Read stories from Iowa farmers and members of rural communities and learn their favorite recipes in a free new cookbook from the Iowa Farmers Union.

Iowa Farms to Iowa Families: Farm Fresh Iowa Recipes and Stories is a first-of-its-kind cookbook that has recipes to let people know what’s in season, when, and how to cook a delicious, nutritious meal any time of the year. The cookbook is a project of the Iowa Farmers Union, made possible with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP). LFPP funds projects that develop, coordinate and expand local and regional food projects that serve as intermediaries in indirect producer to consumer marketing to help improve access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products.

This cookbook isn’t a simple collection of recipes; each one comes with a story, like Bev Gilbert’s tale of dealing with too much zucchini in her Iowa Falls garden. “Gardening at our house had always been a necessity with three hungry children, but after they left home, we now have the luxury of cutting back. Inevitably, that one hill of zucchini will still produce more than enough for two people. This recipe is one of my favorite ways of using up the surplus. This is a variation of a recipe from my mom’s 1975 Farm Journal cookbook. At some point being overrun by too many zucchini, I was desperately searching for some way to use up enough to make a difference. Because I doubled the original recipe, I froze several loaves and the family discovered that this quick bread tastes just as good in January as it does in August. It wasn’t unusual to have 6-8 loaves stashed in the freezer for the times when there just wasn’t anything in the house to snack on.”

To order a free copy, click here.