Sunday, June 21 United Way Day of Action – Farm Work Day
From coast to coast on June 21, the longest day of the year, United Ways across the country will participate in a nationwide ‘Day of Action’ as a call-to-action for individuals to ‘Live United’ – to give, advocate and volunteer on issues relating to education, income or health.
Local Foods Connection is participating by hosting a Farm Work Day on Sunday, June 21 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m at ZJ Farm in Solon, Iowa. We will meet up at the farm at 1:30 p.m. and finish work around 4:00 p.m.
You will be doing farm work on a small, local farm that practices sustainable agriculture. In exchange for your volunteer labor, the farmer will give LFC credit towards food purchases.
No farm experience is required! The farmers will teach you what to do.
To Sign Up
Email or call us to register. LFC office: (319) 338-2010.
Give us your phone number and an email address that you check frequently. If the weather is very bad, the farmer might cancel, and we will need to call you.
Getting to the Farm
A limited number of carpooling rides are available. Let us know right away if you need a ride.
If you have a car, please let us know if you can offer rides to other people.
Preparation for Farm Work
Dress in layers. It might be colder or hotter on a farm than in town. The wind is stronger in some rural areas than in town. You might be working in a greenhouse or a barn and need to take off layers.
Bring a hat. Bring suntan lotion.
Be prepared to get dirty! Bring old towels, garbage bags or similar item to cover your car seats and floors to protect them from mud. You might want to bring a change of shoes, so dirty shoe souls don’t mess up your floors and pedals. You can even bring a change of clothes.
Bring a bottle of water.
Farmers will provide necessary tools for working.
Please show up for the farm work day for which you’ve enrolled! The farmers will prepare for group projects, and if volunteers don’t show up, they will have lost valuable time.
Laura Dowd Photograph Notecards For Sale
Laura Dowd has created notecards from photographs she has taken of scenes on our partner farms and of flowers in the Local Foods Connection office garden. A portion of the profits from the sale of the cards goes to Local Foods Connection. You can find the cards for sale at the Bread Garden (on the ped mall in Iowa City), at the Haunted Bookshop (on the corner of Linn and Market Streets) and at the Cedar Rapids Airport. Local Foods Connection will also be selling the cards to people who visit the office and at fairs, once we have obtained our permit from the state to charge sales tax (in about a month). The cards sell for approx. $3 each and $8.00 for a 3 pack.
Local Foods Connection Blog 