That's What She Shed: Our Little Farm Escape at the She Shed

We stepped out of Chisoku and watched the couple heave a container of cow feed from their side-by-side ATV to the feed lot. They weren’t aware of us, focused as they were on moving the heavy trough over muddy ruts without stumbling or stepping in random cow patties. When they were done, to break the ice and introduce ourselves, Craig stepped forward and said, “And we thought we had teamwork!” The couple, Brian and Trudie, laughed and came over to say hi by the fence that was between the feed lot and the space where Chisoku was parked on their farm. They run the Harvest Host known as “She Shed for Rent.” It’s a farm in northwestern Iowa, near Sioux City. The closest town is called Correctionville.

What makes the She Shed unique among other Harvest Hosts is Trudie’s whimsical garden, lovely flowers, super-cute hen house, and the shed itself, which is decorated with fun metal art, heart-warming signs, and general cuteness. A sign outside the shed says, “Welcome to my corner of the world,” and a door mat inside says, “Yay! You’re here!”  She has cozy seating arranged inside so that the She Shed can be used for small gatherings, book clubs, bible studies, etc. And I imagine that on nice days, they open up the garage door to make it an inside-outside space.

In addition to offering the place to park as a Harvest Host, she also sells farm-fresh eggs and notecards featuring photos she has taken around the farm of her beautiful flowers and cows. A decorative hutch in one corner belonged to her grandfather, and the table where her note cards and other items are displayed is an old water tank. When we arrived and went into the shed, she had a jar of gorgeous pink peonies on this water-tank-table with a note that said, “You may have these.” She also had a handwritten notebook open to a page where we could fill in our names, where we were from, and any comments we had about the shed.

Outside the shed, she has converted an old corn crib into to another, enclosed seating area with succulents and other plants perfectly established in nooks and crannies. In the corn crib, wind chimes sing constantly with the wind that comes off the farm’s corn fields. A nearby sign suggests that, if you want, ‘you can talk to the plants; they understand.’ The hen house has string lights all around it, and it is a charming sight at sunrise when the lights compete with the morning sun for attention while the roosters crow incessantly. (See short video below.) But luckily, the crowing didn’t bother us over in Chisoku, where we slept peacefully with the cool air outside. We paid for the electrical hookup they provide, as well as an “extra night,” as Harvest Host stays are normally just one night. It was worth it to have such a lovely retreat from the world.

Our dogs, Lizzie and Dottie, loved walking down to the pasture and potentially seeing many bunnies jump between large clumps of tall grass. The first morning we were there, we walked down to the pasture and caught a surprise greeting of the cows coming in for feeding. Craig figured they thought we were going to feed them and had mistaken us for the real owners. But they probably just come up that way every morning and we were in the right place at the right time. I’m glad we had the dogs on a leash at that moment! (See the video below.)

All in all, it felt like a true farm experience. Brian mentioned that since they are at the end of a dead-end road, he knows that anyone coming down that way with a camper is either a Harvest Host guest, or they’re lost! He has various old farm equipment parked around the place. An old mechanical gas pump that his grandfather used is by the driveway, and an old John Deere tractor is around back, among many other tractors and vehicles. They’ve also decorated the farms and outbuildings with old farm implements that look like the sun. It provides lots to see, especially for non-farm people like us. You do smell the manure off the fields, and Craig was sneezing every morning due to something in the air. Plus, it’s quite buggy out there when you’re walking around. The hosts let us borrow their Bug Soother spray, which is a natural concoction that contains vanilla and apparently works better than Deet. Unpretentious and warm-hearted, Brian and Trudie made this farm stay a genuine pleasure for city folk like us, graciously folding us into their world for a little while.

Here are a couple of videos to enjoy:

• The cows coming in from the pasture
• The roosters announcing the sunrise