Connecting with the Crew

Greetings from the Farm,Even though it’s February, we still can somehow enjoy these warm days! Miss out on Meet the Farmer? Get to know Farm Manager Andrew Dunham in the profile below!

Getting the Dough : As per special request, this week we are offering limited options from Lyon Bakery until today Thursday, Feb. 9th at 1pm to allow for procurement.

Counting our Eggs: Our Off-Season Retail trial is in full swing! We’re excited to gauge the level of interest in this program, and help relieve some of the…tension around egg availability. You can still place an order until 3pm Friday, for pick up at the Farm on Saturday!

Meet and Greet: Miss yesterday’s Meet The Farmer? We’ll be hosting a Meet the Farmer on March 8th at the Willowsford Boathouse in the Greens . These events are a great way to learn more about Willowsford Farm, our practices and the Farm crew! You can sign up for one of our events here.

Connect With Us : Join us for one of our upcoming programs or volunteer alongside us. Visit the Conservancy Events, Instagram or Facebook pages for details.

Eat well, be well,
– The Willowsford Farm Team

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Meet the Farmer – Andrew Dunham

Andrew founded Grinnell Heritage Farm and farmed with his wife, Melissa, on family land which was settled by his great-grandparents in 1857. Andrew became interested in pursuing a career in organic agriculture while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania. His agricultural and wildlife habitat interests stemmed from his upbringing in northeast Iowa while planting thousands of native trees and shrubs and gardening alongside his parents.

At Grinnell Heritage Farm this led to a growing 25 acres of organic produce, establishing pollinator gardens, seeding cover crops, planting beetle banks, and growing hundreds of thousands of plants for transplant in the greenhouse. These practices have been highlighted during field days by Practical Farmers of Iowa, NRCS, the Xerces Society, and numerous educational institutions.

The Dunhams have been recognized as leaders in agriculture, including receiving an Iowa Environmental Leader award. Andrew has a degree in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University. When not farming, Andrew enjoys spending time with his three children, reading, and exploring the natural world.

2023 Off- Season Retail Program

Willowsford Farm will be offering limited a la carte sales of farm-fresh eggs, meat, pantry products and some root vegetables during the CSA off-season. Our growing season is over, but we have a bumper crop of root vegetables in proper storage to offer along with our Farm Stand pantry products and bounty of eggs. We understand that avian flu outbreaks in commercial operations and ongoing supply chain issues are causing a squeeze at local grocery stores, and we’ve decided to offer a trial program to continue sales of some of our products outside of the regular CSA season. If weekly participation is strong, we will continue to offer this smaller a la carte menu through April. The farm is excited to trial this new off-season retail cycle, which will operate in the following manner:

The Online Farm Store will be open for limited a la carte retail sales 10am Monday through 3pm Friday.
There will be one location option for fulfillment: Saturday Pick Up at the Farm Pack Shed, with two time slots available, 9-10 am and 2-3 pm. We are not offering off-season home delivery.
The cycle will function according to the following example: Orders placed between Monday 1/23 and Friday 1/27 will be available for pickup on Saturday 1/28 during the selected pick-up timeslot. Unclaimed orders will be notified via email EOB Saturday.
A la carte purchases can be made using Store Credits and/or credit and debit cards. Please use your existing Barn2Door account. All inventory will be kept current in Barn2Door, please consider any low stock alerts to be accurate.
Eggs will be available by the dozen, and inventory will be based on flock production. Our current flock has blessed us with abundance, but availability will be on a first-come first-served basis.
Pantry products inventory will be according to current stock. Pantry product items are from the 2022 Farm Stand season and inventory will not be refreshed until the beginning of the 2023 CSA/Farm Stand season.
Root vegetables will be available in current a la carte weights and packages.
Meat bundles will be available for purchase based on current inventory. Throughout the off-season, we will be creating new bundle options as we work towards opening new space in our freezer.
This will be ongoing beginning the first cycle, Monday, January 23^rd tentatively running through Monday, April 24^th. There will be no dedicated email communications announcing the Open/Close of the Online Farm Store, but there will be a reminder with a link to the Online Farm Store page in the weekly Farm Newsletter.
This trial program is interest-based, and we encourage participants to spread the word to friends and neighbors. The Farm may announce and schedule a hiatus of retail sales or make changes to match interest in off-season purchasing. Any changes made will be communicated at least a week in advance.
Questions about the off-season sales program can be directed to farm@willowsfordfarm.com