In the heart of Utah’s Silicon Slopes, a grimy attraction gets a new sheen — but it’s keeping the dirt

Lehi • One no longer has to travel far to get hands-on learning experience about working on a farm in Utah. They just need to make a pit stop in the heart of Silicon Slopes.

Curiosity Farms reopened last week in Lehi, becoming the freshest attraction put forth by Thanksgiving Point, a nonprofit indoor and outdoor farm, garden and museum complex.

McKay Christensen, CEO of Thanksgiving Point, described the nine-acre farm as “an agriculture tech and science center for kids.”

“[It’s] where kids can come and see, yes, animals, up close,” he said, “but also the latest technology used in farming.”

The goal is to help those kids gain confidence in themselves and in STEM, so they might go into those fields in the future, Christensen explained.

The farm is home to pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, cows and even a beloved miniature Sicilian donkey named Banjo. There are exciting touches throughout the property for kids to get close to the animals, like the Billy Goat Bridge, which lets visitors walk under the goats that cross the bridge above them.

Curiosity Farms was previously a two-acre plot called Farm Country that only focused on the animals, Christensen said. The revamped version is completely reimagined as a hands-on and modern learning experience. There’s even a robotic farm hand named Burro that can follow a person around based on their position.

Christensen said the farm now includes five new experiences, including a livestock learning lab — a building dedicated to teaching how technology works with livestock. There, visitors can do things like milk cows themselves, as they learn about dairy production.

Other experiences include the innovation station, which shares advancement in agricultural technology such as pollinator drones; Play Patch playground, a farm-themed, all-abilities accessible playground; and Saddle-Up Stables, where kids can learn about and ride ponies.

Christensen said Lehi and Thanksgiving Point are the perfect spot for Curiosity Farms because in the past few years, the complex has refocused on STEM-related experiences. Other attractions at Thanksgiving Point include Ashton Gardens, a butterfly biosphere and two museums.

At Curiosity Farms’ Grow Tech Gardens experience, Christensen said kids can see three large vertical farm containers, also referred to as hydroponic containers.

“These vertical farms can grow about 4,000 heads of lettuce a month. Most of the produce used in our Harvest restaurant, for example, is grown in this indoor farm,” Christensen said. “That indoor farm uses only about 3% of the water that a typical outdoor farm would use to grow the same produce.”

They can also grow barley there in seven days — with the help of indoor fodder technology — that they bring right out to the animals on the property to eat, Christensen said.

Cicily Arnsworth, the urban farm manager for Thanksgiving Point, oversees the hydroponic containers and said she’s excited to show kids and their families “exactly where their food is coming from” and “how a farm is operated.”

“There’s quite a bit to it,” Arnsworth said. “It’s a lot more technical than what people imagine it to be.”

Curiosity Farms is included in the complex’s ‘Every Kid Counts’ initiative — meaning kids from families that utilize WIC or SNAP benefits can visit for free.

Christensen said Curiosity Farms will remain relevant in the coming years because it is “a farm of the future” and because it “conserves a significant amount of water, is fully organic and uses a fraction of the space and energy.”

“The types of indoor farms that you see here at Thanksgiving Point is the type of farm that’s being built all over the world right now,” he said. “We are trying to demonstrate the leading edge of farming innovation.”