EIF-A_Lasting Contributions

FROM THE FARMSTEAD
task is complete, my back
will stiffen and I’ll begin
to question my sanity, but
after a few good stretches,
I’ll finish the job and tote my
buckets to the house.
That’s when Nancy and
I – and whoever else I can
sucker into it – go to work in
the kitchen, breaking beans,
blanching them, jarring them,
adding a teaspoon of salt,
and then putting them under
10 pounds of pressure for 25
minutes in the canner.
Because they are faster to
pick and can, sometimes we’ll
pack a canner of tomatoes on a weeknight.
(Yes, Nancy and I live exciting
lives!)
The carrots, cabbage, and sweetcorn
we freeze, and the onions we keep in a
dry, dark place until we need them, usually
in early October when I kill my first
deer of the season with my bow.
That’s when it all comes together.
EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTOS / TREVIS MAYFIELD
(Above left) Trevis Mayfield displays some carrots pulled fresh from his garden. They are just
one of the ingredients for vegetable soup he grows each summer. (Above right) Nancy Mayfield
keeps an eye on the temperature gauge on the pressure cooker to make sure it stays at a
constant 10 pounds.
Killing that first deer on a Friday
evening is always best, leaving two days
available for processing the meat and
roasting about 20 pounds of it. Using our
oven and two electric roasters late into the
evening, the venison will be cooked and
ready to use the next morning.
The next step is to pull bags of
sweetcorn, carrots, and cabbage from
the freezer to thaw. Then we open jars of
A legacy built
on genrations
of hard work
Pictured: Robert Eberhart, who started the business.
Pictured: Current owners John Eberhart, Nina Hoffman, and Charlie Eberhart
Preston 563-689-3622
Maquoketa 563-652-5332
Family owned for 39 years!
116 EASTERN IOWA FARMER | SPRING 2024 eifarmer.com