The Land - where it all begins

Rock Spring Farm is located on eighty acres in Winneshiek County, Iowa, a mile south of the Minnesota state line. Five acres of rich bottomland serve as the base of our vegetable operation; another fifteen acres on the ridges provides land for a more extensive rotation of vegetables, cover crops, and livestock.

Our Fayette Silt Loam and Dochester-Chaseburg-Volney complex soils provide a minerally- and biologically-rich base for vegetable production. Although they lack the early-warming and easy-draining characteristics of the more traditional vegetable soils - generally high in sand and low in clay - the increase nutrient-holding capacity of our soils helps us grow a better tasting crop. The crop fields have a generally southern exposure, while the pastures and potential perennial fields face every-which-way, providing a number of microclimates.

Middle Bear Creek, running through the middle of the property, runs year-round, and provides enough water for irrigation of our vegetable crops. The beaver dam at the edge of the property is a favorite place for visitors, and neighbors frequent this section of the creek for trout fishing. We are fortunate to live near the top of the Middle Bear watershed, thereby avoiding much flooding during torrential rains; our vegetable fields are located well above the creek's flood plain.

Other biological systems on the farm include a wet forest on a north slope, loose oak savannah, and plenty of pasture outside of the tilled fields.

The original homestead encompassed 160 acres, and was the site of the area's major creamery in the days before refrigeration. A spring on the neighboring farm flows from a rock, and served to cool the milk in the spring house. When a school was built on the property, it became known as Rock Spring School; although the foundation remains, the schoolhouse was moved to Hesper in the 1980's. A monument erected by the school's alumni still stands at the edge of the property.