Paul Colletti Cindy Heilmann's farm in Goose Lake, Iowa, has been organic for 10 years, but in 2008 it finally was certified by the USDA. More photos from this shoot

You guessed it. Cindy eats what she grows in Goose Lake, Iowa, on her 45-acre farm that the USDA certified as organic this year. She sells the remaining fruits of her labor from May through October at the Freight House Farmers' Market in Davenport, where she's known for spreading the word about the benefits of organics and telling all who will hear, "Organic food isn't just for the rich and famous."

As her husband, Dave, puts it, organic food "is her passion" -- a passion that in 1997 drove the couple to move from Morrison, Ill., to rural Iowa, where they live in a log cabin they built.

"I built the house without closets because I think that people have too much stuff," Cindy says. "I try not to even shop."

The set-aside land they bought "has never been sprayed," she says, adding that it's always been organic. She pursued certification, however, because it means something to customers. More than half of the land is woods filled with old trees whose leaves rustle in the winds that fly across the flattened landscape of farms growing corn and soybeans.

"This is what I listen to when I'm out here," she says, standing among heavy cabbage plants as she nods toward the trees.

At the farmers' market, she sells fruits and vegetables, and from time to time, she sells halves and quarters of hormone- and steroid-free beef, raised on the farm's grasses. Many of her cows have names, like No. 7, Queenie and Batgirl. When she steps inside the fence, it's clear that they're comfortable in her presence.

"I spoil them," she says. "I've never lost a calf."

Cindy grew up on a farm, one of four daughters, and got a taste of farm work early. "(My sister) Judy and I did the outside work," she says. Today she's often up at dawn to harvest on a farmers' market day. In October, when frost threatened her last crops for sale, she awoke at 4 a.m. to spray them with water from a hose before the sun came up.

"It's not the cold that kills the plants," she says. "It's the sun."

Her garden includes 41 varieties of produce, and last year her tomato plants alone numbered 400. Last fall, she planted 3,000 heads of garlic by hand.

While the farmer enjoys organic foods -- "I love to cook and can" -- she says that organic growing is about more than just the products: "Organic is about keeping the soil healthy."

She amends the soil by adding nutrients such as calcium, not chemicals. "I always look to my plants to tell me what the soil needs," she explains. Plants with specific nutrient deficiencies show it, and she knows how to spot them. An avid reader, Cindy is basically self-taught in organic agriculture.

"I read organic books all the time," she says.

This time of year, you'll find the farmer in her log cabin, glad to take a break from the whirlwind spring-summer-fall growing schedule.

"In the winter months, I love to quilt," she says. Her works hang from the rail that surrounds the cabin's loft. When May rolls around and the outdoor market season begins again, however, she'll be ready.

"The farmers' market is my social life!" she says.

That's why, in spring, you'll find her at the market, selling foods from Heilmanns Hawkeye Acres, but also providing organic-gardening advice to her customers. Some people ask why she gives away her growing secrets when doing so would appear to work against her sales. Her answer demonstrates her bottom-line belief that healthy food belongs in everyone's hands, not just the hands of a select few: "If everybody would have a garden, then I could have my garden just for me!"