If you’ve been enjoying the Online Farmers Market yourself, why not share the joy of local food and farm products with your loved ones this holiday season? From stocking stuffers to gift sets and everything in between, our vendors have a wide variety of gift-ready products available for sale.
We encourage you to use this guide for planning and to explore our Meet Your Producer Page and explore the full list of products for sale through the Online Farmers Market before finalizing your shopping list! We hope to update this guide as we get more information, but the final mix of products available on a given week is typically not set in stone until just before carts open on Tuesday afternoon.
For the Home Chef
The culinary geniuses in your life will be able to enjoy farm-fresh flavor year-round thanks to some of our creative vendors, who have found ways to preserve and package locally grown herbs and produce into delicious seasonings, oils and vinegars.
Olson Garden Market is a popular produce vendor with its own line of “Big O’s” seasonings, made from garlic, herbs and veggies grown right on the farm. The farmers sell individual shakers and grinders of products like rib rub, garlic salt, everything but the bagel seasoning, parsley salts and veggie pepper, as well as pre-packaged gift sets containing some of their most popular products.
The “farmer-entrepreneurs” at Pickle Creek Herbs grow herbs, garlic, tomatoes, peppers and berries on their small, certified organic farm and bottle up those delicious flavors into herb-infused olive oils, vinegars and other value-added products. They attribute the incredible flavor of their products to their original recipes, passion for their plants, and background in chemistry, which helps them get the soil conditions just right. Check out the wide variety of culinary products these farmers offer, including individual bottles of oil and vinegar in multiple sizes, pre-packaged gift sets, and dried herbs.
For the Spice Master
If you know someone who loves to test the limits of their taste buds by experimenting with crazy-hot pepper varieties to see how much capsaicin they can handle, have we got the gifts for you….
Ansel’s Awesome Sauce is “hand-crafted in small batches with the roots and fruits of Iowa,” bottling ingredients from our local growers into delicious, hand-crafted hot sauces. Ansel’s line includes products ranging from “mild” to “Double-X,” with smoky and original varieties. Pick some to suit your loved one’s palate!
In addition to their line of spices and rubs, Olson Garden Market has several kinds of dried peppers for sale! Though hot pepper season ended in Iowa weeks ago, these dehydrated peppers pack all the heat of fresh, local capsicums to be enjoyed all winter long.
For the Sweet Tooth
Almost everyone loves a sweet treat!
Depending on your giving timeline and ability to keep things fresh and/or cold, you might consider gifting baked goods from HIM Hearth N Home Cooking, French pastries from Valerie’s French Cooking (macarons keep well in the freezer!) or frozen yogurt from Yotopia: Iowa City’s Original FroYo.
For a long-lasting sweet treat, check out Skyline Farm’s huge variety of jams, jellies and preserves, available in 1.5 oz (perfect stocking stuffers!) and full-size 8 oz jars. Skyline grows the majority of produce used in their products on their own farm.
For the Caffeine Addict
Though coffee certainly doesn’t grow in Iowa, our two Online Farmers Market coffee vendors bring a special local touch to their grounds. The coffee-lovers in your life will appreciate a cup of high-quality grounds unlike what they may be able to find in their local grocery stores and cafes.
Cafe Del Sol Roasting purchases responsibly-sourced organic beans through a reputable importer that travels to the point of origin and develops long-term relationships with farmers and co-ops. The fluid bed air-roaster they use produces clean-tasting coffee, without a harsh edge. Check out their selection of grounds from all over the world!
Wake Up Iowa Coffee offers organically grown, thoughtfully selected roasts, bagged and bottled in some of the funkiest packaging you’ve ever seen. Check out their selection of grounds, as well as their locally-famous “Cobra Verde” drinks, a citrusy, high-caffeine energy drink derived from Fair Trade green coffee beans.
For the Health Conscious
While fresh produce might not make the best gift (although… why not?), some of our creative vendors have found ways to preserve locally grown goodies at peak-nutrition into gift-worthy local food products.
Hue Hill crafts local veggies into “vibrant, live-cultured, powerfully probiotic fermented foods.” The farm’s line of pickled products includes things like krauts, curtido, brines and kim chi. These products are flavorful, nutritious and great for the gut!
Buffalo Ridge Orchard’s naturally sweet dried apple chips are a healthy snack available as single bags and in 10-bag cases! These chips pack all the flavor of the orchard’s immensely popular apples into a healthy, shelf-stable snack.
For the Self-Care Guru
Anyone who loves to feel pampered can appreciate the value of high-quality local bath and body products. Several of our vendors sell spa-day worthy products made with ingredients from local farms.
Alpaca Fiber Arts LLC sells a wide range of giftable products, including goat’s milk lotion, body butter and soap in a wide variety of fragrances. According to the vendor, goat’s milk is great for moisturizing and exfoliating! Alpaca Fiber Arts also sells hand-crafted apparel, rugs, stuffed toys, dryer balls and decorative items made from alpaca fiber to help your loved ones feel warm and cozy this holiday season.
Rare Bird Soap Shop makes soaps, lotions, sprays, balms and salves, using local, sustainable and organic ingredients whenever possible. The vendor makes all her products on her Kalona farm.
In addition to flavorful oil and vinegars, Pickle Creek Herbs uses their harvest to create herbal soaps, salves and lip balms. We think they smell just as good as the vendor’s culinary products taste!
Tips for Gifting Frozen/Cold Items
Some of our most delicious offerings come pre-frozen, such as high-quality meats from Rapid Creek Ranch and Rehberg’s Pork, sweet treats from Yotopia or burritos from Local Burrito (which Chef Kyle Sieck points out make excellent stocking stuffers!).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture advises that frozen meat shouldn’t sit out for more than two hours, as meat that reaches temperatures of 40 degrees Fahrenheit or higher can begin growing harmful bacteria. Consider whether you or your guests must drive less than two hours with the product out of the freezer. If so, can you keep them in the host’s freezer until you are ready to present the gift, and then put them back in the freezer or refrigerator immediately after opening? Another option is to wrap up a printed paper with a description of the products and present that, with the actual products stored safely away the whole while.
Local Burrito’s products are pre-cooked and then frozen, so they are able to stay out of the freezer slightly longer than raw meats. The vendor advises that his products can stay out of the freezer for up to four hours.
WW Homstead Dairy’s popular flavored cheese curds can be an excellent edible gift as well. The U.S.D.A. advises that cheddar cheese can be considered safe it it reaches temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for up to two hours, but we encourage you to try to minimize time spent sitting out as much as possible.