Last of the pickin's

Palmer u-pick farm is still growing fresh vegetables

Sept. 27, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Washing the dirt off a large pile of fresh picked potatoes Saturday, Anchorage resident Lani Coriano said this was her final trip to pick Mat-Su vegetables from Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm.

Her 7-year-old daughter, Rabakah, studiously helped sort and bag the spuds.

Each summer, Coriano makes two or three trips to the Valley to load up on Alaska-grown produce. She is one of many Southcentral residents who make regular summer visits to Ted Pyrah's Butte-area farm.

"Some vegetables I give to my friends and I also eat it every day in the summer," Coriano said. Originally from the Philippines, Coriano said she appreciates being on a farm, even if only for a day.

"I grew up in the farm in the Philippines," she explained. "I love to be in the farm - it feels at home here."

Coriano is not the only immigrant who enjoys harvesting from the u-pick. Pyrah said large Russian and Asian populations help support his farm, along with people from just about every walk of life.

"People come out here because they can save a lot of money," Pyrah said Monday. "When I set my prices for the year, I go to almost every major store and I average their regular price. Then I cut that in half."

This summer u-pickers had a choice of 35 different kinds of vegetables at the state's largest u-pick farm - most of those are still available.

Pyrah said he's out of cucumbers and growing short on green onions, cauliflower and zucchinis. Green peas, potatoes, sweet corn, broccoli, carrots, radishes, mustard greens and other veggies are still growing strong and should be for at least the next two weeks.

"We still have potato vines in the fields that are as green as your front lawn," Pyrah said. "We'll stay open until the first hard freeze or snow."

Last year, the 46-acre u-pick was open until Oct. 5.

Now at age 70, Pyrah said this summer represents the 26th year of his operation in the Butte.

After a summer of hard work, the stocky farming veteran said he plans to continue his operation for at least another three years before making any retirement decisions.

"A couple of my kids want to keep it going, so we'll have to see," he said.

Vegetables aren't the only thing harvested at Pyrah's this year. A few meat eaters also had a chance to stock up.

This summer, Pyrah's had a little more work than usual, wrestling with hungry and persistent moose that took out most of his cauliflower and a good patch of squash.

"I try to run them out of the veggies but they don't stay away for even one night," he said, adding that he let a few people use their moose cow permits to harvest the pesky moose for a winter's meat supply.

"Over the years, the moose have eaten more than a half a million dollars of produce at this farm," he said.

"I know that for an absolute fact."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.