Telling Alaska’s Story: Spring Creek Farm in Palmer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Spring Creek Farm in Palmer is fulfilling a objective given to the land way back, to proceed the training of native farmers.

Summertime on the farm is a busy time. Staff are harvesting greens for the farm’s Group-Supported Agriculture program whereas camps for kids are ongoing. Not one of the exercise on the 700-acre parcel the place the farm is positioned could be attainable if it weren’t for the lady who donated the land.

Louise Kellogg got here to Alaska in 1948 and commenced shopping for farmland, one thing that was tough for a single lady on the time. Finally, she opened the primary Grade A dairy within the state, whereas she continued to purchase neighboring parcels that finally grew her land to over 800 acres. Shannon O’Laughlin is the sector faculty coordinator for APU on the Kellogg Spring Creek Farm campus and lives in Kellogg’s authentic cabin on the property.

“She did find yourself changing into a wildly profitable dairy farmer, however she was additionally, from my understanding, an unimaginable asset to the group,” O’Laughlin mentioned . “She was concerned in native politics, completely different group service organizations, and was actually a fixture locally of Palmer.”

Kellogg finally put her property right into a belief, which was granted to APU to supervise with a requirement that a number of the land be preserved for training.

“Her concept of training, and this place being an academic facility, was that training doesn’t simply occur in books, it occurs by means of life experiences,” mentioned O’Laughlin.

At this time the farm is the house of APU’s Outside and Environmental Schooling Program, the place APU graduate college students and summer season interns get hands-on expertise engaged on the farm. The Kellogg Campus, because it’s recognized, additionally presents grad college students the chance to show within the Kellogg Discipline College on campus which presents courses to home-schooled youngsters in the course of the faculty yr.

The CSA program on the farm retains the workers busy.

“Individuals enroll at first of the yr after which get a field of greens from us each week,” Farm Supervisor Ben Swimm mentioned. “It’s an incredible mannequin for farmers, it helps with funding farms, it helps hold native farms alive.”

Swimm mentioned the farm additionally produces greens for the APU campus, in addition to different wholesale accounts, together with eating places.

“It’s a mixture of form of conventional agricultural stuff, and a few experimental crops and rising strategies that we use,” Swimm mentioned. “Which form of ties to what we do with training and a bit of little bit of analysis right here, too.”

Swimm mentioned the farm works to introduce new folks to farming sustainably, with the concept of accelerating meals safety.

“It’s necessary that we’re investing in new farm initiatives, new locations to develop meals and new folks to develop meals,” Swimm mentioned.

The persevering with academic packages hosted on the farm are possible one thing Louise Kellogg would have accredited of.

Kellogg died in 2001 and is buried on the property. Regardless of her demise, it appears, her legacy lives on.

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