On the Road, Part 2: Pastoral Pilgrimage

My boss offered to bring me along on a tour of southern Utah farms as part of Red Acre Center’s Farm & Food Conference. I thought I’d get out of the city for a few days and enjoy the beauty of red rock country.

I really had no idea what I was in for. I’m pretty sure I learned more than most, since I had never heard of no-till farming or biosprays, and, in a line-up can now spot the differences in a high-arch plow and a Glaser wheel hoe. #Winning!

A highlight of the conference was the Farm Tour that traipsed a few dozen of us through the nooks, crannies, and canyons of Kane Country.

For lunch we met Chef Shon Foster at his Sego Restaurant. “In order for me to use a particular product, be it produce, or protein, I have to know the people connected and involved with it.” When someone tried to test him by asking where he sources the chocolate in the delicious cookies we were munching on, he answered, “Anna Seear and Robert Stour up in Heber City, Utah and their Ritual Chocolates company.” 

Chef Shon really lives up to that farm-to-table mantra that is bandied about, but hard to live up to.

After lunch we head to Journey Farm. Surrounded by the glowing coral cliffs of Kanab, Loretta Clayson has converted 2 acres of their 33 acre longhorn cattle ranch into a heirloom flower garden.

In greenhouses she’s carefully growing petunias, while in a highly sophisticated grow room she’s nursing tulips into adulthood.

We also visited Red Acre Farms, owned by Symbria and daughter Sara, organizers of the conference. The duo are audacious advocates for agriculture, they are Oracles for Utah farmers, spending countless hours on the Hill during the legislature, looking out for the farming community.

What these two recovering Californians have dreamt and built in Cedar is magical. Just look at that adorable Farm Stand! Their CSA is filled with cute merchandise, fresh meats in the fridge, root vegetables, and a few gift items. And, around the farm: geese tease you, chickens scream, llamas wearily eye, inquisitive goats nestle, scaredy sheep bae.

While it was all pretty darn cute, what stands out to me is their perseverance to protect a way of life that is eroding for Utah. Between the lobbying, farming, mentoring, and this dang conference, how do they do it? Passion and the knowledge that we loose our heritage as well as our future when a farmer can’t make it.  

After a day of education, my extrovert boss wanted this introvert to attend the evening reception.

At a winery? Cedar has a winery? You have my attention.

I/G Winery and Tasting Room in downtown Cedar and vineyard in Rockville. I’ll let them tell their story of their tenacity to lead the way on building a whole new industry in southern Utah.

I’ve been to a lot of conferences, but not like this. In the cozy winery, Chef Shon had made a cauldron of tasty chili. Farmers and ranchers from across the state chatted, kids darted around the room, this city slicker met cowboys, it was community. No blue, no red, just people eating food and telling jokes.

The room hushed when Symbria introduced Karl Ebeling, known as Farmer Karl, AKA Mister Rogers. 

This gentle man was there to call a blessing on the night. Something quite special happened as he started to speak-–the room of 150 became silent. 

I heard his earnest prayer for the people in the room, for the food we were going to eat, for the sun and  soil, and worms who work in the soil, for rain and for warmth, for love and for peace. 

Jesus, my tears just flowed.

Maybe you are lucky to be surrounded by such a sincere, humble, and fervent mankind.

I considered myself lucky and improved by seeing the blood, sweat, and tears going into what I have consume and taken for granted.

Thanks for the road trip, Carly, it was almost spiritual.

Faith in humanity restored? No, but maybe faith in fighting for humanity restored.