Birch Creek Ranch: Growing with Alaska

TALKEETNA -- Have you ever wondered where flowers come from? Not the ones you grow from seed, of course, but the ones you buy in the store in little black pots and bring home to spruce up your yard or start your vegetable garden? If you buy plants up north, at Mile 2 of the Talkeetna Spur Road, or in Anchorage at Alaska Garden and Pet Supply, then your flowers were likely grown by Leilani and Alan Kingsbury of Birch Creek Ranch.

The Kingsbury farm sits on a 553-acre parcel of land near Talkeetna, purchased in a state agricultural land lottery in 1980.

The couple signed papers for the property in early 1981, and that spring they started building a driveway and developing the land. Because they had so much wood from clearing the land, their first enterprise was selling the firewood. They bought a saw mill and also used the cleared trees to build their house, their commercial greenhouses, and most of the outbuildings on the ranch. They cleared about 125 acres of the land, leaving more than 400 acres of the original forest intact.

As the land was cleared, the firewood business dwindled. Over the years they have toyed with all sorts of other methods to make a living on the farm. For a while, the couple was raising livestock and running the greenhouses. Alan Kingsbury said he spent his spring going back and forth between tending the wood heat in the greenhouses, and checking the barn for new lambs and kids being born.

"It kept me pretty busy," he said. Eventually, they phased out the livestock in favor of the more economically viable little green starts.

"We sort of evolved," laughed Kingsbury when he recalled the process they have gone through to find a way to make the farm work best for them.

The Kingsburys, who came to Alaska in 1967 through the Army, have been living on the ranch since 1984, when Alan left his Fish and Game job to get the farm started. For the first 11 years, Leilani Kingsbury said she was a "weekend wife," working as a teacher in Anchorage during the week and coming out to the ranch on the weekends.

Both the Kingsburys are from Wisconsin. The couple said while they were around farming growing up, neither of their parents were farmers. But Leilani was involved with 4H livestock, and they had a big garden, "so we weren't that far away from farm life," Kingsbury said.

When they moved to Alaska, Leilani wanted to garden here, too. She took classes, eventually earning a Master Gardener II certification through the cooperative extension service. When they bought the farm, she could really garden. She said her greenhouse business started by locals approaching her, wanting to buy some of the plants she grew on the farm. "It just took off from there," she said.

Today the farm is more diversified, growing hay, bedding plants, vegetables and small fruits. The Kingsburys agreed their work on the ranch is never finished. "It is a work in progress," Kingsbury said . "I think any farm is."

In their "u-pick" small fruit business, visitors come to the farm and pick red and black currants, strawberries, serviceberries and rhubarb. Last year, the Kingsburys also operated a produce stand on the Talkeetna Spur Road, and are considering something similar this year.

It is a long drive to Birch Creek Ranch. While they are on the road system, they are definitely on the edge of things. Fifteen miles off the Parks Highway, with no commercial electricity in the area, the Kingsburys use diesel generators to power the farm. A fuel truck makes regular trips to the ranch this time of year.

"We're pretty self-sufficient in a sense," Kingsbury said, "as long as the fuel truck keeps coming."

In the past, the Kingsburys have sold their plants to big-name businesses like Green Connection, DeArmoun Greenery, Homesteaders Hardware and Alaska Mill and Feed, now called Alaska Garden and Pet Supply.

Of the plants they grow each year, the couple said they never sell everything. "There are always leftovers, and of course you lose some," said Leilani Kingsbury. But it's never a problem getting rid of extra plants. The Kingsburys have donated flowers to many local organizations including Upper Susitna Seniors, the library and post office, and the Talkeetna Historical Society. "Even the wheelbarrow downtown that holds the 'Welcome to Beautiful Downtown Talkeetna' sign has had our flowers in it," she said.

The Kingsburys bring on a seasonal staff during their busiest times. This year they have five part-time regulars. "We have employed most of the names of the local families here," Kingsbury said.

"When it's time to transplant," said Leilani Kingsbury, "we all work like crazy. Then we have some time off; when the loads go out, like today, we work like crazy again. Much of the season is like that."

Kingsbury said his training was in biology, and there is a lot of biology involved in this business -- and he really appreciates natural history. But unlike most folks, when he wants to explore the wilderness, he doesn't have to drive anywhere. He simply walks into the woods for 10 minutes. "It's like our own private parkland," he said.

"We are working harder than ever," said Leilani Kingsbury. "But we are our own boss, and we can take off when we want."

"We can," agreed her husband, "as long as it's not in the summer."