In Boyd County there are neighborhoods that are considered to be food desserts due to the lack of local grocery stores close by.  This has posed a problem for some of the community members that are elderly or not able to drive to stores that are outside of their immediate area. A local vendor at the county farmers market worked with the horticulture agent to look into alternative ideas for food items that would have a fairly long shelf life but be a nutritional meal options for those who lived in some of these areas.  The idea that food that could be preserved in a manner that it wouldn't take up much space in their pantries was also considered and the process of freeze dried food seemed to be a viable option.  The farmer was able to secure grant funding to purchase the freeze drying machine and began offering these products at the local farmers market.  With an average of about 300-500 customers weekly at the county farmers market, the vendor was able to sell most of their product at each market.  These customers ranged from 4 years old all the way to senior citizen age.  This program is the initial stages with requests made for classes on what food items are best to use for freeze drying and how to raise produce for this process as well as requests for classes on how to use the freeze dried products in cooking meals.