Our Team

Dear Friends of Jacob’s Cove,

We have been missing Jacob’s Cove food and I know that you have also. I had hoped to be back with produce by now, but it will still be several weeks as we continue working to that end.

We have found that implementing technologies that will make year round Local Natural Food a viable alternative to “shipped in food” is not an easy process. In addition to high investment costs we have also had plenty of opposition.

I keep going and keep on investing time and resources, because it is important. I have been called crazy more than once and frankly take it as a compliment. For some people it seems crazy to put such investment on leased land. I wish I owned the ground, but if I waited for that, there would be nothing. I keep pep talking myself by saying that somebody has got to step up and give us an alternative to the status quo. Seasonal, even extended season is not enough. We must have local production year round. We have the technology and the will to prevail and so we shall.

A year ago last fall we completed our second greenhouse to increase the farm’s controlled environment capacity to 1 acre. These were beautiful gutter connected structures as you can see here in this photo (I apologize that it’s so small.  It’s the best I could find). About the time the structures were completed, when we went to get the permit to hook up the gas and electrical, the Utah County Attorney’s office sent me a message from the county community development department to cease and desist on our project, that the structures were illegal. It took the county community development department forever to understand that our greenhouses are strictly for agricultural use and as per state statute (15A-1 204 (7)(a)(b))cannot be required to have a building permit though “a plumbing, electrical, and mechanical permit may be required when that work is included.”

Everything was in place for heating except the gas meter. The county would not allow Questar Gas to install our gas meter. They finally did but not until after all the crops had frozen followed by a very wet snow. We got over 20 inches with no heat inside. There was no way to mitigate the load and about 1/3 of the growing space was rendered useless and most of the remaining portions were heavily damaged.

This was devastating to say the least. In addition to all the capital investment we also lost all of last winter’s production.

We realized that most of the damaged sections remained standing and miraculously the plastic glazing was still attached to the mangled steel infrastructure. A special CSA family stepped up and helped by loaning me the funds to get the crop in during January and carry the cost until harvest.

The crop was protected but we couldn’t maintain the optimal temperatures due to so many holes in the plastic covering. We still managed to get food out starting in April and had great production all season.

The biggest problem that we had was that because of the structural damage the plastic sheeting was not taut. We placed sandbags all over the roof of the structure to hold the plastic in place as we knew that as soon as the winds came they would destroy the covering if it were not taut. With every wind storm we lost more and more of the roof but we were able to pretty much hold it together until the middle of May when we were out of danger of losing the crops.

I knew that we had to get the greenhouses repaired or rebuilt to take the production through the next winter. It appeared that the best alternate was probably going to be to rebuild as the damage was so extensive. I immediately began designing and analyzing replacement strategies as an alternative to repairing the damage and settled on a unique and exciting design.

I realized that either way I would have to find the financing or take on a financial partner to accomplish so great a task. Coincidentally, my mother passed away just after her 85th birthday in June. My parents sold our farm in Uintah County a few years ago just before my father passed away. Now that my dear mother would have no further needs, the proceeds from the farm were divided between my siblings and I.

In spite of all the challenges, it was not a difficult decision to commit my entire portion of those funds to Jacob’s Cove. I believe in the importance of my efforts in pioneering the future of local natural food and I know that my father would be very pleased with my doing so.

I am never one to dwell on past mistakes or successes other than to learn from them. I know more now than ever that the heavy loss of that acre of structures will end up being a huge blessing for the farm. It caused me to really think outside the box and the result is a structure that will revolutionize local food production. The unit cost and efficacy of the building that is finally nearing completion at the farm is without parallel anywhere in the world.

The footprint of this building is over 50,000 sq ft with over an acre of growing space on the ground and an addition 2/3 of an acre in a second level at 14 ft above the ground. The 45 ft roof height sloping all the way to the ground is supported by 400 ground anchors rated between 6,000 to 10,000 lbs of tensile (pull) strength.  The roof is supported by specially designed wire trusses that can support over 15 tons each.  The height turns the structure into a huge light collector which will be diffused throughout to meet all the plants light requirements.  The height also allows for broad latitudes of environmental management within the structure to produce multiple crops of differing environmental needs.

The building is designed for the snow to slide off and for the maximum wind ever seen in Utah County other than a tornado.  My intention is to never lose another week of food.

I believed that construction would take 4 maybe 5 months but it is going to end up being closer to 8 months. The columns are recycled pipe that I acquired from a friend in the Uintah Basin and much of the tear down materials will be utilized for the second level suspended soil mix growing structures. Here are some pictures of the project.

There have been complications in the construction and also problems again with the county. The construction is so unusual that we have had to develop new building techniques. Also we had to work around the existing structure from where we continued to harvest produce into November. It really slowed things down.  We had hoped to get the building covered over the old greenhouses to keep the production and deliveries going through the construction process and then tear down the old from the inside.  Everything just took too long and as you can observe we have now completely removed the old structures from under the new.  The tear down of the old structures took a lot of time and expense, but we are glad it is done and that the ground is ready to prepare and plant.

We are just finishing the last items necessary to cover the structure. We have been blessed with no snow until this week. Hopefully, it will melt and dry out in the next few days so that we can finish up.

I apologize to those who have signed up with a promise of winter deliveries, especially a few of you who lived through no food for a second winter. I appreciate your support, without which we neither would nor could continue. Some have asked for their money back. I am sorry, but it is just not possible at this time. Every cent that has come in goes into the farm. The food was better last year than it was the year before and it will be even better in the future.

Issues with the county have, unfortunately, continued to suck up time and resources from the farm.  It turns out that the latest problems with the county are a result of complaints from some longtime residents of Geneva Road who own land around the area of the farm. They have been growing pasture, a little bit of hay and quite a few weeds for many years. Face to face they won’t say much to me and even drop by to see how we’re progressing but it appears to be quite disturbing to them, based on their complaints to the county, that some outsider showed up changing the status quo.  After haggling with the county since early December, I believe that issue is mostly resolved, though we had to spend many hundreds of dollars and hours of precious time to make a zoning change to the property. Thank goodness the owner was amenable to do so, but the farm had to pay the fee.  We also still have the neighbors who would rather we grow food for cattle instead of people.  God bless them.

We will notify everyone via email and also by phone when we have food to make those first deliveries. Obviously everyone is deferred on their weeks until we start again. As always you can also defer weeks after we get started again. Also, when we are about ready to start again, I will hire another person to help with communications. Since cessation of deliveries nearly all of our attention has been focused on getting our production facility on line.

Sincerely, Dale Allred

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