# Northwest Iowa Farm



## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

Hey folks!

We are trying to get things sold out so we can move. We have a 6 acre farm here in Northwest Iowa. It has a huge Morton Building, a huge barn, a huge corn crib, an 8-bay hog confinement building, 3 smaller outbuildings, a 3+ small bedroom older home, and a mobile home (fixer upper). The soil is well drained and grows a wonderful garden.

There is a 3-tier raised strawberry bed with over 500 plants in it (some of those will be going, but not many, just a start), a 150 x 40 feet garden area, and most of the buildings have water pumped directly to them, with water now run but not connected to the corn crib.

Rural water is coming. Pipes have been brought in to the end of the drive way and although no one is hooked up to this system, it will be available (from what I understand) in early spring if you choose. Water is well water right now, and tastes wonderful! House is on a septic system and there is a new pump as of 2006.

We are 12 miles from Ida Grove and 20 miles from Storm Lake, about 1-1/2 hours from Sioux City and about 2 hours from Fort Dodge and about 2 hours from Omaha. Price is $85,000, with some financing available.

I can get pictures later but am working right now. PM for phone number to call and speak to my husband in the evenings about the property.

Thanks!

Valorie


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## horsepoor21 (Mar 14, 2007)

Sending a PM right now !


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## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

I sent you a PM back! Thank you!

Valorie


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## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

I got my camera working yesterday and took pictures today. Its kind of foggy here, but you can see the farm pretty clearly here.

If anyone is interested please let me know!

Valorie

http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/dunroven/Our Farm/


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

Oh I love it.......how close to hospitals are you there?


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## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

Shygal, there is a hospital 21 miles north, 12 miles west, 25 miles south, 20 miles south, another one 40 miles on down further southeast.

What do you do in the hospital?

Thanks Rose. I think it is beautiful too. The house needs some work. It is an older turn of the century house, but it sure has been a comfortable place for us for 5 years.

Valorie


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## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

You know, my kitchen needs new cabinets, and lots of things probably, but there is one cabinet in my kitchen that I have intentionally left in place. When I look at that cabinet hung there on the wall, with its old homemade shelves and doors, and the handles that are smoothed out by the many years of use, I try to picture the little old lady who would be cooking in that kitchen. I think of how thrilled she must have been when her husband built this house and put that cabinet on the wall probably from trees grown right here on this farm. You can see little dips in the wood, and I think of the many times through her marriage and her life here that she reached up and took hold of that cabinet door and opened it to get out the plates to serve her home cooked meals to her little babies and her man as he worked hard to provide a living from the soil here.

I can see her putting wood in the old cookstove that just had to sit in one corner and then fixing a big old country breakfast early in the morning so that everyone could get started, either to work on the farm milking the cows or getting the chickens fed and getting ready for school, and those cold snowy mornings when that hot cup of coffee smelled and tasted so good.

I think of how she must have sent everyone out of the house so she could clean and wash her dishes and then sweep the floor and mend little "Johnnies" jeans or fix "pa's" overalls.

And I can lastly see a tired gray haired smiling lady holding her grandbabies and reaching up for a glass from that old cabinet that pa hung there so many years ago, so she could get this sweet smelling baby a drink of something cold.

I can't bear to take that old cabinet off the wall. I never knew the people that lived here so many years ago, but I am from this house on the plain and I can see in the worn wood the tale that cabinet tells.

Sound silly? Probably so. I'm sometimes quite a romatic, but that's me. Gee, maybe I should write a story? LOLOL

Valorie


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Not silly at all! that is why when I found out the old part of the house that we though was an "add on" that really should have been torn down and rebuilt - was in fact the very first part of the house, the original "claim shack" built by the settlers that moved here to carve a home out of the prairie. My husband is not so sentimental, and he is right in that it would have been cheaper to tear it down, put in the basement and rebuild.

But I just could not destroy that connection to the past. Though it was not my relatives that lived here long ago, I feel a connection to the past. I lived in a brand new house for four years, and even though I designed that home, it never felt quite right. Now I know the problem, it didn't have any "roots" LOL!!

I grew up in the house my Dad has grown up in. I just love older houses! 

Cathy


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

dunroven said:


> Shygal, there is a hospital 21 miles north, 12 miles west, 25 miles south, 20 miles south, another one 40 miles on down further southeast.
> 
> What do you do in the hospital?
> 
> ...


Im an RN


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

What did you mean about some financing available? And how bad is the winter to commute to one of those hospitals ? Im guessing not that great lol


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## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

I would actually prefer, if you don't mind, that you talk with my husband about the financing. I'm not that great at explaining that part of it and he is. I will PM you our phone number and if you want to, you can call in the evening, like around 7:00 p.m. CST.

As far as the winters? We are always able to get where we want to go. We only had 1 day where we couldn't get out of here to go anywhere, but normally the county keeps our road plowed very well. There is only 1 mile of gravel and then you are on a state highway and they keep that very clean.

In fact, I have been very surprised by how clean they do keep it. It does pile up some on the gravel road north of us, but like I said, going south, the one mile to the pavement is not bad at all. Also, as a plus, there is a gentleman who rents our Morton building and he has a pickup with a snow plow on it. He has offered to come and plow us out anytime we need it. In the 5 years we have lived here, we have only had him come 1 time, so that's not bad.

The worst that we have had was this past winter (which is also when we had him come plow us out). We got ice right after Thanksgiving and it stayed all winter, but again, that's once in 5 years. We still got in and out and walked around over it, and we never took a fall or got hurt. It's cold, but that's a given. Its northwest Iowa, near the Minnesota border, so you expect that.

Give us a call if we can answer any questions. Again, I'll PM you our phone number.

Thanks for your interest!

Valorie


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## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

Well, we had a couple who were going to be here with us for the winter. They came too late for us to get the mobile home all fixed up and ready for them for the winter, so we are converting "some" space in the basement. A friend of ours is getting it all done down there now. We are adding a small kitchen, bathroom, and washer/dryer area. There will be a cupboard and a sink as well as an electric stove, a shower, toilet, washer, and dryer down there. Then the main part of the basement will be used for their "bedroom", and we'll just add the bed.

Anyway, they have decided to take another job, but the updates are in progress, everything has been purchased to fix it and the guy is working, so we are letting him finish it up. It will still make a nice little "apartment" or summer kitchen, as this basement stays quite cool in the summer, and warm in the winter.

No additional charge to the property for this update, just figure it will maybe make it more attractive for someone?

Valorie


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## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

Thanks Rose, me too! I would even throw in some critters, free of charge! Some rabbits, some chickens, some peacocks, some pot bellied pigs, ducks, geese!


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