Food Day celebration spawns Mat-Su Farm Market

PALMER — The Valley Winter Farmer’s Market and Food Day Celebration Friday at the Palmer Depot was intended as a tasty treat for the community, but response to the idea was so positive, organizers say it actually germinated a separate Mat-Su Farm Market from November to May.

A steady stream of locals filed through the depot, arms loaded with carrots, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, honey, handmade soaps, lotions, perfumes, canned vegetables and homemade breads. Their bodies were buoyed by live local music, conversation with neighbors, and maybe a glass of beer brewed across town.

It’s a point of Valley pride that much of the food grown in Alaska comes from farms in the Mat-Su. From May to September, residents have the luxury of a well-established network of farmers markets in Palmer, Wasilla, Houston and Willow that connect farmers with customers. But during the winter months, these markets slumber.

Alaska Farmland Trust, Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District and Envision Mat-Su sponsored the winter market in celebration of National Food Day.

Envision Mat-Su Executive Director Liz Robinson said the idea was to celebrate local food and measure support for a similar year-round market. When they were making calls seeking vendors, she said farmers seemed hungry for the opportunity.

“It’s just really nice to give the community a chance to meet their farmers,” Robinson said.

Kelly Strawn, a natural resource manager for the Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District, said the market also included an impressive variety of value-added items, such as soaps, lotions, breads, baked goods and canned foods made from locally grown ingredients.

Alaska Farmland Trust Executive Director of Louisa Yanes said there is value in connecting farm to fork.

“We’re not only supporting local agriculture, we’re also sponsoring a sense of community connectedness,” she said.

Less than 10 percent of the food Alaskans eat is grown here, Yanes said. The majority arrives via a transportation supply chain that is thousands of miles long. And although the state’s population is relatively small, food is still a multi-billion dollar industry in Alaska, Yates said. Even a 10 percent increase in the amount of local food Alaskans consume would mean a substantial increase in demand for local farmers, which would ripple through the state’s whole economy.

“It really seems like there has been a huge uptick in interest in local food,” Yanes said. “People really are trying to reduce the miles between farm and fork.”

As the Valley grows, she said more of its farmland is being converted to other uses, such as schools, roads and new subdivisions.

“When farmland is sold for other uses, that’s a one-time profit,” Yanes said. “If it’s farmed properly, it can grow potatoes for the next 200 years.”

Strawn said besides being part of the Valley’s legacy, locally farmed food also is better for the environment, tastes better, is fresher, has more nutrients, costs less and contributes to the local economy.

Carl Brooke owns Gee-Haw Realty and is managing the new Monday market. He was at the depot Friday with his family selling bread, poultry, pork, quail, quail eggs, cookies, goat’s milk soap and other wares from their Brooke Family Farm.

That the depot was packed for most of the five-hour event is a good indicator that the Valley also will support the Monday Mat-Su Farm Market he’s organized at the depot from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Nov. 11 to May 5, Brooke said.

“That’s a clear indication that there is a need for a winter market here,” he said.

Brooke said talking to Robinson from Envision Mat-Su when he signed up for the market left him so energized he called the city of Palmer and set plans in motion for a winter market.

Usually the family drives its wares from their farm near Willow to the Anchorage market in the Sears Mall.

“We never have this many people,” Brooke said. “This is a great opportunity to meet customers directly and find out what they really want.”

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.