Draco Hill

After years of struggling to support, then understand and then finally just rid ourselves of a man who could do nothing but credit himself with “his” successes and blame others for his failures, we walked into our 143 acres near Iowa City and could see the ground. Sounds pretty silly, right? But the ground is…

UPDATE: The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to reject Grant’s rezoning request.  http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2017/09/14/johnson-county-supervisors-versaland-grant-schultz-zoning-application/668317001/ Thank you to all of our friends and neighbors for speaking up, and to our excellent attorney Steve Ballard at Leff Law Firm for his clarity and kindness. Next step: Will Mr. Schultz pay his rent Oct. 15 and pay us in…

Last fall we purchased 10 Icelandic chickens from Lyle Behl in Illinois. These chickens are so much smarter than the guineas we struggled with for years. They know how to hide from predators, they know how to come home to roost every night. All kinds of stuff you’d hope that evolution would tend to (not…

We’ve been neglecting our Draco Hill site – so here are some photos and updates on the pond and more! First, we finished the pond. Finally with a second pondliner in place, we were able to fill it and keep it full. It’s now home to a number of goldfish (multiplying rapidly) including a white…

We’ve been mulching orchard this last week. It’s amazing how there can be not one bit of green anywhere in spring except the crab and brome grass wrapping itself around pear trees and honeyberries!  To give them another chance to establish this year, we again put down scavenged cardboard and covered casino it with horse manure – mostly composted –…