First-generation farmers hope to give the next generation 'the Farm' experience

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The Farm, owned by the Fisher family of Hurricane, offers public access six days weekly.
• The Farm, initially a garden center, now hosts festivals and educational programs.
• Fisher wants his farm to be a positive resource for community, has raised thousands to help local schools.

HURRICANE — When Payton Fisher had his midlife crisis, he bought a farm.

"Instead of buying a fancy car, I bought a tractor and some farmland," he told KSL.

Fisher's farm, known as the Farm, is located in Hurricane, and for the past four years, he, his wife Katie Fisher and their five children have taken it upon themselves to share with others what farm life is like. In fact, the Farm is open to the public six days a week.

The farm's popularity has grown steadily over the years, with thousands of visitors each year. Fisher said, however, that opening the farm to the public wasn't the original goal.

"We bought it for a garden center, and I quickly realized that I wasn't as good a salesman as I thought I was," he said, adding that the farming industry isn't what it used to be.

"We still run a garden center, but the last four years, we've lost about $300,000 on it," he said. "It's been a real hardship. ... The farm hasn't been profitable in four years. We're first-generation farmers trying to do this and we're doing everything we possibly can to keep it alive."

Within the first two months of opening, the Fishers decided to hold a fall festival for locals. What they learned during that first event was something that would carry them through for the foreseeable future.

"We did a petting zoo, and we bought some culvert pipes and got some slides and we had some farm activities, and that has tornadoed to now four years later," he said.

Currently, the Farm has all the workings of a traditional farm, including over 50 animals, pens, hay, troughs, mud — kids who wear boots and overalls. But to make the farm dream stay alive, the Fishers had to take a less traditional route.

"This year, we decided to have an Easter festival where we have baby sheep, pigs and twin Lamancha goats," he said. "We get baby chicks regularly, and we have baby animals all spring. We're also getting ready for our kids' camps this summer."

Holding farm camps for kids was something that came about when he saw the important lessons and skills his own kids were learning on the farm.

"All my kids wake up and run chores seven days a week twice a day," he said. "They manage all the farm animals; they milk the goats, collect the eggs, clean the eggs, strain the milk. They feed all 50-60 animals. They clean all the poop and water and do health checks.

"Sometimes I will threaten, 'I'm going to make you go shovel poop,' and a lot of times, the kids are like, 'I wanna do that!' And to me, that's the point. Getting them dirty, letting them scrape their knees and just have fun."

The Farm holds Farm School a couple of times a week for kids to come learn. The goal is to expose kids to a world they may never otherwise experience.

"We have our own Farm School curriculum," he said. "Sometimes they're milking goats, cleaning pens, throwing hay. They're talking about animal health. And then we go over some curriculum, such as 'Why do we use math on the farm? Why do we use science to understand plants?' A few weeks ago, they planted seeds in the greenhouse. Their seeds are all starting to sprout, so they'll plant those out in the garden here in the next two to three weeks."

Fisher said he wants his farm to benefit the community, and for the past couple of years, he has opened it to schools and nonprofits to hold fundraising events.

"We want to raise $100,000 for the community this year," he said. "So far, we've raised $25,000 for local schools this year and helped provide a place for local community fundraisers. They get 98% of all the money that they bring in through their private links.

"It's a fun way to give back," he continued. "We don't have tons and tons of cash, so it's an awesome opportunity for us to open the doors and help the community."

The Fishers live on the farm, and by all accounts, it is still very much a family-owned farm rooted in agriculture. Fisher said even with the business and opening up his home to the public, the goal is much the same as a traditional farm. He has also gained a large appreciation for farmers who have remained in the profession for generations.

"Our goal is to keep as much agriculture as possible," he said. "Having this farm has allowed us to have more empathy for the traditional farmer who's running a small farm. Your margins just aren't there anymore.

"Our biggest goal with the Farm is to get kids off their phones," he continued. "Our motto at the Farm is 'making memories that last.' It's amazing watching kids light up when they're out there playing. They want to work. Kids want to get a shovel. Kids want to get messy. Kids want to get outside and we want to provide a space for them to do that."

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Arianne Brown

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Arianne Brown is a reporter covering southern Utah communities, with a focus on heart-warming stories and local happenings. She has been a reporter for 14 years.