Canehill Farm Host To Siloam Springs’ Market

CANEHILL —R Family Farm near Canehill hosted the end of summer celebration for Siloam Springs’ Farmers Market. Around 165 people attended the event, which featured a meal prepared using all natural, locally grown foods.

Stacy Hester, who is the Farmers Market’s director with Main Street Siloam Springs, said the event started last year as a way to raise awareness of the market and celebrate a season of work. The event will return next year, but there hasn’t been a location set, Hester said.

The lunch featured meat from R Family Farm, along with butter from the dairy cows that were mooing on the other side of a nearby hill. Other members of the farmers market contributed bread, jams, vegetables and other side dishes.

Diners were serenaded by a local band from Fayetteville which, appropriately, is called “Farmer and the Markets.”

Following the dinner, a live dessert auction was held. The proceeds of the auction will go to a fund to give grants to farmers market members who are trying to develop new products.

Guests were then given the opportunity to take a guided tour of the farm, led by Roger Remington, owner of R Family Farm.

Remington said he started his farm just for fun after his grandparents sold it to him so they could move to the city. He said people asked him if he was selling produce or meat when he told them about his farm. In addition, his daughter developed food allergies, and Remington said when he switched to GMO-free feed for his animals, his daughter’s health returned.

Between feeding his family and catering to the new interest in his product, Remington’s operation expanded.

“I figured if I am already out feeding ten chickens, I can feed ten more,” Remington said.

Those 10 original chickens turned into the roughly 600 birds he has today. In addition to chickens, Remington raises hogs, turkeys, ducks and cattle.

Those animals are sold at three different farmers markets, including Siloam Springs.