…having a long-lasting positive impact on the health and safety of the De Soto community by encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, through programs promoting physical activity, healthy nutrition, weight control and disease and injury prevention.
The DeSoto Farmers’ Market, in partnership with Legacy Service and Supply, First State Community Bank, & The Stonehouse Estate of De Soto present our premiere fundraiser of the year!
Come and enjoy the bounty of our local farmers, encounter the beauty of pieces made by our community of artisans, and enjoy seasonal fare, picked fresh and prepared by a wonderful chef. Vendors from the market will be working with our chef to prepare a wonderful meal using local ingredients.
Hello DeSoto Farmers’ Market Community!
We are so excited to celebrate National Farmers Market Week with you! Over the past year, our farmers market community has showcased resilience in our rapidly changing world. Farmers markets have always been a hub for innovation, and we have been at the forefront of adapting rapid solutions to protect staff, customers, volunteers, and our community in this time of crisis. More than ever before, National Farmers Market Week is an opportunity to showcase the value of farmers markets in our communities.
We know that farmers markets are essential in their communities — the COVID19 pandemic made it clear that local food systems with short supply chains are resilient and farmers markets play a vital role in keeping our community connected. We wouldn’t be able to continue to operate without our amazing team of market support.
We are on-track this season to nearly double the pounds of produce sold at the market, and we have managed to continue our games and educational programs. One great example of this is our Power of Produce Club. This program gives children, ages 4-12, $2 worth of tokens to purchase produce at the market. This program continues to be popular and teaches kids about produce and introduces them to local farmers too.
One game that has been a lot of fun this season has been our Loyalty Club. We recently added a coupon to our Loyalty Club. Once a customer’s card has received the required punches, it goes into a drawing for market tokens. However, for each card turned in, the individual receives a coupon for a discount on market swag.
What can you do to support farmers markets and celebrate National Farmers Market Week?
See you at the market!
Melissa McAlpine, Director of Get Healthy DeSoto
I recently visited the headwaters of the Arkansas River near Salida, Colorado. We stopped and had a picnic lunch beside the river, and I explained to by younger daughter that the river beside us was the same river we see at her grandparents’ house. In Arkansas, when we walk up the road past the cemetery, there’s a beautiful vista where you can see the 9 miles to the Arkansas River with the farms, forest, and a town in view too. I’m not sure she didn’t think she could get in a raft there in Colorado and be at Grandma and Grandpa’s by evening! Rafts there are plentiful with all the guide companies and outfitters for water excursions. The dams between her and Mulberry, Arkansas along with the incredible distance though wouldn’t make such a trip practical. It is still remarkable to think that a drop of water there has a chance to travel all the way to Memphis before spilling into the Mississippi River. What a ride that would be!
With the recent increase in drownings, it’s important for the health of the community to remind people to be safe around water. It is an incredible force. Although there’s a funny story related to my first canoe, it also illustrates the nature of water. Here goes:
I was working a river crew on the Rio Grande in New Mexico when I found a canoe! Lucky me, right? It had washed up from somewhere when it got carried away from its owners. That should have been a sign, but I’m pretty much oblivious to these things. Since canoes aren’t registered there as “watercraft”, there’s no distinguishing numbers or information to find the owner, and since the owner had failed to write their name and contact information on the inside of the canoe, I claimed it. After cleaning it up, I decided to take it out on the river with some friends. We passed a bridge and tipped the canoe. The water wasn’t deep, so that wasn’t a concern. Really, the water wasn’t moving that quickly either, but with all the people out of the canoe, the canoe floated down river just ahead of us. That’s when I learned the power of a strainer! That’s an object that sticks up in the water that the water flows around on both sides. They are extremely dangerous. As we scattered to the sides of the canoe, the canoe hit a Russian Olive tree that was growing in the middle of the river in a pile of manmade debris; probably concrete from when the bridge was built. The force of the water pushing on the canoe sucked the canoe under with speed reserved for Superman! It was impressive…and terrifying. To think I had just been in that canoe. What if we had turned while still in the canoe and hit the strainer and tipped? We would have been sucked down too.
Here’s the thing about this: that canoe was gone. Such was the force of the water against the canoe that it wasn’t salvageable without calling my swift-water rescue friends. A canoe that was given by the river gods and quickly returned to them didn’t seem worth the effort. On her maiden voyage, I returned her from whence she came.
Looking back, I can laugh at the swift departure of that canoe. It probably became the property of someone else after the river came up and pulled the canoe lose. It was probably found along the bank with my phone number rubbed off by all the sand in the water. That’s what I tell myself anyway.
Don’t be mistaken, I still love being out on the water. I would love to take my daughters down the Buffalo River in a canoe when they’re a little older. I have fond memories of borrowing an aluminum canoe, wrapping it around a rock, and banging it back out with a piece of firewood. It can be such a wonderful experience, and you should definitely try it. In fact, flat water and life jackets are a great way to start. In fact, you can use it as a small step toward increasing your physical activity or just trying something new.
If you have tried canoeing, when is the last time you shoved off for a little water fun? Maybe now is the time to give this fun activity a first try or, for those with some experience, a refresher.
We give because we have the capacity, interest, and desire. You give for the same reasons. We all want a healthier community. Please consider supporting Get Healthy DeSoto through sustained giving. The money you give supports the programs you value, and we’ll keep bringing you bicycle clinics, pop-up fitness classes, mental health awareness, healthy cooking classes, and great local produce for years to come.
The value of your gift is more than just a dollar figure. It means so much more. If you give on a monthly basis, your dollars might be used to help cover a portion of program costs for the Cycle Parade, Couch to 5K, the farmers’ market, the herb garden, or other programs that are offered. You’re way more than a number!
Get Healthy DeSoto is a local nonprofit. Most people already know that. In the interest of serving the community, programs over time have changed and shifted. One of the most successful program is the farmers’ market. It isn’t like most farmers’ markets either. Although there are several producer-only markets in Missouri, the organization has worked hard to expand and grow. The wonderful pavilion and soon-to-be completed certified kitchen are both assets that set us apart from other markets. Our mission to provide access to fresh local produce and artisans in an environment that encourages healthy eating, healthy living and fosters community connections further sets us apart from municipal markets and farm stands that often have a tourism, economic, or agricultural focus.
The “community connections” piece of our mission allows us to open up the pavilion to further use by individuals and community groups. The rental fee varies, and we’re working to include rental fees for the certified kitchen after it is functional. It is available for gatherings and events during the week, on Saturdays (afternoons only during the market season), and on Sundays. You can contact us with any questions, and a link for the rental agreement is below. You might consider it for your next family reunion, wedding shower, or memorial service.