🗣️ It’s Friday. Next week is Halloween, and I am stocking up on cheap candy for the trick-or-treaters who descend on my neighborhood by the hundreds.

It’s my favorite time of year, mainly for that reason—the children in a variety of costumes, with a variety of reactions to going up to a stranger’s door. (My personal favorite: The tiny kid who is trick-or-treating for the first time. You can always spot the wide-eyed, kinda-scared look!)

It’s an enduring example of community coming together: Meeting our neighbors and giving of our time and treasure (lots of candy). Especially before a contentious election time, it’s a great reminder of the good that still remains.

Time for Only in Iowa, this week’s photo, Positively Iowa, and news you can use.

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Sean Dengler and his family live in the Des Moines area. (Courtesy of Sean Dengler)

Iowa families and farmers are both feeling the squeeze. 

Des Moines-area dad Sean Dengler makes about $10,000 more a year than he did in 2020, but said, “It really isn’t going as far as I thought it would.” 

With beef prices climbing and infant care in Iowa averaging more than $1,000 a month, he and his wife aren’t sure they can afford a second child. 

Meanwhile, Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman said diesel is costing him about $1,000 more a day this harvest, a hit he blames on tariffs and the war with Iran.

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🏘 Two century-old houses in Davenport were going to be demolished. Then, the church that was going to demolish them heard about the dire need for refugee housing and decided to raise money to rehabilitate them for that purpose instead.

🍄 An Iowa family became disenchanted with the hog industry after 30 years of raising pigs. Now, their 1100 Farm in central Iowa grows specialty mushrooms instead, and the family is a poster child for the Transfarmation Project, which helps farmers navigate the transition away from industrial animal agriculture.

🥖 A home baker in Clive wanted to start a “bread shed,” and she found a unique way to bring in customers: Entice their dogs.

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Amie Rivers. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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