Page Westover started Snuck Farm in Pleasant Grove in 2015 on land that her grandparents inherited from their grandparents. From the beginning she wanted it to be something different. She says, “I’ve always had a love of nature and good food. I went to Utah State University and majored in nutrition with an emphasis in dietetics.” After working in her field for more than 10 years … [Read more...]
Putting the Aggie in Agriculture: Student-run Garden Provides Fresh Produce and Experience
As spring brightens and days lengthen, students in Utah State University’s Student Organic Farm class are diligently monitoring the temperatures in their hoop houses and the soil moisture in their fields. It’s already planting time, and they’re helping ensure the first baskets of fresh veggies are ready for their Community Supported Agriculture customers on the third week of May … [Read more...]
Woodyatt’s Montmorency Cherry Orchard: Tart Cherries Make a Sweet Business
Delicious and Healthy Chock-full of antioxidants and a natural source of melatonin, the benefits of tart cherries juice have been making health headlines in recent years. “People love it,” says second-generation cherry farmer Dan Woodyatt, who ships the orchard’s distinctively tart Montmorency cherry juice concentrate to customers coast-to-coast. Although he’s hesitant to ma … [Read more...]
Tripp Family Farm: Where Cattle Enjoy a Home on the Range
Situated on 700 acres in Richmond, Utah, Tripp Family Farm has taken a distinctive approach to cattle farming. Managed by Mark and Adam Tripp, the farm that has been in Adam’s family since the 1860s has evolved into a place where sick animals are nursed back to health and healthy animals that have lived long, happy lives, are treated and harvested in the most humane ways po … [Read more...]
Bill White Farms: Products for People, not Corporate Profit
If a man is lucky, there comes a point when his life’s work and his legacy combine to benefit others. Bill White is a lucky fellow in this respect. His name has been synonymous with delicious food in Utah for the past 25 years. He’s best known for his eight Park City restaurants—Grappa, Chimayo, Wahso, Windy Ridge Café and Bakery, Ghidotti’s, Sushi Blue, and Billy Blanco’s. H … [Read more...]
Bangerter Family Farm Wins Zoning Battle for Farmland Usage
Alan Bangerter is no stranger to moving his farming operations in the name of “progress,” which usually comes in the form of freeways built on top of and replacing fertile farm ground. The Legacy of Legacy In 1999 UDOT moved the main Bangerter family farm (30 acres that they bought in the 1970s). The farm was located in the intended path of the Legacy Parkway , so th … [Read more...]
Support Our Local Farmers
A local former state leader said to me last month, "Utah is for certain in the top three states when it comes to corruption in the form of crony capitalism." I might have guessed this, but to hear it confirmed by a former state employee of a high rank was a surprise. He didn’t wish to have his name on the record. But this issue is very closely related to our farm issue because w … [Read more...]
Backyard Urban Gardens Bring Garden Bounty Right to your Doorstep
B.U.G. Farms: Crusaders for Community Supported Agriculture “I thought she was crazy and that it would never work,” says Backyard Urban Gardens (B.U.G.) Farms’ co-owner Carly Gillespie of the organization’s creator, Sharon Leopardi. “She didn’t have any start-up capital, was a renter, and didn’t have any garden space. And, she wanted to stay in the city—not move to a small town … [Read more...]
Sandhill Farm: Pete Rasmussen’s Clove of Garlic
Ask any old-time farmer in Ogden Valley how he decided what crop to grow. Chances are he’s not going to say that the beauty of alfalfa captured him in a moment of deep spiritual recognition. But that’s how farmer Pete Rasmussen tuned in to the living organism Allium sativum, or garlic. “I had a connection to the plant from the first moment and something sparked inside me,” Pete … [Read more...]
Farms vs. Suburbia: Does Population Growth Mean the End of Family Farms?
The Wasatch Front has been growing out rather than up for years. Sprawl is now threatening Utah’s most successful family farms. Over eighty percent of Utah residents say they want more farms, open space, and locally produced food, but it appears that city, state and local leaders haven’t received the memo. As with most things political, it’s all about the money. Thayne Tagge … [Read more...]