I’m still loving how cheerful this girl is on the sugar beets. Life used to be so simply happy.

Growing up in central Utah I remember driving past the Spanish Fork sugar beet factory and hearing about beet sugar like it was the greatest thing that ever happened in the history of America. The old smokestack and brick facade made for great mystical lore that I loved as a kid.

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about sugar beets also Ardis. I’m wondering if perhaps we should take this as inspiration and start planting some crops of our own?

There’s some interesting information in the ever-helpful Wikipedia about the history of Amalgamated that shows how integral church members and leaders were to its origins and development. But other than the early generic “buy Utah sugar” ads, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ad in a church magazine for any brand other than U&I. I wonder what backroom discussions were held before it was accepted?

A lot of faithful LDS farmers grew beets for Amalgamated Sugar Co. producing White Satin (like, my family). They were always a little sensitive about that whole U&I thing. Note the small print with the factory in Nyssa, Oregon – my birthplace.