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Blue_In_AK

(46,436 posts)
Sun Jun 21, 2015, 04:44 PM Jun 2015

I wasn't sure where to put this article

since it's really kind of beyond "gardening," but this seems like as good a place as any. I love what this guy is doing.



http://www.adn.com/article/20150621/tilling-alaskas-tundra-meyers-farm-bethel




BETHEL -- At his farm carved out of the tundra near the heart of Western Alaska’s biggest town, Tim Meyers thinks about feeding the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and looks underground. There he has built a massive storage cellar to preserve potatoes, turnips, beets and more through the winter. Underground is where he starts seeds each spring in a heated space under his house.

Meyers has transformed four acres of permafrost into a vegetable-producing phenomenon.

He is changing the way people eat in an isolated region where living off the land traditionally meant catching fish, hunting animals and picking berries, not planting cauliflower and plucking chickweed.

“I think I grew about 45,000 pounds last year, hope to do better than 100 this year,” Meyers said.

Loyal year-round clientele in Bethel starts lining up even before his twice-a-week store opens, anticipating fresh eggs, his first radishes of the season, and, during the winter, organic fruits and vegetables he orders from a Portland supplier. He ships produce to village residents and a few faraway schools, including in Cordova, where his potatoes are a hit. Just this spring, he started selling to Bethel’s main grocery store for the first time.

<snip>



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I wasn't sure where to put this article (Original Post) Blue_In_AK Jun 2015 OP
One couple with a dream... brer cat Jun 2015 #1
Thanks. Blue_In_AK Jun 2015 #2
Wow! 45,000 pounds of produce last year! Curmudgeoness Jun 2015 #3
Slow food! This is truly outstanding. Thanks for posting. PatrickforO Jun 2015 #4
That's a wonderful story! NCarolinawoman Jun 2015 #5
I love this story! Little Star Jun 2015 #6

brer cat

(26,260 posts)
1. One couple with a dream...
Sun Jun 21, 2015, 05:09 PM
Jun 2015

can accomplish amazing things.

Thanks for the post, BIA. I have been thinking about you a lot with all the wildfires. It is nice to "meet" over a good news thread.

Blue_In_AK

(46,436 posts)
2. Thanks.
Sun Jun 21, 2015, 05:14 PM
Jun 2015

Yes, I'm getting tired of the fires, as well, but it is what it is - Alaska in the summer.

I'm always happy when I can read about enterprising people here making a living in a sustainable way that doesn't involve oil or mining through salmon streams.

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
3. Wow! 45,000 pounds of produce last year!
Sun Jun 21, 2015, 05:26 PM
Jun 2015

And hoping for 100,000 pounds this year! With four acres! This is really incredible and I salute him.

I guess that you just have to think differently.

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