more of what we do

This project is based at a non-profit vegetable farm near Madrid Iowa. There are other locations in Iowa, but the majority of labor needs are at the base site that has about 15 acres of vegetables planted. The current plan for 2023 is grow 13 different types of produce for food pantries. The site has irrigation, produce washing equipment, cold storage and a variety of ag equipment for production.

The base site has a break room, portable toilets, sinks, picnic tables, an area for a bonfire, and plenty of parking.

The Madrid Base Site

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Other Locations

We also use additional locations for some types produce such as green beans, squash and sweetcorn that do not need as much volunteer involvement. We will post specific dates as special events for areas off our base locations.

Setting up the drip irrigation system

Under the black plastic mulch, there is drip tape. This drip tape has a hole every foot that allows us to slow drip irrigate with less water and keep the water from encouraging weed growth.

Volunteer Information

Planting seeds

These volunteers are planting seed along along the drip tape lines.

People power

When we planted sweet potatoes, there were 15 volunteers that helped and they were able to plant over 3,000 plants in about 3 hours.

Planting transplants with a "dibbler"

All of our transplants are planted into black plastic mulch with a dibbler. The dibbler is the hand tool the looks like a "T" that is used to poke a hole in the plastic and the soil. After poking the hole, the transplants are placed into the hole and the soil is "firmed up" around the plant.

Setting up a fence as a trellis

The hogwire fence is put up as a support for tomatoes. As the tomatoes grow, their branches are tied to the fence with twine.

Picking string beans

For many people, this is the first time they have actually gotten into the weeds and picked string beans.

Picking peppers

This volunteer is picking banana peppers. in 2015 we planted over 2,000 pepper plants.

Picking cucumbers

These volunteers are picking cuccumbers. The cucumbers are planted in 300 ft rows and have a white fencing that serves as a trellis. This year we had five rows.