About The Farmer - Jordan Scheibel

I am a transplant to Iowa who has put down roots and stayed. I grew up in rural northwest Connecticut in what could be called former farm country. Once home to many sheep and dairy farms, the region is now mostly reforested and residential, a vacation spot for city dwellers. I came west to Grinnell, Iowa in August 2006 to attend Grinnell College. I graduated three and half years later in December 2009 with a degree in history and a growing sense of place and interest in local agriculture. I first became interested in gardening and eating locally during my time at Grinnell College, where I became the leader of the student garden and was part of a group of students that founded the Grinnell Community Garden in Miller Park, now managed Imagine Grinnell.  After graduation, I began working full-time for Andy and Melissa Dunham at Grinnell Heritage Farm in April 2010, a certified organic vegetable farm on the northwest edge of Grinnell, and continued working there for three growing seasons. My time at Grinnell Heritage Farm introduced me to small-scale, organic agriculture, with all of its promises and challenges, and also brought me into contact with the vibrant alternative agriculture community in Iowa and the upper Midwest.

 

One of the pivotal moments that turned me towards farming came in February 2011. I attended the Midwest Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on a Young Organic Steward scholarship. I was deeply inspired by young people who, like me, came from non-farm backgrounds but were successfully starting their own farm businesses and I began to consider the possibility. Later that year, I was accepted into Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) Saving Incentive Program, which matched me with a mentor and required me to begin saving money for a farm asset and to write a business plan, and I began participating in PFI's Next Generation program. In January 2014, I became part of the second group of "graduates" from the SIP program. Through PFI, I have met many kind, funny, deeply knowledgable, deeply principled, humble, open, and innovative farmers, young and old, who continue to support and inspire me. I started my market garden at Grinnell Heritage Farm in 2012, with the support of my employers, and began selling at the Thursday Grinnell Farmers Market. At the same time, I was fortunate to become connected with the Grin City Collective artist residency through fellow Grinnell College graduate Molly Rideout and helped them start and manage a large garden in 2012.