Growing Things

Six generations of sheep-growers graze new paths forward

This summer is Zena Wolcott-MacCausland’s second full season as the owner, operator, and grower-in-chief of Basin Flowers, one of a handful of specialty farms sprouting amidst the Teton Valley agricultural community.

Ursula roots around amidst a lush crop of alfalfa, snorting as she pushes aside the dirt with her snout. At about 700 pounds, she moves with a distinct but dignified waddle. She’s the queen pig—the best mother—at Late Bloomer Ranch in Driggs.      

There is no question baby goats are cute. Social media is replete with images of baby goats, or kids, frolicking through pastures; baby goats bounding on obstacles; and even baby goats in pajamas.

Walking the big open spaces along the north bench of Teton Valley—the Teton Range to the east and the Big Holes behind them, shaping the sky and ultimately the space underneath their feet—Amanda and Rebeca Nolan like to let their dogs run and run and run in the endless dirt and fields.

I’m not usually one for eggplant. But, peering out from inside their pint cartons at the Teton Valley Farmers Market, these fairy tale eggplants spoke to me; their intriguing purple and
cream-colored hues drew me in.   

Flowers have been cultivated for more than five thousand years. In the first century A.D. the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, was said to have carpeted her bed in rose petals an inch thick to greet her lover, Mark Anthony.

During the summer of 2015, Penfold Farms was growing a healthy crop of weeds. At least that’s what everyone in the neighborhood thought when they passed a particular field on Darby Canyon Road.