I know several farmers market vendors who donate vegetables left over after markets to food pantries. Now, these charitable farmers can be rewarded for their good deeds through a new program. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Northey, announced the following this week: FARMERS DONATING FOOD ELIGIBLE FOR TAX CREDIT
Cool coop; City Council to look at chick...
NORTH LIBERTY – The North Liberty City Council will consider readopting the town’s urban chicken ordinance at its meeting this Tuesday, Nov. 11. Just over a year ago, the council approved the ordinance, which allows residents to keep up to four hens in city limits. Roosters are not allowed. At the same time, a clause […]
Digital divide? New options battle tradi...
Just this week, Overstock introduced a nationwide, online means of ordering fresh farmers market produce that can be delivered to your door. While the Salt Lake City-based business touts its national scope, it hasn’t yet made its way to Iowa. Still, just last night, ProduceRun officially launched in Cedar Rapids and the web-based Iowa Valley […]
Digging deeper into Greene Square in dow...
CEDAR RAPIDS – Park-goers will experience new lighting, a water feature and improved outdoor seating in downtown Cedar Rapids, after the City Council approved the Greene Square revitalization design plan at its meeting today. Work will likely begin next spring on the $1.95 million project, to be paid for through a private and public partnership […]
University of Iowa to host Iowa Organic ...
A well-respected fruit grower spoke to me at length during a recent farmers market. One of the points he noted was the challenge in raising food organically in Iowa. “Too many critters,” he said, in reference to the insects and other pests that tend to attack produce crops. Many of the growers I know are […]
Online vs. old-fashioned: farmers market...
By Cindy Hadish High-tech means of selling fresh produce and other farm products aren’t necessarily at odds with the “old school” method of face-to-face sales at farmers markets, according to local foods advocates. That perception will undergo a test as the winter farmers market season gets underway, at the same time two online sales platforms […]
Tapping into nature in Iowa City
By Cindy Hadish/for Radish Magazine IOWA CITY — In the hands of children, sticks create walls for fairy houses, oversized zucchini turn into canoes and wooly bear caterpillars become pets for an afternoon. That imagination, and freedom, are what Iowa City-based Taproot Nature Experience taps into and fosters during its outings for area youths. Zac and […]
Spooky Halloween forecast: hard freeze p...
No more procrastinating. If you’ve been lucky enough to escape the frost so far, you might have delayed those last-minute harvests of tomatoes, peppers and other veggies, but the clock is ticking. According to the National Weather Service, frost is likely in the Cedar Rapids area Thursday night and a hard freeze – with temperatures […]
Pumpkin shopping and another neighborhoo...
I don’t recall ever buying pumpkins from a grocery store, as I’d rather see that money go directly to the farmers who haul those heavy loads to a farmers market, or right on the farm, as I found at a stop this weekend near Chelsea. Still, I can see that many people rely on their […]
Last call: Season ends soon for Iowa’s o
The final outdoor farmers markets of the season are fast-approaching. Many markets ended their seasons last month, but nearly 20 in Eastern Iowa will continue for another week or so. You can still find potatoes, cabbage, fall root crops such as beets, tomatoes, winter squash and more, along with locally raised meat, eggs, honey and […]