One of the most exciting things about our hydroponics seminars is the wide variety of locations we have the ability to host them at. For our April seminar, we decided to revisit one of our favorite locations (and some of our favorite people) at Snuck Farm in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
The area where Snuck Farm is located was originally settled in the 1800s by the Fugal family, and cultivated by Boyd “Snuck” Fugal in 1945. Once hundreds of acres, only 3 ½ acres remain of the Fugal Family homestead, now owned by their descendants, Page Westover & her husband, Brian.
‘We wanted to do something with the land, not just sell it,” shared Page, “these are the last acres of my original family homestead, and we wanted to farm it. We looked at lots of options to make it not only economically but environmentally sustainable.”
In the process of discovery, the Westovers were introduced to hydroponic farming through a friend, and continued research on their own, eventually finding AmHydro.
“I had no idea about hydroponics at all,” mentioned Page, “I just sort of called and asked if we were someone they [AmHydro] would work with. They introduced us to 
everything; what we needed to do and what it was going to take to work with the space we had. They held our hand through the whole process, and really helped us throughout and with any issues that came up.”
In addition to the economic benefits and preservation of family land, growing in an environmentally friendly way was a key component of what they wanted to do with their farm. Consequently, Page chose hydroponics, hands-down. “We’re in Utah, and we are very drought prone here, so I loved the idea of using 90% less water. We didn’t want to grow with tons of pesticides and herbicides, and that was a benefit as well.”
“We were initially working with a gentlemen who wanted us to grow indoors, under lights but in a warehouse on our property. It was hydroponic production, but totally different than what we have set up right now. It’s not what I wanted at all.” Page laughed. “I didn’t want to work in a warehouse! Having it sunny and 70 degrees year-round [in our greenhouse] is a great place to work everyday.”
Snuck Farm now operates a beautiful greenhouse and grows a wide variety of produce – various herbs, head lettuces, bok choi, kale, chard, sorrel, mustard greens, arugula and even edible flowers. The whole family is involved in the day-to-day operations, from Page’s 60-year-old mother to the children in the family. “We wanted our family involved, and our hydroponics operation is perfect for this. This is a nicer way to farm, it’s easier on your body, and the whole family can find something to do in our greenhouse.” Page related.
Snuck Farm is located in Pleasant Grove, about 30 minutes away from Salt Lake City. Snuck is not your stereotypical rural farm, but it’s not an overtly urban area either. Located in a thriving neighborhood, it’s part of a community-oriented, family friendly area with a dense population close enough to get their produce from them at the freshest of the fresh. Snuck Farm supplies locals with their product via a CSA and also offers a variety of classes to the public. They focus their business predominately within a 15-mile radius, and area restaurants such as Pizzeria 712 and Communal use their produce regularly.
“We have ties and roots here. We care a lot about our community…and that’s the kind of spirit that we wanted to create with our business,” said Page. Snuck has crafted a purposeful, community-focused business; their motto is ‘Eat Well, Do Good.’ We are certainly fans of that!
This will be our second year hosting our seminar at Snuck Farm. Their hydroponic operation is a state of the art facility and a great place to showcase what our products can do and how you can operate them on a larger-than-home-use scale. The Westovers shared that “It went really well last year, and we enjoyed having the group come in. We got a lot out of the experience, and of course, we’re excited to do it again.”
We’re pretty excited too!
AmHydro is proud to host our next ‘Get Growing!’ Seminar at Snuck Farm. To register for this seminar, please click here, and make sure you follow Snuck Farm on Instagram to see the beautiful product they grow!
