Established in Iowa in 1856 the Amana Colonies, a settlement of German Pietists who build a self sustaining, independent community of talented art and craftspeople and farmers. the are has born several businesses still thriving today and continues to be a beautiful tourist destination.

After many long months of deep and heavy cold the mantle of winter is finally shed. Tendrils and fragile shoots emerge to dress the landscape in blossoming beauty

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers — for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are. ~Osho

 What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
~Gerard Hopkins

 I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.... People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back. ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982

 I’ve always regarded nature as the clothing of God. ~Alan Hovhaness

 I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. ~Walt Whitman