POSTAL CUSTOMER
Volume IV, Issue 7
PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit #36 OMAHA, NE
July 2010
Building relationships vital to Brimeyers’ farm Easter Seals responds to unique needs of rural Iowans by Emma Struve Fall has been a good time of year for Kim Brimeyer: in September of 2003 she met husband Terry at a Wisconsin “dairy days” gathering where both were vendors, just more than a year later in October of 2004 the two were married, and in September of last year the Brimeyers moved to their Audubon acreage where they raise Boer goats, Great Pyrenees dogs and worms. The worms are part of a composting project from which the Brimeyers sell castings as a nutrientrich, organic soil amendment useful to gardeners and others. Terry and Kim started Home Sweet Home Farms (www.homesweethomefarms.com) on a rented acreage near Carroll and continue to develop the west central Iowa operation at their new homestead. Kim is originally from the Albia area in south central Iowa and worked for a time at Pella Corporation. She noted, “I did not grow up around goats.” Terry brought livestock experience to the partnership. At the time the two met, he was part owner of a goat dairy and has been involved in Kmart management for many years, most recently in Carroll. Additionally, Kim expounded, “You learn a lot from other breeders that you talk to and go to seminars.” In telling their story, Kim almost unconsciously illustrates the importance of relationship building. For example, she and Terry met while both were selling items at the small-town type of street fair with which we are all familiar. Kim described her wares as “things that women have to dust.” She was virtually instantly smitten with Terry when he came to help her get things loaded in her trailer when the fair ended. Another important relationship was with their rural landlord near Carroll. The couple wanted to Continued on Page 18
Kim and Terry Brimeyer purchased their Audubon acreage in 2009. They receive assistance through Iowa’s Easter Seals’ Rural Solutions Program so Kim, who is disabled, may continue to work with their livestock and other endeavors including large-scale worm composting from which they sell castings. Photo by Emma Struve
The Sweet Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 13
Akron farmer named Wergin Good Farm Neighbor for June . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 19
The Farmer’s Wife . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Futures Market Commentary . .11 Classified Advertising . . . . . .28-31