The Farm at South Mountain was one of Arizona’s original farm-to-table restaurants. More than 40 years since it opened, it’s still thriving while dozens of restaurants that promised a similar dining experience have come and gone.

With 10 acres of land and three restaurants, The Farm hosts hundreds of events and welcomes 100,000 visitors a year south of Southern Avenue on 32nd Street.

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Farm Manager Hanita Knudson is passionate about her work and what it means for customers looking for healthy options as well as local farmers hoping to sell their produce.

Coming from a degree in sustainable agriculture, Knudson has been farming for almost 10 years and relocated to The Farm at South Mountain in January.

She had visited the restaurants for years as a customer, and said she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be more involved and share the farm-to-table dining experience she believes everyone should try.

“It’s all about being connected to your food, to know where it comes from, to know what’s going in the soil,” Knudson said. “And to know how it’s being cared for instead of going and buying something that came from a place super far away and you have no idea what you’re eating.”

The Farm grows an abundance of produce, including corn, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and eggplant. A variety of fruit and nut trees are also planted on the land.

The approach of summer means a smaller harvest. In addition to its own bounty, The Farm works with local farms to provide fresh food for all three of its restaurants.

“We can’t just depend on ourselves, so it’s also cool that we are able to be conscious of still purchasing from local places that can produce much more, which is important because we need each other,” Knudson said.

The three restaurants are spread throughout the property: Morning Glory Café serves breakfast, The Farm Kitchen serves lunch and Quiessence serves dinner.

Quiessence is the truest farm-to-table dining experience on The Farm, Knudson said. Nestled in the corner between a gift shop and the cafe, the fine dining restaurant gets first pick of the produce. Even the ducks on The Farm are specifically harvested for Quiessence.

The three restaurants help keep The Farm running and provide the additional income needed to make the operation financially viable.

“If you talk to any of the older farmers around here, it’s really hard to just suffice off produce,” Knudson said. “The Farm has a long history of being a farm, and thankfully our restaurants garner multiple sources of income to keep it a farm.”

Despite consumers’ appetite for healthy dining options, running a successful farm-to-table eatery is not for the faint of heart.

Earlier this year, Steadfast Diner opened in Mesa.

Executive chef Derek Christensen worked on Steadfast Farm, where the diner is located, about eight years ago and stayed connected with owners Erich and Yvonne Schultz.

Christensen helped build the menu and kitchen team at the new diner and, like Knudson, is passionate about creating an authentic farm-to-table dining experience.

He said many chefs who care about supporting small, local farms by using better produce and promoting sustainability work at high-end restaurants, which aren’t accessible to average people.

“There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but what we’re doing with Steadfast Diner is saying that you can have the same quality ingredients, this true farm-to-table experience, but in a casual manner that’s literally for everybody,” he said.

The diner uses produce from Steadfast Farm, including turnips, radishes, beets, tomatoes and cucumbers. The restaurant’s beef comes from Capital Farms in Wickenburg.

“Anything we can’t do on site, we look to people in the community to supplement and support,” Christensen said.

Christensen said eating at a farm-to-table restaurant is a different experience than dining at a traditional eatery.

“When you get to walk by this beautiful farm and see all the veggies growing, the lettuce, carrots and greenhouses, you’re building this preconceived notion of freshness and locality before you sit down,” he said. “It’s this idea of a restaurant supporting a farm, a farm supporting a restaurant.”

After attending a wedding at The Farm at South Mountain, Karlee Guzman became an avid customer.

“You’re supporting local farmers,” she said. “Produce hasn’t been sitting on shelves or picked when it wasn’t ripe just so it can sit in a store. I think it’s great that it’s from the community, directly from the property.”

While farm-to-table dining can be more expensive than other restaurants, Guzman doesn’t see that as a reason to stop going.

“If there were more places like The Farm it would be great,” she said. “I’m willing to pay more for that type of experience because I know what I am getting.”