Maestro Empanadas
When Christian Bejarano and Marta Hamity moved to Iowa from Argentina, they had trouble finding their favorite food: the empanada. They got cooking and quickly earned a cult following.
Coralville, IA
Crystal Forestry Project
Type: small business
Produces: Household Cleaning Products
Location: Iowa City, IA
Miles from Coop: 2
“I wanted to bring sustainable cleaning products to market that are fun to use and smell fabulous.”
May, owner of The Crystal Forestry Project, has been making natural products for over a decade for use at home and in her work cleaning professionally.
She came up with the line to help families reconsider what cleaning products can be made from. Using a combination of natural ingredients, May leaned into elements from earth, water, and plant life.
She adds,
”While cleaning for a living, I found the unique fragrances and minerals made cleaning more enjoyable than working with traditional products, without compromising effectiveness.”
“Often, people clean with products that contain lots of chemicals and artificial fragrances, that when flushed into our drains or environment can have toxic effects over time.”
The right combinations of plant extracts and natural ingredients can make powerful cleaners for everyday use with less impact on the environment.
Crystal Forestry Toilet Cleaning Crystals are made with cinnamon and rosemary, the herbal vinegar concentrates contain herb extracts, and the multi-purpose concentrates contain lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus and mint essential oils.
Crystal Forestry cleaners are also infused with quartz minerals for a clean, neutralizing solution with no abrasiveness.
From cleaner to container, May’s focus is on keeping her product line as sustainable as possible. Using reusable dark glass bottles with concentrated solutions, customers can buy the spray bottle once and purchase the concentrate when they need to fill up.
“In our grandparent’s generation there were a few home remedies used to clean around the house. Now there are literally aisles of products that are made to clean one or two things. People can reduce their cleaning supplies greatly with just a few simple products.”
Try Crystal Forestry Project cleaning solutions in your home for a naturally fresh and clean finish.
Other Local Producers
Be sure to check out these others great local producers!
Hue Hill
Hue Hill crafts farm grown vegetables into vibrant, live cultured, powerfully probiotic fermented foods.
Iowa City, IA
Echollective Farm & CSA
Echollective Farm feels more like a family than a business. Members of this collective garden and CSA make their decisions gathered around the kitchen table.
Mechanicsville, IA
Beeler's Pure Pork
Their Heluka® breed and method of farming focuses on keeping their hogs stress-free: raising them with compassion, plenty of access to spacious bedded areas and sunshine, vegetarian feed, and no antibiotics or hormones.
Le Mars, Iowa
Garden Oasis Farm
You realize what you’re taking care of right now is going to provide a year’s worth of produce.
Coggon, IA
Hedge Apple Kombucha
Lindsey and Kyle operate their kombucha micro-brewery with sustainability and harmony with the land in mind. Using locally sourced medicinal plants, they aim to celebrate 1-2 ingredients in their recipes.
Fairfield, IA
Trowel and Error Farm
Carly Andrews was inspired to start farming after attending The University of Vermont, and learning about the local foods movement. After seeing a panel of all women farmers in her undergrad, she decided to try it out for herself.
Iowa City, IA
O's Grill
From a humble hot dog cart to a food truck and now a brick-and-mortar restaurant, O’s Grill has been serving fresh, flavorful Mediterranean cuisine to Cedar Rapids for over 15 years.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa