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| Megan Talley, left, and Joshua Faller pause for a photo in the Matanuska Experiment Farm greenhouse. The pair founded Alaska Tilth in 2015. |
By Steven Merritt
It is a unique turn
on an established agricultural model, one that the organizers of Alaska
Tilth hope will feed, educate and inform Valley residents on the
region’s food production capabilities — and its future.
Megan
Talley and her husband Joshua Faller manage Spring Creek Farm in
Palmer, part of Alaska Pacific University’s Kellogg Campus. Through its
programs, Spring Creek trains new farmers and gets students who might
not have a farming background involved in agriculture.
“Taking
a good look at food security, economic situations and how food can play
a role in that is part of what we are trying to teach our interns and
summer students,” Talley said.
The pair founded the Alaska
Tilth program last year, a variation on the community-supported
agriculture model that has partnered with a host of local agencies to
get fresh produce to those in need. The program donated 3,000 pounds of
produce in 2015, a number Talley and Faller hope will grow this year.
Traditional
CSA programs — Spring Creek offers one — work as a subscription
service. Buyers pay a set price for a share of a farm’s harvest and
receive a weekly vegetable distribution during the growing season. The
Alaska Tilth program works a little differently. Buyers can donate an
entire share or contribute toward a share that is then distributed to
local food pantries and other aid organizations. An Alaska Tilth
contribution share is $600, and donations are tax deductible.
Talley said groups served in 2015 included MyHouse, the Palmer and Wasilla senior centers and the MatSu Food Bank.
Faller
said Alaska Tilth’s partnerships with APU, the University of Alaska
Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, the UAF Matanuska Experiment
Farm and the state Division of Agriculture’s Alaska Plant Materials
Center have created a layer of support for the program that has been
rewarding.
For
example, Talley said the plant materials center worked with Alaska Tilth
last fall to harvest, clean and distribute some 900 pounds of potatoes
that would have stayed in the field.
“They
have the funding to grow it, but not to harvest,” Talley said. “The
cool thing about this program is that people have come to us with these
other pieces, like the plant materials center. That has been the spirit
of the project.”
Along
with distribution of fresh produce, Alaska Tilth partnered with the
extension service’s nutrition educator, Winona Benson, who not only
helped distribute the food, but also led nutrition education classes on
preparing what was donated.
“We
knew that we could grow the food and donate it,” Talley said. “But we
wanted to make sure that people were able to get some education on
preparing it.”
The
program is poised to grow this year, Talley said. The Mat-Su Health
Foundation has provided funding for a full-time program coordinator, and
other partnerships are shaping up with organizations like Grow Palmer
and NeighborWorks Alaska.
“We
have seen a lot of mission-driven people who are working on food
security and food quality in Alaska right now,” Faller said. “It has
been a humbling and inspiring opportunity to get people working together
and as a community.”
Both
Talley and Faller said the mission of Alaska Tilth covers a range of
health issues at the forefront of national discussion these days, like
the climbing rates of obesity and diabetes. Alaska’s vulnerability in
food security also is part of their message.
“It is tied into a lot of
different things,” Faller said. “One, so much of Alaska’s food is
imported. We want to make sure those in need have food, and make sure
it’s healthy. If we can help them with the tools to prepare it and even
some of the skills to grow it, we can address some of that need.”
Plus, Faller said, the quality of Alaska produce can stand on its own.
“We
have grown in a lot of different places, and Alaska has some if the
most delicious carrots. It is amazing,” Faller said. “We need to
continue to identify Alaska not only with fish and game, but also with
produce. It’s also a good way to feed ourselves too.”
For more information on the Alaska Tilth program, contact Talley at 746-2714 or by email at springcreekfarm@alaskapacific.edu.
This article was reprinted with permission of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
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