Originally from:
Always Osceola
What got you interested in the local foods movement:
I guess we started by getting a whole beef from my grandpa to fill our freezer each fall for a few years, and then, I was intrigued by the ‘eat local & know your farmer’ educational concept by the Farmer’s Markets (both in downtown Des Moines & then our local Clarke County Farmer’s market) and was soon a big fan but missed the product & thrill of the hunt in the off season until Shanen Ebersole introduced me to the IFC. Before all of this I never thought about all the extra ‘stuff’ in our food, never thought about our animals being given drugs to encourage growth or production, or chemicals on crops & the effects it all has on our bodies. Now I love knowing what I know about or foods.
How you heard about IFC:
Shanen Ebersole, Ebersole Cattle Company!! We had become friends through my childcare business & she has been instrumental in educating me about eating local, being healthy, as well as actively monitoring what we expose ourselves to in general.
At first the website was overwhelming, so I put off joining until I was finally brave enough to attend a December open house at the MHM location & was instantly hooked. Being able to know the producer, hear how the product was made/grown, & know that the money I spent was going to a family rather than a store, yea, sign me up. At that open house I think I bought jams to put in Christmas gifts, a pie for an upcoming family dinner and I think this is when I was introduced to the Huber Family’s awesome carrots. That seems like a really long time ago, when its really just been a lot of IFC orders ago.
I love seeing the IFC grow in producers as well as meeting new consumers. There are always new products added, new families or farms or products to learn about and try.
We heard that your daycare has the most local menu around:
The kids eat so much local & have no idea. The milk, the yogurt (that we often freeze into yogurt-cicles), veggies, potatoes, cheese curds, chicken, butter, popcorn, cornmeal, apples. They have some favorite products, so when we run out & have to wait for distribution day by subbing in grocery store product, they comment on the difference & how they can’t wait for Coop day.
When I started ordering I would space the orders out as my husband was picking them up on his way home from work, eventually, after a couple of years, I had eased him into picking up an order at almost every distribution. This sometimes meant him waiting around after work for the site to open, or helping carry in product or leaving work early to get my order. Keep in mind he still isn’t entirely on board, so he suggested I see what I could do to get an Osceola site going. Shanen invited me to see what I could do about finding a location. She then put me in contact with Pete & Cindy Woltz (Timber Ridge Cattle Company) who are located just south of Osceola so I would have a local board member for information, after a couple of failed attempts we unofficially put it on the back burner until Pete & Cindy offered to share their new retail space on the Osceola square.
How you see IFC and local foods movement growing in Osceola:
- freezing yogurt in popsicle molds for summer https://iowafood.coop/
shop/product_list.php?type= subcategory&subcat_id=185 - using greek yogurt in place of sour cream in homemade macaroni & cheese, yogurt coffee cake (http://www.abeautifulmess.
com/2014/03/greek-yogurt- coffee-cake.html),
- homemade ranch dip using greek yogurt in place of mayo for tuna or egg salad
this cornmeal https://iowafood.coop/shop/product_list.php?type= subcategory&subcat_id=77
- for these muffins http://
nothingbutchatter.blogspot. com/2011/08/corn-muffin- recipe.html - using honey in some recipes or iced coffee in place of sugar– although using the https://iowafood.coop/shop/
product_list.php?type= subcategory&subcat_id=196 milk, I don’t need honey in mine anymore..
Osceola pick up is on distribution Thursdays from 5-6:30p at 117 W Washington St.