In recent years, farmers markets have been popping up around Utah nearly as quickly as actual farmland has been disappearing. Most of the markets offering locally grown produce and handcrafted goods tend to sprout up in parks or parking lots during the summer months, but the Harvest Market held each Saturday in the northern Cache Valley city of Richmond, is among the few held … [Read more...]
High Altitude Organic
What began as an effort to produce locally sourced, organic food for one Park City family nearly 10 years ago has blossomed into a community cooperative with approximately 90 members, as well as a public farm stand featuring products created mostly by members of the co-op “family.”Copper Moose Farm, on the flatland of the Snyderville basin just outside Park City, is owned … [Read more...]
Water(melons): The Essence of Life
Before Interstate 70 opened in 1970, Nancy Dunham’s children would haul their Red Flyer wagon filled with homegrown pumpkins to sell along the highway that ran through Green River. “That’s how it started,” the 86-year old Dunham Farms matriarch recalls. The kids soon started growing watermelons, and now Dunham Farms is one of three major melon farms in town, known for its … [Read more...]
Sweet Corn and a Strong Legacy at Miya’s Farm
Miya’s Farm is situated in the middle of a Clearfield, Utah, residential area, but the urban farm wasn’t always so… urban. Renie Miya remembers when his family farmed 350 acres of land throughout Davis County before relatives sold their portions of the Miya family farmland. Miya’s farm is now about 40 acres. Over the years, Renie has seen surrounding farms come and go, and … [Read more...]
Utah Ranch Viable Thanks to Wildlife not Livestock
Croydon UT—The Wilde family is now in their sixth generation of raising 2,800 sheep and 300 head of cattle on 17,000 acres. But despite having all of these animals and all this land, the Wildes earn close to nothing on the livestock. Instead, their living is made from the wildlife.In a changing trend of both consumer demand for wild game, which is healthier, and the growing … [Read more...]
The History Behind Monsanto’s Assault on Mexico’s Corn
Searching for the "impact that GMO corn has had on Mexico" I came across this interesting article from Regeneration International. In 2009, changes in Mexican law allowed biotech giants like Monsanto to conduct trials of GMO corn in approved regions of the country.Two years later, in 2011, Monsanto and Syngenta asked for a permit to plant GM corn in several states in … [Read more...]
How Our Choices Affect Our Landscape – Utah Stories Farm Issue July 2017
We recently took a close look at the farms in Sevier County. There are some massive, football field sized warehouses housing thousands of chickens. You don’t see the chickens. There are acres of alfalfa pastures watered automatically—no animals. Across the street there is a very smelly feedlot where cows are standing atop piles of their own manure while putting on massive … [Read more...]
Utah’s Intermountain Farmers Association
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In the Intermountain Farmers Association history, the egg came first.Launched in 1923 as a business cooperative to boost local economies, the Utah Poultry Producers Association achieved success by quickly establishing egg receiving plants in key Utah locations. Recognizing market growth in other commercial territories, the … [Read more...]
A Millcreek Couple’s Modern Quest for Self-Sufficiency
Kristy McNealy laughs when asked if she thinks her lifestyle is revolutionary. “It doesn’t feel revolutionary,” she responds. “I just have this huge great lot and it feels wasteful to only use it to water grass.”Two years ago, Kristy and her husband, Rod, bought a 1950s-era Millcreek home on a half-acre lot. Included in the sale were the property’s water shares. Their … [Read more...]
Preserving Your Harvest Through Canning
As I was growing up, my neighbors had a root cellar; a stone outbuilding that was always dark and cool. Inside, from floor to ceiling, were stacked bottles of peaches, cherries, jams, and tomatoes. Everything that grew in their garden was canned and kept for use throughout the year.Today, canning is becoming a lost art. But there are a few stalwarts who carry on the … [Read more...]