Field to Family’s online farmers market is returning in May, offering a wide variety of locally grown food just as it has before.
“Sweet corn, greens, apples, radishes — we’re going to have it all,” Field to Family Executive Director Michelle Kenyon told Little Village.
But when people place their orders and where they pick them up will be different.
Ordering this year will take place from 8 a.m. on Monday until noon on Tuesday, and orders will be ready for pick up on Thursday afternoon and evening, instead of Saturday. This will fill the weekday gap for fresh, local produce created this spring, after Iowa City canceled the Wednesday sessions of its farmers market. But the change in Field to Family’s schedule has nothing to do with the change to the city’s farmer market, held in the Chauncey Swan parking ramp.
Field to Family also serves wholesale customers, such as K-12 schools, retirement communities and colleges. Moving the pick-up day to Thursday will make it easier for the farmers who provide locally produced goods for the wholesale program to also participate in the farmers market, Kenyon explained.
“This makes it so our farmers can drop off the wholesale orders and the farmers market orders at the same time,” she said.
The nonprofit food hub has a new, and much larger, warehouse space in Iowa City’s South District at Pepperwood Plaza (1049 Hwy 6), and instead of picking up orders at the Johnson County Health and Human Services parking ramp, farmers market patrons will drive up to the warehouse doors behind Pepperwood Plaza, where the South District mural is.
“We’ll have instructions for people on where to stop,” Kenyon said. “Our warehouse door is located in the blue part of the mural.”
Home delivery of orders will again be an option this year. CHOMP partnered with Field to Family last year to offer home delivery at no cost to farmers market customers in Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Hills, Lone Tree, Tiffin, Swisher, Shueyville, Solon and West Branch.
The online farmers market began as a collaboration between Field to Family and the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department in May 2020, when the spread of COVID-19 caused the cancellation of the Iowa City Farmers Market. And when in-person shopping returned to the Chauncey Swan ramp last year, Field to Family continued on its own with the online farmers market.
“Our goal is to make healthy and local food more accessible,” Kenyon said.
As with any farmers market, offerings and vendors change slightly from year to year. Field to Family will be offering organic grains from Early Morning Harvest in Guthrie County for the first time.
“We’ll have corn meal, bread flour, buckwheat, dark rye flour and all-purpose flour,” Kenyon said. “And different grains that aren’t typically available locally.”
The online market will open for its first orders of the year at 8 a.m. on Monday, May 2. As in previous years, ordering will be done through Field to Family’s website.
The nonprofit is still looking for volunteers to help assemble and distribute orders on Thursday. Anyone interested in help, or in other volunteer opportunities at Field to Family, can find information on its website.