Stray Arrow Ranch in Torrey, Utah

I ran down to Torrey, Utah to visit with Robert and Ann and help plant an apple orchard, appropriately enough on Earth Day.  This first image is a nighttime capture of a newly installed apple orchard with each tree lit up under a night sky.  More on the apple orchard below…

 

Robert and Ann have a newly acquired bit of property down in Torrey, Utah called the Stray Arrow Ranch and it is a beautiful piece of land.  In a surprising turn of events, they decided to bring back apple ranching to Torrey for the first time in something like 100 years.  This sounded like an adventure, so off I went to Torrey to help them put in an apple orchard.  Ann covered the event in Four Minutes a Tree along with a most excellent cover of American Gothic with Scott and Lisa.  I promised Ann that I’d grab a few photographs as well, so here they are…

 

Ann has been reading a book by Michael Phillips called The Holistic Orchard where he advocates coating the tree roots with a bio-sludge to help them build a mycological symbiotic environment at the root structure.

 

 

Lisa and Scott came down from their place in Teasdale to help out.  Again, I am always amazed at how small the world is.  Scott is a long time photographer in the Salt Lake valley (Scott, thanks for the G11 and UW housing man) and his wife Lisa will be taking Julia Kleinschmidt’s position at the Moran Eye Center in the very near future.  They are good peeps and I look forward to more interactions with them in the future.

 

Slate… my man (cat), Slate.  What can I say?  I’ll miss seeing you and your sister as often with you guys down in Torrey.  I’ll visit.  Promise.

 

The thing about Torrey is that its a small town, but amazingly beautiful.  Torrey was founded some time in the 1880s and it has not grown much then with the last official census putting the population at 171.  Its a few more now I suspect, but not much more.  That said, there are places to stay and really nice places to eat.  The last night of my visit, we strolled up to Cafe Diablo for a most *excellent* meal by Chef Gary Pankow.  (Aside:  Its a crazy small world, but even smaller with friends like Maggie who has known Gary for years.  maggie is one of those 6 degrees nodal points where you can take a shortcut through to just about anyone else on the planet).  Try the empanadas and the duck mariachi.  Wow.  Also, the Elder Tequila made with elderberry juice is phenomenal.  I had two of them before ambling back to the ranch for some night photography.

 

Night photography down there is wonderful, though the town could do with some better/less bright lights or lights with shades that don’t blow out the night skies.  I’ve been told that is a discussion that several of the townsfolk have had.  Hope it happens…

 

 

The drive back had to happen all too quickly as I had to get back to work to finish preparing for the rapidly upcoming ARVO meetings, finish a couple of manuscript reviews and much more.  However, the back roads through Utah are some of the most beautiful drives ever with amazing Western vistas across beautifully desolate country filled with deer.  Thank goodness for good brakes and reliable vehicles.

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