Mat-Su’s summer produce bounty in full bloom

The first week of August in Alaska is often summer’s turning point. Local schools reopen next week, sunny skies yield increasingly to clouds and rain, and the weather begins its inexorable slide to autumn conditions.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. This time of year also means local farmstands are brimming with a variety of Alaska-grown goodness. That means more colorful and nutritious dinner plates and, especially, salad bowls.

It is always a highlight of the summer when I can put a completely local salad on the table. Last weekend, after stops at Moonstone Farm and Bushes Bunches, I was able to accomplish that for the first time this year.

A bag of mixed red and green lettuces from Moonstone made a fresh and flavorful base for sliced onion and snow peas, also from Moonstone, and bright beautiful radishes, carrots, and tomatoes from Bushes Bunches. A nice, herby Italian dressing brought it all together.

If you haven’t visited Bushes Bunches yet this year, there has never been a better time to do so. Located just outside Palmer on the Old Glenn Highway, it is worth the drive.

With its growing variety of Alaska-raised vegetables, meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy products available seven days a week, the landmark operation is no longer just a farmstand. It is a one-stop shop for your own farm-to-table meal.

Manager Karianne Smith worked hard over the winter to add locally produced consumables to the inventory. On any given day, shoppers can find breads, pastries, and cookies from three different microbakeries alongside flour, coffee beans, sauces, and an assortment of pasta, all made or harvested in Alaska.

It’s great to be seeing local carrots again at Bushes Bunches, too. The Wednesday afternoon Matanuska Community Farmers Market in Palmer also has had carrots for three weeks or so.

While big cabbages grab headlines near summer’s end, and potatoes remain an omnipresent reminder of the Valley’s agricultural past, the humble carrot is probably the highest expression of the greatness of local produce.

So the wait time between the last local carrots disappearing from supermarket shelves in February or March, and their reappearance in August, can be agonizing for those who love these local goodies and have to get by on inferior out-of-state carrots for a few months.

Similarly, tomato lovers who lack the infrastructure to grow this high-maintenance product in a climate not conducive to their cultivation are sure to be thrilled by a visit to Mid Valley Garden and Greenhouse. Centrally located just off the Hyer Road exit of the Glenn Highway, Mid Valley has an impressive variety of tomatoes to beef up any dinner plate, sandwich, or salad bowl.

Speaking of salads – and now that I’ve spent several paragraphs singing the well-deserved praises of local produce – I stumbled across a simple and delicious recipe for roasted cherry salad recently that I’ve made twice already this summer, and will surely make again. I found it at the Fred Meyer website, of all places. It is not 100 percent local, but it takes advantage of the abundant cherries now showing up in supermarkets.

One of the great upsides to this recipe is its versatility. It invites experimentation and substitution. Where it calls for spinach, for example, arugula or any of the leafy greens widely available at farm stands across the Valley can be used alone or in combination with others.

Because my wife is not a big fan of goat cheese, I have substituted feta in this salad. But in my opinion, it’s really hard to beat the way a nice creamy goat cheese and roasted cherries play together. So I cannot enthusiastically support substituting feta.

For a more hearty turn, the addition of grilled chicken or salmon to this salad will turn it into a tasty and summery main course. However you mix it up, it is sure to become a quick favorite. Check it out, while cherries are still available.

Bon appétit!

Mark Kelsey is a retired journalist and active foodie who lives near Wasilla.