The peach trees are old and keep birthing the sweetest peaches you’ve ever tasted.
Peach trees are home, roots and sanctuary.
They sway in storms but do not break.
Even as lightening strikes the ground, they stay firmly in place.
40 acres run through our blood plowed deeply into the marrow of our bones.
All of these trees, blessed by our ancestors, ensure that we will never go hungry.
I’m pleased to be part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please consider supporting our members:
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Steph C: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Chris Jones: Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Alison McGaughey: The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Vicki Minor: Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Steve Semken : Ice Cube Press, LLC; The Pulse of A Heartland Publisher, North Liberty
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander's Emerging Voices: Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport