Where is farmland near Iowa Amish settlements? (Des Moines, Oelwein: for sale, real estate)

[Lovethem]

I have not posted in over a year bc we were busy moving here and settling in. We got here last summer and have gone through our first winter and LOVE it here! Best move of our lives, it's no wonder some Iowans like to keep this great state a secret! ;-)

Now to my question . . . we've looked high and low for acreage in more rural areas and are looking to settle within an hour or so from DSM. We want small town bc the towns close to DSM are too big for us and we prefer the more laid back comunity of the smaller towns - we want the farmer wave, remember? ;-) We thought at first we'd be settling near Winterset bc we love it there, but we can not find 70+ acres with a combination of pasture/timber that meets our other requirements. Trust me, we have search engines going on every RE site and drive every weekend looking.

In the meantime, we've been broadening our search to perhaps 1 hr out of DSM where my hubby works and really like the area of New Virginia south and over to Truro and beyond including Mount Ayr, Leon, and Lamoni.

Our children have started some ag that would benefit from being settled near Amish for trade purposes and we saw a few families near Mount Ayr and Leon. We have introductions to those in Kalona but it is too far for us and we do not know were other areas are.

Does anyone know where settlements are where there is farm land for sale near? We prefer not near row crop and a town smaller than Winterset, Mount Ayr or Murray size, though we don't want the hog lots near Macksburg.

We are not looking for touristy places, just quite private farmland areas.

Thanks.

[iowegian]

Have you tried looking around the Chariton and Corydon area? I know that there are quite a few Amish families living along Highway 14 in that area. I don't know if there is farmland for sale but it might be a place to look.

[SharpHawkeye]

Davis County would be a good fit. A sizable and growing Amish group, and Bloomfield is a beautiful little town of just over 2600 people. SE Iowa is more hilly and woody, so I'm guessing you could find the type of land you're looking for.

[iowegian]

Originally Posted by SharpHawkeye

Davis County would be a good fit. A sizable and growing Amish group, and Bloomfield is a beautiful little town of just over 2600 people. SE Iowa is more hilly and woody, so I'm guessing you could find the type of land you're looking for.

I would agree with this, but Bloomfield is going to be quite a bit farther away from Des Moines than you want to be.

[LPerkins33]

Van Buren County. More like 2 hours from Des Moines though

[IowaTexasDC Guy]

I have to agree with Iowegian, I grew up in the Corydon/Chariton area. Land is cheap and lots of timber. Many Amish around Derby. I knew people growing up that commuted to DM from there too. Though that has more to do with the local job market I think.

[Luke9686]

Des Moines Iowa Realty – Des Moines Real Estate and Homes For Sale

The Osceola and New Virginia areas have some land for sale. Iowarealty.com is a good website.

[BlsdMama]

Hazleton, Oelwein, Independence all share an Amish community, but work is hard to find around there. What about Kalona? Or the Amanas? That's a German historic area, but Kalona isn't too far and there are Amish and Mennonite settled there.