Tapestry Farms Field Trip

Things you would expect to be raised on an Iowa farm: corn, soybeans, hogs, cattle… tapestries? I may be a city girl, but I know tapestries are not grown on farms.

All silliness aside, I asked Tapestry Farms Executive Director Ann McGlynn the meaning of the name for the nonprofit urban farm system she founded in 2017.

Ann shared, “Tapestry comes from the great Maya Angelou - ‘We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.’“

Tapestry Farms artfully weaves refugee families into the fabric of our community.

All people served by the agency are people of color who have been forcibly displaced from their homes.

The vast majority qualify as low-income. And 70% are children. Most of the remaining 30% are mothers. The single-parent-led households might have as many as 6-8 children.

Language is but one of many barriers refugees face. They often lack food and housing; the children need schools, and parents must find work. Their physical health may have been neglected after years spent in refugee camps, and their mental health impacted by extreme trauma.

Guests to Tapestry Farms enjoy beautiful fiber art by Shelia Mesick

I visited Ann last spring in their cozy cottage in Davenport’s Annie Wittenmyer complex. My visit to the thriving social enterprise happened to coincide with planting season. By next year’s harvest, Tapestry Farms must have a new home.

Annie Wittenmyer is being transformed into affordable housing. The stress of finding and moving to a new location is lessened because Ann can envision what those houses would mean for her clients.

Tapestry Farms provides a robust welcome to the families that come to them, mostly through word of mouth.

The time and attention spent with families limits the number of clients they can serve. Ann will tell you “anything we do with families takes a long time.”

Not surprising when “anything” might be driving a child to pre-school, enrolling a mother in WIC, preparing a teen for a driver’s license, or walking with a client on the path to citizenship.

A Better Health Foundation grant allowed Tapestry Farms to hire a Community Navigator to help families access the WIC program for healthy foods.

While the organization tends to its relationships, it’s also growing gardens in several QC neighborhoods that will feed families in need.

What little I know about Iowa farming is that it produces a strong sense of community and collaboration among growers. Tapestry Farms makes me Iowa proud.