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During by last couple of visits to the South Anchorage Farmers Market I found myself looking a little more closely at the numbers. I’ve always been willing to pay more for local (chorus: it’s healthier, tastes better, uses less energy, preserves farmland) but the prices weren’t that different, and in some cases were better, than those at my local box store.
Here’s a comparison for some of my recent purchases:
Artichokes: $2.50 at the market vs. $3 at Palmer Fred Meyer
Onions (yellow): $.75/ea (market) and .99/lb, or about $.50/ea (FM).
Broccoli: $1 a crown (market), $.79/lb at FM, or about $1/crown (FM)
Corn: $1/ear (end of season price), $.79/ear (FM).
Cauliflower: $2/ea (market), $2.29/ea (organic, FM)
I’m curious: do you see similar pricing Outside?
I picked up some of the last of the local corn from the South Anchorage Farmers Market yesterday for a barbeque but didn’t take the time to research best grilling practices before heading out. Party consensus was to half-shuck the ears, remove the silk then re-cover the ears before cooking.
The final result was OK but does anyone know a better way?
Alaska’s long summer days in all their cruciferous glory: Steve Hubacek won last night’s giant cabbage weigh-off at the Alaska State Fair with a world record 127-pound entry (Anchorage Daily News story).
While I was visiting Arthur Keyes’ great strawberry experiment in mid-August I couldn’t help but notice the corn field behind his house.
Alaska is not known for corn (or strawberries for that matter) but with some work and a little meteorological luck the Palmer area will produce a decent crop.
This has been a good summer for corn but because the ears ripen at different rates it takes a skilled eye to determine which ones are ready for market — making harvesting a time consuming task for Arthur.
When I returned later in the month to photograph the pre-market harvest, Arthur kept handing me samples that didn’t make the cut. Even raw it is fantastic stuff.
[A&M Farms photo gallery]
Left: Before composting. Right: Cup at second turn.
Since we started composting this summer, I couldn’t resist the challenge when my drink from Kaladi Brothers Coffee came in a compostable to-go cup made from corn.
I built the cup into the middle of my next pile, then turned as directed. The temperature spiked at 160 degrees (which is almost too hot) and by the second turn of the pile the cup had mostly disintegrated (photo at top right). When I moved the now-cured compost this afternoon the cup was completely gone.
It looks like Kaladi’s uses EcoProducts corn cups (EcoProducts CC16, according to the stamp on the bottom) which the company says “will completely compost under commercial composting conditions in just 45-60 days.”
The cups work as advertised but I do wonder how many of these cups ever find their way to compost piles, either commercial or residential. A more interesting question might be what happens to them in a traditional landfill.
We avoided a visit from the local moose for most of the summer but this morning discovered total brassica devastation. At least the broccoli was about done.
The fava beans and potatoes were spared.
The State of Alaska Division of Agriculture sponsored Eat Local Challenge begins on Sunday. We’re starting tonight with tomato soup, red salmon, and Alaskan strawberries. And something with fava beans (lots of fava beans).
Palmer, Alaska farmer Arthur Keyes has been experimenting with a pair of California strawberry varieties this summer. The California-in-Alaska story seems improbable, but Keyes sees a huge upside to growing the berries in Alaska. The fruit can ripen on the plant, increasing sweetness, and Alaska’s harsh winters and isolation mean that there are very few crop-threatening pests.
An artisan farmer has a tough job with very narrow margins, but if a creative thinker can find niche market….
Keyes says the strawberries have been very popular with his customers at the South Anchorage Farmers Market and I’m interested to see what happens next year if he expands his operation as planned.
Fish are a big part of our year-round effort to eat locally so when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced an emergency personal-use dipnet opening for Fish Creek, a small waterway just outside of Wasilla, I scrambled to get some gear together. The creek, 26 miles from our house, hadn’t been open for fishing since 1994.
Though I’ve covered dipnet fisheries in the past, it was my first time as a participant. The limit in Cook Inlet is seasonal and based on the size of your household. The family head is allotted 25 fish, with 10 for each additional family member, which meant we could take up to 55 fish (permits are only issued to Alaska residents).
Other rivers require different techniques, but dipnetting at Fish Creek is simple: stand on the bank with your net in the water and wait for a fish to run into it. Haul out fish. Repeat.
It’s also wildly popular. Hundreds of people turned out each day, giving the banks a festival atmosphere. It didn’t seem possible that any fish would be able to make it upstream with so many nets in the water but they did.
In about four hours over three days we hauled in 17 sockeye salmon. With the halibut and silver salmon we’ve already put up, that’s enough to get us through the winter.
I’m a huge fan of peanut butter and tomato sandwiches.
(Most people look at me sideways when I say this)
