All posts by Gary Huber

Pick up your order this Thursday, Sept. 6th!

September 3, 2012
by Gary Huber

Hello. We had 103 members order 1,138 different items this order cycle. That’s exactly the same number of members who ordered as last time, but 62 more products. Thanks a lot for ordering local foods and other items from your Iowa Food Cooperative producers. We’ll see you on Thursday or Friday when you come to pick up your orders.

Products Added; Meet Loulou Dickey, IFC Marketing Intern

September 2, 2012
by Gary Huber

Shopping cart still open!

Shop until midnight tonight (Sunday, Sept. 2nd) with delivery on Thursday, Sept. 6th. To shop go to https://iowafood.coop and log in. If you need help with your username and password, please send an email to info@iowafood.coop. [Note: some email systems apparently display these messages in long, narrow columns. If that happens, choose the option to view it using your browser.]

Product Updates:

Ebersole Cattle Company (from near Mount Ayr in Ringgold County) sent this note: “We just listed lots of extra Pastured Beef Cuts!! Thank you all for supporting us during this trying time @ the ranch.”

Note: On Sunday, Aug. 19 the Ebersole’s house burned to the ground. They and their three children were uninjured, but they lost everything. The IFC responded by collecting a wide range of foods from our producers, which were delivered to the Ebersoles along with a refrigerator (http://via.me/-4e2flqi).

The Homestead added Certified Naturally Grown Arugula.

Hedgeapple Farm added Grass-Fed Beef Stew Meat.

Crooked Gap Farm added more inventory to some items that had been sold out, and they also added Butterfly Pork Chops.

Huber Family Farm added more inventory to their sold out sweet potatoes, and they also added Baby Bolero Carrots.

Meet Loulou Dickey:


Loulou Dickey is the Iowa Food Cooperative’s new marketing intern. She came to us unexpectedly, but her arrival has given our marketing plans some new energy.

From Loulou’s email asking about the possibilty of an internship: “My interest in local and sustainable food sourcing began while I was attending the University of Iowa. I started there as a Biology major, but eventually ended up majoring in Geography with an emphasis on Sustainability. I did not complete my degree because I was unsure of what direction I wanted to take in terms of a career path. I plan on attending Iowa State next year and want to find a way to learn more about sustainable food sources so that I may choose what I would like to study. I am leaning towards Agricultural Engineering at this point, but still feel that I have a lot to learn before I go back to school.”

Loulou’s work is starting with upgrading our use of social media platforms to increase our visibility. She’s also working at developing materials that we can use at events, and she’ll also be helping us re-institute a regular newsletter.

 

IFC Shopping Cart is Open!

August 28, 2012
by Gary Huber

Shop now. Choose from 882 different products. Sept. 6 pick-up! 

 

Shop until midnight on Sunday, Sept. 2nd, with delivery on Thurs., Sept. 6th. See below updates. To shop go to https://iowafood.coop and log in. If you need help with your username or password, send an email to info@iowafood.coop
Ali Family Farm is a new producer with an urban farm near Drake University. Operated by a family that arrived 8 years ago as refugees from Sudan, they’ve listed watermelon, cucumbers, okra, green peppers, and purslane, plus two kinds of potatoes and four kinds of tomatoes.  

Mabel Chupp with Country Lighthouse Bakery writes: “Please let everyone know that our house sold, so this will be our last cycle as we are moving south of Atlantic, Iowa.” We are sorry to see them go. This is your last chance to buy their products, including their signature Cappuccino Chip Muffins. Time to stock up your freezer!!

SalAmander Farms from near Bondurant added lamb ribs to go along with their other lamb products, plus curled parsley, thyme, okra,  sweet and hot peppers, and sunflower heads.

Cory Family Farm from near Elkhart added several cuts of lamb and goat for this cycle.

Audubon County Family Farm added brown pullet eggs (some smalls, but mostly medium sized). They may be added more eggs to their inventory on Sunday, so check back then if they are sold out.

Huber Family Farm added two kinds of sweet potatoes: Vardaman and Beauregard.

Scott from Hedgeapple Farm writes: “We have lamb in stock again. We’ve also added grass-fed ground beef and grass-fed ground beef patties.”

The Berry Patch added green beans to go along with their chive and plain parsley plants, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, and Yukon Gold potatoes.

Pure Native added grain-free chocolate chip cookies and re-listed grain-free chocolate zucchini muffins.

Griffieon Family Farm is offering several products at sale prices: heel roasts ($3.60/lb), rolled rump roasts ($4.50/lb), round steak ($4.60/lb), minute steak ($4.25/lb), lamb neck chops ($7.00/lb), cured hams ($4.40/lb), and ham slices ($4.20/lb). They also have a new product – organ meats for pets at $1.75lb.

 

Shopping Cart Closes at Midnight Tonight!

August 19, 2012
by Gary Huber

Still Time to Shop!

The shopping cart will close tonight (Sunday) at midnight. There’ve been some new products added (see below) to bring the total offerngs to just over 900 different items.

Also, we are a few people short on the help we need this coming Thursday for the 4-7 shift when people pick up their orders. If you can help (it’s fun, and there’s free products from our producers), send an email to volunteer@iowafood.coop.

To shop go to https://iowafood.coop and log in. If you need help with your username and password, please send an email to info@iowafood.coop
The Homestead added Japanese and Italian Eggplant (ready for the oven in Eggplant Parmesaen, the grill for a roasted eggplant, or with Reichert’s Dairy Air Chevre for a tasty salad).

Wildwood Farms added “Black Cherry” Tomatoes (dark purple cherry tomatoes, very sweet and mild).

SalAmander Farms added heirlooom red onions (Russian variety Danilovskiy 301) and heirloom yellow onions (Australian Brown, Ailsa Craig or Strighovskiy), both from seed grown on their farm.

From Becca of Crooked Gap Farm: We just got back from the Downtown Market and have added to sold out inventories, plus a few new products: # 2501 Jowl Bacon; # 1692 Bacon; # 1693 Cottage Bacon; # 3215 Cottage Bacon: Thick Cut. Also, if you order, you can get a free sample of rendered leaf lard with each product ordered. Just add product # 1708 (Free Leaf Lard Sample) to your cart to indicate you would like the sample.

 

IFC Shopping Cart is Open! August 14, 2012

August 14, 2012
by Gary Huber

Nearly 900 Products For Sale! Shop Now for August 23rd pick-up!

Shop until midnight this coming Sunday (the 12th) with delivery on Thurs., Aug. 9th. See below for updates. To shop go to https://iowafood.coop and log in. If you need help with your username and password, please send an email to info@iowafood.coop

Updates #1:

Susan Smith was a consumer member who switched to a producer member. Her “urban” farm is called Sunny Gardens, and she is starting out by listing Lacinato Kale.

Wilbers Northside Market added two kinds of melons (yellow and red), two kinds of tomatoes (big red and cherry) and two kinds of hot peppers.

TableTop Farm added 3# bags of chemical-free Red Norland potatoes.

Olson Family Farm added bi-color sweet corn.

Huber Family Farm is running a Canning Special on 5 lb bags of Maxibel French Filet Green Beans.

Lee from The Berry Patch writes: “We have added new yukon gold potatoes and eggplant.  We also have cucumbers, sweet corn, tomatoes, chive and plain parsley plants.”

Updates #2:

From Daily Bread Bakery: “A customer wanted us to add our whole grain certified organic hamburger buns, so we decided to try it.”

Holdeman ABF Poultry is a new producer from near Riceville in north Iowa offering antibiotic-free capon products (capons are roosters that have been neutered to improve meat quality).

Wild Rose Pastures listed eight grass-fed beef products for the first time, including t-bone, sirloin, and ribeye steaks. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised with this beef, and our customers have strongly agreed”.

From Good Shepherd Grass Farms: “We are offering 10% off our Filet/Tenderloin, Sirloin, NY Strip and Ribeye steaks. Also, our beef sticks make great snacks – give them a try!”

Crooked Gap added Breakfast Ham Steaks, Maple Breakfast Sausage, Bacon Ends (unsliced), Cottage Bacon Ends, and Jowl Bacon Ends (unsliced). They are also offering a free leaf lard sample for each product purchased this cycle. To get a sample, buy a product and then add product #1708 to your cart.

Dalla Terra Ranch has added honey and grass-fed ground beef for the first time to go along with their lamb products.

 

A Loss So Deep

August 13, 2012
by Gary Huber

To all of our IFC members:

Over the years we’ve become connected to each other’s lives. That can have good parts, but hard as well, some so much so that it pains deeply. On August 6th the family of Mabel Chupp (Country Lighthouse Bakery) experienced a tragedy in the loss of Mabel’s three-day-old granddaughter, Aubrelyn Rene Chupp.

Our deepest condolences go out to Aubrelyn’s parents, Michelle and Levi Chupp, and to Don, Mabel and the rest of the family. Memorial contributions for Aubrelyn may be made in Michelle and Levi’s names to City State Bank, 105 East 2nd Street, Madrid, IA, 50156.

Iowa Food Cooperative

August 13, 2012
by Gary Huber

Some people argue that it is too difficult to buy local products.  It is rare that everything you need is together in the same place and trips to many different stores may be required.  Local products are also limited by season – certain products, especially produce, are only available during specific times of the year.  In the end it’s just easiest to purchase what’s available, regardless of whether it came from a different state or country.


Iowa Food Cooperative is a unique way to purchase local products on a regular basis and allows you to shop from the comfort of your own home. Launched in 2008, the IFC has grown to 650 member-owners, more than 100 of which are producers.  Members can shop online, choosing from almost 1000 products.  Twice a month, members can pick up what they’ve purchased from one of four metro area locations.  Sales over the last two years have exceeded $150,000, 90% of which goes directly to local farmers and producers.  100% of the products sold in the IFC are locally grown and produced.  We have been proud members of the IFC for over a year now and have loved the products that have been available to us.

 

The cost of joining the IFC is $50 with a $10 fee annually after that.  In a recent price check of 28 products against Whole Foods
, it was found that the IFC prices were 22% lower.  Whole Foods aims for 20% of their products to be locally grown or produced (as opposed to 100% at the IFC).  All money spent at the IFC stays in Iowa.  We asked IFC General Manager Gary Huber what buying local means to him;

“Buying local means knowing the people and farms who raise our food – who they are, what they do, where they live, what they value – and caring for them in ways that affect lives for the better, both theirs and ours.”