$10 or Less Gift Ideas

 

Infused Oil & Vinegar Gift Sets from Pickle Creek Herbs
Our mouths are watering the flavor combinations Pickle Creek Herbs has put together for their gift sets. Basil Olive Oil and Strawberry Basil Vinegar would make a fantastic sweet salad dressing. For something more savory try Greek Basil & Garlic and Rosemary Vinegar. A fantastic gift for salad lovers, chefs, fitness gurus, or yourself! Browse their selection here!

Tea Towels from The Wooden Bakery
The Wooden Bakery has already wowed many IFC consumers with their delicious breads and granolas. We love their adorable tea towels with fun sayings and agrarian themes!

7 Pines Dip Mixes
Our eyes are on the Garlic Galore Dip Mix and the Sun Dried Tomato Basil Dip Mix. Order yours here.

Handmade Soaps
We have a wonderful selection of handmade from soaps that range in scent from plain lye to floral lavender and crunchy, earth mother soap! These are great for stocking stuffers, gifts for co-workers and friends, or just a fun pick-me up for yourself! Browse our selection here.

Handmade Candles from Elements of Rejuvenation
These handmade soy wax candles have amazingly strong scents that are not overpowering. This is an excellent way to introduce your friends and family to the unique products Iowa Food Cooperative offers! Browse the great list of scents here.

Jams and Jellies
Clear Creek Orchard and Iowa Orchard have a selection of locally made and grown jams and jellies for sale this cycle. These are great for taking or sending to family and friends in far-flung places our for your Aunt Sally who has toast for breakfast every morning. See your options here.

Lip Balm and Lotion
Several producers are selling lip balms made with environmentally conscious practices and lotions in unique scents. These are great stocking stuffers, gifts for co-workers, or just a fun treat for yourself! Browse our selection here.

$10-25 Gift Ideas

Soap Gift Sets
Pickle Creek Herbs and has wonderful gift bags that include lip balm, bath salt, and soap in four unique scents. This is wonderful gift for a friend, co-worker, or loved one–and a fantastic deal at only $12!

Raccoon Forks Farm has egg soap made with non-edible eggs from their farm. This is a unique and sustainable product. Plus you can try multiple scents in their half-dozen sampler! Browse soap gift sets here.

T-Shirts
Iowa Food Cooperative and Lucky George Farm have t-shirts available for their die hard fans. Check out the selection here.

Fudge from Iowa Orchard
Everyone loves fudge! But not everyone has the time to make it themselves. Order an 8×8 dish of Iowa Orchard’s rich fudge for your holiday party, as a gift for a chocolate-loving friend, or to divide as small gifts for friends, family, or coworkers! Order yours here.

Iowa Roasted Coffee
Corazon Coffee Company and Greene Bean Coffee are favorite producers among our members and we are sure their friends and family will love these amazing coffee bean flavors as well! This is a great gift paired with a coffee mug for the coffee lover in your life! Order yours here.

Gift Cards
Let your gift recipient decide for themselves! IFC has gift certificates for sale in increments of $25 as well as gift memberships. This is a great gift for friends and family, but you’re also giving the gift of growth to IFC! As our way of saying thank you we do not charge a 15 percent fee on these products.

$25-50 Gift Ideas

 

Gift Baskets from WW Homestead Dairy
WW Homestead Dairy has three fantastic gift baskets available for the dairy lover in your life! Choose from a Cheddar Cheese Sampler gift box, a Cheese Curd Sampler gift box, or our personal favorite, the Taste of WW Homestead Dairy gift box. Browse their selection here!

Gift Baskets from Rosebud Botanicals
Rosebud Botanicals has a Moisturizing Gift Basket, a Facial Gift Basket, and a Scrub Gift Basket available. This is a great gift for pampering a friend, family member, or significant other with amazing organic bath and beauty products. We know once they try these all-natural clean beauty products they will feel beautiful inside and out! Browse the selections here.

Limited Edition Prints
Iowa Food Cooperative has nifty limited edition prints available. Show visitors to your home or business how much you support your local cooperative! Order yours here.

Gifts Under $100

Chris’s Custom Bakery Afghans
Chris’s Custom Bakery has lovely handmade afghans that would brighten up any home. We’re sure the gift will be even more appreciated when paired with their pumpkin bread or cinnamon rolls!

Pleasant Hill is partnering with the Iowa Food Cooperative to provide a new distribution site to bring local product purchasing opportunities to the community. The Iowa Food Cooperative hosts a unique platform for consumers to order local Iowa products online on a bi-weekly basis. The distribution site will be available as a pilot location in Pleasant Hill through February. Pleasant Hill could become a permanent distribution site for the Iowa Food Cooperative if the pilot period is successful.

“Pleasant Hill is excited to offer our community a convenient way to purchase products grown and made in Iowa” said Madeline Sturms, Senior Planner. “Many community members have expressed a desire to access local goods within our City. Having our City partner with the Iowa Food Cooperative has provided a unique opportunity to add additional value to the quality of life in our area by providing locally sourced products.”

Residents, employees, and organizations in Pleasant Hill will have the opportunity to order local products from Iowa farmers and artisans through the online farmers market. Orders will be available for pick-up bi-weekly at the Pleasant Hill Public Library, 5151 Maple Drive in Pleasant Hill. Anyone interested in purchasing products are encouraged to order online at iowafood.coop. The first shopping cart will open on Saturday, Nov. 26 and individuals can pick-up items on Thursday, Dec. 8 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Local access to the Iowa Food Cooperative is an outgrowth of an ongoing partnership between Pleasant Hill and Iowa State University. The City was awarded the Agricultural Urbanism Toolkit Program through a competitive program offered by the University as a joint partnership between the Community Economic Development and Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension. The Iowa Food Cooperative partnership was identified as a quick-win opportunity for collaboration between organizations. Throughout the rest of the year, there will be opportunities for the public to give feedback about additional projects and programs residents would like to see in Pleasant Hill.

For more information about the program including ordering, delivery dates, and products, visit pleasanthilliowa.org/iowafoodcoop.

Enjoy an amazing turkey fit for a culinary magazine this Thanksgiving! Thanks to Great River Maple for sharing this wonderful Thanksgiving recipe with the Iowa Food Cooperative! Great River Maple produces pure maple syrup from Iowa trees along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. Be sure to like them on Facebook for even more great recipes using their Iowa tapped maple syrup.

Large turkey 
6 cups apple cider
3 apples cut up
6 oz fresh cranberries
9 sprigs Rosemary
Medium handful of fresh thyme
8 bay leaves
5 oranges sliced
1 cup robust maple syrup
1 cup salt

Great River Maple produces pure maple syrup from Iowa trees along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. You can shop their products online here. Thanks Dan and Jeremy for sharing your story with us! 

What is the name of your farm and where are you located?

Great River Maple. We are located on the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa.

Tell us a little about the make-up of your farm.

We are a family farm on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in NE Iowa. We are providing organic pure maple syrup to the great state of Iowa. We have been in the business for about 8 years now, but our great grandfather made syrup back in the 1920s on this same land. We try to make the highest quality maple syrup that we can, and we know our customers can tell the difference. We are a family run operation, and in case you haven’t noticed we not in Vermont! Great maple syrup is coming out of Iowa!!

What does your farm specialize in?

Organic pure maple syrup and maple cream

 

Can you tell us a few things that make your signature product(s) special?

We don’t cut corners. We work in some of the most difficult terrain with the steep hills and valleys of NE Iowa but we do not let that affect the quality of our product. We just work harder.

What is your farm’s biggest season?

We produce maple syrup from February to April and then we have maple syrup available all year round.

 

Are there any special processes involved with harvesting or processing your products? Can you tell us about them?

We have thousands of trees connected with tubes to collect the maple sap and it flows down hill into collection tanks in the forest valleys. Then we pump the sap back up to the sugar shack at the farm and evaporate it with a wood fired evaporator. It takes between 40-50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup!

 

What is the most important thing for consumers to know about your products?

Try it – You will taste the difference. We sample our products to everyone because that’s what convinces people.

Do you have a funny/interesting/surprising story about your business?

The forest where all of our trees are in slippery and steep. It very fun to take people on guided tours with our four wheelers because one of the most common questions is “how do you get down to where the trees are?”. The answer? We go right over the edge! Great River Maple purchase a bulldozer a few years back in order to make trails and allow tours to be more walking friendly, but steep hills and still going to be steep hills!

Anything else we should know?

We also have pure maple cream which is a spreadable maple syrup and bourbon aged maple syrup that is our maple syrup that has been aged in local bourbon barrels

Shop their products online here!

Griffieon Family Farm is a century farm North of Ankeny, they are long-time Iowa Food Cooperative member selling beef,  pork, chicken, turkey, lamb and handmade items. You can shop their products online here. Thanks LaVon for sharing your story with us! 

Tell us a little about the make-up of your farm.

Our family has been farming in the Ankeny area since 1871. Our farm was designated a Century Farm in 2002. My husband, Craig, farms conventionally. In 1996 my son, Nick, started raising pastured chickens. That project has grown into a family business that markets antibiotic-free, no-hormone-added meats, soaps, lotions and other farm products. Our four kids have all graduated from college with agriculture degrees and all live within a half mile of where they grew up. Nick and Phil farm with us.

Autumn is married and has a one year old daughter that we watch M-F while Mommy is at work. She has the flock of Katahdin sheep and makes soaps & lotions for us to sell. Nick has just started farming with us after five years of working on a farm near Dike as an agronomist. Phil has been farming with us for a few years and enjoys working with cattle. Our cows continue to have calves with one left to calve this year. Julia has an off-farm job. We have already finished two batches of 225 baby chicks and now have turkeys on pasture.

Can you tell us a few things that make your signature product(s) special?

Our Limousin beef calves are born on our farm, raised on pasture until they are weaned and then are fed in a pen near our silos for about 9 months. They are fed non-GMO corn silage mixed with cracked corn, soybean meal and minerals. We grind and mix our own feed on the farm and the grain is non-GMO.

We also pasture our poultry and supplement it with ground corn and soybean meal that is GMO-free.

Our Katahdin lamb is 100% grass fed.

Chickens and turkeys are raised on pasture and fed non-GMO feed that we grind ourselves from grain we grow.

What is your farm’s biggest season?

We have beef and pork processed year around. Chickens are processed May through October. Turkeys are processed in October. Lamb is usually ready during the winter.

What is the most important thing for consumers to know about your products?

You can tell the difference compared to grocery store fare.

Shop their products online here!

The Iowa Food Cooperative is excited to share the announcement of this job for a Shared-Use Community Kitchen at The Mickle Center. IFC assisted with the feasibility study that launched this Community Kitchen and we would love to see a member in this job!

The Mickle Center Shared-Use Community Kitchen located at 1620 Pleasant Street in Des Moines is seeking an individual to supervise the commercial kitchen that will consist of catering, shelf ready food products and baked goods work stations. The position requires administrative and personnel skills, an ability to multi-task, familiarity with a commercial kitchen or food prep experience within the restaurant industry, exceptional communication skills, attention to details and the willingness to continue learning through webinars, conferences and classes. The position will require a flexible schedule.

Please contact Diane Weiland at the Wallace Centers of Iowa for an application and/or further information: dianeweiland@wallace.org, 515-243-7063 or 641-745-7322. Job closes November 5.