Biz Buzz shares business tidbits from the tri-state area. In addition to this update from Dubuque, we will share other developments in Tuesday’s edition.

A Dubuque-based business providing fresh prepared meals is now operating out of a new location.

City Girl Farming now is preparing meals at 2900 Central Ave., in the new Convivium Urban Farmstead community kitchen. City Girl Farming rents the kitchen to prepare its meals each week, which then can be delivered or picked up at 2900 Central Ave. on Wednesdays.

“I feel so grateful and lucky,” owner Justyna Miranda said. “A year ago, I didn’t know if this business was going to be viable. But we continue to grow, and we can see it seems to be a need and see support from the community.”

Miranda started City Girl Farming in 2017 after moving to Dubuque from Chicago. A native of Poland, Miranda grew up with an abundance of fresh food out of her grandmother’s garden.

“I grew up with this sacred idea of what food was,” Miranda said. “When I moved to the U.S., the food system was not necessarily my concept of what food was, and my health suffered as a result.”

Miranda then began farming on a plot on Sinsinawa (Wis.) Mound’s collaborative farm, providing produce to local establishments.

Since then, Miranda has been able to grow her business to provide prepared meals with not only her produce, but also produce and meat supplied by local farmers. A team of five others help her prepare around 400 meals per week.

“We really want to reduce the distance between growers and eaters,” she said. “If I can share food from local farmers and provide some income to them by buying their product, that makes my day.”

Miranda rents the Convivium community kitchen to prepare the meals. After a week’s orders are in on Saturdays, she and her team prep on Mondays and cook all day Tuesdays, sometimes staying until 1 or 2 a.m. The menu changes each week for customers.

“I have a great team,” Miranda said. “Reconnecting food and people is our mission statement, and we are all driven by the same values.”

More information on City Girl Farming can be found online at citygirlfarming-dbq.com.