Kalona man sowing seeds of hope

KALONA — Brody Escher is doing his best to inspire hope for anyone driving by his family farm in Kalona with a massive breast cancer ribbon plowed into a field visible from 170th Street in Kalona.

“Recently we just lost another family member to cancer,” Escher said. “I know a lot of people, so does the rest of the family, that’ve got breast cancer in their families, and we just like to do that to raise awareness and let people know there are still people out there that care about it and are trying to help any way that they can.”

Escher tries to make time to carve the pattern out every year. Although he moved to New York six months ago, he found himself back in Iowa helping his dad finish field work, and decided to make it again, using a tractor and a chisel plow.

“I kind of just gage it, I sit in the tractor, look behind me, I see what the curve is and all that stuff to get it the way I want it,” he said. “The hardest part’s the circle, to make it look good.”

The process takes a few minutes, leaving a mark that lasts until next season.

"I go over it the one time, let it set, and then I go over it again and let it set until spring time,“ he said. ”You can even tell when it’s snowing out there. A lot of times, where that thing is at, the two little swaths that I made, the snow won’t even sit there, it’ll just melt, so the only thing that shows is the ribbon itself.“

The support is more than symbolic. Escher said he wanted people to know they had support in the community.

“The farming community is not just farming, it’s a whole community,” he said. “If something goes wrong with somebody, it doesn’t matter. A farmer’s going to be there for whoever the hell it is.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com