Today I went to Heartland Farms and I have to admit, it’s probably the funnest story I’ve done in a while. When I was little my dad and I always picked fruit and I loved to go to apple orchards and pumpkin farms in the fall. You can’t help but smile when a little kid finds the perfect pumpkin, then can barely pick it up. And at Heartland Farms there really is so much more than just the pumpkins.

Owner Dave Myers showed us around and shared his stories. And the most memorable part: meeting the Punkinator. Imagine a cannon powered with compressed air shooting a pumpkin at the side of a bus. Can’t quite picture it? Watch the video as I master the Punkinator.

I have to admit I was a little nervous. Dave did a great job with his safety speech, but I hadn’t actually seen it in action and all the kids from West Cedar Elementary in Waverly were so excited and I didn’t want to mess it up and disappoint them.

My photographer, Matt, and I took a hayride to get some video of the pumpkins and I couldn’t stop smiling. It was chilly, but not cold, with the sun shining bright…I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful fall day.

-jj

Posted under My Adventures

You may know what candidate your neighbor supports based on their yard signage, but now you can find out how much money they’re donating to that campaign.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board launched a new searchable database on their site where you can enter an address and see what donations were made.

This information has been available for years, but it was listed in document and was not easily searchable. It literally could have taken months to spy on your neighbor’s financials.

According to the Des Moines Register, Iowa scored a D+ on its campaign disclosure programs mostly because the information was not accessible.

You can also search by party, company and PAC. You can also find out how the candidates are spending their money…also an interesting read.

Another good source of financial documentation is Opensecrets.org. I use them often for stories and they include a wealth of information on the presidential candidates.

-jj

Posted under Politics