435 Podcast: Southern Utah
Explore the heartbeat of Southern Utah with the 435 Podcast, your go-to source for all things local in Washington County. Stay ahead of the curve with our in-depth coverage, expert analysis, and captivating interviews. Whether you're a resident or visitor, our podcast is your key to unlocking the latest happenings and trends in St. George and the surrounding areas. Tune in now to stay informed and connected with our thriving community!
435 Podcast: Southern Utah
Balancing Tradition and Innovation: Sustainable Farming and Civic Engagement in Southern Utah
What if you could maintain a cherished family legacy amidst the relentless pressures of urban development? On this episode, Sherrie at Staheli Family Farm shares her journey of balancing tradition with innovation in Southern Utah's rapidly changing landscape. Through tales of resilience and adaptability, Sherrie reveals how her family farm has transitioned from vegetable farming to a thriving poultry and cattle enterprise, and how the introduction of a beloved corn maze turned skeptics into fans, capturing the hearts of the community.
We also venture into the world of civic engagement with Sherrie's inspiring work with the Washington City Youth Council. Discover how this initiative empowers high school students, equipping them with essential life skills and connecting them to the political realm. Sherrie offers insights into how these young leaders are making a tangible difference in their communities, fostering a generation ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.
Beyond the stories of growth and community, Sherrie opens up about the environmental side of their operations, sharing actionable insights on water conservation and sustainable landscaping. From the importance of native plants in maintaining ecosystems to the development of Utah's first agritourism law, Sherrie paints a vivid picture of how traditional farming can thrive in harmony with modern sustainability efforts. This episode promises a rich tapestry of stories, innovation, and a deep commitment to community and environmental stewardship.
Webpage: https://stahelifamilyfarm.com/
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#southernutah #housingmarket #propertymarket #realestate #farming #familylegacy #farming #stgeorgeutah
[00:00:00] Intro.
[00:01:34] Youth City Council in Southern Utah.
[00:09:32] Family Legacy in Southern Utah Agriculture.
[00:13:45] Agricultural Business and Agritourism in Utah.
[00:18:36] Regenerative Farming and Water Conservation.
[00:22:35] Water Conservation and Sustainable Landscaping.
[00:34:55] Navigating Development Pressure in Agriculture.
[00:40:32] Agricultural Zoning and Water Conservation.
[00:47:11] Farm Growth and Community Impact.
I don't even know how much money you could make by just selling the whole land to a developer.
Speaker 2:But they want it.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, they call weekly.
Speaker 3:They probably call daily From the Blue Form Media Studios. This is the 435 Podcast, the pulse of Southern Utah. If you're looking for a nice cup of coffee and you're in downtown St George, fs Coffee Co, that's where you're going to want to stop. It's right there on the corner of Tabernacle and Main Street in downtown St George. So if you've got a bicycle, ride it on down there and grab a drip coffee and tell them the 435 guys sent you Howdy everybody.
Speaker 3:Welcome back to another episode of the 435 Podcast. I'm your host, robert McFarlane, and today we're sitting down with farmer Sherry Staley. With Staley Family Farms, a cornerstone in Washington County, they've become an amusement park and a farm all at the same time, while development all surrounds them. We talk about the challenges that they faced over the last five generations of running that farm. We hope you enjoy this episode. It's a series of episodes about unique businesses in Southern Utah and it is absolutely one of the most unique ones in all of Washington County. So tune in, watch the whole episode. We 'd really appreciate some feedback. Shout out to our sponsors Tuakon, amphitheater, tech Ridge feedback. Shout out to our sponsors Tuakon Amphitheater, tech Ridge, fs Coffee Company and, of course, real Estate 435. Me and Jeff, we buy, sell, invest in real estate and if we can help you out, let us know we want to help you out. Enjoy this one. We'll see you out there, guys. So you were saying you're with a youth city council, or what was it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the Washington City Youth Council.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:So just to go back a little bit, when I was in like it's been like 40 years ago but given my age, but I was the youth city mayor in Washington.
Speaker 3:City, oh cool.
Speaker 2:And so we aligned with the city council and so I did that my years of high school and then they did it a few years after that and then it kind of fizzled out. And then, 15 years ago, carmen snow and one of the councilmen brought it back and we have a very thriving. There's 23 youth that are in our youth city council and they align with um the city council. So there's a mayor and there's a city manager and there's that's pretty council people.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know that existed yeah, and and a lot of cities. I believe St George City and Hurricane both have one, but ours I'm going to brag, ours are so legit, so that's why we get to see the mayor.
Speaker 3:I mean the mayor, the governor. So what is it that they do? Is it they just do kind of they learn the ropes on like what they those individual jobs do and they do like mock, like city council meetings and stuff like that?
Speaker 2:Well they so. They are very knowledged in Robert's Rules of Order so they know how a council meeting works. Like when we go to legislative legislature they prepare to watch bills. Like there were some committee meetings that we sat in that the kids were really excited about, but they really are a service group for our city so they set the example. They do a lot of volunteer hours in our city but they're very professional.
Speaker 2:They're young professionals and this is kind of a gateway for them to be able to get really great scholarships, especially if they're interested in political science or things like that. They are very equipped and professional and Carmen makes sure she's very much a professional, but they decide what they're going to do. They decide what they're going to do. So if someone comes and says hey, we need the youth council to volunteer for this, they vote. They decide if that fits what their scope is yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And they're very, very it's been so fun to see the success that has come out of there and kids from all walks of life. They're interviewed, and the previous mayor and council, so, like the seniors that are graduating, they are the ones that decide who come on.
Speaker 3:So is it just high schoolers?
Speaker 2:High school age in Washington city.
Speaker 3:So is it promoted through like the school out there? Is it like through Crimson?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the schools that have the 84780.
Speaker 3:Area code. Area code or zip code, zip code, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So they're the ones that get to come in. So you know, in Washington Fields it's a little sketchy because there's part of St George and part of Washington.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's kind of the golden ticket. Yeah, a lot of kids want to do it, which you know they're teenagers, and how many teenagers want to go pick up trash at the park? But they see the value in it and and it has really, like I said, we've we've had some great leaders come out of that, and the reason why I'm involved is I was um that was my next question, so you just nailed it.
Speaker 3:I helped.
Speaker 2:I helped for like eight years as a, as a what a mentor, supervisor, teacher, and just life got way busy. So I get to go. When they do bigger things, I get to be a chaperone and be involved and I try to build a relationship with them still because I loved it. It was a great thing for me as a youth and it's a great thing for all cities to do if they take it upon themselves.
Speaker 2:It's, it takes um. It takes somebody special like Carmen, who will actually give of her times, not paid position. But the city gets behind it too and that helps you know if you're, if your mayor and your city council are supportive of what you're doing.
Speaker 3:But they do they contribute at some capacity.
Speaker 1:They do. Yeah, like an actual community service.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they know that people in our community know our youth council because they shine. Even I was kind of tickled. On Facebook the governor posted the day they were with him that he made some awesome comments about what great kids they are and he had a really great discussion with them on the whole cell phone.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, cell phone. So is that the one they were most excited about? I'm curious like what? What? What bills did the high schoolers in town there?
Speaker 2:was a committee meeting that they talked about and it's going to be kind of like a pilot program. So a city brought it forth and they were asking for some funding. They want to do a program where there are trained police officers that deal with just the mental health issues, which I kind of thought, well, pretty much anything has a little bit of mental health to do with it. But what their goal was is this officer, these officers are trained, so you know they they will recognize that they get called to the same house two or three times and so they build a relationship with that person and then they build some trust and then maybe they deescalate some things that could happen, you know, like when, when they see the officer show up, they know that that officer is going.
Speaker 3:They know that person, yeah.
Speaker 2:And the whole presentation of it. I mean I can't tell you all of it because I don't remember all of it, but I just was so tickled that one of the boys, when we got done, he said to me he's like that is the coolest thing. One of the boys, when we got done, he said to me he's like that is the coolest thing. And I said, well, when we get home then you need to reach out to Chief Williams or police, you know, let him know, this is on the radar. And he did like. He called. When you know, we got home on Sunday and Monday he was on it. He's written letters, he's reached out to, you know, the representatives that have brought it forward. And it was just, it was really neat to see the lights turn on and, like I said, these kids aren't all gonna go out in political science but it gives them a taste of what really happens and how our laws are made. And they follow different things, like, for instance, senator Ibsen brought forward a torture law that got passed. It went to the House.
Speaker 3:That's a great marketing title for a law Torture Children, the torture law it's children's torture.
Speaker 2:I should say that Even more so this is interesting because this happened in our own community. We all know of the story up in Ivins.
Speaker 3:Oh right, you know with the what's her name.
Speaker 2:Frankie and-.
Speaker 3:What was her name? I'll look it up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you put your laptop away, anyway.
Speaker 3:Barbara. No, I can't remember her name. But, the abuse of kids abused kids that are tortured. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we the laws as they were written, is they? Only there wasn't much a judge could do. They could get like seven years, and so now this new law is they could get four or seven to life, or something like that, and that's one that our own Senator, ibsen, brought forward, and it passed unanimously, and so our kids were able to watch that process and it was really cool for them to see Ruby Frank. Ruby, frank Ruby.
Speaker 1:Frank YouTube Crazy. Yeah, and that was crazy.
Speaker 2:And we, you know, this is our little town, you know, and that's crazy.
Speaker 2:And we, you know, this is our little our little town, you know, and and that's what it was based off of because they the, the, you know, the judge, the law, their hands were tied and we're all like, well, why don't you, you know, give them the book? Well, they can't. And those are things I don't think people realize. Like we see it one way, but there's only so much that the law can do. So it was fun for the kids to to experience that and that's awesome, yeah, so, so let's.
Speaker 3:Let's take a step back Staley Family Farms. It's a institution in Southern Utah.
Speaker 1:It's a staple, if you will. It's a staple, it's a staple, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, we, we think so.
Speaker 3:And so maybe take me back in the history. So I know you're pretty much just related to everybody in town right, yeah. I think it's kind of how it works, because they go back to the pioneers.
Speaker 2:But maybe take me through a history of just the farm.
Speaker 2:So, our family was one of the founding families that came to the area to settle Washington County and so my whole life I've only known us as doing agriculture. That's what my dad did. But he always had a side job. He was a carpenter, worked for Warren Hannig, who's, I think he just turned 103. He was one of the big builders. You know, if you compare it to some of the other big I'm going to say aunt's homes, I'll give him a little plug. But he was really well known and my dad was a carpenter and then ran the farm with his dad and his brothers and they started out as vegetable farmers, which I know people are shocked that vegetables did actually grow really well here In certain areas In certain areas yeah, did actually grow really well here In certain areas.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in certain areas, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so they were vegetable farmers. Then they got into poultry and in about 1960, they got into the cattle business. They put in a feedlot and were raising commercial beef cows, and so that's what I grew up doing. I left the farm. I had a great career in interior design. In fact, I always get anxious this time of year because it's the parade homes and I used to do parade homes and you know it was a lot of my years in my life I did that and I always get nervous like oh, a deadline or something.
Speaker 3:But it's a great it was a great thing to be in Some PTSD. Yeah, a little bit of PTSD. It was intense.
Speaker 2:Did I forget a great thing to be ptsd? Yeah, yeah, ptsd, it was intense. Did I forget something? Yeah, it was intense, but such a great, great um experience to do. But anyway, about 2001, um, the olympics were coming you know, to salt lake. I think it was 2001 or 2000, I can't remember anyway. But um, my brother who's on the school board now, burke he. He said to my dad, we're going to do a corn maze.
Speaker 2:And my dad being he's 82 now, so back then you know he's like nobody's going to come out to a blankety, blank corn maze and we're like, well, we think they will. And the whole purpose and it's still our purpose is the education side of agriculture. We really wanted kids to know where their food came from and my brother was a principal at the time and he could see the lack of that knowledge in the school. So he, um, he did the, he did the corn maze and I just helped.
Speaker 2:I ran the concession stand and and year two came around same thing and it was a hit you build it, they will come. And about year three he still principal, but then he got a church calling. That was a big one, and so he was going to be done with it and I'm like, well, hey.
Speaker 2:I'll do it. And at the time I was a single mom and everyone was like you're crazy, how are you going to do that? But, and full-time job. But I took it on and we just, you know, kept plugging along. Kind of the same thing big working farm I think we had 1500 head of cows at that time on the farm. So if you've been there you know like the setup and obviously Washington fields was all fields at that time.
Speaker 2:It was all farms and, and so we just started down the path and it was fun, it was a hobby and Was it just the corn maze?
Speaker 3:Did you had you added any of the extra stuff to the farm?
Speaker 2:No, it was just the corn maze, and so about year eight, um, this, the spectrum, you know the newspaper, the only newspaper in town. They'd always cover us front page big story. So I called because they hadn't called me and I said, hey, we want to. You know, here's our design this year. And the lady she gave me the greatest gift she said the corn maze is old news about, broke my heart. But I was like okay, and it really got me thinking.
Speaker 3:The movie theater just opened, finally, the first one in town and everybody cared about the movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah so, anyway, um, that shifted my my direction into focusing more on the farm, and so, of course, we're working farm. I still got my dad involved, and so we're cleaning up, doing whatever we can to make it look presentable, you, you know, and with a with a farmer mentality, um, which is not a bad thing but my dad's like oh, you know, like let's build this and let the kids jump off that, and I'm like, well, no, we probably better not do that. We, we did it as kids, but we probably not, you know and he wasn't.
Speaker 2:He wasn't real. All gangbusters, because this was new and you know a lot of people coming on his property and you know the world was different. Yeah, the world was different, and so we just kept plugging along.
Speaker 3:So this was around like 2008, 2009?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and then it kind of just took a traumatic shift and the numbers were getting bigger and more people were coming and and we were like, oh my heck, what are we doing? And so that's when I personally, like um, started like really focusing on the business side of it, you know, cause it was just a fun thing, it was a hobby.
Speaker 2:And all of a sudden, the city's like, well, you're not zoned to do this and you know it just opened a whole can of worms, which again blessings. They seem scary at the time but they can be really good blessings. And so we just started down that path and, you know, I really got involved with what is termed as agritourism, which is a pretty big thing in other states. We're finally getting here, and so I got to help write the first agritourism law for the state of Utah.
Speaker 3:Oh, interesting. So I've been very involved. So agritourism meaning like a farm, that is, somebody is going specifically there to the farm to learn about agriculture in general Agriculture yeah, yeah, so it's.
Speaker 2:Farmers opened up their farms for people to tour you know, and dairy farms are doing it, and I'm really-.
Speaker 3:Because they're so rare these days. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm really especially here, right. Oh, yeah, absolutely right, oh yeah, absolutely. So I'm really excited because, um, the state of utah last year, the tourism, finally on their website they have a whole place that talks about agritourism, because for us and you guys know this, you've seen where we are um, we couldn't farm like we've farmed. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Even though we have sold off some land. The reason we've sold off land is because we couldn't go farm there anymore. You know like you used to water a field flood irrigation and now there's houses right back up to that field and then the water goes into their yards or floods out their swimming pool, or so you know people are like well, you guys have. You know you've contributed to the problem you're like, you built your house there.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, but you know, so we've sold off land and we've we've done that part, but we've kind of we're down to like 57 acres right there in that little area. And uh, you know, people always say, well, you know, if you sold out you'd be so rich and you'd be this, and I'm like that's not all about the money in my mindset, like I tell my kids, like I you know, if you want to keep it going, I'm going to keep it going when I'm gone. I hope you're going to keep it going.
Speaker 3:You know, um, there's the primary, not not to cut you off, but my boys, um, they love the farm camp, they love the farm camp and so, like between my mother-in-law and my wife, like the day it opens they're like at their computer, like ready to go to like click on it. Cause it goes like all the spots 13 minutes.
Speaker 2:It's sold out 300 kids 13 minutes, 300 kids.
Speaker 3:Four weeks, right, Four weeks. Five weeks now, five weeks in the summer, and so everybody's vying for the early weeks because it starts to get hot in June. So it's like getting the kids out there in the middle when it gets hot. But you know, they always man, they just love it so much and they learn so much. But they were talking about bees much, but they were talking about bees and it was like the first time they even like, had any idea, like, about the bees. But even even this is like you have all this development is growing that stuff. When we don't have the bees to pollinate a lot of these things, they don't sprout fruit, Right, and so it's, it's, it's a key pieces. You know you can sell off a few pieces of land, but just because you have the land doesn't mean something's going to grow there, Right.
Speaker 3:Oh doesn't mean something's going to grow there, right, oh right. And it's not just the soil, and it's not just the water, it's the whole ecosystem around it.
Speaker 2:Right, right, in fact, farm camp. I'm glad you brought that up, cause that's like I had to bring my heart.
Speaker 3:It's. It's so awesome.
Speaker 2:So, um, farm camp actually started. I had, uh, some a parent call me and said if I send my kids to the farm, would you teach them how to work? I'm like sure. And so three kids came. We spent a few days working, just doing what I do every day doing chores Cleaning up the pens, eating the animal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, next year a few more.
Speaker 2:It got up to like 12 kids. Parents were talking and I'm like, hmm, so I just opened it up for farm camp and that was 19 years ago.
Speaker 2:That's how long I've been doing it and it's like seriously one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. I look forward to it and you know we open our registration in February. We don't do farm camp till June, but um, it's just been, it's a treat and it's so fun to see those little minds understand so like the bee thing. You know we have neighbors that are backed up to us now right, you guys are surrounded. Everybody sprays for bugs right.
Speaker 2:So we saw beehives on the farm and the bees were just dying. They would get that. You know, they get poisoned. So we don't bring beehives and so that's made it hard for us to farm. And then the other thing is because we have so many people on the farm and so many cars, like I was talking, I'm taking a gardening class right now at the college and or university, I should say. Anyway, I was telling the teacher it's so crazy to me the amount of time Like we have a pond. Two years ago that pond, the frogs were so like I couldn't hear myself think they were so loud, I found one frog last year.
Speaker 2:That's how much it's changed.
Speaker 3:And it's just our environment's changed.
Speaker 2:The soils have changed. We don't get the rain we used to. We used to could count on monsoon rains in July. We don't see them.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:I have my theory. I mean, I, I've, we, we've gone to this desert scape landscape, you know, to save water, but we're just creating a lot more heat.
Speaker 1:Tucson did that. Tucson's a good example of that. I don't know if you remember any of that, but they got rid of everything trees, yeah and it made the overall temperature go up, and now they're putting more back in.
Speaker 2:So I actually was talking to our mayor about this because I was fascinated in this class and I said you know, who told the landscapers that xeriscape meant plastic and rocks and a couple of yucca plants? Who told them that Because we have native plants that will grow here, that use very little water, let's cover that soil, protect it, keep that cool, you know, so we can start getting our rains.
Speaker 3:I'm a believer that our atmosphere- but even additionally, like you, okay, you put all this plastic and rock down, then you funnel the water into the gutters. The gutters then go drain out and then we don't capture it, it's gone. Where? Otherwise? The one of the huge? I don't know how? I had a Zach Renstrom on.
Speaker 3:We talked, we were talking water and he was telling me about sand hollow, and the name of sand hollow is more than just a name of a reservoir. 70% of the water is not visible. So the water that you see all the way to the base, that's only 30% of the water that that reservoir holds, because the sand is like a sponge and it holds so much water inside the sand and that's basically why the desert has such a abundant life, especially in the springtime is because it holds all this water and then when it rains, you know, in the spring or in these monsoons, it allows that those plants can reach all of that water that's being stored up there. It's not just running off into the river that goes down and then we lose it right, and that's the same thing with the plants.
Speaker 2:You know, like you cover that, you cover that soil, you cover that ground with a plant, a native plant. It's going to go on the ground and that plant's going to protect that and keep that water in the ground. And you, you use less water. And in fact I said to the teacher, I said have you gone to the water district and given this presentation? And they're like no, and I'm like I'm getting you an appointment. Zach, if you're listening, I'm going to send this to you.
Speaker 3:Yes, Because it was so fascinating and it made so much sense to me, and I think it trickles into like okay, city regulations is um, is grass the best thing? No, obviously not. Right For every uh, for every foot of grass, you need six feet of water on top of that annually to water just that grass, but that's not true of every single plant, right? So we cut the grass out but then we eliminate all of the other options. Did you know? Have you ever heard of clover lawns? Oh, yeah, yeah. They use 70% less water. They're pet resistant? They don't. They're heat resistant, right. So they can get into high temperatures. And we spray raid on all of our lawns to kill all these clover plants that, once they grow, you don't even have to mow it. It gets to like a three inch, like little sponge.
Speaker 3:It's beautiful and you can have it where it flowers, or you can have it where it doesn't flower.
Speaker 1:We were just out in the Bay area and we walked through a redwood Muir Woods forest. The whole whole thing's covered in three inch clover yeah, and it looks great, it doesn't.
Speaker 3:It doesn't sprout up, so you don't have to mow it and you walk right over it and it's resilient to all these different things and the kids just search for the four leaf clovers all day long and they'll never find one, and they're just occupied the whole time but, but that's what this teacher said.
Speaker 2:Even like here, if there's so many options you've you think of, like meadow grass, so you you think about where the the cattle range and there's meadow grass everywhere, yeah and that only gets watered from the rain right yeah so you can plant meadow grass which could be mowed. It can be just like grass. It's a little coarser than what we're used to, but it can be mowed, and, and, or you could let it grow a little taller. And it's not necessarily it's pretty, you're not?
Speaker 3:playing in the rocks like my kids are like going, like we have like like a zero escape in the backyard of our little town home and they're, like you know, their feet hurt when they're like walking on these like pokey rocks. They're not, they're not playing in that like they would regular grass, but if it was meadow grass they'd still be able to walk in it, but it's not like typical grass, right. And so I think there's just so many of these other options. Is it that the developers or the landscapers just don't know, or is it this is their opportunity to just do the cheapest thing that they can think of? But it's not cheap. That's the weird thing. I don't even know if that rock isn't cheap.
Speaker 1:I don't think.
Speaker 2:I think it's a lack of education and I think automatically when we see a plant, we're like, oh, they're using all the water, you know. But they're not. I mean, I have a plant we're like, oh, they're using all the water, you know.
Speaker 2:But they're not right, they. I mean, I have a plant, uh, it's a natural plant, native plant to this area, I can't even think what it's called. It never gets water, other than when it rains and it thrives, it grows, it's big, you know, and and we just have to. I think it's a. It's a lack of and not to be insulting, or anything but a lack of education, like we, we think desertscape. We just think it's a lack of and not to be insulting, or anything but a lack of education, like we think desertscape we just think it's got to look like the desert Rocks and cactus.
Speaker 2:Rocks and cactus. Yeah, and that's not the case. And this teacher you ought to have him on here actually but they took a basic yard out in Bloomington, bloomington Ranches, but you know she showed a picture of her yard.
Speaker 3:It was a basic southern utah yard the rocks, a little bit of grass, and and they created this lush, beautiful oasis, if you will well, you look at the desert garden up on, uh, red hills parkway right, and so I think, um, maybe there's like a need like a landscaper convention, like desert convention, that we should host here is like, hey, let's rethinking zero scape landscaping, right. It's like let's get rid of this rock stuff, can we?
Speaker 2:Let's keep it cool, cool down, because I think that will bring our rain. You know, that's an interesting thought. Yeah, and the farmers don't steal all the water, by the way, they don't.
Speaker 3:I think they do a little bit get the rap. So, um, I'll disagree only on this point. Um, agricultural, uh, and this is at least in washington county agricultural, um ag water, because there's municipal water and residential water, so it's like in one category, in ag water it's about 80 of the water is allotted to agricultural because they own it, because they own it, which which is fine, and they're allowed to own it and I I appreciate that that's the fact that they do it. I do think that there needs to be some willingness, whether it's through the cities, the water conservancy districts or whatever, to say how do we put infrastructure in so like, like flood irrigation, right, it's like you sold off that land because of flood irrigation, where, if you would have had the ability to put in some smart irrigation systems where it's not costing you enough to bankrupt the farm to do it because they're expensive, they're not cheap.
Speaker 3:I went to a water symposium last year. This guy he's a water expert I'm drawing a blank on his name but he studied water in Israel and what they do in Israel is they have these water irrigation systems where they don't use any fertilizer. They're water irrigation systems. They feed the fertilizer through the water lines and they individually drip each plant, which it is expensive. But they even developed tomato plants that don't have leaves.
Speaker 2:Wow, which is crazy, so they don't have leaves.
Speaker 3:Wow, which is crazy. So they don't have to put any pest pesticides on the, on the plants, and so there's. I think there's a lot of technology out there that could help in the food deserts, like, like what we have here, but it's, it's costly investment and there's not a lot of money in agriculture, well, in our water too.
Speaker 2:You know our water too. Um, you know it, it's a unique water. It's a unique water and you have and like for us, um, like we've put in when we've done our pumpkin patch, we've put in drip system and we can get, even get the remote, best filtration system to get that sand you know, and you put sand through a drip system here is pretty hard and you know we don't use culinary water for that. We we do use um water from the virgin river and um and quagga, mussels and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2:That just so much salt, and so you know, like we, we always say you probably, you know, we have sprinklers out there and I really want to, I really want to bring in a pivot, but I don't know how my neighbors would receive a big old pivot in the middle of all that right now, right yeah, what's a pivot? A pivot is the one that they're much more conservative with water.
Speaker 3:So they like hang down, they hang down and they just mist. And they mist, yeah, but they're tall.
Speaker 2:They're tall and they just go in at whatever the angle. Yeah, they can go horizontal. They can just go straight or they go around. They have wheels on them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm used to them going, because that's what I was when I was thinking, like you know, we could go to the extreme of like individually dropping water on each individual plant, or you know, even these pivot systems that use significantly less water. And they do, these pivot systems that use significantly less water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they do. And the thing of it is again our water here, the filtration system you'd have to put in to even get that to mist down in those. I mean it's a whole new ballgame which we actually looked into that because, like I said, I know it's a lot more efficient. Because, like I said, I know it's a lot more efficient. I can tell you that we put in a new service probably five years ago. My dad was just adamant on, we keep what we have and he left town one week and we put in a whole new system because I knew it would be more efficient, and it is power water, all of it. It's more efficient. You know, when you're using something from 1960 or whatever.
Speaker 2:But the flood irrigation, I think the thing that people don't understand too and it's not set up that way now because of all the building, but it was set up so, say, I use our water, and then that tailwater would go back into the ditch and the farmer down. You know, they'd take turns, they'd take share, they'd all have a share and then they'd take a water turn. So your turn might be in the middle of the night, but when we got done watering it was set up and the canal the history of our canal is such great history but it would go down to the next farmer right, and then they would-.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've seen it in downtown Washington City, it's still so they would capture that water.
Speaker 3:That was the way they would conserve water and I think that with changes and stuff, you know it's not that way anymore, Like gone because of the cost of saying, okay, well, we were used to everybody growing and now only a third of the people are growing, and then they're not connected. They're all disconnected from these developments and these developments. So the water doesn't run the way it was originally set up. The ditches are gone now. The ditches are gone, yeah, and they set it up.
Speaker 2:The canal company really was kind of genius the way they figured out, because we didn't waste water. Yeah, I mean what wastewater? Yeah, I mean what we had. We used and reused it, just that tail water. You'd soak it into your ground. There's always tail water that would run off and then capture it. But, um, I know, like in washington city I think st george is the same they've they've had people put in this secondary watering, which is is that uh?
Speaker 3:irrigation water irrigation water.
Speaker 2:That's farm water. You know it's not. It's not drinkable water. But I know washington city hasn't implemented theirs yet. They they've built, had people add that, but they don't have that yeah, it's supposed to.
Speaker 3:From what I understand, it's supposed to go online between this year and next year and that is literally our bridge, like we are in the the end, the tail end bridge we're using and this is a nobody can argue with me about this we are over our average yield of water use.
Speaker 3:So our average expected water that we get into the county that runs in the county that we can pump from the ground all the different ways that we collect water, we are over our average annual yield.
Speaker 3:So currently we're getting in more of a deficit on the use of what we have than what we can expect. Um, over, I think it's like a hundred year timeframe, I think is what they calculate the average yield being at. And if you go back a hundred years, we were outside of a drought and we've gone in and out of a drought in that a hundred year timeframe. So it's already kind of a lower number because we went through a really pretty rough drought, especially in the 80s, and then we're kind of in one again and so we're using more water than we actually can guarantee that we're going to have, and so this secondary water use system is supposed to bring us back out of that average yield. So we're kind of on a clock and we're hoping it's raining today. So if you're in St George's snowing in Ivins this morning, I love it so it's snowing in Washington too.
Speaker 2:It was kind of exciting for a minute. Yeah, a few flakes, yeah.
Speaker 3:We got, we got a dust on red mountain which is just insanely beautiful If you ever catch it with the snow in snow Canyon and red mountain. But you know, these water days are important, but we're just so. The stretches between, as between water days are getting longer and longer.
Speaker 2:We've got to learn to landscape different. We've got to learn to landscape different.
Speaker 3:But also, you know, these secondary systems are good and they do need to connect up, but that doesn't necessarily help the farmers.
Speaker 2:No, no. And again, you know, if we look around farming in Washington County, I'm not saying it's going away, because I don't think farming will ever go away. We're just doing farming differently. Yeah, you know. And and at the farm where we're at um, if we weren't doing what we're doing with agritourism, we would be walmart or target or something out there. You know it won't work, because you can't farm like a walmart out there.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, people would go, so they go crazy.
Speaker 2:I would cry I would move. I told my husband we'd move to minersville, I would be out, like it's so hard, like the growth has been really hard. I feel like we have great neighbors, you know, and we try to be such good neighbors. But you know, who would have thought this is our 24th year doing the corn maze? Who would have thought it would be where we are right?
Speaker 1:And a freeway exit right below us you know, right down the street crazy and that was kind of that was my and maybe this is a little bit of a turn from from the conversation, but that was like my main question for you is how you've dealt with the growth and how, I don't know, like, where you see it going, because I, I I saw a before and after picture of the fields from 2010 to 2020, which was completely different now, but there was almost nothing out there. Even in 2010, there were a few pockets of you know, some developments and stuff, but, um, I mean, I I wouldn't even know where to like. I feel like it's like you're like the Duttons.
Speaker 1:It feels like it sometimes too washington county right, like you're just trying to keep what you've got going, yeah, and you've got all this pressure around. I mean you could I don't even know how much money you could make by just selling the whole land to a developer but they want it absolutely, they call weekly, they probably call daily, you know.
Speaker 1:So um, um, yeah, I guess that's my kind of overarching question for you is like where do you see it going and how have you dealt with these big homes and developments being built right next door?
Speaker 2:Well, I I think that, um, you know, when people were starting to move in, we tried to make a connection. You know, put a face to the farm if you will, and I feel like we've done really good at that. There was one development that went in that the real estate agent was letting everybody know that we were selling out and we were going to be gone. So we had to clear that.
Speaker 3:They should lose their license, by the way, absolutely. I'm so adamant about this.
Speaker 2:It turned ugly way. Absolutely, I'm so adamant about this. Yeah, it turned ugly, it was. It was so sad because we were like trying to figure out like why people would say that to us and we're like finally we found out the source.
Speaker 1:But they want to make money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and so, um, we, you know, I don't know, I feel like I have a sacred duty, if you will. You know, I, I, uh, I feel like the, that the farm is a gathering place. It's a place that's different from all the, all the other places, and it feels different when you come there. Yes, it's dusty, yes, it's dirty. You're going to get those cute shoes dirty, so I tell people don't wear your cute shoes. But it just feels different. And we hear it time and time again People will come. We just had some people there on Tuesday that were from California. They're up visiting. They find us. Somebody posted an awesome TikTok video. I'd like to thank them because I said where'd you hear about us on TikTok? We don't do TikTok.
Speaker 1:Let's see if I can find it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know, Anyway, so't come, and then my daughter opened her you know little coffee trailer on there, the grit and grind, and we see so much tourism, and so we're now. One thing we're looking at is bringing in tour buses you know, because I feel like it's unique enough, it's different enough, and my kids I mean my oldest, you know my kids are, like now, engaged in what's happening. They're all entrepreneurial people, business people.
Speaker 3:Which is what which is in my mind. You go from, okay, we, we had agricultural economies, to an industrial economy, to service economy, and we look at, okay, we start to shed, you know, basically the excess of agricultural and industrial. And you look at St George and there's these little gems that are left over of those eras. Right, you have Fort Pierce Industrial Park, but you know, I've heard a lot of talk about industrial 4.0, right, it's like, okay, industrial where it's not labor intensive, it's robotics. Right, where they're going to build stuff, you know, with robots in these big warehouses. And then you think of agriculture and I think what's the? What's the 4.0 agricultural? You know world look like and vertical gardening vertical gardening.
Speaker 3:You know, and I think I think of like all these things. I'm always thinking about the agricultural stuff because I live out in Ivans of like all these things. I'm always thinking about the agricultural stuff because I live out in ivan's. I understand, uh, and I'm almost uh reprogramming. Somebody told me I need to be reprogrammed. I feel like I've been reprogrammed while I'm out there. It's like I'm out there, I can drive down the street. My boy, my boys can ride down the street on their bikes, and then you go out in the fields. I'm like I don't want my boys riding down any of these streets, like it's crazy out here. So like I can see how you know, uh, this, this push between we're going to grow no matter what and we got to keep. Some of you know what makes St George so awesome those houses that they bought those houses. They probably love the fact that there was farms out there and that there were horses and they're driving by and they're roping.
Speaker 3:You know, I see the kids out there roping and I love that, but and that's why they move out there, but then they want to close the door behind them, right, and you have. You know, real estate industry, it's the developers that are like, no, we got to keep building. It's going to. You know, housing prices are going through the roof so we have to keep building. It's because of the community that we live. People want to live here because it's different from other places and so finding this balance of like holding onto it is that cause. You seem fairly politically active, like, especially with the youth, but I know I believe you're friends with Michelle Randall, pretty pretty close friends with Michelle, and I think Mayor Staley is your cousin, right, and so you know, thinking about you know your connection into this. It's a tough battle. Do you feel like the battle is getting harder or do you feel like we're finding a little bit of balance right now?
Speaker 2:I feel like we're finding balance. Years ago, so in 2008, 2009,. It was 2009. So you know, I was telling you like the farm changed and people were like, oh, it's a business now. And so our city didn't know what to do with this because they're like you're a commercial business. I'm doing commercial business on agriculture land.
Speaker 3:You're like I've been a business this whole time. What do you think we were doing?
Speaker 2:You're not zoned for that right.
Speaker 3:Thanks for catching up Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I. With our planning commission and city council, we created what's called an agritourism overlay zone Cool, and it was written just for our farm. It's wonderful and it's been great, and a lot of other cities have used it. You know weber county used it, wrote their own. Well, um, we got a new uh city manager a few years ago. He's a great guy, like him a lot. But he's like hey, you never applied for this zone change and I'm like what do you mean?
Speaker 2:it's like I created I wrote it I wrote it right's like, well, you had to apply for it. And I'm like, okay, well, now we're like, I don't know, we've written it like 12 years ago or whatever you know, 13 years ago, and so I'm actually going through that process right now. You're finally rezoning into the zone that you created for your. I get to and I use the word get to, because probably I would have been really scared.
Speaker 2:I'm nervous about it because you know you do the public, hearing the public gets to come out and say what they think, and I would have probably been a little more worried, say even five or six years ago, but I feel like now people have embraced us, we are, I feel like we are a destination place. I feel like they know us from the top of the state to Nevada. I mean 60% of our business in October is from Nevada.
Speaker 3:Wow, wow 60%. Because they don't have any farms. In Vegas they have zero. Or in Nevada, like unless you're in Reno, they don't have any.
Speaker 2:So we do bring a lot of tourism to the area, and so you know we're working with our city council. I am nervous, I don't like, because you know I always tell my guests you'll throw me in jail if it doesn't pass. You can do that.
Speaker 3:She's like I'm not changing what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:No, I'm not, and I feel like we do a very good job and I feel like we have a big open space. You know, we had the Balloon Festival, which brings a lot of people in.
Speaker 3:It's another great ad Like I'm just thinking of, like the little things we do some concerts.
Speaker 2:You know, and one of the councilmen the other day and I really it was quite a compliment he says it's Washington City, the Sun Bowl people are very passionate about it and as they should be, so we can grow and we can do all the things. But I feel like our values, like you're talking about your kids riding their bikes, like those values can stay the same if we, as the people that live here, make sure that happens, like we don't give in to sorry California friends, cause they're mostly good people.
Speaker 3:We moved here. I moved here from California. So I was born, I was, I'm a Utah and I was born in Utah. But we moved. We moved here from California last yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's. It's interesting, though, cause we get a lot of people from California to come to farm, and when California you know, and so I always apologize.
Speaker 2:I don't want to say and I don't hold, I'm not, I don't. I think, well, you're here, thank heaven you're here. But but you know some people. I say you know, if you have an issue, go talk to your neighbor, don't make it a thing. Those are the good old days. You know, somebody told me I was from the dinosaur era because I brought up the issue about the. He said what did you have a rock and a whatever when you were in school? Because I brought up the issue about the cell phones in the classroom. You know Like anyway, he's like what were you from the dinosaur era? And I'm like well, probably.
Speaker 3:I mean we didn't have computers, I guess if 20 years ago was from the dinosaur era like it wasn't that long ago, I know. Yeah, like we're, I didn't have cell phones in my school, I know.
Speaker 1:We're 38. And it's like I didn't get a cell phone. Until you know it was one of the Nokia bricks when I was like a senior in high school, but it wasn't allowed in school Like I wasn't allowed to the principal's office, barricade the door, whatever, we have lots of different, other things to do than this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was just interesting people's, whatever, but I don't know. I just feel like things have changed. It's going to change. You have to embrace the change. Would I love Washington fields just to be all green hay fields, alfalfa fields, you betcha?
Speaker 3:I don't want alfalfa. I'm going to argue with you on that one.
Speaker 2:It uses a lot of water. Do you like to eat Alfalfa?
Speaker 3:uses a lot of water. Do you like to eat? I do like to eat.
Speaker 2:Okay Are you?
Speaker 3:no, I'm not. I know the, I know the cows need alfalfa vegans, I know I know offend, we can offend the vegans it's not that hard trump's the president, it's not trump's the president, now I think we could offend vegans again we like to drink milk.
Speaker 2:No, and milk doesn't come from almonds. So, come on, let's just be serious about the alfalfa.
Speaker 3:I understand what you're saying yeah, and I get, I get, yeah, it's this, and this was my thought too is that we we transition to alfalfa. We have infrastructure for alfalfa. Because of the soil quality and the water quality, there's not a lot of things that grow.
Speaker 2:It grows great here, it's a great ground cover for our cooling.
Speaker 3:It's a great ground cover for the cooling and it also uses a ton of water. And we have to recognize the fact. There's a lot of different other things that we could grow nowadays that if we, if we, if we were able to invest in those things, we could do that and and so. But yeah, I mean alfalfa, it's the biggest bang for your buck. I, I did so much research. I was like what could we replace alfalfa with that would use less water but still make make enough money for the farmers? And they're just not a lot out there that do it.
Speaker 2:But again, there are ways with the watering. You know, like I said, you don't see in Washington County well, I guess out in Apple Valley, but they don't have any water so that you don't see them functioning but bringing in these pivots, yeah, Fillmore, Like if you drive up to Salt Lake you could see them.
Speaker 3:They're better.
Speaker 2:You know they conserve water. Now, honestly, back in the day like I said when, when the canal system was um designed and operating, we, even though you flood irrigated that water was captured and it was sent down to the next farmer and the next farmer and then even clear down into nevada. So you know, sometimes and technology is awesome, but sometimes technology growth all that puts a burden on the other things that we're you know, so have you looked into like the reuse system, though?
Speaker 3:Do you feel like the reuse system is going to be able to bring us back to something similar to that?
Speaker 2:I do. You know, there's a lot of stubborn people that still live here and we do have a lot of groundwater. I will say we do, but we still have to be conservative and I was raised to be conservative with water. You know I didn't just let things run. You know we did run through the sprinklers. Maybe that was a little wasteful, but we had to put it on the dry spot on the lawn.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, so we, you know that's the mentality yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you know there's a lot of. You know the argument we hear well, keep building golf courses, keep building car washes. You know there's that argument. There's always going to be.
Speaker 1:Soda shops and car washes. Yeah, the soda shop. That's a real problem here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we saw a cute soda shop up north. It was the name of. It was Just Another Soda Shop.
Speaker 3:Nice. Nailed it, that's leaning right into it. Nailed it, perfect, that's leaning right into it. I thought that was genius. That is genius, anyway. Well, so I was thinking there was something else I wanted to ask you about, and I'm drawing a blank. Oh, nope, we're going to take a quick break. We'll come right back after these messages. Well, what else? I mean what, what, what else are you thinking? What, what, uh, what issues are you bringing up? Or you know? Um, oh, you know what I want to ask about? The zombie Cause. You were telling me a little bit. Uh, I would think I was picking up the boys from farm camp.
Speaker 2:Maybe it was last just at. Uh, um, the halloween, um, what do you call the halloween festival over there?
Speaker 3:the staley, the well, the field of screams, feel the screams, yeah, so that, um, you were telling me about how the idea for the zombie, like the the paintball zombie zombie bus, tell, tell us that story, because I don't think a lot of people know the story and like kind of how, how it's scaled, because it sounded to me like that was a fast growing portion of what you guys kind of started.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I can't say we, we, we started it, but we had um some.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's the first one here, so you can start. You started it here.
Speaker 2:So, um, we had a cute couple from the. The gal grew up in in Mesquite, so she was familiar with the farm, but she lived with her husband up in Idaho and they had this idea to bring this zombie bus. And they had done it in Idaho and it was okay, and so they approached us with it and said, hey, we've got this idea. It'll bring all these people to the farm. It'll be really great and I'm kind of cocky a little bit, but not for reals.
Speaker 3:You're like sure People come to the farm for the stuff I've got?
Speaker 2:I'm confident in what we do. I'll just say that. So I shouldn't say I'm cocky, I'm confident in what we do. So I said to her I said, yeah, we'd love to have you, but I guarantee you we'll do more for you than you'll do for us. Oh, you know, and that's kind of cocky, confident, yeah, but it's honest, but it was true, and they were shocked.
Speaker 2:They were shocked and so you know, they came for a few years and it was great for them and for us it was good. But we were outgrowing like our parking all of our things, like we just didn't have room for them anymore, parking all of our things, like we just didn't have room for them anymore. And then, but what I did help them do is they now sell franchises for the zombie bus.
Speaker 2:So I got them connected with farmers all over the country, so they have zombie buses but great people and they do like the monster truck shows, so it's kind of that's their wheelhouse.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, yeah, so this year we brought them back Cause we we took out those corrals in the back of the farm, so we had a little space, but still it was. I don't know if we'll bring them back again because our parking is such an issue, so but that was kind of the thing, is they? They had an idea, and you know, and I love people with ideas- yeah. I mean, I think that's how you know it's so fun when you get an idea and you take it and it does something.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it runs.
Speaker 2:I think of Michelle Tanner and Swig, and there was an idea and she's amazing.
Speaker 3:So you know, there we go. Michelle Tanner Swig. Who is this Nicole?
Speaker 2:Not Michelle Nicole we don't know. Michelle, but Nicole, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3:I was like wait a minute, I know Michelle.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, she doesn't have swigs. She might drink swigs. Yeah yeah, nicole. Yeah, you know, it was fun to watch Nicole grow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, these businesses that that come out of, come out of St George, and and that's I think it's just such a valuable piece and it's something that we don't want to take for granted, and I do want to say thank you for the community for keeping it going and not selling out to Walmart. I appreciate that, yeah, yeah. So what's on? What's the next chapter? Do you guys have things in the works for what you're going to do next, or do you have some, some other plans of of?
Speaker 3:where you're headed. Are you going to just keep banging away?
Speaker 2:D all of the above.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But, um, so we have been actually um really networking and talking with the state tourism and our local Zion, you know, greater Zion tourism, because and they actually approached us, both the state and there, because, like you said, when you see the different um the zip codes that go through, it's amazing where people are coming from and you know it's kind of like growing up here and going to Zion National Park.
Speaker 2:You didn't realize how special it was because it was just here. Snow Canyon was just here, right. That's kind of what the farm like that was, just we grew up there, right. But I know now how special it is. I know that it gives back in a lot of ways and it touches hearts and it changes people and I mean we employ, like we had 240 employees last fall.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Most of them are teenagers, I know. Thank you, parents.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:I know, but there's just so much that we can do. You know from farm camp, and what's cool with farm camp now is a lot of those farm camp kids are now my employees.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they know what farmer Sherry expects.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's pretty cool, but you know. So the tour bus is something we're looking at. We are a farm for all seasons now. We're open all the time, even though we have bigger events. We just got approached yesterday bringing another country concert, so we're looking into that, that's cool. We're looking at doing some stuff with ToolCon because they're doing the Wizard of Oz.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So you know, I would have never thought the opportunities that have you know been for us the farm and for me personally would have happened. Like you know, when you go up to, and even Mayor Kress will say this, mayor Staley, he says golly, go up to the legislature and all they ask about is the farm. They don't even ask about the city. They say how's Staley Farm?
Speaker 1:doing what the?
Speaker 2:legislature and all they ask about is the farm. They don't even ask about the city. They say how's Daly Farm doing? What are they doing? That's a compliment. We've had some big players come out there. We had that political rally with Mike Lee and we've had Glenn Beck like him or hate him. We've had some big opportunities to network and kind of put ourselves on the map. And for me, the number one thing always and I will stay true till my dying day is the education part that started us. I think every kid needs to know where their food comes from, every adult needs to know where their food comes from.
Speaker 2:And that education. That's the key to what we do and we want. We want to stay a farm. That's why I fought really hard with these zoning things. I mean, I'm not going to asphalt the ground I won't you know? And I always say well, I guess we can open up a pig farm. That's my secret weapon. Now, it's not secret, everybody knows.
Speaker 3:But we'll open up a pig farm if you really want. We're still zoned agriculture, you know, but? But in all seriousness, it's not secret.
Speaker 2:Everybody knows that We'll open up a pig farm. If you really want, we'll open up a pig farm. We're still zoned agriculture but in all seriousness I feel like it's a little gem in our community and I appreciate we just get so much love and support and we are very grateful for that, because we wouldn't have thought my brother Burke says this all the time I would have never taken it to this level and for me it's like a dream, like that little silo store we have way before Joe Joanna Gaines had the silos.
Speaker 2:That was my dream and if you ask the farm camp kids that have been coming, I've been talking about that for years and it's so fun to see it a reality.
Speaker 3:And yeah, that's awesome. So, yeah, well, thanks for coming on the show. I think there's so many other you know angles that we can go, but I really appreciate you spending the time to talk to us about farm life in Southern Utah and we wish you the best of luck and we'll keep development as far away from the farm as possible.
Speaker 2:Don't come talk to me about my land unless I call you, leave her alone. Don't call me, I'll call you Realtors they're not selling.
Speaker 3:They're not going to sell. Leave them alone. Real estate agents, you bunch of knuckleheads.
Speaker 2:You guys are awesome, all right, well, have a good one, thank you.
Speaker 3:Thanks for tuning in everybody. We'll see you out there. Thanks for listening in. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe.
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