Grow.Eat.Play
Your guide to local food in the Cedar Valley
Grow.Eat.Play in the Cedar Valley is designed to cultivate a thriving local food culture in our region. We can help connect you with local farmers and producers, farmers markets, and businesses supporting local food. Overall supporting a robust and flourishing local food economy.
Local farms are run by local families who live and work near you! Their products travel less of a distance, so they are often fresher, and more nutritious options. Getting to know where your food comes from is an important key to understanding all its impacts. Choosing to buy local influences: local families, local economies, local communities, and local health. We celebrate each of these impacts as well as embrace the future opportunities we see for local foods in the Cedar Valley. Local food can be part of our favorite seasonal memories such as picking apples at an orchard, visiting a pumpkin patch, or baking and sharing a meal with ingredients purchased at the local farmers market.
Grow.Eat.Play with local food and make memories while supporting local producers and enjoying fresh, local ingredients.
Grow
- Plan and Plant a Home Garden - Learn more about our Garden in Every Lot program and how you could get a garden installed in your yard for free.
- Find local foods near you - You can find farmers and local producers in our local food directory.
- Check out this Seasonal Guide to Locally Grown Produce to learn what's good for pickin' throughout the year.
Eat
- Support businesses that purchase and use local products. You can find grocers, coffee shops, restaurants, and caterers that purchase and use local products.
- Learn more about our Veggie Voucher program and other Nutrition Assistance Programs available for local food purchases.
- Try a new recipe from our partners at Healthy Harvest at North Iowa. You can get the same great local ingredients in the Cedar Valley area!
- Join us each February for our Farm to Fork Dinner. We gather to network, meet local producers & enjoy a local food meal. Check our upcoming events calendar for more information.
Play
- Find a farmers market near you and farms you can visit.
- Get involved in our Cedar Valley Regional Food & Farm Coalition. We lead the Cedar Valley Regional Food & Farm Network. A coalition of individuals, food and farm businesses, and community organizations & leaders working together to positively impact the local food system.
Grow
- Plan and Plant a Home Garden - Learn more about our Garden in Every Lot program and how you could get a garden installed in your yard for free.
- Find local foods near you - You can find farmers and local producers in our local food directory.
- Check out this Seasonal Guide to Locally Grown Produce to learn what's good for pickin' throughout the year.
Eat
- Support businesses that purchase and use local products. You can find grocers, coffee shops, restaurants, and caterers that purchase and use local products.
- Learn more about our Veggie Voucher program and other Nutrition Assistance Programs available for local food purchases.
- Try a new recipe from our partners at Healthy Harvest at North Iowa. You can get the same great local ingredients in the Cedar Valley area!
- Join us each February for our Farm to Fork Dinner. We gather to network, meet local producers & enjoy a local food meal. Check our upcoming events calendar for more information.
Play
- Find a farmers market near you and farms you can visit.
- Get involved in our Cedar Valley Regional Food & Farm Coalition. We lead the Cedar Valley Regional Food & Farm Network. A coalition of individuals, food and farm businesses, and community organizations & leaders working together to positively impact the local food system.