Serving on the Wheatsfield Board

as the student member has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had during graduate school. Before joining, I knew very little about co-ops or what a board of directors actually does. Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to learn about the governance of a member-owned business, the decision-making process, and how a board works together to guide the organization. As a graduate student in sustainable agriculture, it was especially interesting to see how Wheatsfield balances financial responsibility with its mission of supporting local food, environmental stewardship, and the community. Seeing those values put into practice gave me an appreciation for how organizations CAN stay true to their mission while still making thoughtful business/economic decisions. Supporting local producers, promoting healthy food, and investing in the Ames community are priorities that genuinely shape the board’s conversations and decisions.

Beyond what I’ve learned, the people have made this experience especially meaningful. The board has been incredibly welcoming, and I’ve enjoyed working alongside people with different professions, backgrounds, and experiences. Everyone brings unique perspectives to the table, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how respectful conversations and thoughtful discussions lead to decisions that always put the co-op first.

As the student board member, I also had the opportunity to organize graduate student presentation nights, which gave me the chance to think about new ways to connect students with the co-op and encourage greater student involvement. Serving on the board helped me become part of the Ames community beyond Iowa State, and I would encourage any student looking for leadership experience, community involvement, or a better understanding of cooperatives to consider applying.

Alex Ludolph
Graduate Assistant | M.S. Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture Student Association GPSA Coordinator
Robert A. Sloan Graduate Award in Sustainable Agriculture Recipient

Thistle & Yarrow Acres

July 2026 Produce Parable

By Adam Calder, Wheatsfield Produce Manager

Twenty years ago, Abi Stearns was pregnant and living in an apartment just a short walk away from the old Douglas Avenue Wheatsfield location. She would shop at the co-op frequently, and she daydreamed about someday producing something that could be sold there.   

 Here we are today, and the child Abi was pregnant with is now full grown and a mother herself.  Abi and that daughter, Aleya Staines, decided they wanted to create something that would benefit their community that they could hand down to the next generation of their family. Those desires have culminated in their flower farm, Thistle and Yarrow Acres. 

 Making their dream come true was no easy task, and their farm was in rough shape when they bought it. "When we bought this property, this was all just thistles," Stearns said. "We transformed it, pulled thistles, that's why our business is called Thistle and Yarrow Acres. We pulled all the thistles, planted native plants and perennials to revamp the soil, and then when we first got out here, we were doing a little homesteading and we grew all our vegetables when the girls still lived at home. Once they got married and moved off, I thought well, I need something to do, and I don't have enough mouths to feed, so I'll plant flowers!" 

 Most of the farm work is done by these two women. Abi's husband, Joey, helps with the chores, but he has plenty of his own work to do on the farm. "My husband helps a lot, but Aleya and I run the business" Stearns said. "My husband keeps bees and has a sawmill. He does tables and woodworking."   

 Working the land in a healthy, sustainable manner is important to this family, and they go too many steps to ensure this. This is not always easy to do using only organic tools while surrounded by neighbors farming conventional row crops.  

 "Aleya and I have been doing this together, cultivating and learning, dealing with the bugs and the weeds in an organic way, trying to bring life back to this soil," Stearns said. "We're very, very careful with the sprays and we have our bees registered so the farmers cannot spray within a certain distance. Every year we rotate our flowers; it helps with the bugs and the different diseases and things like that. We struggle with the Japanese beetles. I have been playing with my dill; they don't like it! I have been cutting my dill and draping it in my flowers and that's been seeming to help a little bit." 

 Their commitment to sustainability is reflected in several of their farming and homesteading techniques. "We heat the house with a wood burner," Stearns said. "We have irrigation, we collect water off our greenhouse into bins. We save seeds and start almost everything by seed. I don't buy any plugs. We start in February in the greenhouse and grow everything." 

 When asked why she goes to all this effort, Abi explained why such effort is important to her. "I wanted to start something that I could pass on down to my daughter to have her own business., to make this a successful business for her," Stearns said. "And I feel for the florists in the traditional shops, because those flowers they are working with…my sister worked in a flower shop for years. The chemicals that are on these when they import them, you have to deal with them."  

 Abi and Aleya have turned their efforts into a thriving flower farm full of sunflowers, cosmos, grasses, zinnias, yarrow, echinacea, celosia, asters, dahlias, snapdragons, milkweed, borage, dill, mint, sage, cilantro and basil. They did not stop at growing all these plants and have developed their own line of skin care products they make themselves.   

 "Along with the flowers, we also grow herbs and infuse it into our own skin care products," Stearns said. "Our tallow cream, we source our beef fat from Iowa grass-fed and finished farmers. Grandview Beef is one of them. Our rose mist..our wild roses are done blooming, but I collect the petals, I collect the rose hips, I make a hydrosol and mix that with aloe vera juice.  Very simple ingredients. Our nourishing hair mask helps with growth. It is all organic oils, then we infuse that with peppermint and rosemary. We have a men's line with deodorant and hair pomade. We have a beard oil that's very popular, a healing salve for bug bites and stings, and we grow all the herbs for this on our farm."   

 Regarding plans for future growth, Abi and Aleya mused about what they would like to see someday on their farm, possibly involving customers more directly with the farm via their flowers, or as an event venue for weddings and celebrations. "We have you-pick out here sometimes," Stearns said. "The only thing is we don't have a public restroom so we can't have real big events until we figure that out."   

 Wheatsfield Cooperative is excited to start a new chapter with a new local farmer. We look forward to many years of business with Thistle and Yarrow Acres, and we welcome them into our Wheatsfield community.