Pilot Mound, Iowa, population 163, is a wide place in the road. Five miles to the west lies Boxholm, population 180. Many Iowans hail from hometowns like these, populated by a post office, convenience store/gas station, church, and smattering of houses. Garrison Keillor would call them the towns that time forgot. Yet thousands of rural Iowans call them home.
I've lived brief stretches in Columbia, Missouri, Milwaukee, and Des Moines, but my life has been bookended by the Iowa towns of Holly Springs and Pilot Mound. When small lights of local investment flicker on our static rural horizon, we rural folks take notice. When they're sparked by women, I celebrate.
Cultivating Self-Starters
Small towns sprouted on the prairie in the days when farmers relied on local businesses. Farm mechanization, the '80s farm crisis, agriculture's expanding economies of scale, and the consolidation of agribusiness hollowed out their cores. Local economic engines generating value were dismantled: Grain elevators, seed and machinery dealerships, and eventually even grocery stores, restaurants, and bars. But perhaps most crushing has been the loss of human capital.
Traditional economic development strategies don't work well here. For these smallest of the small towns and communities, entrepreneurship must be our economic bedrock.
Dirt Road Goat Milk Soap began in 2109 at a farm on a gravel road near Pilot Mound with the purchase of two Toggenburg dairy goats for a 4-H project. The goats were perfectly suited to Jessica Hicks and her daughters, Brylie and Addyson. But they required milking morning and night, summer through early fall. That added up to 3 to 3.5 gallons of milk daily.
"We didn't want to sell the milk because of the licensing and other regulations," Jessica says. "I knew there was a niche market for goat milk soap, so I started experimenting."
They sold a batch of 10 soap bars at Christmas 2021 under the brand name, Dirt Road Goat Milk Soap, and set up a web site.
The next spring, they began selling their soap at Rinehart Family Farm's Saturday drive-through market three miles down the road. They continued to spread the word at the Thursday Boone Farmers Market and through Facebook. "Some people had been buying goat milk soap from other places, but they liked the idea of supporting our local business," Jessica says.
Their business grew to making 30 bar batches of soap that first year. During Thanksgiving break this year, the Hicks family made 300 bars of soap in preparation for the holiday gift-giving season. They've also expanded into making lotions, lip balms, and even refillable car diffusers. All of the production is juggled with Jessica's job as a computational biologist in veterinary services, the girls' school sports, 4-H, and other activities.
Why Goat Milk Soap?
Goat's milk is high in saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, making it rich, gentle, and nourishing. The soap also doesn't have parabens, sulfates, or synthetic detergents.
What goes into making goat milk soap? First you pasteurize the milk and cool it. Then you pour it into ice cube trays and freeze. Then comes the tricky part: sprinkling lye over the milk to help transform the milk fat. Finally, mix in base oils including palm, coconut, and castor and plant-based butters like shea, and avocado. Leave the soap in a mold for 24 hours, and then slice it into bars. "It needs to be cured for four weeks to reach the right pH levels," Jessica says.
Three of their four goats are bred and expecting kids in five months, and one will follow suit soon. Milking has hit the pause button for now.
"This has been a family business from the start," Jessica says. "The girls are learning skills like budgeting and time management." "Marketing is another big one," Brylie adds. "Talking to the public, and maintaining eye contact is important." Addy enjoys adding new products to the line, like the refillable car diffusers.
You might have seen this female-run business at the Ruan Center Holiday Market earlier today. If not, check their website, dirtroadgoatsoap.com, or email dirtroadgoatsoap@gmail.com.
The Hicks family.
And, in case you're wondering, here's the answer to the number 1 question they receive:
· "No, it doesn't smell like goats!"
Celebrating a New Main Street Business
Deck's service station/convenience store in Pilot Mound celebrated 60 years in business last year. Now, for the first time in the past three decades, there's another business on main street.
Alyssa Koester opened the doors of her business This & That LLC, a direct to film print and custom apparel shop, in the former MIRZA Lodge #609 building two years ago. Koester also is part-owner of another business, Miller Industries, that shares this space.
Koester was using a Cricut to cut vinyl lettering for t-shirts at home as a hobby. "Miller Industries needed T-shirts for its employees, but we would have had to order 100," she says. "We decided that if this was a problem for us, other small companies also needed small orders. We started researching screen printers." She found she needed to move the business from home to a larger space on main street to make room for her new screen printer.
Koester purchases designs from Etsy, and sometimes works with another woman-owned business, K. Stein Designs, for other orders. A large share of their business comes from creating T-shirts for fundraisers. "We give back 10% of the profits," she says. "It's been a really big hit."
Other recent customers include Hammertime Fitness in neighboring Ogden and WhatCha Smokin? BBQ + Brew, located in another wide place in the road, Luther, Iowa. This & That also prints custom transfers for crafters and boutiques.
Alyssa Koester
Koester advertises on Facebook, and by word of mouth. (515/353-4353; thisandthatprinting@yahoo.com)
She says her future business challenges include hiring an employee, and purchasing an embroidery machine.
Operating a family owned business has its advantages. Koester's sister Whitney also works at Miller Industries. At times you may find Alyssa's school-age children and Whitney's pre-schooler daughter at the shop.
Koester's advice for other potential women entrepreneurs? "Just do it."
Coffee and Clothes are Winning Combo
Head west to the town of Boxholm, where Victoria Helling launched the first new business here in decades. In October. She sells Cormelia Coffee at a stand in her yard, along busy Highway 169. It's the only place in town to buy a Signature Latte, or a cup of Espresso.
The Fort Worth, Texas, native also operates a LuLaRoe women's apparel home business. After selling LuLaRoe part-time for four years, this mom of three children under age 6 transitioned to fulltime two years ago during the Pandemic. Helling and her husband moved here in June.
"LuLaRoe is the opposite of fast fashion," she says. "The fabrics are soft, but durable."
She also offers personal styling services, including consulting to help clients best utilize their closet space so they can easily create outfits from pairings they already own. Closet consultation was a huge part of her business in Texas. "I need to start getting the word out here," she says.
Helling's coffee business grew out of her clothing boutique. "I'd serve lattes at my open houses every other month," she says. She features another woman-owned business at each open house. Her next event is Saturday, December 16 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Visit her Facebook page for Style Me V Personal Styling and Cormelia Coffee or email victoria@stylemev.com.
Victoria Helling
"Moving to a small town, I wanted a place to meet people," Helling says. "I've ended up introducing neighbors who don't know each other," she says. "It's about building connections and support."
In fact, Helling was elected to the Boxholm City Council in September.
Her overhead for both businesses is low. "I wanted to stay flexible, with the ability to adapt quickly," she says. She plans to add a sign on the east wall of her stand facing Highway 169 advertising Cormelia Coffee and a QR code. This Texas born and bred girl swears she'll continue selling coffee three mornings a week during the winter, taking mobile online orders.
Rural Businesses Hard Hit
Three rural women entrepreneurs. One homegrown and two transplants, all running start-up businesses at the intersection of small town Iowa.
It doesn't add up to a trend. But we do know a few common challenges they face. Rural entrepreneurs have access to fewer resources, including capital, than those in urban areas. Women also can be more risk-adverse than men; on the other hand, they have time management and multi-tasking skills in spades.
We also know that a record number of U.S. women between ages 25 and 54 rebounded into the workforce as of May 2023. Although rural jobs grew one percentage point in September, jobs in rural areas still languish below pre-Pandemic employment levels, according to an analysis by The Daily Yonder, a digital news platform covering rural news.
Rural employment grew to 20.4 million in September, the latest month for county-level job data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But this is 64,000 fewer jobs this year than in 2109. In contrast, metro counties now have surpassed the number of jobs lost to the Pandemic.
Rural counties made up 95 of the top 100 counties registering the greatest job loss. The Rural Yonder turned to Elizabeth Davis, a University of Minnesota professor of Applied Economics, who suggested three large demographic factors that may be dragging down rural areas:
(1) An aging population: A larger portion of the rural population is retirement age, shrinking the pool of potential workers. The median age of the rural population is 43, compared to 36 in urban areas.
(2) Lack of childcare: It's a Catch 22. Rural employers can't find workers because potential workers can't find or afford childcare so they can fill these jobs. Their wages may be lower, combined with higher commuting costs.
(3) Lower levels of formal education: A total of 21% of rural residents over the age of 25 hold a bachelor's degree. This compares to 36% in the urban population.
If there's a fourth reason, I might add the lack of rural housing. It's hard for employers to attract workers without better housing options.
Last year, Iowa legislators expanded eligibility for childcare assistance for low-income families and raised payments to providers. However, more needs to be done to help rural Iowa bootstrap its way back from the depths of small business Pandemic closures.
Boxholm's new community center (under renovation at the former one-story school with gymnasium) hopes to play a small role in attracting a local childcare provider.
Data shows that this rural-urban job gap may be starting to narrow. Sometimes all it takes is a few sparks to create enough visible signs of life to gain some momentum on seemingly intractable rural issues. Baby steps. Women can play an outsized role.
For the first time in a couple of decades, Boxholm community volunteers mounted Christmas street decorations this year. To town residents, and those passersby on Highway 169, they're shining a beacon of light out into the universe bearing a proof of life message.
👍Nice story.
Excellent; inspiring. Thank you