Board member Laurel Tuggle Lacina, food access coordinator Jordan Scheibel, and board member and farmer Tony Vannice
Grinnell Farm to Table provides local food Thanksgiving share to 45 local families, continues to expand food access program to serve local need
A few days before Thanksgiving, on a cold Monday, November 25, staff, interns, Board member Laurel Tuggle Lacina, food access coordinator Jordan Scheibel, and board member and farmer Tony Vanniceand members of Grinnell Farm to Table’s board of directors packed and delivered forty five locally sourced Thanksgiving food shares at no cost to families in Grinnell. The shares contained a choice of meat (either a whole turkey, a beef roast, or a ham roast), produce (sweet potatoes, potatoes, brussels sprouts, carrots, garlic, onions, winter squash, spinach, mixed lettuce, cabbage, and radishes), eggs, milk, and honey. Each share also included a bag of staple pantry and cooking items including butter, dinner rolls, stuffing mix, turkey gravy mix, canned corn, beans, and peas, salt, sugar, pie crust, tongs, aluminum foil, a roasting pan, and a cooking thermometer purchased from Fareway in Grinnell. In addition to individual home delivered shares, Grinnell Farm to Table also made bulk drops of produce and other locally sourced items at the MICA food pantry and Brookside South apartments.
Providing local food Thanksgiving shares is nothing new to Grinnell Farm to Table, which merged with the organization Local Foods Connection in 2023. Local Foods Connection, originally founded and run out of Iowa City over 20 years ago, was moved to Grinnell in 2017 by Melissa Dunham, co-owner of Grinnell Heritage Farm, who also served as its first executive director in Grinnell. In addition to purchasing from local farmers and providing free Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares to families and individuals earning less than twice the federal poverty level throughout the growing season, Local Foods Connection also had a tradition of providing locally sourced Thanksgiving shares to around fifteen to twenty low income households annually. Thanks to increased staffing and funding, Grinnell Farm to Table was able to double the number of recipients of those shares this year.
Former executive director of Local Foods Connection and current board member of Grinnell Farm to Table Laurel Tuggle Lacina notes that in addition to providing food, Local Foods Connection had also typically emphasized supporting the people it served in preparing food in their kitchens at home through providing utensils, appliances, recipes, and in person demonstrations and education. This year, Grinnell Farm to Table continued that tradition by providing a list of the produce provided with storage tips and some simple recipes as well as cooking utensils such as a roasting pan and cooking thermometer. In addition, at the suggestion of one of the families served by Grinnell Farm to Table, additional money was raised to purchase a box of Thanksgiving staples from Fareway to supplement the all locally produced contents.
The food in the Thanksgiving share was sourced from number of local and regional farms including Wild Rose Pastures, B&B Farms, Grazin Cattle, Whippoorwill Creek Farm, Doty Angus Beef, Radiance Dairy, Back Forty Honey, Middle Way Farm,Olson Garden Market, Tangled Roots Farm, Sandhill Acres, Pleasant Grove Homestead, Stateline Produce, and Featherstone Farm. A number of state and local agencies and organizations helped provide funding and support for the local food Thanksgiving shares including Iowa Valley RC&D and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship through the Local Food Procurement Assistance (LFPA) program, Farm Table Delivery, the Grinnell Ministerial Association, Grinnell United Church of Christ, Grinnell Lions Club, Grinnell Rotary Club, and Fareway.
Grinnell Farm To Table (GFTT) connects Poweshiek County area residents with farmers and producers in the surrounding area to create a healthier, more environmentally sustainable, regional food system and increase access to local foods.GFTT runs an online farmers market that is offered once to twice monthly year round. Customers sign up and order online and receive access to a full range of products from twenty or more local producers, including fruit, vegetables, breads, baked goods, milk, cheese, yogurt, meat, tofu, grains, flours, jams, jellies, honey, maple syrup, soaps, and more. The next online ordering cycle opens at noon on Wednesday, December 11 and closes at the end of Sunday, December 15 at midnight. In person pick-up is from 4 – 6 pm on Wednesday, December 18 at the GFTT’s location at 1032 Main Street in Grinnell, next door to McNally’s. There is also a home delivery option. To sign up and place and order, go to grinnellfarmtotable.org and click the “Buy Local Food Here” link.
In addition to its online market, over the last two years GFTT has taken on and expanded the food access program started by Local Foods Connection thanks to funding provided by the Local Food Procurement Assistance (LFPA) program. In May, Jordan Scheibel, owner of Middle Way Farm, was hired to serve as part time food access coordinator to assist current executive director Tommy Hexter. This season, GFTT provided 35 to 40 shares of local produce, eggs and optional milk for home delivery in Grinnell weekly from May to October, with occasional meat and honey also provided. In addition, GFTT made periodic drops of produce and meat to Poweshiek County food pantries as well as funded direct producer drops of meat, produce, and eggs to those same pantries. Over the last two years GFTT has also experimented with providing free and “pay-what-you-can” farmstands at their downtown location as well as off site at low income apartment complexes and during Summertime Art in the Park events.
In 2025, GFTT is looking to increase its local fundraising in order to supplement LFPA funding and continue to maintain and expand their food access programming. One time or ongoing donations to Grinnell Farm to Table’s Local Food Access Fund can be made by clicking the link at their website, grinnellfarmtotable.org. Donations can also be made by check made out to “Grinnell Farm to Table’ with “Local Food Access Fund” in the memo line and mailed to 1032 Main St, Grinnell. Grinnell Farm to Table is a 501c3 non-profit and all donations are tax deductible.
* * * * *
Contact:
Jordan Scheibel
Food Access Coordinator, Grinnell Farm to Table
(641) 821 0753
foodaccess@grinnellfarmtotable.org
Photo 1 – Tony Vannice, board member and owner of Tangled Roots Farm, and Laurel Tuggle Lacina, board member pack produce for Thanksgiving shares
Photo 2 – Board member Laurel Tuggle Lacina, food access coordinator Jordan Scheibel, and board member and farmer Tony Vannice
Photo 3 – Close up of Thanksgiving share contents including produce, eggs, meat, honey, and milk.
Photo 4 – Thanksgiving share produce boxes packed for home delivery along with bag of Thanksgiving pantry staples and utensils
Photo 5 – Free farmstand in common room of Brookside South apartments in Grinnell on Monday, November 25.
