ABOUT RED ACRE CENTER

When Lynn and Symbria Patterson left the fast-paced, big-city, southern California life behind in 2005, they didn't have any long-term plans to stay in the more rural, small-town setting of Cedar City, Utah. They simply knew they wanted "out" of the crime, stress, traffic, and endless cacophony of modern life that Los Angeles had become. Sara, their youngest daughter, was 10 years old when they first arrived at the dusty, backroad corner they would call home. 

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Sara took to the land like freckles on a sun-kissed face. She wanted animals. She wanted to grow things. She wanted dirt under her nails and plants in her garden. She was so anxious to begin that she and her dad planted too early, and everything froze. But a little bit of cold couldn't deter her farmer heart.  She planted again, and for the next two years, she tended to laying hens, sold eggs, grew her garden, and harvested enough to sell to friends and neighbors. 

 

As her knowledge and skills grew, Sara was inspired and mentored by a family friend who had just started a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm. Sara, then 14, marketed, sold, and traded for her first 4 shares and began her own farming enterprise. 

 

By the next summer Symbria, Sara's mom would join her full-time. By partnering with a family friend who had high tunnels, she would begin growing crops year-round. When she found herself producing more than enough for her own CSA farm members, she started selling at farmers' markets and founded a weekday and year-round market in Cedar City. 

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At 16, Sara's farm had expanded enough that she purchased the adjoining acre. A farm stand would eventually be built, and they stayed busy selling at four farmers' markets and feeding 85 shareholders weekly.

As Sara worked hard to raise food for her community she ran into cumbersome and overreaching laws that were restricting her and other agrarian entrepreneurs from starting small, diversified farms and limiting consumer choice in local markets.  She became active in state politics, advocating to change the law that made the sharing of milk from a cow illegal. The bill passed in March of 2015.
 

Together, this mother-and-daughter team founded the first Utah Farm & Food Conference and their sister organization, Red Acre Center. They continue to advocate and to grow and raise food that sustains their land, their community, and their souls. Red Acre Farm has become a year-round source for local, good food, a place to visit and gather for events, and a peaceful spot to commune with the sun and the soil. 

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Sara Geraldine, named after two of her great-grandmas who were “the farmers' wives,” will be the first to say, "My story became our story." The story of a young woman who proudly calls herself a farmer is the story of a family, a mom, a community, and so much more that continues to be told.

 

These social entrepreneurs have been instrumental in passing numerous bills in the state of Utah, enabling a return to true agrarian freedom and transforming food security into food prosperity and abundance. Their 15 years of proven experience advocating for and legislating appropriate agri-business laws, training and enabling a new generation of farmers, and feeding thousands with nutrient-dense, properly prepared food is proof that their methods of creating community around a profoundly revitalized farm centered lifestyle is catching on.   Permanent Distributed Agriculture formed the foundation of modern civilization, and must once again return to millions of small enabled generational family farming systems if we want a healthy, happy, and sustainable future civilization.  This movement is resonating with millions worldwide.  

 

With your help, we can establish an epicenter of next-generation farmer training and enablement, addressing the need for healthier, happier, and more fulfilling communities centered around agriculture.  Success will spread worldwide, changing a generation!