children’s Table
Primal Aromas
Quail Creek Homestead
Red Rock Gift Shop
Rick Terpstra Woodworking
Rise Up Acres/B’s Petite Patisserie
Riverside Farm
Sheepgate Coffee
Stamily Acres
Suikerspin Cotton Candy
Sunnyslope Greenhouse
Sweet Bee Sundries
Sweet Doe Company
Sweet Henry’s
Sweetly Made by Hannah
The Dragon’s Hoard
The Flower Court
Three VP’s Farm
Trevor’s Chicken Eggs
Two Skins Farm
You & Me Coffee

FOOD TRUCKS:
Gonzales Tacos

IN FRONT OF THE FLAGPOLE
Pella Art Mobile & Book Bike

05/18/2026

🚨BIG NEWS🚨
We’re now delivering pork straight to your door! 🥓🐖
Stock up on favorites without leaving your home - wholesome, connvenient, and connected 🤝
Everything from bacon, to ribs, to delicious bratwurst for your summer cookouts! ☀️

Comment “DELIVERY” to get the 🔗 to our online store!

And don’t forget to add a dozen eggs to the order 🍳

Deliveries are Saturday mornings ☕️

03/26/2026

This is only our second year bale grazing and we’ve already seen significant changes in the health of our pasture soil and grass! 🌱🌾
When your soil is healthy, the grass is healthy, and that means your beef or pork or eggs is FULL of vitamins and minerals essential for your health 💪

Check out the video to see what bale grazing is!

03/12/2026

🐐🤍The baby goats are here!!🤍🐐

Last year, late summer, we bought a herd of 20 Kiko goats. We also bought a buck to use to breed them… so now we have baby goats! 😍

Baby goats are cutest little things you’ve ever seen!

Why did we buy goats:
📈The goat market is consistent compared to other livestock.
💰 We will sell goats at the sale barn and that profit will be used as extra income to the farm
🌳 They are amazing weed-eaters, brush-eaters, and lawn mowers 😄 we will use them to graze timber and when we increase our herd size in the next few years they will be used on our row crop ground as part of the “crop rotation” to help regenerate the soil and make nutrients more available for the crops through their grazing and manure

Who knew goats could be so helpful! 😉

01/23/2026

If I had to do a 2025 Wrapped 🎉 (a little late:), it would be of our piggies! 🐷

Ben and I both have lots of experience with multiple species of livestock 🤠 but neither of us had previous experience with raising pastured pork 🌱🥓

I think we can confidently say -it was a SUCCESS!-
The pork is deeelish 👏👏 and it was fun 🤪

It’s kinda sad there are no pig chores right now 🪣
•Soemthing about their little snouts 🐽•
But we’re excited to get some more this spring and do it all over again!! 🔄

Come see us at the Pella Farmers Market 🧑‍🌾👩‍🌾 this summer/fall to try some pastured pork!! We’d love to meet you & see old friends 🤗



-Homestead in the Heartland
• WHOLESOME • CONVENIENT • CONNECTED •

01/14/2026

Cows are so relatable sometimes 😂😂 you can just see the relief in his eyes 👀

01/02/2026

Wow! What a difference 100 years has made in farming!
So cool to see the difference when Ben brought home our tractor 😄

12/31/2025

Everyone’s out enjoying the sunshine today on New Years Eve! ☀️
… including me ;)