Black Island Farms is located along the wetlands in Syracuse, Utah. This is where our fourth generation, 250 acre, active vegetable farm has been operating for over 45 years. Over the past 50 years we have employed hundreds of young men teaching them the values of hard work. Our farm manager Alan Briggs has worked here for 36 years,he started working here when he was 13 and had been his only job. You can’t put a value or price on that. Black Island Farms also celebrates the farming community’s strong link to the local landscape. In fast developing Syracuse., Our farm remains a treasured expanse of open space valuable farm land.

During the fall we host Black Island Farms Harvest Festival
Festival Highlights include a 25 acre maze, the largest in Utah, as well as a Utah’s Own farmers market, educational pumpkin hayrides, straw mt., animal alley, cow train, pig races, a haunted house, and much, much more. The bottom line is that the harvest festival is much more than a corn maze. We offer an array of attractions that are meaningful to the community, like agriculture education and farmland preservation. Every autumn, in the beautiful farm fields of Syracuse,over 40,000 Utahans come to treat their families to a day of enrichment and entertainment.And over 6,000 students on educational field trips….. all of them Driving through the heart of Syracuse. During our festival we employ 125 teens and adults. Each of the proposed routes devastate our farm, our livelihood. Syracuse is known for it’s small farm town feel, integrity, safe place to raise a family. By taking away local farms and open space, you will take away what makes Syracuse special.

In the US we now have fewer than 2% of the population feeding all other Americans Here in Utah, farmers and ranchers make up less than 1% of our population.

Our dependency of foreign energy has increased dramatically over the past 50 years. Data and trends are showing that unless we work toward producing more of our own locally grown food that we could experience the same type of dependency on foreign food and fiber without the safeguards of our regulatory controls and reasonable prices. Current agricultural revenue in Utah exceeds $1.5 billon dollars worth of crops and livestock sales.Ponder the Following:

Between 2003-2008, Utah alone has been lost 500,000 acres of agricultural lands to development

We all eat – every person in Utah eats every day

We are all part of the calculated need – Utah population has increased 22 percent since 2000 while the nation as a whole is only at 8%.

You as leaders have the responsibility to plan now – data indicates the real need exists

We don’t want to become completely dependent on outside food and fiber sources

We need to maintain more local production. By doing so you’ll be helping preserve the environment, and you’ll be strengthening your community by investing your food dollar close to home

Thanks to Utah political leaders who looked to and anticipated the future of the Agricultural industry in Utah, we joined the Utah Agriculture protection act. Put in place to help guarantee that the farmer land could remain in agriculture production. For Utah this APA was a great milestone, but when compared with the long history of some of the communities around the world, we have come but a short way,. Utah must learn from the hard lessons experienced by some of European communities who elected to grow houses on on their fertile lands instead of food. They are now paying the price by having to import much of their food because they cannot grow it themselves. We must not repeat their mistakes. I encourage citizens and community leaders to take the steps necessary to preserve our vital agricultural lands and their link to our proud past.

We would like Syracuse City to support an alternate Bluff Rd. route that has been proposed by several members of the community and West Point.

The Bluff Rd. has been preserved as a major thoroughfare for years. Don’t alter what has been put in place by those before us and destroy what makes us so special. With an alternate Bluff route, we can have the best of both worlds, a beautiful city center with a thriving business community, and open space and farm land. Please use this as a statement that open space and growth can co-exist in a positive way.

Please take a few moments to inform our leaders, and request that we save open space and farm lands.

Thank you!
Dorathy Law
Black Island Farms

Contacts:

Gov. Gary Herbert - governor@state.ut.us

Lt. Gov. Greg Bell - gregbell@utah.gov

Senator Orrin Hatch – http://hatch.senate.gov

Senator Mike Lee – http://lee.senate.gov

Leonard M. Blackham, Commissioner of Agriculture - UDAF-Commissioner@utah.gov

Senator Jerry W. Stevenson - jwstevenson@utahsenate.org

Represenative Curtis Oda - coda@utah.gov

Senator J. Stuart Adams  - jsadams@utahsenate.org

UDOT - westdavis@utah.gov

Randy Jefferies, UDOT Project Manager - rjefferies@utah.gov

SYRACUSE — It is not just a corn maze, it is not just a haunted house — there is a lot more to the Black Island Farms Harvest Festival. ”We specialize in field trips,” said Dorathy Law, marketing director for Black Island Farms. Those field trips are not just for schoolchildren but also for assisted-living center residents. There are even accommodations for the deaf and blind.

The 24 acres of maze is the largest corn maze in Utah, Law said. The maze will thrill fans of the Twilight Saga, as the theme for this year’s maze is “Eclipse,” a sequel in the series. The largest maze is of Bella, while two more mazes are of Jacob and Edward.  But it wasn’t the mazes that thrilled 9-year-old Amado Gutieres, a student from Salt Lake City’s Backman Elementary School whose class was visiting the farm.  ”The slides are the most fun, and I like the sandbox,” Amado said.

He and his classmates were on a field trip to the farm Monday. Students rode the cow train and learned about farm animals, plant food and different types of plants, such as eggplant.  Farm owner Charles Black showed the children a potted eggplant and explained how the vegetable can be cooked. The kids also climbed aboard a tractor-pulled hay wagon and rode through the pumpkin fields.  The students learned about cows, including that the Holstein is the breed most commonly used to provide milk.  The kids also learned about turkeys, chickens, goats, pigs and peacocks. The children oohed and aahed when they saw baby chickens and turkeys. And they were thrilled with the pig races.

“It is fun to learn and fun to play,” Amado said after he crawled out of a “corn snake” made of corn husks and huge tubing.  This is the sixth year for the Harvest Festival at the farm the Blacks have been operating since 1962.

Law said the objective of the autumn event is to keep the farm alive, to sustain its rich heritage and to provide entertainment to the general public. It is meant to promote agriculture.  Agri-tainment is a new term formed for farm owners who want to have another source of income to keep their farms viable.  ”Farms have to diversify; it has become a trend,” Law said.

Black Island Farms is a working vegetable farm along the wetlands in Syracuse. The main crops are carrots, onions and cabbage, but corn, pumpkins, gourds and squash also are grown especially for the Harvest Festival.  Richard Sparks, with Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, Utah’s Own and Agri-Advocates programs, was there to support the educational programs.  Farmer Charlie Black said the farm will remain open space. Black Island Farms was the first Utah farm to work with the Utah Quality Growth Commission, The Nature Conservancy, and the Utah Department of Agriculture to place a conservation easement on a portion of the property that harbors critical habitat.

Discounted field trips are available for schools. To book a field trip, call 801-774-MAZE or visit the websitewww.BlackIslandFarms.com.  Law said the corn maze is designed to challenge those attempting to find the one exit in more than five miles of twists, turns and dead ends.

Black Island Farms Harvest Festival and Nightmare Acres will open Friday and run through Halloween. The hours for the Harvest Festival will be 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 4 p.m. to midnight Fridays; 10 a.m. to midnight Saturdays; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.  The haunted house is open from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursdays and from 7 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays.

Admission for the corn maze is $10 for adults and $8 for children, and the pumpkin hayride — plus a pumpkin — is $8 for adults and $5 for children. A combo pass may be purchased at $15 for adults or $10 for children.  Nightmare Acres is $15 for adults. Law said she does not like to frighten children, so she suggests children younger than 12 not go through the haunted house.

Admission to both Nightmare Acres and Corn Maze is $20 for adults.  Oct. 1 and 2 are Military Appreciation Days with discounts for members of the military and their families.  Law said it takes the average person more than an hour to find the maze exit.

Source:  Standard.net

Oct 1 & 2:  Military Appreciation Weekend
All Military personnel with active ID will get in free.  All family members will get $2 off.

Oct 14-16:  UEA Weekend Craft Fair
Download an application to exhibit.

What is it?
CSA is a partnership – between us and you, the consumer. CSA members pledge support to a local farm operation so that growers and consumers provide mutual support, sharing the risks and benefits of food production.

Why participate?
The farmer benefits by knowing in advance how much food to grow, which reduces waste, costs and time. An upfront payment in the spring will help the farmer when most needed. The farmer in return provides, to the best of its ability, a healthy supply of of seasonal fresh produce throughout the growing season.

Members receive a weekly share of the farm’s harvest. They also receive only the freshest produce for the best value. Members of CSA also enjoy the satisfaction of knowing the methods used to grow their food and that they are supporting their local farmer.

How does it work?
Members purchase “farm shares” in the spring.  During the harvest, the food is delivered weekly to a location within the community to be picked up by the members.

About the 2012 CSA Program
Our program this year will be 18 weeks.  We will start late June and run through October.  (Weather permitting, it could be earlier or later.)  Members will receive a weekly assortment of produce and fruits that are ready for harvest through the season.  We will be using other local growers we know and trust for some of these items.  To ensure the best quality possible, the produce will be harvested the same morning as delivery.

Special Events
This is the exciting part!  We will offer special events held at the Black Island Farms.  They will include, but are not limited to:  Work days — come help transplant cabbage or work a field!  Educational seminars, concerts, or magic show.  Each will be hosted in our pole barn with cow train rides, pumpkin bounce house, farm animals, and hay rides throughout the farm.  Help harvest for the local food pantry!

New this year!                                                                                                                 Special local pick up! Members who decide to pick up at our farm in Syracuse will receive in addition:

Discounted price   $225                                                                                                             3 bonus Fall pumpkins                                                                                                          The opportunity to purchase EXTRA produce at our on site Farmers Market

How to become a member:                                                                                                     Go to our online form to sign up! You can pay online or mail in a check! Please mail checks with your order form to: 

Black Island Farms                                                                                                                   3178 S 3000 W                                                                                                                     Syracuse, UT 84075

 As soon as your payment is recorded, you will get an email notifying you that your account has been activated and give you more information about your first delivery/pickup.

Vegetables
Beans, Beats, Carrots – including purple, Cabbage – green and red, Chili Peppers – including roasted, Cucumbers, Egg Plant, Green Onions, Green Peppers, Peas, Potatoes, Radishes, Romaine Lettuce, Spinach, Spring Lettuce, Squashes – summer and fall,  Sweet Corn, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Turnips
5# bag(s) each Storage Carrots, Onions, Potatoes
Also … you have the opportunity to purchase additional tomatoes for canning

Fruits
Apples, Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Watermelon

We also have potted herbs!

Weekly Newsletter
Find out what’s happening at the farm — and share recipes for healthy cooking!

Fall Decoration Package:
Assorted squash, mini-pumpkins and Indian corn

Family Pass
Members will receive a pass to Black Island Farms Harvest Festival for
up to 4 people.

Monthly Special Events

New this year!                                                                                                                 Special local pick up! Members who decide to pick up at our farm in Syracuse will receive in addition:

Discounted price   $225                                                                                                             3 bonus Fall pumpkins                                                                                                          The opportunity to purchase EXTRA produce at our on site Farmers Market

How to become a member:                                                                                                     Go to our online form to sign up! You can pay online or mail in a check! Please mail checks with your order form to: 

Black Island Farms                                                                                                                   3178 S 3000 W                                                                                                                     Syracuse, UT 84075

 As soon as your payment is recorded, you will get an email notifying you that your account has been activated and give you more information about your first delivery/pickup.

Enjoying the hayride

What do you think of this?

Wow! This is fun!

Peek-a-boo