EIF-B_Where We Come From

COMMUNITY TAPESTRY
Organization weaves tapestry of
FOOD, FARMING
and COMMUNITY
With deep roots
in farming, refugees
from Africa and
beyond work the land
and grow vegetables
to feed local people
BY NANCY MAYFIELD
EASTERN IOWA FARMER
Ann McGlynn grew up on a
small family farm in Eastern
Iowa, where her parents,
Frank and Chris, still live
and grow corn and soybeans.
“My mom and dad are very hard workers,”
she said, recalling the example they
set for her and her two siblings during
their youth when the operation included
cattle and pigs in addition to crops.
“My dad still works seven days a week
as a farmer. It’s who he is. My mom also
has this tremendous work ethic. They are
devoted to family,” she said. In 2022, they
received a Century Farm award.
The farmers McGlynn works with
today as the executive director of Tapestry
Farms – a Quad Cities-based nonprofit that
grows food and hires refugees – are much
newer to Eastern Iowa but also come from
backgrounds deeply rooted in family and
agriculture.
“A lot of the people we work with are
refugees. They have been forced to leave
their home country because of violence or
poverty,” McGlynn said, adding that some
of them have lived in a refugee camp for a
decade or more after fleeing such countries
as Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi
and Rwanda.
“Many bring a farming background
with them. They arrive here and live in
an apartment where they don’t have land
to tend, but they bring farming skills with
EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO / CONTRIBUTED
Ann McGlynn displays some bounty from a
garden cared for by Tapestry Farms, a Quad
Cities-based nonprofit that grows food and
hires refugees.
eifarmer.com SPRING 2024 | EASTERN IOWA FARMER 35