Urban farming has so much potential but it can be hard to make a living doing it. With the economy today, every city and town seems to have more people experiencing homelessness. In Iowa, there is a unique approach connecting individuals utilizing services at Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS) to fresh local food in a win-win and a unique farm right downtown.

Urban farm manager Aaron Thormodsen and Josh Spain who connects the farm program to culinary efforts at the facility and to restaurants in town sit down with Janice to talk about what the program is seeing, how trainees and local chefs are finding more common ground and more in our latest episode.

(A transcript on this Mulberry Farms episode created by AI is available here.)

CISS was founded years ago in response to a storm in 1992 when sadly five men died on the streets of Des Moines. Despite the freezing temperatures of winter, they were denied by area shelters because they were intoxicated. With nowhere else to go, they went to sleep outside and didn’t make it through the night. CISS was created to offer the city’s residents a place of refuge that doesn’t require sobriety. And they continue to offer unique services.

Nutritious Food a Priority

It didn’t take long for the staff to realize that nutritious food would be an important piece of serving people who were in need of their services.

The facility has been growing vegetables every summer for years but this winter, they opened a greenhouse. Now, some of the people looking for the next steps to housing and employment are spending time planting seeds and growing job skills and their confidence too.

There are other areas of the shelter that also help build skills, etc including working with the chef in the kitchen, working on the building’s upkeep, etc. Trainees frequently enjoy finding the right place to contribute while they are working through paperwork and all the other pieces of housing, employment, etc.

Aaron tells us, the trainees work for a max of 4 hours per day to insure they have plenty of time to work on the other areas. Meeting several trainees during this greenhouse tour, it felt so incredibly positive that I couldn’t help but be moved. I will say, it did give me trouble with the audio though — LOL!

Connecting to Local Chefs

A key factor that sets Mulberry Farms apart from other urban agriculture projects is its close connections with chefs and restaurants in the area. From the very beginning, the team saw potential in partnering with local chefs and restaurants to provide fresh, high-quality produce, while also supporting the local food scene.

This partnership has proven to be a win-win situation for both sides. Chefs and other food professionals get access to a reliable source of local, sustainably grown produce, which helps them to create unique, flavorful dishes. Meanwhile, Mulberry Farms is able to generate revenue by selling their produce, which in turn helps to fund their job training and support programs for people experiencing homelessness.

But Josh tells us the connections with chefs and restaurants go deeper than just a business partnership.

Local chefs have also been involved in helping to shape the production and direction of Mulberry Farms. Josh and Aaron have regularly sought feedback and ideas from chefs when deciding what to grow — either because of limited availability or shipping complications.

This has allowed Mulberry Farms to focus their efforts on growing the most sought-after produce, and has helped to ensure that their products are always in high demand. And a production continues to increase, more locals will have chances to purchase this produce locally.

Learn More about the Urban Farm & Shelter

• The CISS shelter website and the site’s Mulberry Farms page
• The Shelter’s Facebook Page
• CISS on Instagram

If you would like to support the Mulberry Farms program & planned agrihood, you can donate to the greenhouse program or purchase some things from the farm’s Amazon wish list and have it shipped directly! There is also a wish list for the shelter if you’d like to provide some of the items needed there as well. And people in Iowa are encouraged to come volunteer in person. Lots of groups organize volunteers days as does the shelter itself. You can see more on the CISS how to help page.

The post Homeless to hopeful: How urban farming is changing lives in an Iowa shelter appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Not every crop needs the bright sun and blistering heat of summer to flourish. In fact, some of our most familiar vegetables are considered cool weather crops, meaning they may do even better in the early spring and fall than in the middle of summer when all the other crops are growing like crazy. Some examples of cool weather crops include broccoli, cabbage, and other brassicas (relatives of the wild mustard plant: kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and more). Other crops include lettuces, carrots, peas, onions, and the list goes on!

Why Cool Weather Crops?

Growing crops in cool weather, whether on the farm or in the backyard garden, can have some distinct advantages, the biggest of which is a reduction in insect pressure. This means, fewer bugs are around to gobble up the vegetables. It is a lot harder for cabbage moths to lay their eggs with an autumn breeze nipping their wingtips. In addition, these cold- and frost-hardy plants mean farmers can extend their growing seasons into times of the year when they wouldn’t normally be able to farm. Some crops even taste better with a little touch of cool weather, due to plants producing sugars to protect themselves from freezing.

What does this mean for farmers?

Planning for cool weather crops can be a critical part of a farmer’s year. A few years back, I got the chance to visit a friend in Virginia with plans for getting broccoli and cabbage ready to grow for places like Whole Foods and Ingles’ Markets. He lets his seedlings grow in a hydroponic system so the seedling trays are kept in water.

This method ensures his seedlings are healthy and strong when it comes time to plant them out. When the weather is chilly, they grow under tunnel greenhouses, and when things warm up, they open their greenhouses up to let the seedlings bask in the fresh air. In the below picture, you can see how similar the seedlings look! The main way to tell the broccoli apart from the cabbage is the slight color difference.

On the Podcast

We’ve talked to several farmers who grow crops that do well in cool weather.

Lettuce, especially head lettuce (like iceberg) is a great crop to grow when the weather is cooler. Way back in 2019, we talked to lettuce farmer, Jon Dinsmore. You can also check out a tour of his lettuce farm in Arizona.

Onions are another crop that can be grown in the cooler months. In fact, for onions to produce seeds, they need to overwinter! Check out our talk with Shay Myers of Owyhee Produce and see a video of the unique way onions are harvested.

And if you want to know more about gardening, urban farming, and how you can get started with your own cool weather crops (and warm weather crops, for that matter), you should really take a look at the We Sow, We Grow program, led by Natasha Nichols up in Chicago. She’s doing incredible work and helping gardeners of all levels and backgrounds grow food.

The post Cool Weather Crops Means Fall Farming appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Jonathan Dinsmore farms with his father in Yuma, Arizona. They’ve been growing lettuce for decades already.

Dinsmore Farms produces head lettuce (iceberg lettuce), fresh romaine and romaine hearts, red & green leaf mixed lettuce and alfalfa hay.

Romaine and romaine hearts are frequently grown from the same seed but farmers like Dinsmore plant the fields that will be harvested as romaine hearts more closely together so the plants will remain more columnar.

We talked a good bit about how his family looks at lettuce. Romaine hearts are a favorite of his but he loves a wedge salad with iceberg, his son agrees. But cultural issues early on for one of the kids means a funny story. He also throws romaine hearts on the grill. 

Growing Lettuce & Followers

Jon has enjoyed getting to know other farmers growing lettuce in Michigan, Florida and Colorado &  they stand in touch via social media. He’s especially a fan of Instagram where he is @TheFarmerJon.  His love of photography has a family history too. Enjoys accounts like RAM628 (https://www.instagram.com/ram628/), Trevor Bales of @BalesHay https://www.instagram.com/baleshay/, and Jay Hill @HillJay45 https://www.instagram.com/hilljay45/.

On the farming side, Jon is looking forward to doing more drip irrigation is a method of putting water right in the root zone.

Food safety — there have been times when lettuce was having concerns. Jon stresses food safety and he sees the farmers in his area all looking at this. The Leafy Greens Marketing Association and the Yuma Safe Produce Council. These groups have been showing the kinds of water testing, employee training, field measures, etc. and now we are going further to sanitize irrigation water for 21 days prior to harvest.

Irrigation water in Yuma comes from the Colorado River. It is valued, conserved and efforts made to limit foreign objects, and now they are sanitizing the water.

Workers in the field have a number of precautions to take, including rubber boot, gloves, sometimes customers ask us to go above the standards too. Standards also require inspection for animal tracks, etc.

They want to be sure vegetables going onto the plates are as safe as possible. That said, we should all always wash your lettuce.

Take a Farm Tour with Jon

Before we recorded this episode with Jon, he gave me a tour of the farm, showing us some of the things he talked about. Check out that video tour and more on the post “Visiting a Lettuce Farm — Where Salads Get Their Start.”

The post Growing Lettuce Farming, Food and Family with Jon Dinsmore appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

The crisp of iceberg or romaine lettuce… There is nothing like it. And while salads are really common, it is pretty unusual to visit a lettuce farm. That’s why a tour with Jonathan Dinsmore (@TheFarmerJon on Instagram) of Yuma, Arizona hit the spot.

Jonathan farms with his dad and took some time out of the field to interview for one of the initial episodes of the Grounded by the Farm podcast. And if you have listened to that episode, you may remember us mentioning the shop where we sat at a picnic table to do the interview. Here’s the selfie we promised! Before we did that interview, Jon gave me a bit of the tour of the family’s farm in Yuma, Arizona and the video follows… We hope the video really adds to the podcast experience — hopefully some listeners will enjoy seeing the farm. You’ll also get a great feeling for Jonathan’s personality… he’s a great guy.

Lettuce Farm & Mountains?

Driving around Yuma, you see some rather rugged looking mountains on the horizon. Though Jon jokes a lot of people would say they just are hills, they look like the mountains in western movies. This recent photo of Jon’s will show you what he means.

 

 

 

 

 

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Black Friday special on the farm. Fresh air, muddy roads, and beautiful views. #thefarmlife

A post shared by Jon Dinsmore (@thefarmerjon) on Nov 29, 2019 at 8:01am PST

A newly planted field of romaine was planted the day before we visited. The crop is planted six lines/rows on a big bed or two rows on small beds. He explained that the seed takes 5-6 days to produce a plant that can emerge from the soil and be harvested a couple of months later. And lettuce can also get from the farm to customers in 2 days to a week.

The Dinsmore farm some land they own but have also been working with a range of landlords to lease more than half of the land they farm. And they frequently work out a cropping plan that allows them to rotate with other farmers.

Photography and Family

Jon has enjoyed taking photos since he was a kid — he loved capturing the moments and found that he really enjoyed some of the mess ups with double exposures, etc. It wasn’t until his grandpa passed away that Jon realized it was also a bit of a family legacy. As he tells the story, I have to say the passion is palpable!

Pairing that love of photography with social media — especially Instagram — has been a great fit for him. He loves the give and take and has built a network that he never expected including people in his hometown, farmers at great distances and more. He shares his farm and family, this recent photo shows, the combination delivers!

The post Visiting a Lettuce Farm — Where Salads Get Their Start appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.