The Pioneer Women

“Iowa, a place to grow” was adopted as a slogan by the state in 1970 as part of a civic ad campaign to promote local economic opportunities. The tagline pointed to the Corn State’s fertile land as a place where residents could raise children, create a strong sense of self, and become enmeshed in a rich community. Tim and Heather Marek, fifth-generation farmers in Riverside, Iowa, whom I followed for Federal Project No. 2, embody the potential in this slogan. Their daughters do, too—albeit in a different way than its creators may have intended. For women who grew up on the family farm during the Depression, a “place to grow” was more often a place to survive, and women—especially young women—were often at the forefront of that survival. Today, young women have a choice: do I stay or do I go?

There was never a question in Tim’s mind about whether or not he would stay on the family farm; for his wife, Heather, this decision wasn’t so easy. She grew up an half-hour south on her own family’s grain farm in Brighton, Iowa, where they raised corn and soybeans. Tim and Heather went to the same high school, but it wasn’t until after college that they got to know each other; it was then that Heather knew she wanted to be with Tim and stay on his farm.

I’ve lived in Iowa most of my life, and I am not the only Midwesterner who has a push-pull relationship with this part of the country. I’ve left and returned a total of six times in my 20s. I became interested in learning about young women in the state who grew up close to the land; I wanted to know who they are and what they want to become. I contacted Lexi Marek in early spring of this year because of her involvement in Iowan agriculture and saw that she has three younger sisters. I was curious about how they felt about staying on the farm, or making a home in Iowa in general.

Lexi, 24, Macy, 22, Kenzi, 20, and Leah, 17, grew up on the family farm in Riverside, where they raised crops, cattle, and pigs. The young women showed livestock competitively throughout their childhood; one room in the family home displays a wide assortment of trophies and purple ribbons they won over the years. Because of Tim’s deep love for farm life, he thinks that his daughters should stay close to home as they reach adulthood; Heather believes her daughters should end up wherever they find their passion.

While completing their daily chores on the farm, such as cleaning pens and tending to livestock, the Marek sisters learned to fulfill their family responsibilities before anything else. Sometimes this meant not getting to do what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it. Despite this, the sisters are thankful for their farm upbringing. Each of them told me countless times how the things they learned on the farm have informed other aspects of their lives; Kenzi, Lexi, and Macy also competed in beauty pageants and found that their experience competing in livestock carried over. “You work hard at preparing for the competition,” says Lexi. “You get yourself into habits that prepare you to do your best, and overall they make you a better person. One has boots and the other has high heels, but the goal is the same.”

Now in their teens and early 20s, the sisters have had to decide if they will pursue a life in agriculture. In the fall, Macy will teach in Houston, Texas, as part of her education at Iowa State University (ISU), majoring in agriculture education with a minor in animal science. Lexi also attended ISU and graduated with a degree in public service and administration, with minors in journalism and mass communication. Currently, she works for the Iowa Department of Agriculture in communications and previously worked for FarmHer, an organization that shares stories about women working in agriculture. Kenzi currently is majoring in apparel merchandise design and minoring in event planning at ISU. She has chosen not to continue working in agriculture but is carrying on a different family interest, shared primarily with her mother, who has a fine-arts degree. In the future, she hopes to have a fashion line, potentially designing prom, bridal, or pageant dresses.

The youngest daughter, Leah, will be a senior in high school next year. She plans to double major in global resource systems and biology at ISU. However, she wants to focus on the people side of these fields, as opposed to the livestock. Like Kenzi, she doesn’t want to be a farmer but still wants to be connected to agriculture in some capacity, which shouldn’t be difficult as their two other sisters plan to dedicate their lives to it. Only Lexi says with confidence that in the future she plans to be back on the family farm full-time. It’s her dream to have a job where she can continue the family tradition that they’ve had for six generations. A place to grow, indeed.