Have you ever wanted to know how to make your own candle? Join DSM Mercantile and Wander Women for a beautiful spring evening as we craft outdoor-themed, handmade candles! This event will celebrate our love of nature while teaching you a delicious new skill.

Warm up with us around the fire at Water Works Park in Des Moines as we celebrate the changing seasons with a cozy campfire and a crash course in classic cocktail and mocktail crafting!

Get ready to flip the script on a campfire classic with Savory S’mores, an outdoor culinary experience where sweet goes out the window and salty, cheesy, and downright delicious take center stage!

The flowers are out and so will we be! Join us for a spring wildflower themed Pike, celebrating the first blooms of the year! We’ll hike the trails of Margo Frankel Woods (one of our favs) and enjoy a sweet treat after!

The big migration is happening—join us for a field day dedicated to it! In our first eastern Iowa event of the year, we’ll be hitting up a Louisa County hidden gem that’s a hot spot for migrating birds, wetland species and more!

Join us for a moonlit hike and gathering to celebrate the full moon and connect to each other and ourselves as we dive deep into the topic of menstruation and cycles! For so long, the topic of menstruation and the role it plays in our lives has been shamed or overlooked, and we're thrilled to partner with Amber Francis of Planned Parenthood to spend time outdoors, talk some real talk about our cycles, and build community!

Spring wildflowers are fleeting, but your photos don’t have to be! Join us for a class where you’ll learn to capture the delicate beauty of blooming flowers using just your smartphone. Led by a professional photographer and Wander Women guide Steph, this hands-on class will teach you how to work with natural light, compose stunning shots, and use simple editing techniques to make your images pop.

Happy feet make happy hikers! Join us for Foot Health for Hikers, a hands-on workshop with Libby Trausch, a physical therapist who specializes in foot health and care. Whether you’re dealing with nagging foot pain, or just want to keep your feet strong for miles of adventure, this class will give you the tools to move comfortably and confidently on the trail. We’ll cover essential toe and foot stretches, talk through common foot conditions like plantar fasciitis and bunions, dive into the best footwear choices, and explore simple tools that can prevent and relieve pain.

Join us for a golden-hour hike as we venture into the woodlands of Hickory Hills Park in Iowa City in search of spring’s most fleeting treasures—ephemeral wildflowers. These delicate blooms are nature’s way of celebrating the changing seasons, emerging briefly to soak up the sunlight before the forest fills in. On this easy-going hike, we’ll wander the trails of Hickory Hills, do our best to identify as many blooms as possible, and learn about these fantastic blooms that bring the forest floor to life.

Spring blooms are here! Join botanist and WW guide Paige for a hike to learn how to spot and identify spring wildflowers native to Iowa! Take a leisurely hike through Thomas Mitchell Park in Polk Co. while learning to identify common Iowa forest spring ephemerals — or, wildflowers only here for a short time — and put your new identification skills to the test!

Have you ever wanted to know how to make your own candle? Join DSM Mercantile and Wander Women for a beautiful spring evening as we craft outdoor-themed, handmade candles! This event will celebrate our love of nature while teaching you a delicious new skill.

Is there anything more perfect than hiking with friends and then enjoying a pie picnic in a lilac arboretum? Absolutely not. Join us for a perfect spring Pike celebrating the beauty of blooming lilacs, the middle of spring, and perfect evenings! We’ll hike the trails of Ewing Park on Des Moines’s south side before enjoying a pie picnic after!