Blog

We're all driving in circles around here because the seven Amana villages (save East Amana) are arranged in one giant loop.

Driving from one village to the next you can contemplate Amana's story and these facts:

• Amana has Iowa's largest contiguous forest. Over 7,000 acres. The forest is managed for veneer wood production and many thousands of new trees are planted annually.

• Eagles, turkey, deer, river otter, beaver, muskrat, geese and waterfowl make their home in the Amanas. Mountain lions are extremely rare, but they have been seen on one or two occasions in the Colonies.

• Trumpeter swans are Iowa's comeback kid. In the early 1990s they were near extinction but the Iowa Department of Natural Resources instituted a protected breeding program, and the Amana Society Farms participated, donating land and employee time to care for a breeding pair of trumpeter swans at the High Amana wetlands. Now there are over 150 trumpeter swans who make their home in the Amana valley and Iowa's swan population is growing quickly.

• The Iowa River winds through the Amana valley, a velvety brown ribbon of water. It is one of the mightiest rivers in the state, flowing some 323 miles from north of Belmond, Iowa to Oakville, Iowa on the Mississippi River.

• Amana Farms is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Amana Society and is an Iowa Century farm. The Amana Society has farmed this land since 1855. Amana Farms grows non-GMO soybeans, white corn and yellow corn, plus wheat, rye, alfalfa and sorghum. It maintains one of the largest cattle operations in the state. Amana cattle are raised in Amana meadows and fed Amana grain and hay. You can buy Amana Farms beef direct and pick it up at the Amana Farms Beef facility just outside of Homestead. Check out amanafarmsbeef.com for details.

• Amana is a green energy producer operating a large anaerobic digester on the farm. Cattle manure is combined with organic waste from food processing facilities brought to the Amana digester. The digester produces enough electricity to power the homes and small businesses in the Colonies while reducing carbon emissions. To learn more go to the amanafarmsbeef.com website to watch the "Welcome to Amana Farms" video.

By Emilie Hoppe, published in the Willkommen Vol. 43 No. 3, Late Summer 2024