Iowa Life Episode 207

[Nebbe] Coming up on this episode of Iowa Life, we'll meet a farmer who is working to restore Iowa's native ecosystems with the help of a bison herd.

And so, we're just really trying to create as rich and biodiverse an ecosystem as possible with the management of a bison family herd.

[Nebbe] We'll check out Dubuque's vintage Torque Fest.

It started out with our own story and it has transformed into helping all these other people.

[Nebbe] And, we'll meet a family who chooses to raise their pigs outside.

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[Nebbe] It's all coming up next on Iowa Life.

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Funding for Iowa Life is provided by --

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The Pella Rolscreen Foundation is a proud supporter of Iowa PBS. Pella Windows and Doors strives to better our communities and build a better tomorrow.

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And by, the Lainie Grimm Fund for inclusive programming at the Iowa PBS Foundation.

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[Nebbe] Hi, I'm Charity Nebbe and this is Iowa Life. Grant Wood is without a doubt Iowa's most famous painter. His work featuring Iowa's rural landscape and people has made an indelible mark on America's art and culture. We are going to learn more about Grant Wood and his iconic painting featuring this house. But first, we're going to travel to Story County where Jathan Chicoine's visions for restoring a tallgrass prairie include bison.

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[Nebbe] Before the United States was founded, it is estimated that 60 million bison roamed the North American Plains. They were brought to the brink of extinction during the westward expansion of European settlers in the 19th century. How they were saved is a long story for another time. But over time, conservationists have come to recognize the important role that bison play in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Today, several hundred thousand bison live on privately owned land across the United States, including here in Story County.

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[Jathan Chicoine] You can imagine what it must have looked like hundreds of years ago, vast prairies as far as the eye can see against the backdrop of oak savannahs and bison roaming through. It would have been something to see for sure.

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[Jathan Chicoine] I think maybe if I could go back in time that is what I would want to see is the bison and to better understand how they shaped this ecosystem here in Iowa, which we all benefit from, the richness, when you think about the quality of soil, all that, that they were such an important part of it.

It's pretty cool, isn't it?

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[Nebbe] Jathan was raised in Story County and followed in the footsteps of his father and brother by serving in the U.S. Navy. After leaving the military, he traveled the world and pursued his education before ultimately returning to Iowa where he purchased a herd of bison in 2012. In addition to his day job in the field of veteran's affairs, Jathan hopes to improve the landscape he grew up on by restoring it back to what it used to be hundreds of years ago.

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[Jathan Chicoine] One of the most meaningful aspects of military service was being part of something larger than myself. And so, as I've grown in my life and as I've given over 20 years in veteran's affairs, I also think what is more meaningful? What is bigger than ourselves than to find ways to improve the land that we're on, that we can leave something in better condition for future generations.

This was all canopy, but this is where the derecho came through and just--

[Jathan Chicoine] Iowa is the heart of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. In today's context we're losing that same biodiversity at a rate never experienced before. And so, we're just really trying to create as rich and biodiverse of an ecosystem as possible with the management of a bison family herd.

This one is just smelling us. She's coming -- the wind is blowing this way so she's getting our smell.

[Jathan Chicoine] When I say that we're working alongside bison, we really are just giving them freedom to see how they rub against the cedar trees and to understand that they were essential to open up and to keep open the tallgrass prairie ecosystems. The way that they wallow to create disturbances that allow other species, native species to move in, or better yet creates a little hole for that water to accumulate so that the birds can get drinks.

[Jathan Chicoine] This is an example, this time of year the bison are losing a lot of the fur and so it just catches on these little snags. And then the birds will come and they'll use that fur and they'll make nests.

[Jathan Chicoine] Reintroducing bison to this landscape, we have learned so much by observing them and just working alongside bison. They teach us so much about land management and this is just one of those kinds of privileges that we get to see.

[Nebbe] As part of Jathan's mission to reestablish the native ecosystems on his 180-acre property, he partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Practical Farmers of Iowa to restore an ox bow wetland, to help boost native habitat and create cleaner water downstream.

[Jathan Chicoine] What is really cool about this property, it's at the base of the head waters of the Skunk River Watershed. And so, with this ox bow and wetland restoration project, we're really in a great location to help reduce the sediment, help improve water quality, and this can be awesome for wildlife habitat, this project.

(truck traveling across a water covered road)

Whoa, that's muddy.

[Jathan Chicoine] So, this is actually where the start of the ox bow is going to be. It will be backfilled in here.

 

[Jathan Chicoine] Basically what we're doing is this is the old river bed and we're just removing a lot of the alluvial sediment. This is going to be an awesome ecosystem here that is going to really help capture flood water. This project here just the ox bows will hold about one million gallons of water during flooding. But we'll be planting wetland species here, of course exposing a lot of that seed bank. It's going to be really exciting to see what emerges over the next couple of years here. And then to see the bison how they're going to utilize this ox bow is going to be a real treat.

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[Jathan Chicoine] I have an immense sense, this really deep sense of gratitude. What an honor and a privilege for me to be able to work the land in this way.

Those calves are so cute.

[Jathan Chicoine] There's not a day that I don't come out to the prairie and not learn something. And what a cool, what an incredible gift to be able to learn.

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[John Wells] Vintage Torque Fest started out as a classic car show with a couple of vans and it has grown to a festival that includes dirt track racing, mini bike racing, art show. So, people have taken it upon themselves, hey I really think that there should be a pin-up contest, make that happen, and I do it.

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[John Wells] It started out with our own story and it has transformed into helping all these other people. I think a lot of people may only know a certain aspect of the show. But everyone should know that it's a fundraiser and that it's there to help people who are going through a really hard time. It has been very organic based on the music, the lifestyle, the vintage clothes, the cars, the racing, whatever it is.

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[John Wells] Basically, the hot rod community started whenever these guys came back from World War II and they had to channel their energy into something else and it was these hot rods and these motorcycles and going fast. And you had these magazines dedicated to what a hot rod was and how to update these old jalopy’s to where you could put a really big engine into a very lightweight car. And that had a lot of appeal to a lot of people up until I'd say about the mid-60s. And so that is when Detroit kind of caught on and said, you know what, why don't we make our own little car that is going to be fast? Hence the Mustang, the Camaro and so it became a factory way of them making hot rods. That kind of changed the whole community. And so, that's why we focus on pre-1965 and that is kind of the cutoff, the muscle cars, I love them, raised with them, but that's not what this event is all about. It's very niche, but that is what we try to focus on.

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[Kim Wells] We've done events for years, like since we were in college, in different ways and then he was very involved in the car community. Our daughter was born in 2006 and we didn't have our first event until 2010.

[John Wells] We were unprepared.

[Kim Wells] We were.

[John Wells] Because we lost a lot of money those first couple of years. That first year, man, I remember looking across the field and seeing hundreds of people just walking and I was like, none of those people are paying to get in.

[Kim Wells] And then we were like we might lose our house because we're not getting enough money from this stuff, you know.

[John Wells] And it was a great learning experience because we then were like okay, what do we have to do to try to actually make money?

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[John Wells] And then this year we were both revitalized because we had this wedding that happened at our event.

Take you Travis to be no other than yourself.

[John Wells] It was really emotional.

[Kim Wells] It was because we were kind of like, how long are we going to do this? Are we done?

I now pronounce you married. Travis, you may kiss the bride.

[Kim Wells] The couple that got married, they met at our show. Just seeing kind of the love and the support and going, you know what, who cares if we're tired. This is a community, this is important.

And for those of you that don't know, these are our girls. We started doing this when Hannah was three and Madison was eight.

[John Wells] This whole event started with the birth of our child, Hannah Wells. She was born with some congenital heart defects.

[Kim Wells] I was 22 weeks pregnant, went for the normal ultrasound and were told there's some calcifications on this baby's heart. She had critical aortic stenosis, which would lead to hypoplastic left heart syndrome. And that is a congenital heart defect that leads to three major surgeries where you basically only have one side of your heart working. And so, what they did is they went in and opened up her valve. Her valve was the size of the tip of a pen. They were able to open up her left ventricle and she's got four chambers in her heart and it was a terrifying experience at the time. But we were just like we'll do whatever we can do to save our baby. Then she had open heart surgery at two where they repaired her value.

[John Wells] And I was already really involved in the classic car community. I went out and told a couple of these guys that we were going to be facing these financial issues. And they said, well you should have your own event and have it be a fundraiser. And so, Cheater's Car Club from Milwaukee And Los Punk Rods out of Kansas City, they both came in and said, we're going to help you and the very first event was a smash hit. They literally gave us the money to put the show on. That's how important it was.

[Kim Wells] Initially the first couple of shows were to help Hannah, our daughter, and I think it was her second surgery. We sat in her room and she was recovering and we could hear -- sorry -- we could hear families crying because their child just died.

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[John Wells] And when you go through something like that, it changes you/

[Kim Wells] And I looked at John and I said, what are these other families doing? They don't have the support and all I could think of is this poor mom who is in here sobbing, she's going to have to pay these flipping bills even though her child is gone. And I'm like, we've got to do something, we've got to do something to help these other families.

[John Wells] And then we created the actual foundation, which is an actual 501c3. We've raised --

[Kim Wells] We've helped raise over $200,000.

[John Wells] And in the beginning we were giving $3000, $4000 --

[Kim Wells] If even, some of those first families didn't, you know, I feel bad in some ways now because I'm like now we're able to give a lot more to the adoptive families.

Who had a good time --

(cheering)

[Kim Wells] Especially this last show, we had two precious families that were able to help.

[Megan Mathiowetz] It's hard. It's incredibly hard. But you just get thrown into this whole new world and it's not just the heart, everything is connected to the heart. So, all of a sudden you start seeing your cardiologist, but it's like nutrition and developmental specialists and all the therapy and it's a lot.

[Korey Carlton] There's just so many emotions. There's good, there's bad, there's ugly, I mean, it's just -- you expect to have a healthy child and do all these things and then could go on and have a great appointment or you can come out and just be completely devastated.

That's what we like about Vintage Torque Fest and being with other heart families because they truly get it. They understand what we're going through as well.

We were lucky enough to raise $6,974 --

[Korey Carlton] Obviously financially has been a huge thing, but emotionally -- randomly get a message from one of the other heart families or the Wells' and you're like, okay, they made it through it. You can get up and you can do this and keep going.

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[Kim Wells] I'll be honest, when it comes to the heart families and what we've raised, I don't ever feel like it's enough.

We are really, really happy to be able to, through the Foundation, without any of the other stuff, we are giving you guys $10,000 each.

(cheering)

[Kim Wells] And I'm grateful, but I hope we can do a lot more.

[John Wells] And so, if people want to think that it's just a car show, great. But know that without the Helping Hannah's Heart Foundation, this show would not happen.

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[Nebbe] Grant Wood was out looking for inspiration when he came across this house, the Dibble House in Eldon, Iowa. He decided to paint the house along with, in his words, the kind of people he fancied should live in that house. The result was American Gothic, his most celebrated and parodied painting. The concept for the work may have been born here. But his home and studio in Cedar Rapids is where he actually did the painting.

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[Sean Ulmer] Right now we're sitting in the Grant Wood Studio. It is where he created many of his most famous works, including American Gothic. Grant Wood was well aware of art movements throughout time. He was well aware of renaissance and classical antiquity. He just chose to live and work in Iowa where he found plenty of material to paint.

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[Sean Ulmer] A lot of the success of Grant Wood was due in part to the people of Cedar Rapids. They supported him. Being able to move into this studio, Grant Wood was able to live here rent free and that was really a gift from the Turner's who owned the mortuary next door who had employed him to help convert the mansion into a funeral home. It was originally supposed to be a studio, a place where he would work, but he realized very quickly that with a little bit of creativity this could be a place where he not only worked but also lived, not only for him but also for his mother Hattie and for his sister Nan. And, as a result, it allowed him to give up his job teaching and work full-time as an artist.

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[Sean Ulmer] He really refabricated sort of the whole interior here. Look around at the studio and realize it was just an empty shell. It was just an empty hay loft.

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[Sean Ulmer] One of the first things that Grant Wood had to do was heat the place. So, he installed this fireplace in the middle of the studio, of the hay loft. And he built it all himself out of the brick and then for the hood he used an upside down bushel basket, metal bushel basket. And it was centrally located in the middle of the studio so it would warm the entire place. It was adjacent to what they call the hot dog stand. And it has been heavily modified by subsequent tenants. But this was an area where these doors would open and then a table would pull out and, on that table, they would set the linens and they would sit on this side and eat and there is a pass through to the kitchen.

[Sean Ulmer] So, over here we see more of his built-ins. He's got these built-in cabinets that would hold the blankets and the linens and some other clothing as well, although they had dressers. But more importantly, underneath this built-in is where, on either side of the rood, is where they stored their beds. So, at night they would pull the beds out, they would sleep in the beds and in the morning, they would push them in and they had little curtains that they would draw to close it off so you wouldn't actually see it.

[Sean Ulmer] So, this bedroom area, which was multiuse, was also an area where Grant Wood would stage little plays. There were curtains that hung right here. And they would have little plays. The audience would sit out there. This would be the stage. And this really was the birth of the first community theatre in Cedar Rapids, which is still going strong today.

[Sean Ulmer] This space really does reveal a whole different side of Grant Wood than most people know. It's charming. It feels kind of cozy. And yet it was a place of great creativity for Grant Wood. He produces some of his most famous works of art.

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[Nebbe] Farmers have always had to adjust to changing times. As economic conditions and climate concerns continue to evolve, many are rethinking how they do business. The Boor Family near Osceola decided to take a chance and make a big change to how they raised their hogs.

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I just always wanted to farm. I love working outside, just being in the great outdoors.

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[Eric Boor] When I was younger, I tagged along with my dad and grandpa riding around on the tractor and pickup and I just always knew that was what I wanted to do and how I wanted to live.

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[Nebbe] When Eric and Mikala Boor took over Eric's great-grandfather's nine-acre farm in Southern Iowa, they decided to implement sustainable and humane hog raising methods. Despite initial skepticism from family and friends, their efforts are beginning to show positive results.

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[Eric Boor] I'm proud to be farming the same land that generations before me have farmed and raising livestock on it.

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[Eric Boor] I've always thought pigs are a unique animal.

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[Chris Boor] Eric would be a fourth-generation farmer for our family. He had been farming and working with me and he decided that he wanted to raise hogs. So, I told him I knew a lot about hogs and I would help him out. I was glad that he wanted to start and branch out doing something on his own like that.

[Eric Boor] There was a lot of the unknown. I knew some about raising pigs from prior experience working in the confinement, but I'm doing it a different way.

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[Eric Boor] I didn't want to raise pigs in a confinement. I wanted them to be outside in the environment that they're meant to be in.

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[Eric Boor] I raise the pigs outside on dirt lots and fresh air.

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[Nebbe] The Boor's farm is one of few in Clarke County that is compliant with California's new animal welfare reform law, Proposition 12, which bans the confinement of breeding pigs and restricts the sale of non-compliant pork. In fact, their hog operation is one of few in the state of Iowa that meets the new California regulations.

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[Eric Boor] We farrow to finish 22 head of sows and sell them to Niman Ranch. Farrow is when they're born and finish is feeding them out clear to market weight. They spend their whole life on the farm. And about at three we don't use farrowing crates, they're spend a hundred percent vegetarian diet.

[Chris Boor] Farming seems to be getting tougher all the time. It's a lot harder to work with the modern economy and the cost of everything. A lot of the farming has changed. Just like in the hog production, you used to be able to drive down the road and every half a mile there would be a hog farm or somebody raising livestock. But any more you've got to drive miles down the road.

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[Chris Boor] If I was to start out now, I'd have to start out the way he's doing it. People want antibiotic free meat and worry about the humane way of raising animals.

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[Chris Boor] Raising hogs this way being antibiotic free type animals isn't an easy thing to do. He's wanting to try new things all the time and keep up with the times.

[Eric Boor] It has been a learning process all along.

[Mikala Boor] We've got a lot of support from local farmers. We know a lot of the farmers that live around here. And a lot of them have come up to us if they see us in town or we run into them and they tell you how proud they are of you, how you've done a lot of work with what we have.

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[Chris Boor] I'm glad that that was the profession that he chose because that's what I've done for my life.

[Eric Boor] I believe farming like this has paid off. It's important to work hard and have passion in what you do. It is all right to do something that is different than a lot of operations and it's not conventional.

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[Eric Boor] It brings joy to me raising animals like this and farming this way.

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[Nebbe] That's it for this week. Thank you for joining me as we explore the diverse tapestry of Iowa's people and the forces that ignite our passions. I'm Charity Nebbe. See you next time for more Iowa Life.

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Funding for Iowa Life is provided by --

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The Pella Rolscreen Foundation is a proud supporter of Iowa PBS. Pella Windows and Doors strives to better our communities and build a better tomorrow.

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And by, the Lainie Grimm Fund for inclusive programming at the Iowa PBS Foundation.