Luna Valley Farm is one of the newest Pizza Farms on the scene. Their first official Pizza Night was in September 2017 and 2018 is their first full Pizza season. I have been emailing with the farmers, Maren and Tom, for almost a year and I was disappointed that my 2017 plans to get to Decorah, Iowa never panned out. I have followed Luna Valley’s progress on their entertaining and highly recommended Instagram page and I have kept them high on my list of 2018 priorities. On Friday, despite some literal road blocks, our 4-person Pizza Farm Road Trip crew made it out to there for a wonderful evening.
The day started with some Iowa loose meats from Maid-Rite in Cedar Rapids. About ten years ago, one of the best roommates ever, Sally Martin Swain, gave me the gift of Road Food Sandwiches, combining my love of cookbooks, cross country travel, and sandwiches. I reference it regularly before I take a trip. For Iowa I had determined that we should probably try a loose meats and a tenderloin, but with pizza on the 
menu for every dinner time meal, we had to settle for loose meats for breakfast. We also stopped at a more appropriate breakfast place, Brewhemia, recommended by a local friend, for coffee, eggs, and a beer.
Our drive was through the Driftless Region, where the glaciers didn’t come through and flatten out the entire landscape, so we were treated to scenic rolling hills, bluffs, and valleys as we traveled to Decorah. The weather was hot and muggy, but we stopped at the Effigy Mounds National Monument for a hike through the wooded area where we were able to see sacred mounds built by Native Americans and a few beautiful views of the Mighty Mississippi River.
As we finished our hike, it became clear that the possible rain we had seen in the forecast might be turning 
into something a little more ominous. The sky darkened and as we approached Decorah the rain was coming down heavy enough to disrupt visibility and the wind gusts picked up in intensity. Once we got to town we were greeted with branches down in almost every road way. Finding our way to our AirBNB required constant rerouting as we avoided streets that were completely blocked by downed branches or flooded sections. I sent a quick facebook message to Luna Valley to see if they had called off Pizza Night. Maren’s response was very clear that we should not attempt to come out now as it was very dangerous, but they were still holding out hope to serve more pizza after the storm passed. Things began to lighten up and the radar indicated that we were through the worst. At one point the storm had shown signs of rotating into a tornado, but it had quickly straightened out. We double checked with Maren and decided that we were hungry enough to hop back in the car and make our way to Luna Valley Farm.
The severe weather had lasted from about 4:30 to almost 6, but when we arrived just after 6 there was only a light rain and some branches blocking the driveway that Tom was on his way to clear out with the tractor. The rain eventually stopped completely and it turned out that we weren’t the only people willing to wait out the storm for Luna Valley Pizza. A steady flow of pizza eaters followed us and setup in the indoor eating area for pizza and craft beer from Pulpit Rock, Toppling Goliath, and PIVO brewing. Our favorite was the Sattre Sour IPA, which we learned Maren may have been part of the inspiration as she had suggested they try a sour IPA and perhaps it is not a coincidence that it shares a name with the Luna Valley Farm address.
We arrived a little before the other customers began to show up so we had time for a conversation and 
some pictures with Maren and Tom, the Luna Valley Pizza farmers. The storm had come through early enough that the farm had not filled up too much and only one group of guests was there. The heavy wind gusts had caused some visible damage to one of the farm buildings and knocked down all the menu signs and the newest ipad. Everyone seemed to be settling down when we arrived and we put in our classic and slightly over the top order of one-of-each, please. Unfortunately for our taste buds, but perhaps fortunately for our stomachs, the sign listing the appetizer cheese and meat boards had blown down, so we did not know that there were even more items we could have ordered aside from just pizza and beer. We went home with about two full pizzas, so we certainly didn’t need more food, but that hadn’t stopped us so far.
I enjoyed having some time to get to know Tom and Maren, the pizza farmers. I had learned a little of their 
story on their website and then I had a chance to talk and communicate over email and learn even more. Tom and Maren have been farmers for awhile, raising sheep, cattle, pigs, and growing organic corn, oats, wheat, barley, and sometimes soy beans. Several years ago they visited three nearby Minnesota and Wisconsin Pizza Farms, DreamAcres, Suncrest Gardens Farm, and of course, A to Z. Maren reported that they felt inspired to see if they could incorporate a pizza night event into their farm experience. The community of Decorah cares about small farms and healthy food and Tom and Maren enjoy hosting and cooking, so it seemed like a perfect fit. And so far it has been a success! If it is a nice Friday night, there is a good chance Luna Valley will sell out at 150 pizzas. But even on a night with severe storms, people still made the trip for the Pizza Farm experience. I could see that Luna Valley had been welcomed into the community. We dropped into the Oneota Food Coop in Decorah after our meal to get some groceries for the next day’s breakfast and I recognized two shoppers that I had just seen up at the farm. The next morning, when I went back to the Co-op, the cashier overheard me talking about it and said she had almost come that night, too. On the short walk back to our AirBNB I saw a mother with a stroller wearing a Luna Valley Farm t-shirt. It is clear that Luna Valley has a loyal local customer base. Some of the people I spoke with on the farm on Friday were there for their first time and visiting from out of town, so they have also managed to get the word out to people who are curious and interested in the pizza farm experience. It was exciting for me to see them doing so well! And, as I noted at Geyer’s Oven, Luna Valley mentioned some of the ways they are working with other small farms, in this case Blossom Hill Orchard & Farm, some friends of theirs about 30 miles north in Preston, Minnesota, who are also in the early years of doing a pizza farm night. I had been looking at Blossom Hill’s pizza night and following them on facebook since last year and I had been considering suggesting the 45 minute drive for Saturday’s dinner to my pizza road trip team, but Maren ended up doing the work for me. Her eyes lit up when she realized that we could add one more Pizza Farm to our mini-tour and my three companions looked at me and said, “Why not?! This is why we came, right?” So our Saturday plans were set. One more dinner at a Pizza Farm.
