ABC Acres brings the farm to Eastern Iowans’ tables

It all started four years ago with a roadside produce stand and some tomatoes.

Abby Costello, a single mom and then-hair stylist, needed to get her son to Iowa City for a medical appointment. Costello told The Gazette she had “too much pride” to ask her parents for help.

  Buy Photo

“I didn’t have any fuel money, but I had tomatoes,” Costello said.

A customer stopped by the stand and asked Costello why she wasn’t selling produce full time. When she explained she needed some money to get to Iowa City for her son’s appointment, he bought all of the tomatoes and gave her an extra $20.

“That put a bug in my ear. Like I really do have a talent in a garden, and I really was raised around this, and why aren’t I using this?” Costello said.

She continued selling her extra vegetables on the roadside, setting up shop during rush hour on Mount Vernon Road SE.

“And then it sort of exploded to the point where I had to start buying stuff from other locals,” Costello said.

Karen Costello said her daughter has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

“And here we are, proving that you can do this in a big town like Cedar Rapids,” Karen said.

Over the next few years, the business expanded to farmer’s markets and selling goods at Abby’s parent’s farm in a building she and her best friend renovated.

The ABC Acres farm store, 6657 Mt. Vernon Rd. SE, is filled with farm fresh items, beef, goods made in Iowa and customer favorites — like Karen’s pickled onions.

Last November, ABC Acres opened a stall at NewBo City Market, just five miles from the farm store. The expansion was meant to be a seasonal offering, but Abby decided to stick around after finding success.

The NewBo City Market location sells products made in the Midwest like beef jerky, beef sticks, honey, jams, spices and seasonings — “everything you would find in a gourmet food basket or a charcuterie board,” Abby said.

At the NewBo location, ABC Acres can take orders for raw milk, eggs and beef, which must be purchased off-site.

“We try to steer clear of antibiotics and we don’t use any added hormones in any of our beef, milk, eggs, anything like that,” Abby said.

If you go:

Farm Store Address: 6657 Mt Vernon Rd., Cedar Rapids

NewBo City Market Address: 1100 3rd St. SE, Cedar Rapids

Website: abcacresiowa.com

Phone: (319)-929-5353

Hours: See website as hours change by the season

Details: Local farm sells produce, farm fresh eggs and raw milk among other made in Iowa and Midwest products across two locations.

Abby also holds “Make It, Don’t Buy It” classes online and at NewBo. At a recent butter making class, students took cream and made it into a butter board display.

ABC Acres is a family operated business. Abby’s dad, Tim Costello, helps out with the livestock, and Karen works in the farm store and behind the scenes.

“My son is seven and he, almost every week, stacks eggs,” Abby said.

Years later, ABC Acres still has a strong presence at area farmer’s markets, selling cut flowers and produce. They also give customers the option to pre-order online and pick up at the market.

The Costellos have witnessed a growing trend of people wanting to know where their food comes from and turning to local producers. The farm store has become a part of locals’ weekly routines.

  Buy Photo

“I think the return customer is the validity of what we see and why they come,” Karen said.

“They always know there will be a little something new.”

Raw milk

In April 2024, ABC Acres began selling unpasteurized milk, commonly known as raw milk. Iowa dairy farms can sell raw milk and related products directly to consumers on their farms.

The raw milk ABC Acres sells comes from two cows, and the Costello family takes pride in its small herd, coordinating with a herd nutritionist and veterinarian “to ensure our cows are in the best health condition possible at all times” Abby said while speaking with Iowa lawmakers about raw milk legislation at the Iowa Capitol last year.

Costello is a fourth generation dairy farmer and her father’s side of the family has extensive experience with cows. Abby said the business conducts monthly milk testing and a veterinarian stops by once a month to check herd health.

“But since we milk by hand, we’re with the cows twice a day every day,” Abby said. “You get to know the cows just like you get to know your siblings. You can tell if they’re feeling ill or something like that, and then we treat it on an as needed basis.”

The proper storage of raw milk is critical. Abby said it is best stored at the back of the fridge around 35 degrees Fahrenheit.

Abby said she tells people to treat raw milk like “an open wound.”

“When you take it out of the fridge, we want you to take the lid off, pour your glass of milk, put the lid back on and put it right back in the fridge,” she said.

ABC Acres doesn’t sell milk over three days old. Raw milk can be used to make “clabber,” or raw milk in a coagulated state. Abby said clabber can be used to make yogurt, cheese, sour cream or her family’s favorite — clabber brownies.

“Some families don’t have a lifestyle where they could handle raw milk safely, and other families have maybe a little bit slower lifestyle ... or they really seek out that most natural, most (nutritionally) beneficial product for their family,” Abby told The Gazette.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend raw milk as being more nutritious or healthier than pasteurized milk, and strongly advises against consuming raw milk. Pasteurized milk offers the same nutritional benefits without the risk of contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Raw milker drinkers come from all walks of life.

“We see a lot of the older generation who drank it when they were kids,” Abby said. “We see a lot of young moms who are ... on that anti-vaccination, anti-government, anti-pharmaceutical kind of wave that’s going through.”

And some come for the glass container.

“Sometimes it’s the plastic jug that they don’t like,” Abby said. “Honestly, we have a lot of people who come to us over other dairies in the area because we still do glass.”

ABC Acres charges a $5 jar deposit that is returned when the jar is brought back.

  Buy Photo

Subscription service and local delivery

ABC Acres offers subscriptions too, including local delivery within 90 miles of the farm for a household’s weekly order of butter, eggs and milk.

ABC Acres is looking to launch a new 12-week subscription: a half pound of butter and a loaf of sourdough bread from NewBo City Market bakery Bread and Buttered.

“The nice thing about subscriptions is we don’t change our subscription price just because eggs went up 25 cents in the store,” Abby said. “Unless there’s a dramatic price hike or price drop, our subscriptions stay at the price you subscribed (at).”

Tom Barton contributed to this article.

Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com