History

Dalla Terra Ranch began as Iowa’s only organically certified sheep ranch in Booneville, Iowa. In 2008, the ranch moved west to a 223-acre property north of Earlham, abundant with rolling hills, woods, streams, native prairie, and open pastures. Over these years, Dalla Terra Ranch has raised over 2,500 Katahdin grass-fed lambs for the central-Iowa market and demonstrated a commitment to preserving essential habitats through various conservation efforts and returning land to natural prairie. This work has resulted in rich fertile soil, making it a perfect place to grow fresh, healthy food. In 2022, Dalla Terra Ranch gifted 70 acres of the ranch to In Harmony Farm, a newly formed public not-for-profit, thus officially allowing In Harmony Farm to launch its work.  

In Harmony Farm is committed to continuing the legacy of Dalla Terra Ranch, focusing on environmental sustainability and regenerative agriculture, serving Iowans in need, and creating meaningful experiences for members of our community.

The vision for In Harmony Farm is a natural tapestry of pasture, cropland, waterways, timber, and prairie that fosters the wellbeing of Iowans and our planet. The farm will include a welcome center, public hiking/walking trails, educational programming, a commercial teaching kitchen, and interactive experience spaces. A place where one can come and see multicultural farming practices, prairies, oak savannas, roaming livestock, take a beekeeping class, and purchase products from our growers, all in one place.

Excerpts from an essay by Hugh Sidey, first published in 1981

(Hugh Sidey (September 3, 1927 – November 21, 2005) was an American journalist who worked for Life magazine starting in 1955, then moved on to Time magazine in 1957.  He was born in Greenfield, Iowa. He covered presidents, from Eisenhower to Clinton, and was author of the book Hugh Sidey’s Portraits of the Presidents.


“Iowa lies between a lot of things. The state is hemmed by two great rivers, the Missouri and the Mississippi. To the north is the lake land, the endless necklaces of water that the final glacier left just beyond Iowa’s border. And above the Iowa land is the sky, which any Iowan knows is an ocean of sorts, constantly shifting and swirling, capable of great rage and healing calm. Iowa is none of these things alone. Iowa is all of them blended by a providential alchemy that must be felt to be understood. Iowa is people and land in rare harmony. Iowa is order and serenity and invitation and eternity. It is not a state that dazzles or explodes or shouts. It is not allegro or fortissimo or the clash of cymbals. Iowa is melody, the wise voice of cellos and the smooth note of the horns that knows what has gone before and believes in the future.”