Meet the Farmer
The Allreds
We’re the Allred family and we are passionate about growing and eating excellent food; real food free of toxins and full of flavor.
We’ve become increasingly frustrated in our efforts to find high-quality, fresh, local, food. All the food in the markets right now, even if it’s organic, is shipped in from far-off places like Mexico, California, New Zealand, and Chile.
Out of this frustration has grown a desire to be a part of the solution to our food challenges. We want excellent, fresh, local food and we want it year-round. This is what has driven us to create Jacob’s Cove.
Dale
In all honesty Dale’s the largest reason for our success. He is the father of our children (can you say “farm labor”?) and the visionary farmer in the family. It was his idea to start planting heirlooms and he was right on!
Dale was raised on a farm. In college he received his BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He went on to earn his MS in Biological and Irrigation Engineering. His career brought him to a providential point when the company he was working for pulled its operations out of Mexico and Dale decided to stay. He stepped right into one of the biggest developments in agricultural history.
Up to that point Mexican farmers were using old, outdated technologies to irrigate their farms. It limited their ability to produce the quantity and quality of food that they ship to US markets today. Dale introduced a new technology to them: line source drip irrigation. This type of drip irrigation is a means of delivering water to plants via “drip tape” laid along on or below the ground next to the crop. This system of irrigation revolutionized the agricultural business in Mexico to where they are now the largest producer of fresh vegetables for the United States.
Because of his status as an agri-business pioneer, he personally knows all the largest food growers in Mexico. On one of our first dates, we went shopping for food at the grocery store. I was inspecting the produce while he was inspecting the boxes to see which farmer had grown it. He had been to these farms, seen their operations and how they grew the food. What he saw had disturbed him.
He saw the natural production cycle changed into that which is against nature. He witnessed each year how the soil was perishing into a sterile, meaningless mass. More and more chemicals were required to produce the same amount of food. Instead of building the soil, it was depleted and wasted.
He became disillusioned as it became apparent that modern agriculture was unsustainable. Soils are naturally alive, balanced, and healthy. This balance and vitality provides nutrition for the plant and protection from disease. Once chemicals are used, the path becomes a slippery slope. The soil is altered from its natural balanced state. Its incredibly complex ability to interact and provide nourishment and protection for plants begins to diminish.
When the soils became exhausted, they were either abandoned entirely in favor of hydroponics or given up to complete chemical sterility. Chemical sterility means that the soil is literally fumigated (with methyl bromide with 25% chloropicrin) to kill EVERYTHING. In hydroponics the greenhouses have concrete floors and the plants are grown in an “inert media.” That’s another way of saying “sterile, artificial, substance used to hold the roots.” Nutrition is delivered via water. Not a drop of that pesky soil is involved.
What’s wrong with feeding plants with chemicals via water? The problem is that the plant is nourished only by those 18 elements that are contained in the water. Which, supposedly, are all that the plant needs. And it’s true. You can get tomatoes – sort of – with no soil and just those 18 elements. In fact many of the tomatoes available to us in the US are hydroponic. They have a certain flavor and consistency (I think you know what I mean). But we know that they don’t provide the flavor and vitality found in plants connected to mother earth.
Also, the focus was on how the food looked and how well it shipped. Food had to be picked green to withstand the rigors of travel. It takes a minimum of 5 days, often longer, to reach store shelves. Flavor, vitality and nourishment are not considered.
Dale has traveled from international agri-business executive to be your personal natural farmer. This gives him unique perspectives and abilities that a typical farmer or horticulture major just doesn’t have.
He has designed a unique passive solar greenhouse which will allow us to grow year-round with minimal auxiliary heating. We use drip irrigation in a unique way to maximize soil nutrition. We are continually looking for new technologies that improve the farm while honoring the natural process of food production.
Dale pioneered one agricultural revolution and he’s here to pioneer another in local, high-quality, delicious, nutrient dense food for your family.
Jacob
Dale is often asked, “Are you Jacob?” The answer is, “No, I’m his Dad.”
Jacob is our oldest son. He was born in our home in Guadalajara, Mexico March 22, 1999. He was a delight from the beginning. Such a happy disposition and quick smile.
He was soon joined by his brother, Isaac, and sister, Vashti. Isaac was his best friend. They did everything together. He adored his sister and told us often of his intention to marry her someday. He introduced himself to people outside the family by saying, “Hi, I’m Jacob the Sunbeam.” He truly was a light in this world.
In 2003 we moved our family to Maryland. It was a beautiful, happy time. It was there that Jacob passed away unexpectedly the day after Christmas. He was 4 years old. My family rushed out to Maryland, packed us up and moved us back to Utah. His body was laid to rest in the Orem City Cemetery.
Our farming has been part of our healing and a way for our family to work and grow together. It’s also our way of celebrating his life.
We love the name Jacob’s Cove. We love his name. We also love that the word “cove” means “a sheltered nook.” We want our farm to be that sheltered nook, that safe haven for those seeking real nourishment in this world. Jacob would have loved it here.
Every food we harvest is done with the intention of bringing great joy and a long and happy life to those who eat it.
We like to think that some of that sunshine that ripens your food comes from Jacob the Sunbeam.
