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Along one of the few remaining rural roads that wind through the foothills of Happy Valley in north Phoenix, Blooming Ranch is a small oasis of flowers, carefully tended crops of fruits and vegetables, and a small menagerie of unusual pets. It’s also a source for local honey, tended in a way that preserves vital honeybee populations in our state. When you first drive through the gates, you may find Cricket Aldridge weeding the garden beds or harvesting artichokes — yes, artichokes! Aldridge says that nearly anything that grows in a Mediterranean climate will grow here in Arizona. The large back porch of the home she shares with her husband, Rob Ungvary, also serves as a small shop, with a farmhouse-style hutch teeming with jars of the couple’s sustainably harvested honey and products handmade with honey and beeswax. You’ll likely also see Chewie, a fluffy brown rooster of the Silkie variety. He’s literally the “cock of the walk” around the farm and very attached to Aldridge, following her every move and happy to be picked up for a cuddle. While a chicken that
The large back porch of the home Cricket Aldridge shares with her husband, Rob Ungvary, serves as a small shop, with a farmhouse-style hutch teeming with jars of the couple’s sustainably harvested honey and products handmade with honey and beeswax. Writer Shannon Severson // Photography by Loralei Lazurek
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