Tapestry Farms

We are grateful to the Quad Cities Community Foundation for awarding Tapestry Farms a QC River Connections Grant, supporting our efforts to be a good neighbor to the Mississippi River. With these funds, we’re implementing regenerative growing methods, producing food for families with limited incomes, and hiring refugees at a fair wage—especially crucial as refugees are disproportionately affected by global environmental crises. Last week, volunteers and community partners gathered on a former vacant lot in Davenport to plant a berm with native pollinator plants. This revitalization project, thanks to the grant and our partnership with Wild Ones Quad Cities, helps address local environmental issues by promoting native plants and improving regenerative farming practices. We’re excited about the transformation happening on Third and Brown Streets and look forward to growing something beautiful together! 🌿

In our work, we recognize that adult refugees often face immense challenges that limit their ability to volunteer or donate time. Rather, they must focus on providing for their families while adapting to new workplaces and cultural norms, likely without the necessary space to heal from the trauma they’ve endured. At Tapestry Farms, we use sustainable practices that heal the earth while creating employment opportunities for refugees. By hiring refugees, we not only invite them to contribute to their community but also offer the therapeutic benefits of working outdoors in a compassionate, supportive environment. Ultimately, everyone in our community benefits from this approach. 💚

Over the last several weeks, we've had the joy of registering over 75 kids—from preschoolers to high schoolers—into schools across Davenport, Bettendorf, and Moline. Registering kids for school is a task that goes well beyond checking boxes. It's a privilege and a joy to help ensure that every child is placed in the right environment to thrive in their new country. We wish Tapestry Farms families—and all of the kids, families, school staff and teachers in our Quad Cities community—a wonderful school year!

If gardening were an Olympic sport, these oversized zucchinis would win the gold!🥇🇺🇸😜

This summer in central Davenport, something special is happening. Three times a week for six weeks, two dozen students—adults, teenagers, and children with five different languages between them—gather to study English. These classes provide essential English instruction and foster community. This family literacy model, administered in partnership with St. Ambrose University and World Relief Quad Cities and funded by the Supporting Higher Education in Refugee Resettlement Innovation Incentive Grants program, is both beautiful and effective. Here's why: 📗 We hear from refugees that they sometimes find the American lifestyle isolating. Learning together allows them to gather, interact, and build community. 📕 Many language programs, though wonderful, cannot provide childcare, making it hard for parents—especially women—to attend. We are grateful that this program includes childcare just down the hall from the classroom. 📙 On the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, language classes are held in neighborhoods where refugees and immigrants live, providing convenience and accessibility. However, on the Iowa side of the Mississippi, resettlement is newer and families are more spread out. For students who cannot access the Davenport class by walking or by bus, volunteers and staff offer rides. We love this holistic and family-centered approach to education and are grateful for the partnerships and people who make it possible.

Listen to our executive director Saturday at 10 am with Kai Swanson on WVIK!

On Saturdays throughout the season, you’ll find members of the Tapestry Farms team like the mother-daughter duo, Fatima Hussein and Qamar Haddad, at the QC Farmers’ Market working our farm stand. Originally from Syria, the two women (along with the rest of their family) have made their home in the Quad Cities. On the table set up in front of them, you’ll see a variety of fresh, seasonal produce like cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, green beans, okra, lenga-lenga (a leafy green), and African eggplant. We’re new to the farmers’ market this year and it’s a very big deal for our organization. Our seasonal farm manager and youth navigator, Alison Niebuhr, put it best: “Our presence at the farmers’ market puts our mission and purpose front and center. The community can see and participate in our drive to grow wonderful local food and provide a network for the QC refugee community.” Stop by and see us this summer! The market is held at Schwiebert Riverfront Park in Rock Island each Saturday from April to October, 8 a.m.-12 noon. 🥒 🍅

For the past year, a film crew with John Deere has been working behind the scenes documenting our work as we expanded our capacity to grow food—year-round, hydroponically, inside of a refurbished shipping container. We are deeply thankful to the Deere Foundation, as well as additional partners, the Quad Cities Botanical Center, the City of Rock Island, and Freight Farms, for all of the pieces necessary to make this long-held dream come true. Investment in the Quad-Cities' local food systems builds the resiliency our community so desperately needs. At Tapestry Farms, we're working towards our goal of ensuring that every single last one of us in this community has not just enough to eat, but has easy, affordable access to nutrient-dense food vital for a thriving life. We hope you'll watch the video below to see a powerful, three-minute expression of our mission. We hope it fills you with pride as it highlights what we've achieved together.

Celebrate our founder's 50th birthday by donating $50!

Can you help English learning blossom for a refugee family? We're pretty excited to be a part of a six-week summer English learning program for teens and adults, where parents can bring their littles to be cared for while they learn. The Illinois QC has a couple of really wonderful family literacy sites, and now it's the Iowa QC's turn. Transportation is a barrier for many of the families who would like to attend. Sign up to help drive here: https://lnkd.in/gd8DnegE