2020 NAITC Conference Traveling Workshops

For nearly 100 years, the Kohler family has been milking cows in the quaint community of Midway. A new creamery and state-of-the-art robotic milker provide premium milk for handcrafted and aged artisan cheese. Chris Pyper operates Rustling Aspen Farm—a diverse small-scale farm specializing in vegetables, herbs, and fresh-cut flowers. Chris will share his story about finding his way back to his roots in Midway and taking on the role as a food producer for the local community. Travel time to Midway is approximately 50 minutes through scenic Parley’s Canyon.

Thanksgiving Point Institute (TPI) is a nonprofit farm, garden, and museum complex that draws upon the natural world to cultivate transformative family learning. TPI Farm Country is a working farm with a teaching garden used for the Jr. Master Gardener program. TPI Ashton Gardens features 55 acres of stately gardens (15 themes), grand lawns, and the largest human made waterfall in the western hemisphere. During its 100-year history, Lehi Roller Mills has worked with farmers to develop a wheat variety that retains high baking quality while increasing farmers’ yields. The resulting High Mountain Flour is used in mixes for pancakes, waffles, muffins, brownies, and cookies. The 1984 movie Footloose was shot on location at this mill! Travel time to TPI is approximately 35 minutes.

Roots High School—Utah’s first farm-based charter high school—instills students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to live healthy, productive, and sustainable lives. The school strives to authenticate all the learning that takes place using the farm as a laboratory. The Petersen Family Farm is run by fifth-generation farmers who operate an amazing year-round farmers market and CSA, and offer an annual pumpkin patch and Christmas tree farm. Luke, Hilarie, and their team also offer an On the Farm educational series, a summer camp, workshops, and a Farm School. “Our goal is to cultivate the farmer in all of us and, together, harvest the simple beauty of life.” Travel time to Petersen Family Farm is approximately 30 minutes.

Welfare Square—operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—is a modern facility composed of a towering 178-foot-tall grain elevator, a large storehouse, a bakery, a cannery, a milk-processing operation, a thrift store, and an employment center. All of this is designed to help people help themselves by fostering self-reliance and providing meaningful opportunities for work and service. The Latter-day Saint Humanitarian Center prepares humanitarian supplies for use worldwide and train those desiring to develop employable skills to become self-reliant. Travel time to the Humanitarian Center is approximately 10 minutes.

The USU Botanical Center is a botanical garden and a Utah State University distance education site located in Kaysville. The center which includes the sustainably-designed Utah House, Wetland Discovery Point, arboretum, and edible demonstration garden guides the conservation and wise use of plant, water, and energy resources through research-based educational experiences, demonstrations, and technology. J & J Nursery is Utah’s largest producing nursery with over 100 acres under cultivation including five acres of greenhouses. What was once a family farm dating back to pioneer times is now Utah’s largest pot-in-pot nursery with some 100,000 trees in multiple varieties growing in their fields. Over one million bedding plants and vegetables starts are planted annually in preparation for the spring buying season. Travel time to J & J Nursery is approximately 30 minutes.

Awe-inspiring flowers and foliage of the LDS Conference Center rooftop gardens and the Temple Square Gardens are part of the 35 acres of the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The rooftop gardens include aspen and spruce, shrubs, a two-acre wildflower meadow, fountains, and waterfalls—all designed to mimic Utah’s varying landscapes. Temple Square Plaza includes 250 flowerbeds, more than 165,000 bedding plants, and over 700 varieties of plants from all over the world. The gardens are redesigned every six months and replanted by hundreds of volunteers. Once a gallery artists’ building on a piece of asphalt, the Off-Broadway Community Garden now includes garden boxes built by volunteers to highlight the importance of local food systems and healthy food access. This urban garden is part of Wasatch Community Gardens which offers garden space, educational programs, and community events to empower people to grow, harvest, preserve, and prepare fresh, healthy food. Travel time to Temple Square is approximately 6 minutes. This tour requires moderate walking on level terrain.

Utah consistently ranks approximately 8th in the nation in market value of sheep and wool. Titmus Farm is a working sheep ranch in Tooele County west of Salt Lake City. Learn about the importance of sheep in Utah’s agricultural history from the Titmus family and Utah Wool Growers Auxiliary. The Utah Wool Market is a grower-owned consignment warehouse that markets wool to the world. Local wool is graded, baled, and weighed at the market in preparation for shipping worldwide. Another gem hidden in the western part of the state is Excelsior Academy where Brad Hendershot—2019 National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award winner—teaches 8th grade science and the Greenthumbs class. Brad and his students operate a greenhouse with thermophilic composting, plant gardens using Square Foot Gardening techniques, and are now constructing a pollinator garden. Travel time to Titmus Farms is approximately 35 minutes.

Utah consistently ranks approximately 2nd in the nation in tart cherry production! Established in 1984, Rowley’s South Ridge Farms is a family-owned and operated fruit farm in Santaquin that takes great pride in growing excellent fruit and in making delicious fruit products. Their operation also includes Rowley’s Red Barn that sells the farm’s fresh fruit and products, a cider mill to make fresh-pressed apple juice, and a chocolate-panning facility to cover dried fruits and nuts. For 80 years, McMullin Orchards has been growing, packing, and shipping fruit in central Utah. The fourth generation of the McMullin family is now working in the business, and the operation has grown to 900+ acres of tart cherries, sweet cherries, peaches, nectarines pluots, peaches, and apples. Travel time to Rowley’s is approximately 65 minutes.

Brine Shrimp Direct is a leading provider of high-quality feed products and accessories. Located along the Great Salt Lake, artemia (brine shrimp) is harvested, processed, and carefully stored in a temperature-controlled environment. This company provides the highest quality brine shrimp products to commercial fish breeders, hatchery managers, university researchers, and the home aquarist. Brine Shrimp in the Classroom lessons and experiments are available online. Cattle and calf production is Utah’s number one agricultural commodity. Visit a local beef ranch to learn about the importance of beef production in the state. Travel time to Brine Shrimp Direct is approximately 40 minutes.