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Is anyone else tired of seeing “eco friendly” labels on products with no explanation as to what makes the item eco friendly? I am!!
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Thanks to Jessica for the hot top: Blossom star Mayim Bialik is a total AP mama! Article here.
Don’t have time to make it to the Downtown Farmers Market? Don’t worry, in Central Iowa you can find a farmers market near you almost every single day of the week. Grab your market sack and head out for some fresh local goodies!
MONDAY
Urbandale Farmers Market at Living History Farms
June 1 – October 12
4 – 7 p.m.
Front Lawn of LHF, 11121 Hickman Road
TUESDAY
Johnston Farmers Market
May 26 – October 6
3- 7 p.m.
Johnston City Hall Parking Lot, Merle Hay Road and NW 62nd Ave. Johnston, IA
WEDNESDAY
Drake Neighborhood Farmers Market
June 3 – September 30
4 – 7 p.m.
First Christian Church parking lot 25th Street and University Avenue
Waukee Farmers Market
June 3 – September 30
4 – 7 p.m.
Triangle Park Sixth Street and Ashworth Drive
THURSDAY
Ames Farmers Market
May 2 – October 31
2 – 7 p.m.
Main Street Station, 526 Main Street, Suite 103 & 104, Ames, IA 50010
Highland Park Farmers Market
June 4 – October 1
4 – 7 p.m.
6th Ave. from Euclid to Douglas, west side of street
Pella Farmers Market
May 14 – October 22
3 – 6 p.m.
First Reformed Church parking lot, 603 Broadway St.
Polk City Farmers Market
May 28 – August 27
4 – 7 p.m.
Held in and around the Square in Polk City (Broadway, 3rd, 2nd and VanDorn Streets)
Valley Junction Farmers Market
May 7 – October 1
4 – 8 p.m.
100-300 blocks of 5th Street
SATURDAY
Ames Farmers Market
May 2 – October 31
(Closed July 4th)
8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Main Street Station, 526 Main Street, Suite 103 & 104, Ames, IA 50010
Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market
May 2 – October 31
7 a.m. – Noon
Des Moines Court Avenue District
Madison County Farmers Market
May 16 – October 3
(Closed July 4th)
7:30 – 11 a.m.
Winterset town square
Uptown Ankeny Farmers Market
May 16 – September 26
(Closed July 11th)
8 a.m. – Noon
Uptown Ankeny – Corner of SW 3rd & SW Maple Streets
West Glen Farmers Market
May 16 – September 19
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Avenue of the Arts, one block North of Mills Civic Parkway
Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.
Urban chickens have been popping up in backyards throughout the metro. Des Moines active involvement in the local food movement has the most lenient ordinances in the state for backyard chickens according to the Des Moines Register’s article, City-dwellers look to chickens for food, but some laws say no. I’m one of these people that finally bought my first flock of backyard chickens. My five hens will provide my family 20-25 eggs a week. Raising my own chickens is a natural procession to self sustainability.
This trend, as people like to call it, is exploding throughout our nation. People are turning back the clock 50 years when it was the norm to see backyard chickens. With the sludging economy and consumer awareness of the harsh realization of factory farms, people are becoming more interested in growing and raising their own food supply. Raising backyard chickens happens to be EASY! All you’ll need is chicken feed, a coop for shelter, roosting and nesting and a backyard filled with fresh green grass, weeds and bugs. You’ll have nutritious farm fresh eggs in no time. Chickens are also great with kids. Although not the smartest animals, they do have wonderful temperaments.
Some of the benefits of raising free range hens in your backyard,
- They TASTE so much better! Rich orange yolk.
- Less Cholesterol, up to 1/3 less cholesterol than factory farmed eggs
- Less Saturated Fat
- More Vitamin A and E
- More Omega-3s
If you’re interested in learning more about raising backyard chickens in the metro, please visit and join the facebook group, Iowa Urban Chicken Farmers or www.backyardchickens.com.
Diana Bauman is a Local Spanish foodie. You can view her personal blog at: A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa.
Okay, maybe not great, but I was apparently supposed to introduce myself and missed that memo. I am a full-time mom and farmer outside Des Moines. I have run a not-certified, but organic nonetheless CSA farm, which seems to be changing into a more diverse mix of some veggies, chickens, eggs and fiber. I have two young children, and grew up around the south east Des Moines area. I love living a simple, natural life and parenting in an attachment style. I also am an advocate for natural birth. I love all things food-with an emphasis on local, whole foods, and enjoy making things for family and friends from scratch. My interested are varied and eclectic, and what I am going to contribute here, I am not sure yet, but was pleased to be invited!
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I am hoping if you are receiving this email you are already aware of The Friends of Iowa Midwives legislation this session– HSB 229 The Midwifery Licensure Act http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=BillInfo&Service=Billbook&ga=83&menu=text&hbill=HSB229 and how important it is for midwifery supporters in Iowa.
I know many of you are on the email list for this group, or are at least friends with those of us who have been active on this issue. I am contacting you now… shamelessly begging, actually, for your involvement. I need you to email and call key legislators to let them know that YOU support the licensure of Certified Professional Midwifery in Iowa, and then go through your contacts in email and Facebook to let them know too! This is what grassroots movements are all about! Even if you chose the care of a CNM and haven’t had an out of hospital birth, I urge you to support this for other birthing families in Iowa to have this option.
If you would like to read up on some great fact sheets so you feel more prepared and comfortable in drafting your email…. go here: http://www.friendsofiowamidwives.org/index.html Look at either the Fact Sheet or the Talking Points
Here’s WHO you need to contact ASAP, before the end of the day or tomorrow morning if possible. Our bill will be in Committee tomorrow morning. We need to contact the State Government Committee that could be voting on it to show our SUPPORT. The physician groups have all rallied with a VERY STRONG presence AGAINST this bill, and they have been FLOODING the legislators with calls and emails.
WE HAVE TO COUNTER THIS!! If you know any supportive FAMILY PRACTICE physicians or OB-GYN’s please be talking to them and give them the information about who to contact.
Every one of these people needs a supportive email immediately:
http://www3.legis.state.ia.us/ga/committee.do?id=29&ga=83
State Government Committee:
Mary Mascher (D, District 77), Chair (she is the bill sponsor. THANK HER FOR HER SUPPORT!!)
John W. Beard (D, District 16), Vice Chair
Doug Struyk (R, District 99), Ranking Member
Dennis M. Cohoon (D, District 88)
Jack Drake (R, District 57)
Marcella R. Frevert (D, District 7)
Mary Gaskill (D, District 93)
Charles Isenhart (D, District 27)
Jeff Kaufmann (R, District 79) (co-sponsor, THANK HIM FOR HIS SUPPORT!!)
Kevin Koester (R, District 70)
Vicki S. Lensing (D, District 78)
Dawn E. Pettengill (R, District 39)
Brian J. Quirk (D, District 15)
J. Scott Raecker (R, District 63)
Christopher Rants (R, District 54)
Rod A. Roberts (R, District 51)
Renee Schulte (R, District 37)
Paul C. Shomshor (D, District 100)
Todd E. Taylor (D, District 34)
Roger F. Wendt (D, District 2)
Nathan Willems (D, District 29) (co-sponsor, THANK HIM FOR HIS SUPPORT!!)
Then you need to go here and contact YOUR own State Representative (not Federal). Especially mention if you actually voted for them, they love it!
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/FindLeg/
You can cut and paste YOUR OWN short personal email story to all the different legislators. It doesn’t have to be wordy or complicated.
Important things to include:
DO: Say “Please Support HSB229″ in the subject line of your email.
DO: Urge the recipient to support HSB 229 in the body of the email.
DO: Say who you are. list relevant credentials (nurse, professor, etc.) and give them your address and contact info. Use correct “letter writing” format
DO: If you are a parent who has given birth at home, or someone who wants to have a legal direct-entry midwife attend your next birth, say so!
DON’T: Don’t say anything bad about hospital birth or hospitals or doctors or OB/GYNs. Don’t say their rates of intervention are too high. Focus on the positive things about midwives.
DON’T: Don’t say “lay midwives.” Refer to Certified Professional Midwives or Direct-Entry Midwives.
I can’t stress to you all enough how crucial you and your email support will be to this bill going forward. I have personally been working on this same midwifery licensure issue for TEN YEARS now. We have made some serious progress, but we have to let them know that we mean business.
Please feel free to contact myself or Sabbath if you need any additional resources or have any questions.
Jessica 865-5595 birthworksdsm@gmail.com
Sabbath 779-9033 sabbathd@gmail.com
I look forward to hearing from our legislators about the INFLUX of supportive emails that everyone has received when I am at the capital again tomorrow for Committee!!
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As you know, our family set some goals for 2008 that were of an environmental nature: reduce our exposure to plastics and reduce the amount of waste we produce.
We’re definitely going to keep working on these goals for 2009, but here’s where we stand:
- we got rid of several plastic items and replaced them with cloth, wood, metal, etc. Most recently, we replaced our vinyl shower curtain with a canvas one. (And I love it.) We’ve focused more on nonplastic toys for our preschooler (difficult) and baby (easy).
- we bring in much, much less packaging these days, making less waste. We recycle WAAAY more – and even more now that we have our giant blue recycle bin. Almost no paper goes into the garbage. (We’re still lazy if we’re in rooms that don’t have their own recycle container.) We’re taking the time to collapse containers before throwing them away (like the soy milk containers) so they don’t take up so much room in the garbage. I’ve found even more people to take my cast-off scrap fabrics from my businesses, which is great!
- We have definitely slacked off in the waste arena since the baby arrived in late October. In order to ensure that I eat something resembling actual nutritious food during the day, I’m relying more on convenience foods during the day, which of course, create more waste than normal food does. It’s a trade-off I’m willing to make for a brief time, though, since ensuring I get enough calories to produce adequate amounts of milk is a high priority, and cooking myself a meal from scratch every day at lunch just wasn’t happening, and we don’t always have leftovers to reheat.
But there is still room for improvement. So for 2009, we’ll be focusing again on waste and plastic, and we’ll be adding in some downsizing/decluttering. (I’m already a viscious declutterer, but there’s more I could do.) I’ll post more on the specifics next week.
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The next FOIM meeting will be Nov 23rd at Panera on Westown Pkwy in WDM @ 4pm.
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I’m reposting this from the comments of another post here:
I’m on the steering committee for Friends of Iowa Midwives, a new(ish!) organization working to promote access to VBACs and out of hospital birth through legislation. We are starting a central Iowa chapter and would love for you to add this great group to your resources page and if you can, post about an upcoming meeting on your blog.
We are hoping to bring together women in the Des Moines area to support our legislative efforts in the 2009 session. The first meeting for the central chapter will be held TODAY, Nov 8 at Almost Home birth center in Des Moines at 3:30. Interested women can learn more at our website, friendsofiowamidwives.org, and sign up for the mailing list there. Thanks!!
