FAYETTE — Is there anything more attractive than a woman with a good idea and the passion to bring it to life?  Breanne Mashek is such a woman. She is harnessing her enormous energies to create healthy food for her family while swinging open the door of her own General Store to do the same for her community of Fayette.

There is something quite unique about the Mashek family’s front door. It once was the entrance to one of the earliest Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institute stores in Utah. After raising their children in busy Denver, Colorado, Zach and Breanne Mashek decided to abandon their fast-paced life of urban Colorado and headed for Utah.  Covid was the trigger which turned their attention to the quiet farm towns of Central Utah.

One day while touring local towns, the Masheks’ car rolled through Fayette when they discovered a for sale sign on a small Main Street storefront.  They soon learned the white, clapboard building was originally a ZCMI General Store from the late 1800s.  There was a small residence built on the back, and just enough ground for gardens and animals.  Started by the Frank and Alicia Wishom family almost 150 years ago, the store opened when Utah Governor and LDS Church leader Brigham Young encouraged every community in rural Utah to have a “cooperative” to sell and share goods.

It didn’t take long for Zach Breshak, a welding inspector by profession, Breanne and their two kids Natalie and Camden, to see the future.  They made an offer and moved into the property and began breathing life into store.  In short order, they transformed it into a contemporary general store with shelves full of fresh sourdough loaves, chocolate chip cookie bars, homemade bottled vanilla, homegrown herbs, assorted jams, condiments, locally-grown organic meats, eggs, and a selection of self-help cures in quaint bottles.

The beautiful country store is named “The Merc.” You can look for the Mashek family’s homemade sign just off of Highway 89 in southern Sanpete County.   It’s worth the detour.  Breanne opens her antique front door at 11 a.m. and runs the “cash register,” a state-of-the art Apple card reader, until 4pm each day.  The Merc is a perfect intersection of historic charm and delicious healthy foods.

While homeschooling her son Camden and daughter, Natalie, Breanne became increasingly passionate about improving her own health and eating better quality food.  Prior to Covid she had built a family store in Denver, “The Merc” is her second effort to make an industry of healthy food.

“It’s all about community.  I just feel that it is more important now than ever for us all to take care of one another. Sharing healthy food is a great way to serve one another,” Breanne Mashek said.

She has succeeded.  The Merc General Store helps neighbors and local travelers by producing farm fresh eggs, fresh herbs, heathy homemade teas, as well as her award-winning “Best In Sanpete” sourdough bread.  Her freezers are filled with clean-raised local beef and other homegrown specialties, but her favorite guests are local neighborhood children who stop to pick out candies from tall glass jars.

Breanne’s earnings are a welcome complement to her husband’s career as a welding engineer.  But Breanne’s mission isn’t just providing for her family. She is also part of a network of local home growers across the state of Utah who are trying to encourage healthy living.

“I’m part of the Red Acre Center, an innovative ‘growers association’ of families in Utah.  There are several hundred of us across the state of Utah from St. George to Logan. We are all committed to learning and sharing methods for growing “clean” foods for families,” Mashek said.

United by educational initiatives and annual gatherings, the Red Acre Center educates Utah families in person and online at www. RedAcreFarmsCSA.org.  The Red Acre Association has a fifteen-year track record of carrying a wallop at the Utah State Legislature.  Its founders, Lynn and Cymbria Patterson, of Cedar City, are responsible for key legislative victories which have made it easier for local growers to produce and share their goods with Utah consumers. Especially in Sanpete County, selling homegrown goods and products to neighbors and towns, is  a rapidly growing industry, and historically has always been native to its local farmers.

“In a way, we’re turning back the clock.  But for the better good.  Working together as a community, with your friends, family and neighbors, is such a great way to create unity, inter-dependence, and to build good health all around you,” Breanne Mashek said.

“Good food has been a part of our lives for a long time,” Zach Mashek said. “Our vision was to be self-sufficient and provide an outlet for local quality food.  I’m more of a silent partner in the enterprise now, but supportive of Breanne in every way.  We feel we are growing the effort and finding a home in the area.”

Natalie Breshak, now a 20-year-old wilderness guide, explains that in the beginning it was quite a change to move from a big city to the rural town of Fayette.

“It was an adjustment for sure.  But my mom has always had a small business and loved to bake.  Food has always been a big part of our lives and I am grateful, because it has really made a big difference in my health and my life.”

Breanne Mashek is spreading her mission through Sanpete County and working to expand the work of Red Acre Farms to like-minded families.  In a month where we remember mothers, Breanne is an example of one committed mother who is making a big impact…one small town at a time.