Teen encounters humanity from back of potato truck

MAT-SU -- One year ago, at age 18, Lorna Gamber stumbled head long into the world of Alaska-grown potatoes.

Previously unacquainted with the culture and language of potato farming, Gamber now speaks of spuds with the casual ease of a seasoned farm hand.

She began harvesting and selling potatoes last year when her aunt-in-law got her a job with longtime Palmer potato farmer, Bob Boyd. Gamber helped work two or three of Boyd's fields, separating rocks, dirt clumps and sticks from potatoes as they were extracted from the ground, moved along conveyer belts and dumped into holding bins.

"It was quite fun and interesting learning how to harvest," Gamber said. "I've learned a lot about potatoes. There are so many different kinds out there that I never had a clue about. I thought there was just one type."

No longer. Standing in the back of a produce truck, Tuesday afternoon, at the corner of Trunk Road and the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Gamber cited an impressive list of potatoes. Whether they be Yukon potatoes, red potatoes, white potatoes, Alaskan Red Eye potatoes or even purple potatoes, Gamber knows them by heart.

"I didn't know there were purple potatoes," Gamber said. "The inside is purple too."

Gamber also knows a thing or two about cabbages, which she also sells from the back of the truck.

"One guy came over once and asked me if I knew how many cabbages there were. I said I didn't have clue and he told me to learn the names of five different kinds of cabbages and he'd be back to see if I learned them. He hasn't been back yet but I did learn five."

Gamber said she likes the challenge of learning new things and meeting people she would otherwise never have occasion to interact with, including a large number of Russian patrons.

"They are the biggest customers," Gamber said. "They just love potatoes and they will get four or five bags at a time and come back for more. They have big families."

Gamber enjoys meeting new people from different backgrounds but she said language barriers sometimes bring an added challenge to her roadside market.

"When the Russians come and speak in their language, sometimes I can't understand them," Gamber said. "I try but of them some don't speak any English and I have to [communicate] with my fingers. It gets pretty difficult when you have to do that. So that's pretty challenging for me because I never really worked with people before this job."

While new to customer service, Gamber seems to be adjusting just fine and enjoys the chance to offer folks a helping hand.

"I had an old lady come by the other day, about 65 years old, and I told her about the senior checks. No one had ever told her about that and she was so happy. She left and came back with the checks. I was just happy to help her."

Gamber sells potatoes from the back of the produce truck, five days a week, from about 10:30 a.m. till 7 p.m. but potato sales don't usually get hot till later in the day when commuters return from work. If she runs low on goods, Gamber calls the Boyd farm and someone brings her more potatoes.

"Yesterday I had quite a few people come in around 5:30 p.m." Gamber said.

Sometimes the business is so good that the people working in the nearby coffee stand ask her to send people their way.

"The coffee stand gets busy but I'm a little busier than they are," Gamber said, "and they want me to send some customers over. I try but they are more interested in potatoes than coffee."

When she's not selling potatoes, Gamber spends a lot of time with her family and her two-year-old daughter, Zoe Jane-Covey, who stays with her grandmother during the day while Gamber works.

"When I get off, I go home, cook dinner, sit down and relax with my family and do my chores around the house."

Gamber attended Burchell High School but left before getting her diploma. She later earned her general education degree and then began working for Boyd.

"He really helped me out," Gamber said, "and he was really short on people this year, so I'm helping him out. I'll probably do this again next year."

Gamber may be new to the potato business but she is no stranger to farming. As a little girl, she worked on her family farm in the Mat-Su.

"I love horses, chickens, pigs and milking cows. I had those growing up," Gamber said. "I had to gather eggs, feed chickens, milk the cows and feed the cows through a bottle when they were little. That was fun, I liked doing that."

Someday, Gamber said she might like to have her own farm.

"I'd want it to be more of an animal farm with some vegetables."

For next few weeks, however, Gamber will continue trading stories, farming facts to whoever stops by for a 50 pound bag of home-grown Alaskan potatoes.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.