A letter from our executive director
Dear friends of Tapestry Farms,
Have you ever had the joy of watching a cabbage grow?
It takes a while for the leaves to turn up and curl in to form the layers of this beautiful and nutritious veggie. Good soil, sunlight, and consistent watering are a must to ensure that it grows well. When the cabbage is ready to be harvested, it takes twisting, pulling, and cutting that is quite the physical process. Cooking it up, with oil and other veggies, is an absolute delight. Yum!
I see a lot of similarities between cabbages and the work you help us do at Tapestry Farms. They both take patience, investment, and joy even when challenges present themselves - and the outcome is so good.
What a year it’s been! In preparing this report, we remember all of the joy, hard work, and challenging circumstances experienced in 2021. You were a part of it all - and we hope you will be again in 2022, as we see more opportunity for joy, hard work, and challenging circumstances ahead.
After four years of building a foundation, the dream of Tapestry Farms came to be this year. We hired three seasonal urban farm specialists, through an initiative with Community Action of Eastern Iowa and the Iowa Department of Human Rights. We brought on two people through an AmeriCorps initiative focused on refugees in Iowa. We are growing our community navigator staff, we welcomed our first social work intern from St. Ambrose University, and I transitioned to full-time as executive director. We give thanks every day for our devoted volunteers and donors - without you, none of this is possible.
We grew so much fresh produce. Thanks to the generosity of five landowners, we grew tomatoes, zucchini, onions, garlic, African eggplant (intoryi in Swahili), amaranth (lenga-lenga), potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a host of other fresh items.
We worked through significant challenges with some very dear families. Our social services assist refugees who have been in the United States from one to 12 years. We work intensively with families at first, building systems and relationships. Then, we slowly step back to watch families thrive on their own.
As we look towards 2022 we know:
The Quad Cities could resettle a significantly increased number of refugees from Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Sudan as well as people evacuated from Afghanistan. We look forward to being part of a robust, long-term welcome.
We will expand our food-growing capabilities so we can offer culturally specific, fresh produce to refugee families in our community, people who live with limited resources, and people who wish to purchase shares in our farm in order to support our work.
We will play a leadership role in examining how systems, institutions, and individuals can best acknowledge, serve, and embrace refugees - and then do the work to make it happen.
We are grateful for you and your commitment to this work in the past four years. Looking ahead, without your support, fewer people would have the care needed as they seek safety and an opportunity for a thriving life. Without your contributions, fewer individuals would have access to fresh, healthy, and familiar food. With the challenges that are coming in 2022, we hope you will continue to give and be a part of Tapestry Farms. We appreciate your trust more than you know.
Gratefully,
Ann McGlynn, executive director
563-370-0004