The Tripp family has been farming in Cache Valley since the 1860s. The 1,000-acre farm is home to cows, chickens, ducks, sheep and of course the llama named Bob that stands guard at the edge of the pasture.
Adam Tripp grew up working on the farm but wanted to pursue a career in real estate. Then he met his partner Mark who didn’t have a background in agriculture.
“I was a farm boy at heart, I always wore cowboy boots,” Mark said. “Adam, on our first date he brought me to the farm. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh this is amazing!’ Before I met Adam I was working in healthcare. I kind of equate now I’m taking care of sick animals so kind of the same practice.”
Adam said working on a farm isn’t just a normal nine-to-five job.
“With a farm, you need to have that passion behind it, that ability to consistently want to wake up every morning and want to take care of all the things that need to happen,” Adam said. “So through meeting Mark, it was, ‘Oh, I can be here and happy and sustain and still be part of the farm.’”
Adam and Mark decided they wanted to create a sustainable way for people to get fresh products like meat and eggs.
“The farm to table direction is, we’ve raised these great dairy cows we take care of lots of calves and then we ship them off at the end of their life,” Adam said. “Why are we not helping people consume that thing that we spent our blood, sweat and tears towards raising and giving better lives. That was the direction to let’s sell a little more to the consumer directly.”
The consumers can take a tour of the Tripp Family Farm and learn more about how their food is raised.
You can even do a little taste testing. The tour I went on, local foodies were able to try cuts of meat with a blue cheese sauce.
"Tell me about the flavor." “It’s just very tangy and creamy. The meat is really tender.” “I’m very picky about the application of blue cheese and I never thought about putting it on meat. It’s actually not bad. It’s different but I’m liking it.”
Now we move on the barbeque sauce with Joe and Rebecca.
“So tender, very moist. Perfect balance of flavor too. Just the right amount of barbeque flavor, not an overpowering amount of barbeque flavor.” “I don’t know what cut it is, but it’s really nice and tender.”
Jennie tells me what she's eating today.
“Today I’m eating quiche with fresh eggs and steak from this farm. This is what I imagine all my food comes from. In your wildest dreams, your food comes from this beautiful place. This is the real deal. It’s fresh and delicious.”
Bob tell me how the quiche tastes.
“It’s got a good flavor. The eggs and meat complement each other well. I love the spinach in it.”
The foodies were able to top it off with Pavlov, made with fresh eggs from the Tripp farm.
“This dessert has a very strong lemon flavor. It’s very creamy, which is a good contrast with a crunch of the meringue cookie.”
Foodies like Janna Hawkins see more consumers losing touch with agriculture and are happy to see farm to table operations like Tripp Family Farms working with the local community.
“I think having a knowledge of smaller farms and where they come from and that they’re well treated in the meantime,” Hawkins said. “If you’re an animal lover but you still love food and eat meat, I think this is the best of both worlds.”
In Cache Valley, operations like Mt. Naomi Farms, Paradise Valley Orchard are just a few of the growing number of small operations in Utah joining Tripp Family Farms in the farm to table movement.
