Category: Announcements

Meet Jennifer Miller, IFC’s New Communications Coordinator

May 3, 2013

We are pleased to announce that Jennifer Miller has agreed to help us with our marketing efforts. She’s originally from Chicago where she was most recently a baker at a gluten-free bakery. She’s spent the last few years in Iowa where she’s pursued her interest in food. She’s designed and written food blogs (CinnamonQuill.com) that center around gluten-free and vegetarian eating, including a monthly column with Martha Stewart’s Whole Living website.

Her love for food has now ventured into a love for growing food as well. She’s spent time working on organic farms in Missouri, California, Iowa, Iceland, and Costa Rica. She’s currently starting a community market garden to grow vegetables and herbs in her small yard in Windsor Heights.

Jennifer will be updating our website, increasing our social media presence, and producing our e-newsletter. We greatly appreciate her enthusiasm and skills. She will be a wonderful addition to our team. Please welcome her aboard. You can contact her at wayofbaking@gmail.com.

Iowa Food Coop Spring Open House and Transplant Sale!

April 22, 2013

by Gary Huber

Ben Saunders (Wabi Sabi Farm) at the 2012 IFC Spring Transplant Sale

Come to the IFC Spring Open House and Heirloom Transplant Sale!

Who: 13 different IFC producers

When: 9:30 am-noon, Sat. April 27

Where: Merle Hay Mall (inside south entrance near Younkers)

What: Heirloom tomatoes, peppers, onions, cabbage, leeks, broccoli, brussel sprouts, swiss chard, herbs (basil, mint, thyme, oregano, sage, parsley, rosemary, lavender, chives) plus baked goods, jams/jellies, meats, olive oils, sorghum syrup, soaps and much more!

Iowa Food Coop Spring Open House and Transplant Sale!

April 10, 2013

by Gary Huber

Ben Saunders (Wabi Sabi Farm) at the 2012 IFC Spring Transplant Sale

Come to the IFC Spring Open House and Heirloom Transplant Sale!

Who: 13 different IFC producers

When: 9:30 am-noon, Sat. April 27

Where: Merle Hay Mall (inside south entrance near Younkers)

IFC Annual Potluck and Meeting Is Set For November 3rd!

October 18, 2012

by Gary Huber

IFC members and producers, MARK YOUR CALENDARS! We will be conducting our annual meeting on the 3rd of November, a Saturday, at the Mickle Neighborhood Resource Center in Sherman Hill from 5-7. All members and producers are encouraged to attend! There will also be a tour of the Mickle Center’s kitchen facilities beginning at 4, highlighting the kitchen’s progress to become a licensed facility.

At the meeting we will discuss our struggles and successes over the past year, and where we will go in the coming year. We will also elect new board members. This meeting will be fun and informal, and children are welcome to attend.

Please bring along a main or side dish for the potluck if you can. IFC will provide drinks. Table service is requested as well, we will need some people to bring silverware and plates.

The address of the Mickle Center is:

1620 Pleasant Street
Des Moines, IA 50314

Please contact us at info@iowafood.coop if you have any questions regarding the meeting. We look forward to seeing you there!

Iowa Food Coop Spring Plant Sale and Open House!

April 6, 2012

by Gary Huber

Come join the Iowa Food Coop

April 14, 9:30am to 12noon

for our Spring Plant Sale and Open House!

We will have lots

of transplants for sale,

oodles of baked goods, honey and

many other terrific products for sale and to sample!

We are located in our new space in Merle Hay Mall,

on the south side,

just inside the Kohls – Aeropostale entrance.

See you there!

Fresh greens, ground flour, wheatgrass…it’s March at the IFC!

March 8, 2012

by Gary Huber

The Iowa Food Cooperative – central Iowa’s year-round source for local food – has opened its shopping cart for the next cycle.

Cart Opens: March 8, 2012
Cart Closes: March 17, 2012
Pick-up: March 22, 2012

Choose from over 880 different products from over 40 different Iowa producers.

Highlights:

Olson Family Farm is a new producer-owner from near Madrid that has listed extra large and jumbo brown eggs for the first time this cycle.
Wildwood Farms added fresh salsa (it’s under Prepared Foods-Refrigerated/Frozen)
Fresh Salsa - Medium Hot
Iowa Orchard added 1) frozen pies (in Desserts under Prepared Foods-Refrigerated/Frozen), 2) apple nut, peach, and blueberry coffee cake (in Cake under Baked Goods, 3) apple, cherry, and peach crisps (fresh in Crisps under Baked Goods, frozen in Desserts under Prepared Foods-Refrigerated/Frozen), and 4) dried fruits (in Prepared Foods/Non-Refrigerated).
Grandma’s Soap added pastel & natural color spring egg baskets($7.00 each/3 eggs – just in time for Easter!)
Soap - Spring Basket, Pastel Colors
Krieger Greenhouses is back this cycle with twelve different fresh bagged herbs,trays of live wheatgrass, and a selection of herb gardens.
SalAmander Farms added Marjoram and Sage herb transplants (both can take light frost after they are hardened off, or you can keep them in their plantable paper pots until your ready).
Hedgeapple Farm has split their business in two by moving their fiber products into a new producer identify, which is Hedgeapple Fiber Studio.
The Berry Patch added 4 to 8″ tall basil plants in 4.5″ pots (to put in your window for your own FRESH basil).
Early Morning Harvest added various ground grain and flour products (two-grain cereal, corn flour, corn grits, general purpose flour, wheat cereal), plus a bagged lettuce mix to go along with their lettuce bouquets.
Pure Native added Grain-Free Peanut Butter Cookies (“I’m getting rave reviews on these”) and Snickerdoodle Muffins.
Foxhollow Farmadded duck and goose eggs, plus heritage chicks (to be picked up at their farm near Elkhart) and fertilized heritage-breed eggs (for hatching at home).
Heritage chicks and fertilized eggs

To shop use https://iowafood.coop/shop/ and type in your username and password to log in. If you need help with your username and password, please send an email to info@iowafood.coop

About the cooperative – https://iowafood.coop/

We are back in business!

February 20, 2012

by Gary Huber

The shopping cart is now open!

Shop until midnight on Sat., Feb. 25th, with delivery on Thursday, March 1st.

We’ve completed the move to our new space, which is just inside the south entrance to Merle Hay Mall near Younkers (there’s a big Kohls sign above the door). Note: we are going to a three-week delivery cycle until the growing season, and then delivery will be every other week until Thanksgiving. We’ll place a calendar with our new schedule on the website.

Also, to shop use https://iowafood.coop/shop/ and type in your username and password to log in. If you need help with your username and password, please send an email to info@iowafood.coop

Wildwood Farms is a new producer from Wellsburg. Operated by Lorna Martin, she’s listed 18 baking mixes, 3 soup mixes,3 types of granola bars, and 5 types of roasted nuts. Lorna writes: “We are excited to join the IFC and share the products we love with a new group of local food fans.”
Two Rivers Honey is a new producer (operated by Denise & Kevin Kimsey) based just outside Pilot Mound that has four honey products listed (with more products to come).
Wagner Enterprises added 6 new baked goods items: cornbread muffins, chocolate and regular cheesecake, wet bottom shoo fly pie, baked apples, and old fashioned gingerbread.
Iowa Orchard added 3 new flavors of dried apple rings (regular, strawberry, honey cinnamon – find them in the apple category) and as 12 new gluten-free pies in two sizes.
Grandma’s Soap added Goat’s Milk Soap (local milk) and Castille/Olive Oil Soap.
The Berry Patch listed half pound bags of salad mix (red lettuce, broccoli, white and red kale, arugula) from their greenhouse.
Early Morning Harvest added corn meal and two types of wheat flour made from their certified organic crops.
Novae Vita Farm added various beef cuts from their grass-fed herd of Dexter cattle.
Daily Bread Bakeryadded certified organic whole grain garlic tomato herb bread .
Becca from Crooked Gap Farmwrites: “We just brought another hog back from the locker and have a number of cuts available that were not listed last month. A few of these are Iowa Chops, Butterfly Chops, Bacon, Italian Sausage, and Breakfast Sausage Patties.”
Yoke S Ranch added a rolled rump roast from their Corriente cattle.
Ebersole Cattle Companyadded “Pot Pies FOR Chickens” in the pet food category: “Made with our tallow, these Pot Pies include scratch grains & grit. These will keep,your girls happy & more likely to lay when there aren’t bugs and grass to eat.”
Weisshaar Family Farm added bone-in arm roast and bone-in chuck roast.
Wild Rose Pastures added pre-cooked whole smoked pasture-raised turkeys and grass-fed ground beef from their heritage belted galloway “oreo cattle” breed.
Wheatgrass on the Go added five-inch pots of fresh, live wheatgrass.

Several producers are taking a break: Krieger Greenhouses, Heavy Horses Farm, Live Now Rest Later,Twin Girls Gardens, Grinnell Heritage Farm,Hibbs Farms, Del Gloria Elk Products, and LaVentosa Ranch. Also, Jasper Winery decided to stop offering their products (you can still buy Iowa wine through the IFC from Rosey Acres). Katie with Jasper sent this note: “Thanks so much for the opportunity and good luck with the success of the coop!”.

Local Food Connections Workshop

February 16, 2012

by Gary Huber

News Release for Feb 27 Local Food Connections Workshop

Local Food Discussion Set for Feb 27

Taking the mystery out of the rules and regulations that govern buying and selling locally grown foods is the goal of a workshop featuring Scott Platt with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. Platt, a field inspector with the department and spokesperson for the local food perspective will inform and clarify the regulations for both buyers and sellers desiring to support the demand for locally grown food.

The workshop will be held in two locations on Monday, February 27.

At 1:30 pm Platt will be at the Union County Extension Office in Creston.
From 6:30-9:00 pm, A repeat of the session will be held in Chariton at Carpenter Hall.

The workshop will cover practices and procedures that growers need to be able to address with potential buyers. Southern Iowa Regional Food System Coordinator, Sharon Wasteney, encourages institutional buyers who want to be better informed about buying food from local producers to attend as well. At both sites there will also be discussion of progress on community kitchen facilities. At the Chariton workshop there will be an update on discussions regarding the need for a community kitchen serving that area, and continued plans to cooperate with the Iowa Food Cooperative.

The program is being sponsored by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and Southern Iowa Resource Conservation and Development and is also appropriate for continuing education credit of Master Gardeners. There is no fee for the program but registration is requested by February 24 to insure adequate materials are available for attendees.

Questions and reservations can be directed to Sharon Wasteney via email at sharonwasteney@gmail.com or by calling the Union County Extension office at 641-782-8426 for the Creston meeting.
To register for the Chariton meeting, call Joe Sellers at 641-203-1270, or e-mail sellers@iastate.edu.

2011 Annual Meeting

October 28, 2011

by Gary Huber

2011 Annual Meeting Invite

Please Join Us for the Iowa Food Cooperative’s Third Annual Potluck and Business Meeting

Since launching in November 2008, your cooperative has grown to just over 600 members. Your business is making progress in a number of important areas, but more lies ahead and we need your input and help.

We highly recommend you attend this get‐together to share good food, hear how your business has been doing, and help guide the Iowa Food Cooperative into the coming year.

Date: Sat., Nov. 5th, 2011
Where: LaVon & Craig Griffieon Farm, 11655 NE 6th Street, Ankeny, IA 50021
Agenda:

3:30 to 5:00 pm – Tour Griffieon Farm (optional)
5:00 to 5:45 pm – Potluck Dinner ‐ please bring one main dish and one side dish (a salad, vegetable or dessert), plus your own table service. Drinks will be provided.
5:45 to 6:45 pm – Panel Discussion – What is working and where are we going?
6:45 to 7:30 pm – Annual Business Meeting (including elections of two new board members)

Directions To Griffieon Family Farm:

[simple_directions title=”Griffieon Family Farm” lang=”eng” address=”11655 NE 6th Street, Ankeny, IA 50021″]

New IFC Location in Merle Hay Mall

September 26, 2011

by Gary Huber

One Week Delay for Next Two Distributions

: Updated Distribution Dates

We have been fortunate to have Merle Hay Mall as a partner since we launched in November 2008. We pay utilities and maintenance costs, but they provide us with space free of charge. Someone now wants to rent the space, so the mall has offered us another.

The new location is a portion of the public library that had been located towards the south end of the main north-south hallway that has Sears on the north end and Target on the south. The library’s new building is finished, so they have moved.

One issue is that we are licensed by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, and so we need to get this new space licensed. We have submitted the application, but there will be some work involved. For example, we need to replace some ceiling panels and cover some light fixtures. But the move is potentially a good thing because we’ll have more space, and our adding of more drop off sites makes having more space a nice benefit.

To give us time to get ready, we are going to delay the next two distributions cycles by one week. This means that instead the cart open on tomorrow, it will open a week from Tuesday (Oct. 4th). It will close the following Saturday (Oct. 8th) with delivery of ordered product happening on Thursday, Oct. 13th. The subsequent cycle will also be delayed one week (cart opens on Oct. 18th, closes on Oct. 22nd, with delivery on Oct. 27th), and then in November we go to our normal once-a-month cycle.

We apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause.

We could also use some help with moving our equipment. We’ll let you know when that will happen.

Thanks. Don’t hesitate to reply if you have any questions or comments.

Gary Huber
IFC General Manager