Handful of Alfalfa Seed

"President Joseph F. Smith, who took part in the westward trek and in the first 70 years of hardship in this valley, shared this precious overview of the Lord's protective hand over His Latter-day Saints:" 'Our good friends from the east used to come out here in the early days and upbraid us. They said, "Why, it is the fulfillment of the curse of God upon you. You have been driven away from the rich lands of Illinois and Missouri, into a desert, into a salt land." I said, "Yes, we have salt enough here to save the world, thank God, and we may find use for it by and by" ' (in Preston Nibley, comp., Faith Promoting Stories [1943], 81). There was a time when there wasn't feed for livestock and the beef was so lean there wasn't enough fat to even make decent soap. 'Just then the Lord sent a handful of alfalfa seed into the valley, and Christopher Layton planted it, watered it, and it matured; and from that little beginning, Utah can now produce a richer crop of hay than Illinois or Missouri can do' (Joseph F. Smith, "Pioneer Reminiscences," Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 8 [1918]:159)."
M. Russell Ballard, "Faith in Every Footstep," Ensign, Nov. 1996, 25