Twenty-somethings Doing Something: Elliot Musgrove

[This is part of an ongoing series we are doing on young people in Salt Lake who are doing something extraordinary in cycling.]

Elliot Musgrove with his seedlings.
Photo credit: Christy Punkin Pants Jens

When you first meet Elliot Musgrove, a 24-year-old Utah State University graduate and owner of Elliot's Fresh, it is easy to understand why he got into farming. His care-free and easy-going personality put you at ease and his vegetables make your mouth water. Learning that he gets to his farm plots everyday by bike, it is tempting to want to spend the day riding bikes, talking about food, bike touring, and laughing with him.

When Elliot graduated from Utah State University with a BS in Geology he asked himself, "Why didn't I study agriculture?" Having attended an agricultural school for four years, Elliot found himself drawn more to farming than the possibility of working for the oil industry. It wasn't just farming that Elliot wanted to do. He wanted it to involve bicycles in his plan some how. Having worked at the student bike center at Utah State University, Aggie Blue Bikes, Elliot learned how to wrench on bikes and has a passion for making his life more bicycle-centered. The cross pollination of bicycles and farming finally happened during his final semester at USU while studying abroad in India.




While in Hyderabad, India Elliot became enthralled with the way farmers brought their goods to the market. "There were bicycles everywhere!" said Elliot,"When I got back to the States I wanted to post up on the corner with my bike full of veggies! But it doesn't really work that way here." 

Elliot felt the fire ignite for his future in farming and began learning more about agriculture during his time in India; traveling to Nepal to volunteer on an organic farm and learn sustainable methods of farming. Elliot took any chance he got to work in someone's garden or farm, gleaning as much information as he could from the farmers he met.


Upon his return to the Utah, Elliot heard about the urban farm movement and started feeling things out in Salt Lake, working briefly with B.U.G Farms in Salt Lake to gain a better understanding of SPIN farming (Small Plot Intensive Farming) techniques that would keep his business more sustainable. In 2011 Elliot started his own CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and booths at local farmers markets.


Instead of driving to each of the plots to do his daily watering and farm duties, Elliot chooses to use refurbished Trek mountain bike and a homemade trailer to tend to his five plots and  deliver CSA shares to his members who live in Sandy.

Elliot's referbished Trek and homemade trailer. Elliot was able to build the
bike and trailer using the skills he learned while working at Aggie Blue Bikes.
Photo credit: Christy Punkin Pants Jens

Using a bike to get around from plot to plot made sense for Elliot. "You don't have to use big machinery (with small plot farming), you can keep it local, and things can be brought to market faster. I am new at this so it's a little scary, but CSAs are the way people should be eating. It is the wave of the farming future."




Although Elliot still has to use a car to get his vegetables to the two markets he sells at on the weekends, he is looking for ways to remedy that. "I keep thinking, do I really need to drive a car?" Elliot said, "My goal is to not have to use a van to transport things in the future. My tiller leaks oil and breaks down all the time; I am trying to move away from that." 





With the amount of land Elliot is farming this year he has been able to open up 20 shares in his CSA and sell his veggies at Cali's Natural Foods, the Sugar House Park Farmers' Market on Friday nights and at the Wheeler Farm Farmers Market on Sundays. Although his CSA shares are full at the moment, visit him at one of the two markets he sells at or give him a 'like' on facebook.












CPPJ






























 

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