Benjamin Farms is a 10 acre farm in Benjamin Utah. To find Benjamin, go to Payson, then head north about 1 mile.

We offer to host any of the small farm Co-Op members websites at no charge.

We are active in many aspects of small farm life, from the small livestock, to the fruit orchard and the bee yard. Karen is a part-time Customer Service Agent for Fed-Ex, and Charlie is a full-time Software Engineer for Novell Inc. Charlie is also a Utah Certified Master Gardener, and a member of the Utah County Beekeepers Association presidency.

As for livestock we keep Jacob and Shetland sheep, Angora and Saanen goats, llamas, a Belted Galloway Heifer, Holland White Turkeys, and assorted ducks and geese. The city of Salem recently transplanted about 70 ducks from Salem pond to the pond at the back of our property. This morning we had about 30 Canada geese joining them for breakfast.

We rescue big white dogs (Great Pyrenees, Akbash, and other livestock guardian dogs) from the local pound, work with them the smooth out some of the rough edges, then try to find them good homes. All four of our current dogs are rescues, with the latest being an 11mo. old registered Old English Sheepdog named Patches.

The fruit orchard is a work in progress, the oldest trees are about 8 years old, and we had the BEST nectarines last summer. Fruit trees include: apples, cherrys, peaches, pears, plums, nectarines, and apricots. We plant 10-20 trees every year, but very few make it past 5 years. Each year we work on improving the soil, and each year the trees do better and better. Currently there are over 40 fruit trees in our orchard, and we hope to get to the point we can run a U-Pick fruit orchard.

We have just started into nut trees, with an almond tree, some English and Black walnut trees so far.

We have also been working on getting a berry yard up and running. Once again, most of what we plant fails, but each year we get some that look like the are going to make it. So far we have had grapes, gooseberries, currents, and wolfberries, but we need LOTS more. So far the blackberries and raspberries have been a total failure.

There are birds everywhere. We have Guinea fowl, ducks, geese, laying hens, and turkeys. We have had our own home grown turkey for Thanksgiving for the past three years. We tried meat chickens, but decided that that was a lot of work for the results.

We have lots of bees, over 20 hives worth. Last fall they produced 94 gallons of some of the best honey you will find anywhere. I am currently processing the capping into usable beeswax. We have tried the high tech approach for the bees as well. Would you believe that we have solar ventilated beehives?

Some of the beeswax is used in our homemade cold process soap. We make several hundred 2"x3"x1" bars of soap every year, and everyone that has tried our soap, loves it. In fact, we have taught several people how to make it on their own.

In the Spring and Summer we run a 30'x30' greenhouse. Most of the trees we planted came as bare root stock, and were started in the greenhouse before final placement. We found that by using the greenhouse, we get nearly 100% leaf-out on the bare root stock. Starting in early March to early June, the greenhouse is loaded with assorted varieties of tomatoes, peppers, onions, cabbage, and flowers, all of which we had started earlier in the Spring. Many of these end up in our garden, but many more are sold to friends and neighbors. We have spent some time and effort on automating the greenhouse, currently the ventilation is automated, with hopes that the irrigation will be completed in 2007.

On the high-tech end, we are exploring the feasibility of placing web cams around the farm. The first will be our "LambCam", to be placed in our sheep barn, with the thoughts of expanding to a "CoopCam", "GreenhouseCam", "KenelCam", and who knows what else!

Through the Spring and Summer, we spend lots of weekends giving farm tours. Tour groups have included the Girl Scouts, homeschooling families, local artists, and lots families with young children. So, if you are in our area, let us know, we would love to visit with you, show you around, and maybe exchange some ideas.

Karen & Charlie Sigler

Benjamin Farms