Rural Missouri - December 2021 - 4

RM | COOPERATION
Shop local
Buy Missouri helps you
support your neighbors
with Missouri-made gifts
ast year local businesses were struggling to
recover from the pandemic. We put together
a " Shop Local " page to showcase some of the
made-in-Missouri items available for holiday
gifts. The page went over so well we decided to
bring it back for 2021.
This time we did our research on the
Buy Missouri website, www.buymissouri.
net. Buy Missouri is a project of the
lieutenant governor's office. Its goal
is to make Missourians - and others
around the country - aware of the wide
variety of goods produced within our borders.
To qualify, all products must have 51%
or greater Missouri-made content.
L
" Shopping and buying local is critical to sustaining
and growing our economy, " says Lt. Gov. Mike
Kehoe. " It is known that rising tides raise all ships,
and this is no less accurate when describing local
businesses. When we purchase locally, we keep
those dollars within our communities, and additionally,
support local jobs. "
The program also includes retail partners, which
are businesses that sell at least five Missouri-made
products. Examples of these partners include
the Country Living General Store in Washington
(lausecountryliving.com), Crane's Country Store in
Williamsburg (cranes-country-store.com ) and The
Corner Cabinet in Iberia (thecornercabinet.net).
Here's a few of our favorites from the hundreds
featured. All can be found at www.buymissouri.net.
4 Girly Girls (4girlygirls.com), Fulton, offers bath
bombs, shower steamers, sugar scrubs and more
for the ladies on your list, along with beard oil for
the men.
The Ava Craft Center (avacraftcenter.com), Burfordville,
offers rugs handwoven on antique looms
along with other artisan products made locally.
Culver Props (culverprops.com) in Doolittle typically
makes air-worthy propellers for airplanes, but
also turns out the occasional wallhanger for a most
unusual gift for that hard-to-please person.
Francis Kirk offers rugged and beautiful knives
at FK Knives (FKknives.com) in Cabool. His blades
are made from old crosscut saws, and he has found
a way to leave some of the original patina.
Yes, you can still buy Missouri-made shoes and
4 RURAL MISSOURI | DECEMBER 2021
boots. Check out the selections at Tipton's Gokey
footwear (gokeyusa.com), which once made boots
for the likes of President Theodore Roosevelt and
writer Ernest Hemingway.
Those boots would look good propped up by the
wood stove inside a canvas wall tent made by Elk
Horn Tent and Canvas in Grain Valley (elkhorntentandcanvas.com).
They can set you up with an
expedition-style tent or a range tipi that are perfect
for outdoor glamping.
J.R. Johnson Tack & Harness (jrsleather.com)
in Cyrene can outfit your draft horse team, or they
can fix you up with guitar straps, Bible covers, holsters
and anything else leather.
For that coffee snob on your list, consider a bag
of Missouri-roasted beans. We recommend Melancholy
Roasting (melancholyroasting.com) in
Ava. If you live in Nixa, Ozark or Springfield,
they will deliver.
Speaking of coffee, that's one of the
items offered at The Worth Shop hosted
by Joplin's Watered Gardens Ministry
(wateredgardens.org). The charity helps
those in need, but also raises their self-esteem
by letting them pay it back making
products in The Worth Shop. Items available
include jewelry, Redeemed Bean Coffee and leather
journals.
If you want to do your shopping in person,
head over to the tiny town of Daisy where you will
find Village Designs (villagedesigns.com), makers
of jewelry from wire. From mid-October through
Christmas, you can shop at Grandma's House, a
1900s-era home, where you will find local products
along with handcrafted items from all over the U.S.
Want to be part of Buy Missouri? The program
website at www.buymissouri.net has a form where
businesses and retail partners can sign up. There is
no charge for the listing.
photo courtesy FK Knives
Francis Kirk of FK Knives crafted these blades from crosscut saws. His
business is one of many that are part of the Buy Missouri program.

http://www.gokeyusa.com http://www.elkhorntentandcanvas.com http://www.elkhorntentandcanvas.com http://www.jrsleather.com http://www.melancholyroasting.com http://www.buymissouri.net http://www.buymissouri.net http://www.wateredgardens.org http://www.villagedesigns.com http://www.lausecountryliving.com http://www.buymissouri.net http://www.cranes-country-store.com http://www.thecornercabinet.net http://www.buymissouri.net http://www.4girlygirls.com http://www.avacraftcenter.com http://www.culverprops.com http://www.FKknives.com

Rural Missouri - December 2021

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