Fresh local produce available around the Valley

Mid-July in Alaska means the farm market season is in full operating mode. So local produce lovers have an array of options for upping their kitchen game with fresh ingredients.

Moonstone Farm market opened for the season last week with an assortment of greens and other nutritious goodies. Spinach, arugula, kale, and collards were available for sale, along with a gorgeous bag of mixed lettuces. Additionally, there are two kinds of cucumbers – pickling and slicing – and plenty of rhubarb, peonies, herbs, herbal products, and eggs.

Coming soon, according to Michelle Church who owns and operates the farm with her husband, David, are onions and poblano peppers. Both are about two weeks away from first harvest. Sugar snap peas are also coming in nicely and are about three weeks out. That also means Moonstone Farm’s high-demand pickled snap peas will make their 2024 debut soon, too. Moonstone’s market is every Thursday and Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m. The railcar tasting room, with big covered deck overlooking the fields, is open both days from 2-8. Produce shoppers can enjoy local beer, cider, kombucha, and wine while taking in great views of Pioneer Peak.

The farm is located at 2141 S. Church St. in Palmer, near the Big Bear RV park.

Bushes Bunches stand, open every day on the Old Glenn Highway just outside Palmer, continues to expand its inventory as summer progresses. First carrots of the year were on the shelves last week, alongside the usual greens, rhubarb, radishes, salad turnips, English cucumbers, kohlrabi, and hothouse tomatoes. The meat freezer contains a variety of cuts of Alaska-raised products, including chickens from Palmer’s Polaris Farm.

In the ready-to-consume category, Bushes Bunches’ famous rhubarb lemonade is available by the cup. The “kitchen” also reopened Sunday, showcasing some new menu items that join the standard fare like beef stew, chili, and hot dogs. A new salad, featuring fresh-picked lettuce and other in-season veggies like radishes, kohlrabi, cukes, and tomatoes is available now, as is a BLT sandwich, also made with locally grown tomatoes and lettuce. Soup lovers should enjoy the new pasta fagioli, a comforting and savory Italian soup made with Bush farm vegetables. Creamy potato soup, also made from local potatoes, rounds out the new menu items.

Sun Circle Farm is off and running for the season, too. Located on Farm Loop Road in Palmer, the roadside stand is hard to miss under the big purple roof. It is open on Tuesdays, from 4 to 7 p.m. The farm grows USDA-certified organic produce. Current inventory includes greens like baby arugula, spinach, and lettuce. Radishes, salad turnips, bok choy, green onions, chives, and rhubarb are also available, along with sorrel and tarragon.

If produce isn’t enough, Sun Circle Farm also offers mixed floral bouquets, which can also be found at Sun Circle’s booth at the Matanuska Community Farmers Market in downtown Palmer. That market, which attracts a multitude of local farmers, continues to run on Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m. in the parking lot of the United Protestant Church, 713 S. Denali St.

The Wasilla Farmers Market also runs each Wednesday into mid-September. In addition to an assortment of local produce, there are vendors selling baked goods, art, pottery, crafts, and more. The market is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Filling the market void on Fridays all summer, the Willow Farmers Market offers fresh local produce, baked goods, gourmet foods, and Alaska-made products. Live music is also a regular feature of the market, which is open from 2 to 7 p.m. at Parks Highway Mile 68.8.