Certified Organic Produce

STUTSMAN

Posted By: Mistina Christner (email)
Date: 7/24/2018 at 08:58:34

Source: The Iowan unsure of date

CERTIFIED ORGANIC PRODUCE
Jessica Stutsman

Jessica Stutsman grows heirloom varieties of kale, garlic, and basil on her 3-acre, certified organic Dirty Creek Face Farms near Hills. Raspberries, another of her crops, mostly go directly to a local bakery for pastries. She also raises Angora goats, sheep, and llama and spins and weaves rugs from the wool that she sells at farmer's markets and in shops in the Amana Colonies.
Stutsman grew up in Ohio and studied women's studies and literature at Bowling Green State University. "But I realized that I wanted to work outside with dirt," she says. She moved to Washington State for a while, where she worked for the Washington Conservation Corps, Washington Forest Service, and the U.S. Geological Society.
"While I was there, I met a farmer from Iowa who loved cows," she says. That Iowa farmer, who became her husband, was Mike Stutsman.
Mike had always dreamed of growing food for a nonprofit, and the pair returned to Iowa in 2005 to begin the three-year process of certifying some of his parents' farmland near Hills for organic status. Mike finished the complicated application process in 2008. Shortly after he sent in the paperwork, he was killed in a combine accident. Their only child, Sophie, was 3 months old.
Stutsman sits on the porch of her lemon-yellow farmhouse while 5-year-old Sophie, a chirpy redhead, plays nearby. She looks wistfully across the gravel road to the creek beyond. "Sophie likes to tell stories about her dad being over there," the proud mother says.
Stutsman would like to acquire and certify as organic 20 more acres. Now that her daughter is in school, she will have more time to dedicate to this effort, which can take years.
Due in part to her six years of conservation work in Washington State, Stutsman is committed to clean soil and water. The farm's practices include creating permanent raised and mulched beds, placing beds on contour, planting cover crops, and planting living much such as clover between crop rows.
Dirty Face Creek Farm got its name from the dirty faces of children playing near the creek when the area was first settled. Stutsman's goal is to someday be able to stand with Sophie on their porch and shout, "Dirty Face Creek ain't dirty no more!"