Kenley's Alaskan Vegetables and Flowers

It Begins!

2011-02-10T16:32:00.000-09:00

Yes, today is the beginning, officially of my gardening season. It really began two weeks ago when I ordered my seeds, but today it is official because I planted my first seeds--HOORAY!! My wonderful mom came over and we set up our planting table out in the garage, scrubbed up seed tray flats, wet down the Redi-earth (our preferred starting medium), filled the trays and planted five flats full of little bitty seeds. I know that this happens every year, but it is still majic to me. I hold this tiny petunia seed that is smaller than the head of a pin, really much, much smaller, and I plant it and in a few months if I put three of these plants together they will make the most beautiful hanging baskets--miracle! We planted about 250 petunia seeds, a couple dozen cherry tomatoes, a few cucumbers and a few trays of bacopa. In three days I will literally be springing out of bed in the morning to check and see if any seedlings have emerged. It is a great way to start the day.

I truly am crazy about gardening, but I manage to put it on hold from about the middle of October until the end of December. Right after Christmas the seed catalogs arrive and I spend hours pouring over them, planning what new varieties I want to try and what new plants I want to experiment with. Seed catalogs can be a wealth of information. Let me share with you my feelings on a few of them.

My old standby and still my favorite is Stokes Seeds. Stokes is great for both vegetable and flower seeds. They always have a nice synopsis about each entry and their seed packets always have propogating instructions, germination times and days to harvest right on them. They have pelleted carrot seed, a must if you are growing very many carrots. If you aren't growing that many carrots, read on to find out where else you can get pelleted carrot seed. I have never had any luck ordering from their website, but you can call their toll-free number and they are always most helpful in taking your order. The sales people I have worked with are so friendly by the time I am through placing my long orders I feel like I have made a new friend.

My next favorite seed company, and truly a close second to Stokes is Harris Seeds. They have the most beautiful catalogs! I always want to order one of everything they have. They also have the best prices on pelleted petunia seeds, multi-pelleted bacopa seeds and osteospernum seed. They are quick to respond to any questions and even though I am a truly small grower, they recognize me as a professional grower and give me the very best service you can imagine. At the end of the year they email me a list of what I have purchased throughout the year which is very helpful in planning the next season. Go online and request a catalog, it is truly a feast for the eyes!

Territorial Seeds is a great source. Their catalog is not glossy or fancy, but they have some great varieties. They carry Imperial Star Artichokes, the only ones I know that will actually make artichokes in Alaska. They also have terrific lettuce varieties. Last summer I discovered thier red iceberg lettuce. It is just beautiful, like a flower to look at, and also crisp and tasty! I am definitely repeating that this year.

Johnny's Selected Seeds has a beautiful catalog. This year they are offering pelleted carrot seed. Every gardener knows how tiny carrot seed can be and thus it is impossible to plant them thin enough. The result is lots of thinning, over and over again. Pelleted seeds are wonderful because you can sow them thinly. I never thin my carrots anymore--lovely. If you try nothing else new in your garden this year, try these carrot pellets. I am so glad that someone (Johnny's) has finally offered these to the home gardener. They also have about twenty pages of tools and supplies which are always interesting to browse through and drool over.

Both Burpee's and Burgess have pretty catalogs but not quite the selection of varieties as say Stokes, but not everyone wants to have so many choices. I get all of my tomato and cucumber seed from Hydro Gardens. They are pretty spendy, but I think it's because of the varieties I am buying.

A word about having your seed orders shipped. Some of the companies will offer free shipping if your order is large enough but of course, sometimes that doesn't apply to Alaska. I recommend placing you orders over the phone and try to get your seeds sent through the post office. Usually seed orders are not very heavy and UPS charges are alot more than the postal service for small items. Case in point: I just got seeds from Hydro Gardens. The package weight was .4 lbs and it cost $25 in shipping. I should have talked them into putting the order in a flat rate box, a small one would do, and it would have been less that $6.

Now, I hope that I didn't get anyone too excited about planting. Remember, I have a dedicated plant room, grow shelves with lights and heat mats. If you don't have these things, it is probably too early for you to start anything. For you, get out the seed catalogs, place an order or two and start getting ready. It will be time to plant before you know it.

CORN!

2010-08-16T08:16:00.000-08:00

We ate our first corn yesterday! This is a big event at our house no matter when it is, but this year it is really, really big because I was not sure we would get any corn at all. I am really surprised that we had corn by the the middle of August! With all of the cloudy weather and the rain, I was sure that we would be lucky to get a few snaggely looking ears by the first of August. For corn to pollinate properly some dry weather is needed or many kernels never mature. What we ate yesterday was great corn! I was able to find enough for the whole family (all twenty of us including grandkids) to have an ear apiece. It was so yummy! Corn is so much work to grow that harvesting it is very rewarding. Not everyone bothers to grow corn here, but the satisfaction of growing it is so worth it! It isn't worth alot at the markets, although we sell it for $1.50-$2.00 per ear, That may sound like a high price, but it is the most labor intensive and space intensive crop we grow. When you consider that one zucchini plant will produce 15-20 zucchini in about the same space it takes to grown two ears of corn and that each zucchini sells for an average of $1.50 and zucchini is easy to grow, corn is a real bargain! Just think, you can buy a whole ear of corn for the price of one fountain soda drink! What a deal!

My first post :)

2010-07-31T21:29:00.004-08:00

Hello everyone, my name is Natalie Kenley and I will now be contributing to the blog!! Above is a photo of our first artichokes of the season!

I have been working with Carol this summer in her gorgeous garden and at the Wednesday markets and I have been snapping a bunch of pictures that we want to share with you all. We had a fabulous time on the farm tour today and were so pleased with how many people came to support us all here in the valley. More about the tour to come...

Farm Tour and Rainy Wether

2010-07-30T21:29:00.005-08:00

Tomorrow the day of the Mat-Su Farm Bureau Tour. The two tour buses are stopping here for the All Alaska Grown lunch and for a brief tour of our place. I'm not having to do the lunch, that is catered by The Rib Shack, but there was still a lot of work to do to get ready for the tour. This year I am the tour coordinator and so of course I am nervous about how the whole tour will go. Mostly, I am anxious about people coming here. We do have a lovely place and I want everyone on the tour to experience it at it's best. After all, some of my wonderful customers have told me they are coming and I want them to see where their food is grown. We normally spend a great deal of time weeding, but the last two days we have been ruthlessly attacking all weeds everywhere! Fortunately the weather cooperated and we were able to get the lawn mowed too, which is wonderful.
The rain this month has been so disheartening for farmers! I feel blessed that our gardens are doing well and I am grateful that we grow a diverse variety of vegetables. Crops that take a little more heat and any real sunshine just aren't doing well. My neighbors, Bob and Jeannie Havemiester have not gotten any hay up yet. They have some cut in the fields, but it has rained so much that it isn't good for anything now. My good friend, Arthur Keyes at Glacier Valley Farms, has his field of strawberries and zucchini at about 1/3 the production of last year. My corn is in silks, but with all the rain the pollination will probably be horrible and there will be no saleable ears, even if they do mature. My flowers are suffering in the wind and rain, my baskets usually unbelievably lovely are not lovely and even my lilies have yet to bloom.
With those downer thoughts, let me tell you what crops are doing well. Spinach, for one, has loved the sunless days. Spinach doesn't really like all of the daylight we get in the summer, so the overcast days were good for the spinach. It has been wonderful. Kohlrabi has been thriving in the cool, sunless days. Usually if it gets bigger than fist size, it will be woody and tough, but that has not been the case this year. Our cabbage loves this weather as well as the broccoli and cauliflower. And, I just can't leave out the lettuce. Our lettuce has been spectacular. The rain has made the lettuce crisp and sometimes when I am in the garden I feel like burying my face in a head and just taking a bite right out of the middle--no kidding, it is that good! The potatoes are also growing well and although the carrots are slow, trust me, we will have carrots.

Who knows, August could prove to be a sunny month. I am looking forward to a change in the weather pattern, but I am happy gardening even when the weather is uncooperative. I think that is a good thing, or I'd have been unhappy alot this last month.

2010-07-29T18:55:00.001-08:00

Look at our beautiful lettuce!

Harvesting

2010-07-11T21:53:00.002-08:00

What a great opening day we had at the market last week! It was wonderful to see everyone again and to meet new customers. It was so fun to have such a huge variety of produce for the opening day! It was even more special because Channel 2 News came and shot some footage and Wednesday night they showed a segment on the Farmer's Markets. I didn't see it, but my friends tell me our stand looked wonderful!
Thursday and Friday were lovely sunny days here in the Valley. The veggies really loved the sunshine! Of course the weeds loved it too and we spent alot of time weeding, but weeding is not a bad job when the sun is shining! Now the gardens look lovely again. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.
Tuesday we will be harvesting for the market on Wednesday. I know alot of my Palmer customers miss us at the Friday Fling, so we have decided that we will offer to harvest what ever they order while we harvest on Tuesdays. Here's how it will work. We will list what we will have at the market each week on Sunday evening. If you will email your order to us by Monday evening we will harvest your order Tuesday and you can come by and pick it up Tuesday evening. Our email address is secretarymb@hotmail.com .
We will have a huge variety of produce this week. Here's the list:
Baby beets with greens, broccoli, cucumbers, bright lights chard, red leaf lettuce, head lettuce, snow apple turnips, new potatoes, cherry tomatoes, lemon boy tomatoes, red slicing tomatoes, sweet green peppers, hot peppers, green onions, radishes, turnip greens, zucchini, napa cabbage, kohlrabi, basil, garlic, sage, parsley, marjoram, oregano and thyme.

First Market

2010-07-06T21:47:00.002-08:00

I need to start this post by apologizing for not posting for so long. My broken arm has kept me from doing much on the computer, but it is feeling better now and so I will try to do better.

Tomorrow is our first Farmer's Market of the year and I am excited about it! Last year we sold at the Friday Flings in Palmer and the Wednesday South Anchoarge Market in front of the Dimond Hotel. The Friday Fling started in mid May. This year we decided to concentrate all of our efforts on the Wednesday market and tomorrow is opening day! I must admit I have missed the markets. I love growing everything, but I also love sharing our beautiful produce with all of our customers. Thus, I know that I will not sleep well tonight, I am just like that, I can't sleep when I am excited about something!

I could hardly believe how much we harvested today! June was a very cloudy month and nothing grew quite like it did last year but the early warm days in May seems to have made a big difference! We are bringing the best turnips we've ever grown. They are so juicy that yesterday at lunch Rachel said she thought they were as juicy as pineapple! Well, I'm not sure about that, but they are delicious! I also harvested the earliest new potatoes we have ever grown! I have a goal of digging potatoes in the month of June. I didn't reach it this year, but July 6th isn't far off and there is always next year. I am trying to learn how to grow peppers. We have grown them for years, but this year I am concentrating on doing them right. My efforts are paying off and I have three lovely baskets of sweet green, yellow and hot peppers to bring to the market already. I am also very proud of our collard greens. They are big and so tender!

My six-year-old grandson, Dane, has taken on growing our green onions. He really wants to buy a mountain bike and so his mom has helped him plant onion sets and is teaching him how to harvest. It is the cutest thing to watch him work and he has done a great job. He is proudly bringing his onions to the market tomorrow, if you come you won't be able to resist them.

I hope the weather report for rain tomorrow is wrong and if not, I trust that enough people will come out the the market anyway, if not I will have a trailer full of vegetables to bring home.

Fair Weather, Planting and Flower Beds

2010-06-04T20:45:00.004-08:00

The last two weeks have been incredibly busy with planting and watering and selling our flower baskets and getting my flowers planted. This broken arm has been an annoyance, but it hasn't slowed me down on too many things, but typing at this computer is pretty uncomfortable or perhaps I'd just rather be planting than writing right now. The weather has been gorgeous and the gardens are really growing! The corn is about 24" tall already and the peas are about 6" tall. Yesterday we noticed zucchini blossoms so in a week or so we will eat our first zucchinis and the first of the radishes and green onions will be in our salad this Sunday. I just love it when we add the first fresh veggies to our salads!
Last week we planted turnips, more peas, carrots, spinach, green onions, and beets from seed. With this amazing sunshine, they jumped up in just a few days! We have managed to keep them wet, but the rain of the last two days was a welcome sight for all the Valley farmers. The potatoes we planted two weeks ago are springing up and all the transplanted kohlrabi, broccoli, lettuces, cabbage, chard and cauliflower are growing happily. Of course, the weeds are happy too, so we are doing our first weeding as well. Tomorrow we put up our electric moose fence and hope it does the trick of keeping the moose out again this year. Last year it proved successful, but moose are pretty hard to stop and I have little faith in two stands of two-inch electric tape when they are up against a full grown moose!
I am in the process of planting my flower gardens. It is the planting I love the best. I wake up about 4:00 am every morning and force myself to try to fall back to sleep until 5;30. Then I practically leap out of bed so I can get to my flower beds. I do love my flowers and I always want to do them all myself. No one around here fights me for the job, at least no one joins me outside at 5:30! I plant eleven flower beds of various shapes and sizes. I have some perennials and I love lots of annuals. I have planted five of the beds and tomorrow I plan to get most of the rest planted. I will have Rachel help me post some pictures (I am technology challenged ).
My good friend Arthur Keyes of Glacier Valley Farm is taking some rhubarb and hebs we harvested today into the Saturday markets in Anchorage tomorrow. We have already harvested about 85# of rhubarb from the ten plants at my mother's garden and it is just barely June! We sure can grow rhubarb in Alaska!

Gardening Mania & a Broken Arm

2010-05-20T08:18:00.003-08:00

The last two weeks have been crazy bus around here! There has been endless watering, transplanting, seeding, plowing, pruning and staking. It takes every waking hour right now and some hours that should be devoted to sleep just to keep up! Everything is growing wonderfully and this week we have even gotten some vegetables planted in the ground! The corn we planted two weeks ago is growing fast. It is protected by clear plastic, so last week's winds didn't affect it and this week's sunshine if making it grow. Yesterday we planted some zucchini and put some hoops over it and plastic so it is in a protective tunnel. The tunnel was a good thing because we had a wicked wind and rain storm last night that would have destroyed the zucchini. Planting it this early is definitely a gamble anyway, but I am really anxious for zucchini and the truth is I planted the seeds too early and the plants had to be put in the ground or just thrown out.

Sunday as I was watering the hanging baskets, I tripped and fell and caught myself with my right hand. As luck would have it, I broke my arm. Fortunately it is not a bad break and the Dr. let me use a removable brace instead of a cast. It is annoying, but it could be a lot worse so I'm not complaining.

The hanging baskets are taking over the greenhouse! They are spectacular this year and I am so proud because we started all of the flowers ourselves. It was nice not to have to buy any starts or plugs from out of state because we avoid importing any pesky pests to have to fight! It is great to have a totally pest free greenhouse!

We are having our annual plant sale this Friday and Saturday. Like I said, the hanging baskets are beautiful and we have great bedding plants and veggie starts. Arthur Keyes of Glacier Valley Farm is going to take some of our baskets in to the new Spenard Market in Anchorage, so look for them there.

Well, the sun is shining and the garden is calling. It is time to stop writing and get farming!

Want to Go Behind the Scenes at the Market?

2010-05-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

Well, now you (virtually) can.

One of our good friends, Rayne Reynolds spent a day with us last summer at the Anchorage Wednesday Market. He followed us around with his camera like paparazzi and took all these pictures of us. We thought you might enjoy the behind the scenes virtual tour.

Pushing the Season

2010-05-05T12:05:00.004-08:00

Wow! The last few days have been so lovely I have had to literally stop myself from planting! When it is so sunny and feels so warm, I want to put everything outside and in the ground. Fortunately my mother, with her fifty years of experience of Alaska gardening, is able pull up old planting journals where time after time there will be killing frosts the middle of May. If the frost doesn't kill the Cole plants, it causes them to bolt. Actually, temperatures below 40 will cause broccoli and cauliflower to bolt, that is produce tiny heads. This reminder cools my planting fever and I will hold off planting the broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini and chard for at least two more weeks.

There is still plenty for me to plant. I am planting garlic and onions, a true plethora (love that word) of them. Also I am going to plant peas(already up and growing in their sixpacks in the cold frames.) I planted some turnips and beets in 250 count seed trays and I hope to get them in the garden in the next few days. Normally I direct seed turnips and beets right in the garden, but I am hoping to get them a bit earlier this year. I tried it last year and we harvested turnips three weeks earlier than normal.

Tomorrow we will plant the corn. That is always an exciting day. It can't take the cool weather either, but we give it extra protection and cross our fingers alot!

Since I took the mulch off of the flower beds last week the perennials are jumping. The peonies and bleeding hearts always survive as well as the delphiniums. This year the companula has really spread. Three years ago I put in some philipendula and thalictrum, both are thriving! A big surprise is that the sea holly and the clematis that I planted last year are coming back. They are both zone 3/4 and I didn't expect that they would make it. Lilies are popping up everywhere (I think I should divide them this season). I still see no signs of the astillbe or the goats beard, but it is still early. One perennial we can always count on is rhubarb and I am happy to report that we will have rhubarb in time to make pie for Mother's Day--this Sunday! Isn't Spring just the best!

Planting Onions, Planting Garlic and Tilling

2010-04-29T09:43:00.002-08:00

What wonderful weather we have been having!!! Suddenly it is spring and I can't believe how warm it is and how warm the soil is. Tuesday I checked the soil under some IRT (green plastic) that I laid last fall and found it incredibly warm. Even though it was still April, I couldn't resist and immediately planted some onions and garlic! Those two plants will withstand frost, warmer ground is what they need. I can hardly resist planting the broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower seedlings, but nine times out of ten if I do, they will die, so I am restraining myself.

I am keeping busy. Yesterday I managed to till my big hill garden and my mom's garden. They are somewhere between the size of large gardens or small fields, so getting them tilled is an accomplishment. I also removed all the mulch from my flower beds and discovered many perenials already growing--hooray! I mowed the lawn, raked the leaves and dead grass and spread fertilizer. Today I will water the lawn and by this time next week it should be green--I know it happens every year, but it's always a miracle to me.

The Future of Alaska's Agriculture and Planting Corn

2010-04-27T08:41:00.004-08:00

I didn't write las week because I was much too busy and not in the greenhouse. Oh, the greenhouse needed work done, and I did the maintenance watering and checking, but I had much more important work to do. That is an odd statement coming from me, because this time of year nothing really gets in the way of me working in my greenhouse. My family can attest to that--laundry goes undone, the housework slips, meals are not the best prepared and I even occasionally have to buy a loaf of bread. But last week something more important than the greenhouse work took place. That was the Alaska State FFA convention.
FFA stands for Future Farmers of America and it is fabulous! The convention was here in Palmer and it was truly inspiring! The youth in attendance came from across the state. They competed in competitions related to agriculture and leadership. This was a group of youth fired up about agriculture and dedicated to the future of agriculture in this state. I was able to help in a small way, coaching on of the teams and helping with the food preparation and I feel it was a great privilege to have been able to rub shoulders with the FFA. If you ever see them in their blue jackets, support them any way you can. They are our future!
CORN
Now for the present--this week is for corn planting--not outside, that will come next week. Every year at the markets people are amazed at the price of sweet corn in Alaska. We farmers do charge from $1.50-$2.00 an ear which sounds way expensive to those from the lower 48 who are used to paying that much for a dozen ears. However, for me, my corn is a bargain! Let me explain why. First of all, not just any corn will grow in our cool Alaskan soils. We must purchase specail seed which is quite expensive. Then we must plant the corn the end of April into six-packs and grow in in the house (the greenhouse night temperatures might be too cool). That is twoenty five flats of corn which need to be housed on tables thoughout my mom's and my house (not a great interior decorating theme).
Next week we will cross our fingers for a nice sunny day with no wind-what are the chances of that happening? When that happens (it must happen before May 10th) every other activity must cease and we must plant the corn. My sister who lives close by will be enlisted, my three married daughters will drop anything they are doing and my mom and dad and I will plant corn. The fragile corn seedlings will be coaxed out of their six-packs. Hopefully the roots aren't too long and coming out the bottom. We will have already fertilized and tilled the corn patch. We will make individual hills for each corn plant, six inched deep, eighteen inches apart. We will carefully plant each seedling in it's hole, giving each a drink of fertilizer laced water. The water must be warm water, brought in buckets from the house so that it will help warm the soil. After each seedling is planted we will stretch drip tape beside each row for irrigation. A trench will be dug all aroun the corn patch and then we will stretch 6 mil clear plastic over the whole patcth (this is why there can be no wind. Once the plastic is stretched, we'll bury the edges with dirt, place big rocks stategically on the plastic throughout the corn patch and hope it holds through all of our spring winds.
About the first of June we will need to carefully cut the plastic at each corn plant and gently pull it out into the open air. The irrigation hose will need to be attached to each drip tape and several times fertilizers will need to be applied. After all of this we hope for a 'good' summer, one with plenty of sunshine and some warm days. If all this goes well, and we get the sunshine and heat we need we can expect to harvest two marketable ears from every corn plant.
About every other year is a 'good' corn year, meaning that half the time we don't get a marketable corn crop and all the work and the expense yeilds only enough corn to satisfy the family. Bet you don't wonder now why I think Alaska corn is a bargain. You are probably asking why we, or any other farmers would even bother with growing corn since it's so much work and so unprofitable? Well, it's just because we can. Growing corn is like the Mt. McKinley of Alaska farming, you feel like a champion when you grow a successful corn crop and there is nothing like the rush of picking the first ear of corn of the season!

SNOW!!!!!

2010-04-14T21:33:00.003-08:00

Spring is always my best time of the year. I just love the lengthening daylight, the bright sunlight and the crisp air. I am always have an abundance of extra energy in the spring. I wake up in the mornings anxious to get to my greenhouse and I am always sorry when it is time to go to bed at night--there is always one more seed I could plant. It takes alot to get me down in the springtime. Last week when it was 18 degrees when I woke up and the greenhouse heater was struggling to keep the temperature up to 40 could have discouraged me, but I just decided that the cool air would make the plants more compact. Little seedlings suffering from damp-off virtually destroying my foxglove and allysum might have gotten to me, but I just shrugged it off and decided I'd just have more salvia in the flower gardens to take their place. Today, though, planting tomatoes in my mom's greenhouse while a snow storm was raging outside was a bit discouraging! I am looking out my window on four inches of snow everywhere and more is falling fast. Oh well, I can't waste too much time lamenting. I am picking up 150 tomato plants on Friday so my work is cut out for me, getting those planted in the gro-bags. Nothing chases away discouragement like more planting and of course some sunshine!

Transplanting and seeding & first harvest!

2010-04-07T08:33:00.004-08:00

It's hard to believe that we have only been in the greenhouse for five days. It is filling up so fast! I sepnt Monday and Tuesday making up hanging baskets. That is always so fun. They don't look like much right now, but in six weeks majic happens and they become fairy-tale lovely! We have grown some beautiful wave petunias and bacopa this year, with some new varieties that I am dying to see in the flesh (not sure 'flesh' is the right word, but I mean in reality and not just the picture in the seed catalog.) We're also busy transplanting seedlings into six pack flats and tomatoes and peppers into 6-inch pots and onions into trays. There is so much to do and it is all so fun! Last night I planted alyssum seeds and calendula, malva and lavatera. It is also time to plant some veggie seeds. Oh yes, last night I also made my first harvest. I noticed that the basil was ready to pick and hooray I cut a good bit and put in the fridge. Tonight I think I will make some pasta to use it on--yum!

Moving Day

2010-04-01T17:45:00.003-08:00

Today I moved into the greenhouse! That is a major event that I always want to happen by April 1st, but it doesn't always work out. This year it worked. I, well, actually my 77 year young mother and I moved about 60 flats of seedlings from both her house and mine into my wonderfully organized greenhouse. Last fall we started adding twelve feet onto the greenhouse and the project didn't get finished until last Saturday. Doing the addition gave me the opportunity to completely clean out the greenhouse, put down new floor covering and get things organized just the way I want them. This is not my normal modus operandi. Usually I am having to move around piles of pots and flats and I hang the baskets where ever there is room. This year, I have all the tables set up, the rods in the right place for the hanging baskets, and all the pots of dirt stacked in my empty barn, waiting to be moved to the greenhouse as needed.
Today was also specail because it was my first real vegetable planting day. I planted some lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi and swiss chard. It is a little early for planting those, but if we have a great spring, it will be fun to eat fresh veggies the first part of June and if not, the seeds didn't cost much!

Spring Fever

2010-03-26T09:39:00.003-08:00

I have to admit I've got it bad! The sun is shining today and I just want to be outside in my greenhouse. The trouble is that the back of it is wide open. Lst fall we started adding onto it and before we got it closed in winter came upon us and the whole back of the greenhouse is open to the elements. With love and persausion,I think my husband will get it closed in for me this weekend. Then a few days to let it warm up the ground and test the furnace and I'll be ready to move it!! I am busy organizing down there already, moving pots around, getting my irrigation system lined out, generally puttering. But today, my house is calling me. I will water my seedlings and reluctantly do my housework but next week no matter house bad my house looks, I will be in the greenhouse!

The Jungle is Taking Over!

2010-03-24T08:05:00.003-08:00

Only eight more days until I get to move out of the house! I can't wait! April 1st is the day I set for moving into the greenhouse. That means that the sixty some flats of seedlings in the grow shelves and spread on tables in front of the windows and I get to move into the sunshine! Of course, I will still sleep in the house, and take my meal here and unless I get a maid and cook I will have to spend some time on those mundane chores, but every other waking moment will be spent in the greenhouse and yard! I can't wait and what's more, my plants can't wait!

Every year I promise I will not have too many plants started before I get to the greenhouse and this year once again I have not been able to keep that promise. My petunias need more room, my tomatoes are stretching for the light and the snap dragons want their own space. But it's all good. Soon we will move to the greenhouse and we will have our space, at least until the middle of May when the greenhouses will be bursting at the seams and we will wait for Memorial Day to burst into the garden and flower beds.

The Smell of Tomatoes

2010-03-11T10:35:00.004-09:00

Yesterday I transplanted tomatoes. It was so great! The little seedlings acutally smelled like tomato plants! I also had to plant a few basil seedlings. I can hardly wait until I can have fresh basil on my sandwiches again. I know that this snow makes it look like spring will never come, but actually I reminded my mother that in just three short weeks we will be moving into the greenhouse and planting flower baskets. I guess I need to be reminding my husband about that too as he needs to put the end back on the greenhouse and hook up the gas line for heat. We expanded the greenhouse by 12 feet last fall, but winter set in before we were able to complete the job. Time to start nagging. Life is good, the days are longer, I dream every night of my new plans for the garden.

Mom's in the news again!

2010-03-10T20:31:00.000-09:00

Mom called to tell me about this cute little video in the Alaska Dispatch:

Isn't she the greatest? This clip makes me miss my mom. :)

It Begins

2010-03-04T20:51:00.003-09:00

Welcome back. It is gardening time again and time to get back in to reporting on our gardens.

Today I woke up excited to check and see if any new seeds had sprouted. Actually, I've been doing that for two weeks now. On February 9th I planted the very first seeds, and I have been almost springing out of bed in the morning ever since just as if it were summer already. No kidding, when I start waking u the first thought I have is, "I wonder if anything came up over night." Wonderfully, for the past two weeks, something new is pushing up through the soil every morning! What am I planting when it is still snowy outside and spring is a good month away? Flowers! Lots of flowers! I also have some tomatoes, peppers, celery, onions and, as of today, artichokes planted, but for the most part I begin with flowers.

I do love planting flower seed. I love transplanting flower seedlings. I love planning flower beds. I love flower gardens, pots, hanging baskets, patio planters, you name it, if it has flowers in it I love it. I love weeding and watering them and dreaming about them. So, even though my flowers right now are mostly seeds and a few little seedlings, they are much more than that to me. They are a promise of summer to come, and as I plant them and watch them grow my mind fills with the potential they hold to beautify my world. So, even though it is still dark when I get up in the morning, it is already summer in my head as I check on my seedlings and see my summer's flower gardens growing there.

A Shout Out From Utah!

2010-02-20T11:24:00.000-09:00

Hello Everyone,
I miss you all and I especially miss Alaska. I can't wait for the summer, it just can't come soon enough!
Although I won't be involved in the managerial part of the business, I promise I'll be around and I plan to help my mom out with the especially fun parts of work- like updating the blog, plowing, and maybe occasionally going to the market.

Anyway, I have a lot of homework to do, so I don't have long to post. I thought I'd just let you know about a few more mentions of our business in the news. First of all, you can check out Future CEO Stars magazine to read an article about the business that I wrote after I won the NFIB award. It's on page 12:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25929346/January-2010-Issue. There's also a Teacher's Guide to this magazine that I found online. It was fun to look at how teachers can use my article to teach kids about entrepreneurship. One of the optinos was for people to write me a letter...either teachers aren't using my article, or kids aren't doing their assignments, because I have gotten no mail from them! :)

Also- Mom's been in the news for her involvement with the Alaska Rhubarb movement. Check her out here: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/dispatches/news/4112-will-rhubarb-have-its-day and here: http://www.globalfoodcollaborative.com/articles/lets-talk-rhubarb-.html. I do have to point out in the second article, there are no pictures of rhubarb. What's labeled as rhubarb is actually swiss chard...just so no one thinks we made that mistake!

Well I'm off, I've got a lot to do. For those of you who may not have heard, I'm running as Alaska's candidate for National FFA Office at the National FFA Convention in October. I'm very excited, but it takes a lot of studying, so I'm hard at work doing that. If you'd like to keep up with what I'm doing to prepare, including my fun ag tours and experiences here in the lower 48, you can visit my new blog at www.rachelsadventuresinag.blogspot.com. Have a fantastic FFA week everyone!

Slowing Down

2009-08-30T20:22:00.004-08:00

Today I picked tomatoes in the greenhouse. Picking tomatoes is the one garden chore I allow myself to do on Sunday. While I was picking tomatoes, about 50# of them, my mother dropped in. We have some of our best talks in the greenhouse or while we are gardening. We both marveled at the tomato production, the size of the cucumbers and the abundance of the basil. We also both agreed that it is definitely fall. It's not the leaves turning color, the shorter daylight hours or the fact that the peas are about gone that has clued us into the fact that fall has arrived. It is that we are slowing down. In the spring and throughout the summer we both have boundless energy! There are just not enough hours in the day to do all we want to do in the gardens and greenhouses so we will work late into the nights and yet every morning we are both wide awake and ready to go by 5:30. No one in my household understands this, so I literally sneak out to the greenhouse, flower beds or gardens and start working, or is it playing? I know it is fall when I can sleep until 6:00 or 6:30 and not jump out of bed with enthusiasm. I also find it easy to quit at 5:30 in the evenings and not go back outside after dinner. This tells me it is fall. My mother, who is 76, is just like me. We say we have a gardening illness which hits in the spring and leaves us in the fall. It's a good thing fall has come because I think if we kept up the summer pace any longer we would do ourselves some serious damage. It is a good thing we don't live in a place where we could garden year round!

Missing Rachel, Fair, Giant Cabbages, Fall & Eat Alaska Grown

2009-08-24T20:17:00.007-08:00

I've sort of been in mourning mode this last week. Rachel left a week ago Sunday night. She is the baby of our family of seven children and she is our caboose. She is five years younger than the next youngest child so she has been my sole buddy for a long time! She has been a fabulous daughter and a terrific partner! Gardening without her will be very different!

Fortunately for me, the garden keeps growing whether Rachel is here or not and the weeds seem to know that my best weeder is gone! Those pesky weeds have sprung up everywhere just like they know that Rachel is not here just waiting to pull them out by their roots and pitch them in the compost pile. I guess I'll have to do that now. There were other things that were solely Rachel's territory that I have had to do this week. She was the potato, zucchini, and broccoli harvester. Today I discovered that I don't like digging potatoes or picking the broccoli florets! I definitely have to work harder and faster now that Rachel is gone, but hey, it is keeping me busy!

Another thing keeping me busy is getting ready for the State Fair! I love the Fair! Every year when I see the rides going up I eget as excited as any kid! I love the animals in the barn, the crops exhibits, the quilts, the flower exhibits, the fabulous flower gardens and hanging baskets adorning the Fair grounds, the entertainment, the smells, the foods! I love the Fair so much that a year ago I became a member of the Fair Board! Every year for the past 23 years my kids have entered their livestock in the 4-H livestock shows and sold their market projects at the 4-H Market Livestock Auction. We have had so many different animals that I can't remember them all. We started with a couple of milk goats, added pigs, then sheep, calves, steers, milk cows, aplacas, pygmy goats, geese and even a couple of rabbits and chickens here and there! As the kids grew up and left home the livestock numbers has dwindled, but Rachel retained her share. This year one of Rachel's projects has been raising Chili. Chili is a big beautiful red 1200# Tarentaise steer. 4-H allows youth to finish their livestock projects their senior year even if they will be gone to college during the Fair. Rachel has managed to get a mileage ticket to come home for the auction weekend, September 5th, but it falls to me to take the steer into the Fair. Rachel has done a great job training him, so I'm not too worried (why worry about leading a 1200 lb animal of pure muscle by a half inch rope halter?) Tomorrow is the day I have to load him into the trailer and take him to the Fairgrounds. If I don't write for awhile (or ever again) you'll know something bad happened.

One of my favorite things at the Fair is the giant cabbage contest. Rachel has entered it for the last three years. This year I have been growing a cabbage. I am hoping that my cabbage will be bigger than any of hers has been. I think her record was 50 lbs and sixth place. I think I have a big one, but then again, it has been a good cabbage year so everyone will have big ones. I'll update you on how I do. The contest is September 4th. When Rachel reads this she will try to take the credit for planting my cabbage, but I am the one who faithfully watered it and what's more, I will be the one who has to figure out how to load the monster and get it to the Fair, so I will claim the glory if there is any to be had.

When the Fair starts I know that Fall is here. There are other signs that tell me it is inevitable. The last of my dahlias just barely opened, and that is a sign that it will soon frost. I rarely get to enjoy the last dahlia for more than a few days. Also, my rocket snap dragons are finally blooming. I planted them as a border for my lawn. That was a mistake because they have taken so long to bloom. Next year I am looking for something that blooms a whole lot earlier! The sweet peas are forcing out their last blooms! I will miss them when they are gone, they have been so lovely this year! It is more than time to cut down the dephiniums. Their empty spires really mar the beauty of the flower beds, but I rarely get to that chore until it is time to clean up the all the flower debris in after the frost takes everything.

One last thing. I just got an email from the Division of Ag announcing that this week is 'Eat Alaska Grown Week'. The challenge is to eat as much Alaska Grown food as you can. Isn't this fun! Of course, we find it quite easy to have all our own produce and we bought pork and beef from local producers last fall and still have plenty in our freezer along with halibut and salmon. I admit that I usually buy eggs at the store, but this week I am buying eggs from my neighbors. It is great to have our local Matanuska Creamery milk and ice cream. I have a limited amount of local honey for a sweetener, but my dilema is the grains. Wheat used to be grown and milled in Alaska, but that was years and years ago. Some farmers in Delta are experimenting with wheat this year, but not in time for this week. I guess I'll eat potatoes this week instead of breads. I am having fun planning this week's menu but it has been nice to discover that we don't have to change too many things to eat local. Isn't Alaska a great place to live and eat?!

Surprises, Announcement, and a Farewell

2009-08-16T16:01:00.003-08:00

My mom always talks about the surprises we find in the garden, and she's right. Whether it's overgrown pickling cucumbers, giant cabbages that got HUGE before we even noticed, lettuce that has gone rotten in the middle (I hate this kind of surprise!), or potatoes of different varieties than we thought they'd be, I am in constant surprise at our garden. I'm usually not surprised in the barn however. Every day we have one steer, one alpaca, one goat, three barn cats and six sheep. When I came from home camping the other day though, I was very suprised to find these guys:

So, my question for you is...anyone want a free kitten? :)

As many of you may have heard, the Oberg and Kenley family have been awarded the "Farm Family of the Year." We are very pleased, but I have to tell you that when we found out, my mom and I both started laughing. The reason is this: although my family is and has been very involved in agriculture, through excessive gardening, 4-H and FFA, we do not consider ourselves, and should not be considered, real farmers. My dad is a very successful engineer and he is the breadwinner for our family. My mom and I just love to play in the dirt. But we're very humbled and grateful for the award. If you'd like to read the Anchorage Daily News article, the link is posted under "In the News" on the right. ----->

Well everyone, this is my last post as a co-owner of this business, from Alaska anyways. My flight to Salt Lake City flies out tonight at 11:00 pm, and I start classes on the 18th. I will really miss Alaska while I'm gone, and I will miss all of you. This business started to help my sister and I earn money for college, and without all the great customers I've had, present and past, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to afford this next great adventure. Thank you all. You mean so much to me. Adios!

Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade

2009-08-16T15:55:00.004-08:00

After they served this delicious (and Kenley family favorite) beverage at the "Meet Your Farmers" farm tour, a comment was posted on the ADN Talk Dirt Blog requesting the recipe, and we're more than happy to share it with you.

It's very simple. Make a gallon of lemonade, strong. You can make it fresh, but we are lazy and usually use CountryTime mix. Then add 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of rhubarb juice, and 1 cup of fresh strawberry juice. Garnish with chunks of rhubarb and lemon slices. It's a perfect refreshment after a hot day. I guess we're pretty well out of those, but it's good any day.

Thieves and Leavers

2009-08-13T22:34:00.007-08:00

The Wednesday market was really fun. It was a bit nostalgic for me, because although I love hands-on agriculture, I also really enjoy working with customers, and it was my last Wednesday market! I will miss seeing you all, but I'm excited to start school at Utah State University and study my dream major: Ag Communications.

We had some very exciting produce for sale: corn and artichokes! They certainly sold quickly. Be warned: if you want artichokes, we only have a few, so you'll have to get them really early. And, even if you do come early, make sure to pay for your produce, bag it, and not let it go! On Wednesday we had two artichokes that a customer picked out get bought by someone else before anyone realized what happened! Luckily, she was good-humored about it. So am I. I thought it was hilarious, and worth taking a time out from much needed packing to blog about it.

We also had a few people pay for, and then accidentally leave at the stand, some prize tomatoes and potatoes! Don't do that to us...it makes me sad just thinking about what you're missing.

Perhaps the most exciting event was take down. As my cousin Sara and I stacked our tubs, a gust of wind caught the tent just right and our tent flew up and OVER our car- then rolled several times in the parking lot behind! We were very lucky it didn't break, and we hurried to take the other tent down.
Last but not least, Kenley's Alaskan Vegetables and Flowers is featured in this month's issue of "My Business Magazine," the magazine for the National Federation of Independent Business. All the National Young Entrepeneur Award Winners are featured as well, and my friend Jay Schechtman, the Young Entrepeneur of the Year from Florida, is on the cover. It's got great pictures in print, but if you can't get it, you can read the article here: http://www.mybusinessmag.com/fullstory.php3?sid=2023

What I've Been Doing

2009-08-04T08:36:00.004-08:00

I apologize for my long blogging absense. Two weeks ago I attended a church camp in Anchorage, and so was gone for the Farm Tour and all the fun stuff that went on then. Last week, well I guess I was just too busy to get on here and blog. From now on, actually I'm preparing to leave for college, so my posts might be few and far between. Just so you still appreciate me, I'll do something for you that Mom can't, and that's use technology. :) Mom and I have been snapping pictures around our place and at the markets. Hope you enjoy them.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Colorful Vegetables

2009-07-28T21:41:00.004-08:00

When I grew up cauliflower was white, broccoli was green, beets were dark red, tomatoes were red, potatoes were white and lettuce was green As I was harvesting today I marveled at the new colors of our vegetables. I always plant a few new varieties every year and this year I decided to try some old favorite vegetables in new colors.

Cauliflower has always been one of my favorites. Coming upon the snowy heads peeking out of their leaves is always a delight! Last week instead of a white heads, there were bright orange cheddar cauliflower heads and this week there were green spiral heads! What a treat to take to the market tomorrow along side my old favorites in white.

Beets also come in new colors. This week I harvested the yellow Goldens and the light red Chiogas. They are so pretty alongside the deep red traditionals and what a lovely beet salad they will make when I combine them.

Tomatoes when ripe should always be red, unless of course they are pink or yellow or even green! I especially love the Lemon Boys. Not only do they taste wonderful, they make a colorful splash along with the reds in salsas or salads. Tiny golden tomatoes are a fun change from the red cherry tomatoes.

I have had fun with potatoes in other colors for several years. I love the Magic Mollies that are purple clear through. I might correct that statement and say that I love growing them. I still have a hard time eating purple mashed potatoes and my family will not eat potato salad that's purple. I do love the bright red Norwegian Fingerlings. They are marbled with red in their white flesh and add color in addition to flavor to any plate.

Lettuce too comes in more colors than the old fashioned green. This year we are growing lettuce tat is red tipped, read and green, all red and some so read that it is nearly black and named Blackjack!

All these new colors in vegetables makes gardening even more fun that it already was! It is so fun to take new things to the market that people have never seen before and to know that my customers will have such colorful food on their plates!

Farm Tour, Working Hard and Beans

2009-07-26T07:00:00.004-08:00

Friday the Farm Bureau hosted a Farm Tour of various farms in the valley. I am the secretary of the Farm Bureau so I helped put the tour together. We wanted to bring people who shopped at the farmer's markets to the valley to see where their food is grown. Because our place is very scenic and because the house is big enough to accommodate seating space for 50 if it should rain, the lunch stop was here. Fortunately it didn't rain and we were able to eat in the yard with a fabulous view of Pioneer Peak in the background and the gardens below. We had a meal of all Alaska Grown food catered by Delicious Dave and it was fantastic! Everyone walked through our greenhouse and gardens and we pulled up celery and ate it right in the garden! I so visiting with everyone, answering questions and showing off my gardens and flower beds. The whole tour was so successful that we are definitely going to repeat it again next summer.

Having the tour here Friday meant that this week I was busy--very busy! As luck would have it, Rachel and Sara and Irene, our helpers, were all three gone to a church youth conference this week and I was on my own to do the harvesting, the markets and prepare for the tour. It's a good thing I have three married daughters and a mom and dad who live close at hand. They love me and are willing to help me out rather than let me have a heart attack from working too hard. Nevertheless, even with all their help, I put in long days all week trying to keep up with markets and still have everything neat and tidy for the tour. That meant a lot of weeding, weeding, weeding! Don't feel sorry for me though, I loved every minute of it! I truly enjoy every aspect of gardening and I love being able to be in my gardens and greenhouse fourteen hours a day. It was a perfect week!

The markets this week were very busy! My daughter Rita helped me in Anchorage Wednesday and we were swamped with customers even before we were set up. I have vowed to get set up earlier this week! Celery and carrots made their debut for the year at our stand and they were so good and in such demand that they sold out by noon. This week we'll be bringing twice as much. Green beans were also a hot item.

Speaking of green beans, we are finding them not so easy to grow. We have a small greenhouse dedicated to pole beans and this is our third year trying to grow them there. Something is wrong with our system as we get beautiful plants and few beans. The first year we wrote off to inexperience, last year we blamed the cold wet weather and this year we are out of excuses. We are ready to give up on them, convert the bean house to cherry tomatoes and leave the bean growing to others. That is hard for me to say because I really want to be able to grow everything!

The Wind in the Flowers

2009-07-20T07:05:00.004-08:00

Someone once told me that the definition of insanity is someone who keeps repeating the same behavior expecting different results. Saturday I was sure that once again I belonged in that category of the certifiably insane! Every year when I plant my flowers as small seedlings I promise myself that when they get a little bigger I will stake them up so they won't fall over and break off. You see, they don't need staked when they are small and the job has to be done after they grow for three or four weeks. Every year I have failed to get them staked before at least of few of them fall over, overcome by their own weight, a heavy rainfall or harassed by the wind. This year I was determined that was not going to happen. As I planted each one, I stuck a nice sturdy steak right beside it so it would be ready to tie to when the time came. My flower beds looked like a yard with big sticks poking up everywhere, but I knew those little plants would grow to cover those stakes. I placed a bag full of tying sting at the ready in the garage, ready for the day when they tying would be necessary. There would be no way I could make excuses this year for not tying up the flowers.

Early last week I looked at the flowers, especially the dahlias, which were heavy with foliage and buds and said to myself, "It is time you staked those flowers up." I put the sting and even a pair of sciccors to cut it with on the porch. Every day this week I walked by that bag of string and thought, "I will stake the flowers right after I _____(fill in the blank with plant the onions, pick the cucumbers, weed the lettuce, dead head the flowers or any number of any chores)". Saturday morning was a perfect morning to do the job but my husband began working on a greenhouse expansion project and although he didn't need my help, I thought it might be nice if I were near enough for him to call for me. I started weeding in the garden. The wind started to blow in the afternoon and so I told myself to quit weeding and go tie up the flowers. I went to the greenhouse and suckered tomatoes. That needed done too. I promised to babysit my grand children that evening and at 5:00 they arrived so I had to come in from the garden. As I walked up the hill to the house, I saw that the wind had done what wind does. It blows over and breaks off flowering plants. I quickly grabbed that bag of sting and with grandchildren in tow we frantically started tying up all of the flowers to my carefully placed stakes. I told the kids that we were on a rescue mission to save all of grandma's flowers. They thought that was neat and were respectfully sad when we discovered broken stems. All the while I was cursing my procrastination and wondering how I could once again have let this happen. In the end, only one dahlia was completely broken off and two others lost some major branches, but if I just would have tied them up earlier I would have lost none. Now I will never know what 'Heather Feather' would have looked like and the big dahlia in the wine barrel in front of the garage is half the size it was. I hope that I have learned my lesson and that next year I will not repeat this year's mistake, but then again I think I fit the insanity definition.

Onions, Onions, Onions!

2009-07-16T20:00:00.003-08:00

I must admit that we grow some great onions. Of course, it is not like they are hard to grow or anything. You just have to put onions sets in the ground, heap the soil up around them and make sure they get plenty of water and in about a month you can harvest beautiful green onions-nothing to it. The tedious part is planting them, and well, maybe cleaning them. My kids have all complained about planting onion sets. I guess that is because when they were little and we were planting the garden that was a job I could give to them. The sets were large enough for them to handle, as opposed to tiny carrot or lettuce seeds, and it is hard to plant the sets too close together. It does take time to plant them, though and maybe that is why not many farmers have them at the markets. Rachel and my nieces have become excellent onion set planters so this year I decided that we would plant more onions, alot more onions. I ordered three fifty pound bags of onion sets. The first thing we planted this spring was a long row of onions. We have planted more onions each week. We have onions everywhere! One hundred and fifty pounds of onions goes a long, long way! We are all tired of planting onions!! Today I looked at what we had left and saw nearly a whole bag full of onion sets. We harvested potatoes for the market and so I decided that we would fill up that big empty space with those onions sets. Rachel said she'd do the planting if I made the rows--what a deal! In ten minutes I was done with my job and three hours later, the six rows planted Rachel announced she had quite of enough of onion planting. I looked at what was left of the onion sets--a whole two gallon bucket full. When we harvest Tuesday there will be more empty ground and we will plant the rest of those endless sets. I don't know if Rachel will be willing to make me the same deal again though, I may be down on my hands and knees trying to bury the last of our onion sets.

Garden Suprises

2009-07-14T22:00:00.003-08:00

Today was harvest day for the Wednesday South Anchorage Farmers Market. I love harvest days, especially when there is such a lovely variety and new things every week. Every year we try some new vegetables and some new varieties of old favorites. It is always fun to see what we get. We always intend to be diligent in labeling every thing we plant, but invariably something goes wrong and we are never sure where the new things are planted and we just have to wait until they manifest themselves. This makes for some fun surprises, like today when I discovered the Violet Queen cauliflower growing among the snowy white ones! I am afraid the heads are a bit small while the plants are huge, but they are pretty. I will have to think about planting them again next year. One thing I know I will be planting again is the Red Cimeron Romaine lettuce which headed up this week. I knew it was out there somewhere, but we have five different red lettuce varieties and as usual I didn't know where 'Cimeron' was planted so when it distinguished itself with erect beautiful heads it was a real treat to see. I am still waiting to see where the cheddar cauliflower is planted and where the Broccoli Romanesque will show up, maybe next week they'll make my day by peeking out of their green hiding places.

Another garden surprise that I always look forward to is the opening of the dahlias. I do carefully label each plant with it's name, but I have over sixty different dahlias planted. I never remember what Midnight Moon or Firepot or anything else looks like and so I am always delighted to see the blossoms open up. Right now there are hundreds of buds on the dahlias and only a few have opened. Each day a new one blooms and I greet them like old friends. I order most of my dahlia tubers from Swan Island Dahlias and they always have the best tubers I have ever seen and a nearly endless variety to choose from. Dahlias are my favorite flowers to use in arrangements and so I am always anxious for them to come into full bloom.

This was harvest day and although I just love these days, they do exhaust me. I need to get some sleep for tomorrow is market day and if there is one day I love more than harvest day it's market day!

One Hot Day and Rhubarb Cookies

2009-07-13T16:48:00.005-08:00

The day was warm enough for shorts. Unforetunately, that meant that the hard dry ground really hurt our knees as we weeded! I will be happy to give them a break while we harvest tomorrow. The heat is nice for us, but I discovered today that it has caused a batch of radishes to go to seed. So there's another job to be done! The corn is loving the heat however. Look at how tall it has gotten compared to our employees Sara and Irene!

Another thing we did today was harvest Swiss Chard like crazy. That really needed done, especially since a lot of it went to seed. We sold 75 bundles to Arthur Keyes for his Glacier Valley CSA boxes.

Okay, what I really wanted to post about today was rhubarb. I get so sick of people wrinkling their nose at rhubarb! It is so delicious. I like it plain, but for those of you who don't, here is an excellent recipe for Rhubarb Cookies. My mom hasn't made these in a few years, but I am dying to have them again, so I think I will make some myself after I log off here. They freeze well and are really sweet and delicious. Give them a try! Here's the recipe:

Frosted Rhubarb Cookies

1 cup shortening
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups fresh diced rhubarb
3/4 cup flaked coconut

Frosting:
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In mixing bowl cream shortening and brown sugar. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in rhubarb and coconut. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. In separate mixing bowl beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla, gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Spread over cooled cookies.

Enjoy!
-Rachel

Just Keeps Getting Better and Better...

2009-07-12T19:18:00.013-08:00

Hey all,
I hope you like the new look to the blog. It has taken me a little while to learn how to be so tech-savvy, but I really like the way it looks now. Watch out for new improvements including recipes, pictures, polls, etc. And don't forget to comment, we love to hear from you.

Now for some updates. My mom, dad, and I travelled to Washington, D.C. June 24th for the NFIB Young Entrepreneur Awards Luncheon. We had a great time there, and I enjoyed meeting the other five winners from across the nation. You may have seen articles about the scholarship in The Frontiersman or the Anchorage Daily News. If you missed them, you can check them out under the "In the News" section to the left. Winning this scholarship was a truly amazing experience for me, but I want to thank all of you, my customers, for making it possible. No business can be successful without customers!

I haven't written much on this blog, but I'm hoping the new look will atone for that. So that you get used to my writing style, I'll point out a few differences between myself and my mother. She will tell you about how much she loves the vegetables and how she likes to saunter through the garden to see the progress of the vegetables at 5 am. Don't get me wrong, I love growing vegetables and I really love agriculture. I just enjoy cruising by the vegetables on our ATV at a whopping speed of 4 miles per hour and checking them out on the fly. I think my mother might actually cry when she eats our produce sometimes, because she feels like she is devouring her babies. Not so with me. I love eating our produce. Check out what I ate for dinner tonight:
I'm excited to say that everything you see is Alaska Grown! We had excellent halibut that my dad caught, a green salad, green beans, cucumber salad, zucchini and tomato gratin (get the recipe here, courtesy of South Anchorage Farmer's Market), and of course, a glass of rhubarb lemonade.
This was my dessert. It was supposed to be strawberry ice cream, but it turned out more like strawberries and cream. Still very delicious though, thanks to Arthur Keyes and his homegrown Alaskan strawberries!

The vegetables are growing well, and we're very excited about how well they've been selling! At the Friday Market in Palmer my cousin Sara and I were kept very busy helping customers, and that's the way we like it. Everything is coming along well, and the only thing we really don't enjoy is weeding. My employees and I were joking that we even learn a little science at work as we tried to start a siphon to water the vast amounts of rhubarb my mother has planted. Everything is growing quickly, and we're having fun harvesting.

Well, I must go and feed my animals now. I hope to post again soon and start sharing some of our favorite family recipes and uploading pictures, but for now, I hope to see you all at the Market!
-Rachel

Watering, watering...

2009-07-10T19:08:00.002-08:00

What a week this has been for a garden lover!! This warm weather has really made things leap. As in all good things, this weather presents some challenges. The first that comes to mind is keeping things watered. This could be a full time job for one person except I don't have one person who can dedicate their time to watering, so it is like an juggling act, keeping all water going somewhere at all times. I have two wells to draw form here, our well for our house and our well at the barn. The first thing I so when I get up in the morning it to hook up water somewhere in the gardens and then water all my flower beds and hanging baskets. The flower watering takes at least half an hour. Then I put the sprinkler on the lawn and keep it moving around the yard all day long. Down in the gardens I have four different runs of drip tape that I hook up to the water and change every day. I also have to put the sprinkler on the carrots, onions, turnips, spinach and beets. The peas have weep hoses and there are two runs of peas. Then there are the garden pots to hand water with the hose and the seedling trays to hand water. My parents are on vacation and I have watering to do at their place while they are gone. Now you can see why I think watering around here is like keeping many of balls in the air at one time!

I'm really not complaining about the watering. After last summer, I was dying to have to water! Watering keeps me in touch with everything in the garden. As I move the hose for the sprinkler, I inspect the carrots and discover that they may be big enough to pull for next week's markets. As I hook up the drip tape in the corn patch to my amazement there are corn silks already! Hooking up the weep hose on the peas I discover the first fat pods, open them and pop those sweet morsels in my mouth. As I water the flower beds I marvel at the variety of dahlias that are almost ready to bloom--eye candy to go with the tasty peas. What could be better? I would love to write more, but I just got home from the Friday market in Palmer and guess what? I have been gone all day and there is watering to be done, a lot of it.

Homecomimg

2009-07-07T05:34:00.001-08:00

Our family left for a long 4th of July weekend last Thursday. For over 20 years we have packed up and gone to Lake Louise. I guess you could say that this is one of our most cherished traditions and just because I am currently infected with a bad case of garden fever, there was no way I was going to miss it! It was hard to bid goodbye to my garden for four days, but with four darling grandchildren bidding me to come play at the cabin and lake, it wasn't much of a sacrifice.
The weather at Lake Louise was hot and sunny and when I got home Sunday evening, it was obvious that it had been the same here!

Everything in the gardens had grown like it was on steroids! I spent about three hours Sunday evening watering a little here and there, but mostly just marveling at the growth in the garden! There were some sweet surprises! Peeking at me on the hillside garden were snowy heads of cauliflower! Where did they come from? They weren't due for at least another week! The large onions were bulbing up enough to make an appearance at this week's markets and flat pods of peas are promising to fill out in time for next week's. The biggest treat of all was finding corn silks in the corn patch--a promise that this year will indeed be a corn year!

Leaving the garden for a few days makes me reallize how quickly things can grow with 22 hours of daylight! Do I love gardening in Alaska or what?

Harvest Fever

2009-06-30T22:04:00.001-08:00

After a full day of harvesting for our first Anchorage market of the year I should be exhausted, but to tell the truth I am too excited to be tired. I get that way about gardening sometimes. My daughters say I am possessed and perhaps they're right. But gardening doesn't seem to take my energy, it gives me energy.

Rachel and I started at 8:00 am with a list of what we wanted to harvest for the market. Sara, my niece who works with us, joined us about 9:30 and minus a twenty minute lunch break we worked as fast and furious as we could until 4:30. For me it was exciting to see how much produce was ready for harvest this final day of June! All three of us marveled at the great basket of broccoli which was overflowing with six in crowns! Never before has that happened for us in June! Then there was the green onions! We had decided to pick everything from the first planting, but when Sara came back to the wash rack with over 100 bunches I was astounded! They were beautiful, but needed cleaned so Rachel and Sara spent the next hour with their hands in the water but it was a lovely day and there was not a whisper of complaint. As they worked on washing the onions I kept coming back with something new I had harvested and raved about each new vegetable. The turnips were so gorgeous and worm free! I don't believe we've ever grown better turnips! The kohlrabi were so large and yet so good. I had to peel one of the largest on the spot and we all ate crisp wedges exclaiming at how good it was--our first taste of the season! The spinach too is the best I've ever grown! I usually have trouble with it bolting, but this was big and curly leafted and beautiful. Then there was the colorful chard and the bright red lettuces and even heads of iceberg lettuce.

I think the greatest record we broke with this harvest was the cabbage! The heads are already hard and I have never heard of cabbage in June!

One minor failure and disappointment is the pototoes. I really thought I'd have new potatoes to dig today. I certainly worked had enough on them. We planted them in small pots in the greenhous in early April. The first of May we transplanted them under IRT, green plastic mulch. That gave them a great head start and the plants are huge. I thought there would be potatoes under them, but after pulling three palnts and feeling around under numerous others I have to conclude that I did not accomplish potatoes in June! Oh well, with so many other garden successes, I am not going to let the lack of potatoes to get me down. It was a great day and I am looking forward to the market in the morning. If I wake up early enough I will cut some flowers and make a few boquets to brighten our booth, but with all the lovely produce they won't really be needed!

Cabbage In June and 100 Rhubarb Plants

2009-06-27T22:46:00.001-08:00

Today I spent planting a rhubarb patch. A friend and partner of mine, Bruce Bush offered to give me one of his old rhubarb plants. He planted it about 30 years ago and he warned me that it was huge and I would get alot of rhubarb starts from it. I picked it up on Tuesday morning. Lucky for me I took the pickup because he had to load the monster into the back with the front loader of his tractor! I kid you not, that plant was the size of a large table! Today was the first chance i had time to attack the chore of splitting and planting the starts. Did I say attack? Well, that is exactly what I had to do! I hacked those mammoth roots apart with a sharp shovel. Some of those rootes were three feet long and five inched wide at the top! By noon I had managed to get what I hope were viable starts divided and so I loaded them into my trailer and headed across the creed to plant them in a freshly plowed piece of ground. Two weeks ago I had planted my first 20 plants and they were all living, so I hope this will be a good location. I planted and planted and planted! I couldn't believe it, but there were over 80 starts from that one old rhubarb plant! With my first twenty, I now have 100 rhubarb plants in the ground! I feel like a big time rhubarb farmer now! I will have to be patient because these won't produce until next year and not really come into their own for two years.

I love to just walk through the gardens and look at everything. I spend way too much time just looking and marveling at how everything is growing, but it is one of the great joys of being a gardener. I never know what surprises I may find. Last Thursday there were surprise broccoli crowns--definitely the earliest I've ever grown. Today I found several hard heads of cabbage! That is even more unusual that the broccoli. I have never managed to get cabbage in June. Tomorrow I will cut my first head and see if it is indeed solid all the way through.

Our first Anchorage market is this Wednesday. Oh how I long to be able to take in new baby potatoes! I am not sure if they are done yeat and I will resist the temptation to go and pull one of those green plants up and check underneath until Tuesday. Wouldn't that be something--new potatoes on July 1?

My greenhouse is just about to give us our first slicing tomatoes. We are now eating our cherry Sugar Lumps, but I always count the first day we eat BLTs as the first tomato day. This year I am experimenting with growing the tomatoes and cucumbers with a semi-hydroponic system. I am having my ups and downs. experiencing some different nutritional problems in the plants, but the plants look fantastic and I have never had so many fruits made this early. Some plants already have seven hands of tomatoes set on! It is really unfortuante that I don't live green tomatoes I could eat all I wanted right now. I will have to be patient and wait for the ripe ones.

The corn is starting to tassel. i must get it suckered right away--good job for Monday. Speaking of Monday, it is rapidly approaching Sunday so this farm lady had better sign off. After all, I've had a busy day planting rhubarb and admiring my gardens.

A Blog Re-vamp

2009-06-11T17:36:00.002-08:00

Hey there,

Mom is in Boston this week visiting Melissa and the newest grandbaby, Elsie. So that means I've decided to take over this blog and make it more attractive. Oh, and write on it. That's been my goal for a while, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I find the art of blogging intriguing-- it's like journalism, but online. I'm going to start practicing so I can get the hang of it. I guess it will give me a taste of what an Ag Communications major would actually do.

So the gardens are all pretty well planted in. It's nice to have that done, and the first few weeks of June we're almost just waiting for the plants to grow! The garden gets greener every day. Tomorrow we're selling Bak Choi, Mizuna, and Radishes to Arthur Keyes and Alaska Root Cellars. We also have a little lettuce coming up.

This week I have to water the Greenhouse while Mom is gone. This is totally foreign to me- it's like a jungle in there and I have to be careful not to over-water the cucumbers, but not to under-water the tomatoes. I guess our cukes are being finicky and dying. It's too bad, because I'm dying to eat them! I'm dying for a fresh BLT as well, but I'll have to wait a while for that.

In other vegetable-related news, Mom, Dad, and I are headed to Washington D.C. in two weeks for a luncheon celebrating young entrepeneurship. I applied for the NFIB Young Entrepeneur Scholarship last December, but I didn't think much of it. I got a letter that I was a semi-finalist in March, which was exciting, but I still didn't think much of it because I knew they gave out only 50 awards (mostly for $1000, but the finalists got $5000). Then, just as school was ending, I got an email that I had been named as a finalist, so I receive $5000! But, even better than that, the winner receives an additional $5000, and NFIB and Visa are flying my parents and I to D.C. for a luncheon where the finalists will be honored and the winner will be announced. It's all very exciting, I had to be interviewed several times, and send pictures, and I bought a new dress to wear while we're there. It is funny that we'll only be there one day, we spend more time getting there and back than we do enjoying D.C.! But it's still going to be very fun. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to have this business, and I really want to thank Amy for starting the whole thing in the first place!

While that's about all I have for now. I'll update this more soon.
Rachel

Sowing Seeds

2009-04-19T14:25:00.001-08:00

I promised myself all winter that I was going to create a blog for my garden. Yesterday as I was sowing seeds I decided that since I have now been working with the dirt and plants for nearly two months now that the time was right. I am not sure that anyone will ever find or read this blog, but I plan on using it as a diary for our farm business. Again, it would have been good to have started two months ago, but better late than never (how cliche!)

So, yesterday I did sow some seeds and that is significant because I sowed them outside and it was April 18th. Now, I have never planted anything that early outside, even when we have had warm springs and this does not qualify as a warm spring. Nonetheless, I had the urge and some half-barrels filled with soil situated against my greenhouse just were too tempting and I planted radishes. Who knows if they will grow--I'll keep you posted.

I am doing some other experimenting which seems crazy. I planted some turnips and beets in cell packs in the greenhouse. I don't know if it will work, I've never heard of anyone transplanting root crops before, but there is not much to loose in trying.

I have actually been in my greenhouse for a week and a half now. It is filling up with hanging baskets, bedding plants, trays of onions and celery, and seed trays of other veggies. I have my starting room, a new addition on our house, filled with tomatoes, cucumbers and squash starts. I have also seeded a couple of trays with bush beans in hopes of coaxing some eary green beans for the June markets.