Urban Farming in Iowa with Jenny Quiner
Farming in Iowa is not all unusual, but urban farming is definitely in the minority. Jenny Quiner is a vegetable farmer in Des Moines, IA - in this episode she shares her 'speed bumps and hiccups' while navigating regulations, policies and the learning curve in bringing this type of agriculture to Iowa.
GUEST
Jenny Quiner, Dog Patch Urban Gardens
Dogpatch Urban Gardens (DUG) is an urban farm located in Des Moines, Iowa. Dogpatch Urban Garden's property is on one acre of land. On that acre, we have one high tunnel, two grow plots, the DUG FarmStand, an "Urban FarmStay" (Air BnB), and green space for events.
DUG grows annual vegetable crops using biointensive growing practices. We just finished our second growing season, and in 2017 we produced over 7,500 pounds of organically grown food for citizens of Des Moines!
Our farm slogan is, "Cultivating Community," and in our two years of business we have loved the support from our community. 95% of our produce is sold within 10 miles of our farm, and that is a number we are proud of! Selling our produce locally allows customers the freshest and highest quality produce possible. It also lessens our ecological footprint. Our farm tries to be as environmentally friendly as possible. We are constantly working to enhance our soil through the use of compost, cover crops, worm castings, and minimal tillage/disturbance. We do not use tools that rely on fossil fuels, we do not use synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides, and since most items are sold close to our farm we don't depend large amounts of gasoline for deliveries.
We are a unique business to the Des Moines area because we have an onsite FarmStand. The DUG FarmStand sells our produce (grown on site), but we also source other items from local growers/producers. We sell milk, cheese, eggs, meats, salad dressing, spices, oils, vinegars, jerky, honey, tea, maple syrup, jams, mustard, granola, sauerkraut, BBQ sauce, pasta, salsa, bread, baking mixes, soups, fruits, and vegetables all local to Iowa. Our FarmStand allows Dogpatch Urban Gardens to be a sustainable business while also supporting other local growers/producers.
“Farming isn’t as easy as it looks on Instagram!”
Images from our visit with Jenny in September 2017
LINKS AND RESOURCES
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dogpatch_urban_gardens/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DogpatchUrbanGardens/
Website - www.dogpatchurbangardens.com
This urban farmer is changing the Des Moines foodscape - Des Moines Register
IN GRATITUDE
Thank you to Frank Ozmun of Public Market Goods for creating this tee-shirt opportunity for the podcast to stand up that stool of sustainability.
Thank you to Joe Mulkern for writing and performing our theme and show song.
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