Fresh & Local: Fun on the Farm

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Anchoring the village core on the south side of Cumming Avenue (G14), Middlebrook’s 2-acre town farm brings the Agrihood’s focus on an agrarian lifestyle front and center. For residents as well as locals, the amenity offers any number of benefits — from fresh produce to personal garden plots, Friday night summer entertainment, farming education and expertise, and a venue for private events, photography sessions, classes, overnight stays, and more.

The farm is a cultivated space where farm manager Mosa Shayan plants, tends, and harvests any number of crops, including you-pick blossoms. “The northwest quarter of the garden is devoted to flowers. We provide shears and basic supplies and people can come out and harvest their own bouquets,” he said. The community high tunnel, with 20 beds for neighbors to grow their own gardens, occupies the center of the acreage. The southern half raises produce to stock the farmstand, which in late spring includes “salad greens, green garlic, green onions, kale, radishes, herbs, shiitake mushrooms, and some plant starts,” Shayan said. “The northeast quarter of the garden is an area that I am most excited about for this upcoming season. We are creating a perennial garden comprised of mostly native plants with a meandering path winding through it.” But, he said, “more than any one thing we are growing in the garden, we are attempting to grow an engaged community.”

One way Middlebrook neighbors become connected to the food growing in their midst is through the community farmstand. The garden’s bounty is at the self-service storefront daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.. The stand often sells out quickly of a highly sought-after product: eggs fresh from the community coop. “Our eggs have always been impossible to keep in stock,” Shayan said.

Another high-demand amenity: Fridays at the Farm. From late May through September, every Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., this summer-long event engages not only the Middlebrook community, but also residents of local towns including Cumming, Des Moines and beyond. “We have 700 or more people on an average night,” Kalen Ludwig, director of sales and marketing with Diligent Development,” said of the early evening gathering. The farmhouse’s covered porch doubles as a stage for live music, there are food trucks and a farmers market with local vendors, “and a little VW wine wagon serving beverages. The Mercantile is open during and after — where the music continues — and the chickens are out and about. You can rent a table for the evening or bring chairs and blankets and set up picnic-style. It’s free to the public and a nice chill time,” Ludwig said.

“I love the idea of the garden being a source of ideas and inspiration that nurtures a community land ethic and inspires action in residents’ own yards.” —farm manager Mosa Shayan

Built in 1900, the farmhouse is the property’s original homestead and a fitting reminder of the area’s robust history of family farms. Today, the farmhouse has been renovated to include a modern kitchen and space for hosting a gathering, teaching a workshop, or entertaining out-of-towners to “show them a true Iowa experience,” Ludwig said. “You could easily seat 30 for a private dinner party.” The farmhouse is also available as an overnight rental during the week and in conjunction with private events. The home’s four second-floor bedrooms are outfit for guests to stay over and wake up to sunrise views of the community farm, chickens and the magic of Middlebrook.

But the farmhouse is not preserved for private events. The public may attend ticketed monthly farm-to-table dinners with wine pairings — visit Middlebrook’s event calendar for dates and availability. The farmhouse will also be the venue for community classes that might include cooking, crafts and gardening. Check the calendar for specifics. And the house, farm, barn and meadow are available as dreamy backdrops for professional photography. Contact marketing and event manager Jayne Durnin for information and to book a photo shoot.

Middlebrook’s farm — the 2 acres where flowers and food grow, but also the farmstand, chicken coop and original farmhouse — occupies prime real estate along the community’s main street. In other developments, it might be eschewed in favor of parking or retail space. But not here. In the Agrihood, the farm is the mission. “This was always a bold and ambitious undertaking,” Shayan said, “and it has been exciting to be a part of it and see it play out.”

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