StillwatersIowa

We are packing up and getting ready for the two day trip home. I thought I would just add another story or two before we left. As most of you know Jan loves babies and misses her grandkids. Last week in the villages she asked if she could hold a baby and immediately about six moms hurried to her with there children. One evening we were leaving a village after greeting and visiting with the folks there and there were eight older fellows sitting on straight chairs. Harrison told us they were chiefs from surrounding villages. I asked that we stop and say hello so I quick grabbed eight seed corn hats, shook there hands the Malawian way, and asked if I could take their picture. This is a villagers kitchen and this is how they fed us. Food is involved at most get togethers. On some occasions the men of the villages would wait at the bad spots in the road hoping to push out dumb white guys for money. I found a fellow Dekalb dealer. It was a store in the village of Lobie. This is Jo-Jo, Andy...

Greetings from Africa. Malawi is a beautiful country. It is mainly a farming country. It is just a little larger in size than Iowa but has 6 times more people. Everywhere you drive you see people walking. They grow corn everywhere possible. They grind it and eat it at every meal.  We left my sisters house at ABC last Monday and headed out to the small villages south towards the Mozambique border. Ken and Russ have worked with folks here before. They work through Partners Worldwide, an organization formed out of CRWRC. We went out to encourage farmers, mostly women, in their farming practices, marketing, and saving food for the dry season. This is Harrison. He is a Malawian who has a college education. He was a really big help the whole week. He drove us around and helped with our language barrier. He also has an inquisitive mind and is going to help design and build a vegetable and fruit dehydrator. We visited the market. In the villages the farmers sell their g...

We just have a few minutes before we leave for the villages so I thought I'd quick put on some pictures This is where Jan and I stayed at African Bible College.  We went to Beth and Dan's church yesterday. Beth was on the praise team. We even had a praise band. It was a very joyful and uplifting service. It was fun to go to Beth's second grade class and show them pictures of America and talk to them about farming. Dan took Jan and I to the Monsanto Plant where we met Paul who was in charge of the country of Malawi for Monsanto. He showed us his plant and his seed corn. There maturity is around 140 day corn since we are close to equator. Paul gave me a seed corn bag and I gave him my Dekalb shirt. Ken and Russ are here to pick us up. We will talk again soon.

Well after about 12000 miles and 2 1/2 days of travel we finally landed in Malawi and are at my sister Beth and her family this afternoon. Ken picked Jan and I up Thursday right after lunch. We drove to Cedar Rapids, met Russ, our other trip partner, was sent off by Chuck and Marsha, who went last year, and left right at sunset. We flew all night. Here is a picture above the clouds of the sun rising over Europe. We landed in Holland and spent the day at the Amsterdam airport. We left Amsterdam and flew again the following night. This is a sunrise coming up over Africa. We landed the following morning in Nairobi. In Africa you sometimes walk outside to board a plane. So after two sleepless nights we boarded a plane and headed for Lilongwe in Malawi. Here we are after going through customs, talking to a cab driver about getting 8 bags and 4 people in his tiny car. Ken negotiated a fare before we left. After such a load you can imagine what happened. We had a blowout. So out comes a...

I stepped out of the house this morning just as the moon was peeking over the clouds. I had forgotten that we have to move our clocks forward this morning. After a mild winter I expect spring to sneak up on us. We have been busy getting started delivering seed corn. Since seed supply is tight this spring we want to get our customers covered so we can share surplus with other dealers. The planters are in the shop getting tuned up. If our weather continues to be mild I expect we will be planting corn in 4 weeks. Earlier this week our neighbors across the highway had a bedding fire get flared up by strong winds. Around 6-8 neighboring fire departments assisted in soaking the bedding piles. Mark spent the week taking down, burning, and hauling away several older farm building for Calvin and Connie who are planning to build a new home. It's good to have brother Dan back at his group home and walking. Here he is with Rick and Brian, two fellows that also live in the home. Yesterday I wen...

The Mahaska County Cattlemen grilled steaks for the Iowa Barnstormer Arena Football Team at the cabin about a week ago. The team also hung out in the shop and experienced farm life. BJ and Becky were great host. Elijah and Anton teamed up to help Grandpa replace a bogie on a Cat tractor. Ethan is a little apprehensive about teaming up to play with the girls. Happy 9th Birthday Ethan. You have the only birthday I know of with a command. March forth (4th). Yesterday was a slow Saturday so Mike and Mark teamed up against Kurt and Brad for a two on two basketball game in the shop. Jan and I went to the Girls State Basketball Tournament Friday evening. North Mahaska played in the 1A final game and Pella Christian played in the 2A final game. It was a unique experience for me since I attended both schools. Many of you that are local have probably already seen this picture but for those of you out of state after the 2A championship game both the Hull Western Christian girls and the Pel...