August 14, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman MAT-SU - Farmers markets are the place to find cobs of sweet corn and carrots so fresh the rich Matanuska Valley dirt still clings to their firm, orange flesh. The Mat-Su Valley is home to the Friday Fling in Palmer and the Wednesday Farmers Market in Wasilla. Farmers also sell produce from roadside stands along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

Farmers markets bring fresh, homegrown food to Mat-Su Valley shoppers and supplemental income to local growers. They also help those growers retain a competitive edge when selling their produce.

While big grocery chains pay local farmers less for their produce to make up for marketing and store overhead, farmers markets allow more of the dollar customers spend on squash and carrots to go straight to the farmer's family.

Kenley's Alaskan Vegetables has been a weekly staple at the Friday Fling for two years. The Fling supplements the farm's produce basket business that sells season-long subscriptions to a portion of the farm's weekly harvest. The service sells for $300 for the 12-week season.

“Whatever is going on in the garden at the time,” said grower Carol Kenley.

Up next for her 25 subscribers - sweet corn.

The subscriptions are part of a booming community shared agriculture movement, Kenley said. Baskets are prepaid in the spring, so farmers have a secure income, while if a farmer has a crop failure there is a shared risk. In some cases, subscribers also have the freedom to help on the farm.

Kenley said people shop at the family's Friday Fling booth because of the quality of the local food.

“They're happy to find fresh, local produce,” she said. The profits from the farmers market and subscription sales go into daughter Rachel Kenley's college fund.

“Rachel is the prime mover behind the subscription,” Carol Kenley said.

Rachel's sister, Amy Kenley, started the subscription business 15 years ago. Rachel took over when she was 13. Carol Kenley said the Friday market and subscriptions also help support her gardening.

“I love flowers. I grow a lot of flowers,” she said. “I try to make the Farmers Market pay for my hobby.”

Sales from the market also help cover the cost of the Kenley's two greenhouses. But Kenley said the market is also a great opportunity to get out among her neighbors.

“It is a lot of fun to meet and talk to people,” Kenley said, adding that over the last 15 years her family has become better, more efficient farmers. “The same amount of ground is producing more and more, we're getting a lot more out of a little land. We learned how not to have to weed a lot and it opened up more time to do other tasks. It is amazing how much you can produce on very little land.”

The Kenleys add compost to the soil from the many animals they keep for 4-H. Their 1-acre farm also has the luck of being planted on the site of an old dairy farm.

“It is very rich soil,” Kenley said. The rich soil can produce a wide array of produce. “We try to grow everything, anything we can. We try to do anything unusual; radishes and onions, artichokes, beets and turnips. Corn should be ready [for Aug.. 17], if we get a couple days of sunshine.”

Food found at farmers markets is fresher, healthier produce, Kenley said.

“We know it is healthier because over time [produce] looses a lot of its nutritional value,” she said. Corn, for instance, is sweet when first picked, but it immediately begins to switch from sugar to starch after picking.

Kenley appreciates that local grocer Three Bears sells Alaska grown produce.

“The day they opened they had as much Alaska-grown that they could have,” Kenley said. Most local grocery stores also carry some Alaska-grown items.

Arthur Keyes, a local farmer since 2001, runs a three-acre farm near the state fairgrounds in Palmer.

Keyes started two farmers markets in Anchorage, the South Anchorage Farmers Market on Saturdays and a farmers market on Dimond on Wednesdays. Keyes picked Anchorage for his markets because the population density is there for more sales. The two markets are a financial mainstay for the Keyes farm, he said.

“It has a huge impact on the bottom line of the farm and it raises awareness in the consumer about what we are growing in the Valley,” Keyes said.

Local markets also allow farmers to grow a wide variety of produce, Keyes said. Without farmers markets, if a local farmer grew artichokes, the farmer would have to compete with outside farms to find a buyer.

A sticker Keyes recently designed reads, “know your food, know your farmer.”

“That sums up the farmers market,” Keyes said.

Along with his two markets, Keyes also sells wholesale to local grocery stores. While the price he gets from his wholesale transactions varies, his farmers market sales always puts more money into his pocket.

“At the farmers market, 100 percent goes to the farmers,” Keyes said.

Mark Rempel is a third-generation farmer at the Rempel Family Farm. Rempel has been selling produce from his 12-acre farm in the Valley since 1962.

“We grow about 100 varieties of vegetables, all certified organic,” Rempel said.

While in some cases Rempel said he can make almost twice as much per pound of produce selling at a farmers market, the work required is staggering.

“I really do not get days off in the summer,” he said. “When you are doing two markets a week, two days at market, two days at harvest, two days planting and one farming - if you are selling wholesale you have a little more control of your schedule,”

However, when farmers sell wholesale they compete with Outside growers. Rempel said he isn't too worried about most Outside competition.

“I think Alaska-grown produce just smokes Outside produce,” Rempel said.

Wasilla's Wednesday Market is located at the Historic Village behind the Dorothy Page Museum and is open noon-6 p.m. The final Friday Fling of the season will be held at the pavilion across from the Visitor Information Center in downtown Palmer 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman.com.