Your need to stay informed never takes a break, and neither does IPR. Iowa In Focus is made possible by contributing members of Iowa Public Radio. He says he is likely to live here the rest of his life. The cousins, who are in their 30s, say their family here has embraced them and have been an unending source of support.Īs for the Schillings in Manly, Karl is resolute in his decision to be an Iowan. “Cicadas, thunderstorms, the prairie, the oak savannahs, mushroom hunting, and also just having a building that’s big enough to keep all my books in.” “We really maintained good business all winter long, and this summer’s just been gang-busters.”Ĭredit Michael Leland / IPR Cafe Mir is a farm-to-table restaurant in Fertile.įrederick says now that he’s back in the Hawkeye State he appreciates some of the things that had been missing in his life. “You know there’ve been ups and down, but I think it’s safe to say it was kinda last Fall when we didn’t dip down all that much into the Winter season,” he said. When the restaurant building on Main Street became available, he scooped it up and contacted his cousin Joshua to live out what they jokingly call their “unrealized project number 68.” I then moved to New York City and then out to Los Angeles to study Chinese medicine, from there is when I moved back here.”įrederick purchased a former creamery building in town which he has refurbished into an Airbnb. “I lived mostly in Sicily and then in Serbia, the Czech Republic and France. “I moved to Europe three years total,” Nathaniel Frederick said.
His business partner is his cousin Nathaniel, whose travels took him even farther away after graduation. But, that's fine because I have my house just to have that little space carved out for yourself and know 'that’s me,' right there,” he said.įrederick co-owns the café, which boasts an all-natural menu featuring stone-baked pizzas on Friday and Saturday nights.
“Part of the reason I moved back here was to slow down the pace, but that just hasn’t happened through opening this place. We've been able to build stronger relationships and build a better quality of life here in Iowa. We really love a half-mile with three stops signs for a commute, instead of 50 miles through metro traffic. 9, Joshua Frederick is planning the menu for his restaurant, Café Mir, in the town of Fertile.įrederick spent time in upstate New York and California before coming home two years ago. Some people come to that realization after they’ve lived somewhere else.
“We’ve been able to build stronger relationships and build a better quality of life here in Iowa.”Ī poll earlier this year by the Des Moines Register and Mediacom found more than three-quarters of Iowans said they would prefer to live in Iowa if they could choose to live here or in some other state.
“We really love a half-mile with three stops signs for a commute, instead of 50 miles through metro traffic,” she said. Jean Schilling said they are quite happy to conduct international commerce tucked away in the tiny town of Manly, a few miles north of Mason City. Companies order them as advertising pieces and in some cases celebrities request commissioned works as gifts. The kaleidoscopes sell anywhere from $4 to as much as $4000. Credit Pat Blank / IPR A view through one of Karl Schilling's kaleidoscopes.