This past weekend, garden lovers and enthusiasts had the unique opportunity to attend a garden tour throughout Kane County put on by the Healthy Kane County Coalition (HKCC).
The garden journey started in Long Valley and meandered its way through Kanab, ending in Johnson Canyon.
The free event featured a few of the many talented green thumbs we have in our area and their beautifully crafted flower and produce gardens.
The Garden Tour began at the home of Orderville resident Melissa Griffiths who operates her own website, blessthismess.com. “Online I feed people,” she says. “I create recipes and take pictures, and share recipes with the internet. But I like the physical aspects. So, a garden is a way to cook and feed people locally and share produce. We did a lot of cut flowers this year, and that was really a fun part. It’s really, really magical!”
With the all-hands-on-deck assistance of her husband, Thomas, and their children, Macey, Henry, Kimball, Paul and Graham watering, pulling weeds and picking, their Abundant Acres Farm in Orderville at 1 Wild Turkey Way (the first right turn off Hwy 89 at Frost Lane) has thrived. “We love to garden! It was a good year to can. We want to eventually have a roadside stand.”
The next stop in Orderville landed attendees in the sprawling, bountiful garden of Kaber Esplin. “We’ve got a few varieties of peppers,” Esplin begins. “Tomatoes, a few different kinds. The beets are really good this year. Basil, onions, pumpkins, corn, string beans: they’re a little bit past right now. And we’ve got bees for the first time this year, so we did a few rows of flowers. Lots more produce than we thought we would get. Just a really good growing year!”
They’re open-to-the-public on Monday and Wednesday evenings for a ‘You Pick’ between 6 and 8-ish at their 142 E. 100 North homestead in Orderville.
After entering in the Kane County Fair this year, Esplin shares, “We won the Dutch Oven Contest, all with ingredients right out of the garden. My dad (Richard) won one, too. He did potatoes; I did curry. And it’s all accredited straight to our vegetables. So, we got the jump on everyone else. Our cucumbers got Sweepstakes. Lots of others, Blue ribbons. We really got blessed.”
This Garden Tour will hopefully be the first of many more to come in Kane County. Get your gardens ready for next year!
