Susan Frye

[Saurabh Cloudas]

Awhirlpool tub stands in an area where Susan Frye's dad ran a side business selling farm supplies, including motor oil and animal feed. The tub and adjoining glass block wall are two features in the spa that also includes a steam sauna, a dry sauna and a shower.

Michael Kienzle has done photography for years, but it wasn't until about nine years ago that he took up art. He was waiting in a store line to buy frames for his photos when he saw a little "starter kit" for painting. He wondered to himself what it would be like to paint, so he started and has NOW sold more than 300 pieces.

Various works hang on the wall of Michael Kienzle's art studio. The round piece in the middle is made with the sunburst frame of a 1950s-style mirror, filled in with a mask that he painted red and embellished with gold leaf.

When customers come out to small frye farms to pick up their produce, they select from baskets that Susan Frye and her helpers have filled. Frye also tries to make it a social time, serving beverages and snacks.

Zucchini, eggplant and peppers are among the vegetables farmer Susan Frye has offered customers who subscribe to her Community Supported Agriculture business. Customers come out to the farm to select from produce she picks and arranges in baskets.

The redo of the Frye farm kitchen began innocently enough when Michael Kienzle wanted more light with which to cook. The only original feature remaining is the red oak floor that had been hidden under several layers of later flooring.

Michael Kienzle teaches medicine three days a week at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. In his off- hours he helps his wife, Susan Frye, with various farmstead projects and creates art that he sells through his business: no name gallery.

The farm of Susan Frye and Michael Kienzle in rural Davenport, IA., holds a collection of Salt and Pepper shakers, fine art by Kienzle, antiques from Frye's parents and grandparents, along with renovations to the kitchen, library, chicken coop-turned spa, and a CSA operation which stands for Community Supported Agriculture, for vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

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