Resident 50201 stories feature people who live in the Nevada community, giving locals a chance to learn about the unique and varied personalities that make up this place we call home.
If you’ve ever met Joetta Moyer, you know she loves to visit about her family, her family’s history, her yard, her upbringing, and so much more.
But all visiting and storytelling aside, Joetta is focused on a desire to create safe, entertaining, and educational spaces for youth, particularly in her own backyard.
Nine years after moving to Nevada from Center Point, Iowa, where they lived for 36 years, Joetta and her husband Keith are still in the process of creating a perfect yard space where kids can have fun, feel safe, and be entertained by games, books, art projects, chickens, and more.
“I’m trying to create a social environment in our yard, because I grew up in a family of seven, and my husband in a family of five,” she said.
Joetta’s husband Keith is a flower and gardening guy, and the entire time she visited, he was busy weeding the flower patch on the south side of the house. On the north side of the house is the vegetable garden, where you’ll find mostly sweet potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes. In the front yard are tall sunflowers, another favorite of the couple; and the backyard, well, that’s the space reserved for anyone who’d like to sit a spell, whether you’re a family member, neighbor, community member, or friend. It’s a place where anyone is welcome to relax and catch a few breaths before returning home.
Joetta points out two bins on the south side of the house, one average size and the other quite big, both filled with things (as you’ll see written on the top of each bin) that kids and families can use – balls, art supplies, foam swords, books, games, and so forth. “They can take the balls to the park and play, and then just bring them back to the bin when they’re done,” Joetta said. By park, she’s referring to Kiwanis Park, which is just a block west of their home.
On this particular day, Joetta pointed out a tarp, hanging from a wooden structure, which was going to be attached to some posts to create a sunblock for people to sit at a picnic table, which is going to go underneath it.
Behind that wooden structure is a fenced-in area for chickens, of which the Moyers have four. Joetta finds the chickens very soothing. “I grew up with many animals around, and this (sitting and watching the chickens) is what city kids might like to experience,” she said.
Also still in the works is a little farm area that Keith is going to help Joetta create right in front of the chicken coop. She already has a couple of little barns purchased to go in the space.
From flowers to plants to chickens and toys, there is much to experience in this yard.
The move to Nevada nine years ago has proved to be a good choice for the Moyers, whose son, Sam, a disabled adult, also lives with them. They moved here to be closer to another son, Ben, and his family. “We wanted to be more active grandparents,” she said.
A few other points of interest about Joetta:
What she loves most about Nevada? That we have City police and County deputies and the “most friendly officers you can imagine.”
Her favorite hobby: “I grew up learning to crochet and knit, and since then, I’ve learned everything from embroidery to sewing and bobbin lace making.”
She has always liked the outdoors. “We did a lot of camping, and my grandparents had built a cabin by Harrison, Mich.”
Her favorite flower in the garden? Black-eyed Susans. (Keith likes the yuccas, and he also likes having milkweed for the Monarch butterflies to lay their eggs on.)
Joetta and Keith have been married 45 years. They grew up in the same area, went to the same small school, but never took a class together.