Andrea Morgan checks on cucumbers in the arch house at Moonshadow Farm. The experienced farmer was born and raised in Park City and is now the sole owner of the former Ranui Gardens.
Clayton Steward/Park Records
Andrea Morgan has the hands of a painter, except that instead of smudges of oil or acrylic paint adorning her fingers, she instead uses the browns, greens and yellows of the soil she tends and the plants she touches every day at Moonshadow Farm. This farmer's work isn't on display in a gallery, but it's every bit as creative as any work of art.
“Farming is inherently artistic, especially this type of farming,” Morgan said of her farm's biodynamic practices.
Biodynamic agriculture, developed by Rudolf Steiner in 1924 as a precursor to the organic farming movement, details a holistic strategy for caring for plants and land that can maximize food growth, she said. Its calendar follows the astrological movements of the stars and moon for management techniques such as planting, weeding and harvesting.
Morgan's farm followed this method long before she became its owner and operator, and for 40 years the land bore fruit under another name: Lanui Gardens, Utah's first organic market garden.
“Ranui means abundant sunshine in Maori because our founder Jenny is from New Zealand,” Morgan said.
Morgan became involved with the farm 10 years ago and was so enamoured with their farming philosophy that he bought the business three years later. In May, he purchased the entire Hoytsville property from the original owners, which includes a nearly pristine spring-fed stream and a farmhouse built in 1853 that is believed to be one of the first homes in the entire valley.
“Steve and Jenny Erickson, the founders of Ranui Gardens, really wanted this tradition to continue, so they sold me the land for a good price because if it had been market price I wouldn't have been able to afford it,” Morgan said.
Now sole owner, Morgan has decided to phase out the name, take a year off, and then return as Moonshadow Farm, in honor of the land's new seasons, astrological growing methods, and her own femininity.
“Our old logo was the sun, so I loved the yin-yang idea of incorporating the moon,” she says, “and now that it's owned by a single woman, it's all about women and the moon.”
Farming is her life, but it was never her plan.
Born and raised in Park City, Morgan is the child of two Midwestern hippies who settled in Park City in the '70s.
“Back then it was like hippies and miners, hippies versus miners,” she said with a laugh.
Morgan grew up in a family with many farm families, but becoming a farmer was never in her dreams.
“I was a ballet dancer until I was 18, and I thought I was going to pursue a career in the arts,” she says. “Looking back, it made perfect sense for everything I loved and was interested in, but I never thought I'd end up in agriculture.”
She has been farming since she was 22 years old, first spending four seasons in Canada after graduating from the University of British Columbia, then returning to Summit County for three seasons in Ranui Gardens, before crossing the border again to start her own farm, and finally returning to Ranui Gardens, this time with her young daughter, Della.
Morgan's 7-year-old daughter, Della Locklair, grew up learning about agriculture from her mother. Clayton Steward/Park Record
Della, now 7, grew up on a farm and was a wild child at heart, and while motherhood has been a challenge in itself, she says it has only strengthened Morgan's commitment to holistic farming.
“On so many levels — land stewardship, conservation, protection, building community, healthy, nutritious food — all of these things come together for me and I see this as one of the ways I can give a gift to the next generation and to my daughters,” she said. “It's one of the few ways I can contribute to this pretty messed up world we live in.”
But Summit County is actually one of the most challenging places to practice holistic agriculture, and it's not just because of the region's short growing season, she says.
“In our society in general, and especially in the West, we are so removed from food. We are so removed from agriculture and what it takes to produce food from the land. Most people come here and have no idea what they're even looking at. They can't identify any of the plants or crops. And these are the things we eat every day.”
As a country, the United States lags shockingly behind most other food-conscious countries, but Utah is one of the worst-performing states when compared to Washington, California, Maine, New Hampshire, the Carolinas, Georgia and agricultural regions of the Midwest.
“Living in Indiana, farmers like me are surrounded by people who understand agricultural support, who understand agriculture and the seasons, and what it means to eat in season and preserve your own food and not rely on trucks,” Morgan said.
Andrea Morgan helps her daughter Della pick cucumbers. Clayton Steward/Park Record
She acknowledges that the region has grown significantly with the emergence of small organic farms like Copper Moose Farm, Gracie's Farm, Rusting Aspen Farm and Mad Snacks Produce, and that her customers, community-supported agriculture (CSA) members and wholesalers, have been loyal customers since the beginning.
For longtime supporters of Llanwy Gardens, not much will change as Morgan sets up her new business. There are already the usual crops planted: tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and peppers in one greenhouse, and potatoes, onions, flowers, peas, carrots and flowers across the river. First, she's decided to scale back the CSA and focus on wholesale accounts rather than selling at farmers' markets.
She's also trying some new initiatives this year, including spreading Alpine Forestry biochar on the soil following local fuel reduction work.
“Especially in this region, there are issues with how do we treat forests, how do we treat timber, how do we treat fire mitigation, and I think this will be a really interesting, positive feedback loop,” she said.
This year she is again using a new amendment made from buffalo dung and horns (a type of fertilizer that also helps prevent pests, improve the soil and suppress fungi).
“Typically these improvements are made with cow manure and antlers, but men here in the Mountain West are starting to use buffalo manure and antlers because buffalo are a native North American species and are our closest relatives to cattle,” Morgan said.
“It's hard work and not exactly lucrative, but it's her passion,” she says, and she treasures the little memories she makes every day.
“I love my job because I get to see the land change and respond to what I'm doing,” she said. “It's really rewarding to hand over loads of ingredients to a chef and have them turn it into something that's not only edible, but nutritious and beautiful at the same time.”
She said chefs at Pizza Yard, Hill's Kitchen, Luna's Kitchen, Twisted Fern and Rebecca's Kitchen use her produce. Some of the produce is also sold at Gracie's Farm Store every Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. during the summer. In the fall, her handmade dried flower wreaths are displayed at Hearth and Hill, another creative outlet.
Despite the challenges Morgan has experienced over the years, there is an optimistic side to her philosophy for Moonshadow Farm.
“Land, food, community. Those are the three things that are on my mind every day. They're the three things we need to return to,” she says, using the three words as a mantra. “I think that if we bring all of this together again, there will be so many benefits in so many ways that none of us could have seen or predicted.”
“You have to wake up every morning and do what you can and be happy with it, because it's a big job,” she said.
Follow Moonshadow Farm on Instagram @moonshadow_farm_utah as Morgan works to launch her website and newsletter, and information on how to join her CSA will be shared via social media in February.
Andrea Morgan removes the covering from greens at her farm in Hoytsville. Clayton Steward/Park Record
