Utah is a treasure chest for the locavore, abundant with farmer’s markets and CSAs offering up the emerald of dew-glistened spinach and lettuce, the rich ruby of beets and the dull gold of potatoes and corn. But busy schedules don’t always allow time for a treasure hunt—whether it involves squeezing in an extra trip to the farmer’s market (in season) or scrambling for a decent recipe that can incorporate unfamiliar or surprise CSA fare.

It was the early 1980s. Jackie Pratt was working as an accountant, and no longer happy in that line of work. By the time she signed up for a meditation intensive, she was ready for a big change. She set an intention to know what she was going to do next with her life. "Clear as a bell, it hit me—almost like someone was speaking to me: open a bookstore."

You could say Appenzell Farm started in 2008, when Jesse Corbridge and his mother Barbara read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and decided to dedicate their 10 acres to the sustainable farm movement. You could say that the Appenzell Farm really got it's start a year later, when Jesse's grandmother leased her fallow 70-acre lot to the farm.

Old World dining with a modern, casual flair.
—by Jane Laird

Marilyn Arsem once stood in the rain holding 40 liters of peppermint ice cream for eight hours. Another time, she spent a day rolling in long strands of seaweed until her body was covered and entangled. Arsem is an American pioneer in performance art who has been teaching performance art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for over 20 years.

For Julie and Rich Clifford of Clifford Family Farm, getting back to agrarian roots was a matter of necessity. Both grew up in Utah with links to the rural way of life—Julie's grandparents were farmers and Rich's family kept horses—so it was natural for the couple to keep a garden and a small flock of chickens when they married 30 years ago. But home-grown food became a way of life for the couple as they began raising a big family, not only for sustenance, but to foster the spirit of self-sufficiency.

Meet Amour Spreads—the jam and jelly enterprise of the Francis family.
—by Adele Flail

Dave Card is a well-known and well-respected figure in the Salt Lake City alternative health community.
by Alice Bain

Insect-husbandry might not be the first place one’s mind goes when considering local farming operations... but where better for would-be locavores to start than with the goody whose producers symbolize Utah’s human inhabitants’ industrious nature? Bees' Brothers family operation in Cache Valley was awarded a Slow Food Utah micro-grant this spring. Their application was written by Nathan Huntzinger, just 13, with brothers Sam, 12, and Ben, 9.

Thanks to Slow Food Utah’s micro-grant program, locally focused projects that increase biodiversity, provide access to more healthful food, or contribute to our community’s knowledge base are springing up on farms and community gardens (and backyards) all across Utah.