about us

Arthur Keyes (the farmer)

I’m Arthur Keyes, and together with my wife, Michelle, I own and operate Glacier Valley Farm. I’ve lived in Alaska since 1976, when my parents moved our family here from Seattle. In Seattle we had a huge yard that my mom devoted to organic gardening, and we also had two fruit trees in our yard.  Every year in the fall my mother would can the bounty of the garden, so we ate fresh food from our garden all year long. My dad grew up on a farm in Illinois, and when we moved to the Anchorage Hillside in 1976, my parents created a mini-farm with a garden, turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, wild rabbits and a horse. I shudder to think how many animals we would have had if we had lived in farm country!

I graduated from Service High in 1989, and attended UAA full time for two years until I took a full time job working at Carrs’ in the produce department, soon working my way up to produce manager. It was working at Carrs’ that I met my future wife, Michelle VanderWeele. She was running her parents’ farm while they were on vacation, and I also was in charge while my boss was on vacation. I met her on the phone while ordering potatoes for the store, and while she attempted to have her brother give me a tour of the farm, I insisted she give me the tour… We were married a year and a half later, and lived in Anchorage.

In 2001 we moved to Palmer. In September my first son, Wade, was born, and I planted my first crops. I grew corn and zucchini, and once I started growing, it was contagious, and at the same time, deeply fulfilling. You’d think that farming on top of working a full-time job as a produce manager in Anchorage would be too much to handle, but I couldn’t stop; I wanted to grow more. 
The second year, I tilled up an acre of ground, and then panicked… that was a LOT of ground to plant! I scrambled to order more seed, then planted corn, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and winter squash. I was still working full time in Anchorage as a produce manager, so the work was endless but also very cathartic and healing. In September my second son, Grant, was born.

The following year we tilled two and half more acres. During these early growing years I was constantly asking questions of any farmer who would give me an ear. I think some of the farmers would talk to me about growing for the sheer amusement I gave them.  Regardless, I learned. My daughter Caitlin was born in October of 2005.

My main focus for my farming until 2006 had been supplying Carrs’ with vegetables. But in 2006, a survey showed a huge demand for a farmers’ market in South Anchorage.  So that summer, my father-in-law, Ben VanderWeele, and I started the Saturday South Anchorage Farmers Market. In 2007 we added a Wednesday market. We continue to add more vegetable, fruit, and flower vendors to both markets every year!

I switched my focus to growing for the farmers’ market, and now to fill the CSA boxes! My greenhouse is my pride and joy, and in it I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants. (I love it almost as much as my tractor.) In the field, I focus on zucchini, hard squash, and corn.

It was during this first market season that Alison and I connected 17 years after we graduated from Service High School.  Alison and her family were regular customers at the market, and she was there every week. I introduced myself to her, and as soon as she realized who I was she gave me a big hug!  From that day on Alison was my number one customer! When Alison realized I ran the market she immediately volunteered to help out. Later that winter she called me and we began discussing her coming to the market as a bread vendor. Alison and I rode the bus together to Rabbit Creek Elementary school all the way into high school. I think both of our families are living the Alaska dream!

Alaskan agriculture is the pinnacle of quality and cleanliness. Alaskan carrots have three times the sugar content of the carrots that are being shipped up here, and you can taste the difference! Alaska’s water is pure and our soils are clean. We lack the vast majority of pests that our southern neighbors deal with on a regular basis.  We have many reasons to be thankful that we live in Alaska, and our local produce is just one of them!

Alison Arians (the writer, cook, photographer, and website maven)

I was born and raised here in Anchorage, the daughter of two teachers who spent much of their summers tending a huge and amazingly productive garden. Between my parents’ hard work planting and tending the vegetables, the compost to which our chickens contributed, the (usually unwilling) weeding labor provided by my brother and I, and my mother’s considerable skill and effort in processing produce, that vegetable garden fed us for much of the year.

I left Anchorage for a while for college and graduate school, but moved back afterward, towing my husband Dan with me, and we managed to nurture a small vegetable patch wherever we lived. We’ve been settled on the lower hillside since 1999, and we’ve got a small moose-proof vegetable garden, but I have to admit that our gardening is, well, just a bit lackadaisical. Dan is the main vegetable gardener, and we always harvest bountiful amounts of salad greens, herbs, chard, and kale. But beyond that? Our motivation to grow vast quantities of vegetables is tempered by our ability to get everything we could ever grow much earlier (and often much sweeter and yummier) at our farmers’ market! We always grow carrots, though, mainly because our daughter Meredith (now four years old) gets such a kick out of pulling them!

I began attending the South Anchorage Farmers’ Market as soon as it opened in 2006, carrying home bushels-full of produce every Saturday to take home and cook into fabulous meals. Arthur Keyes, the manager of the market, recognized me as an elementary school classmate—the last time we’d seen each other was when we were riding the school bus to Rabbit Creek Elementary School! The following year, I quit my job as a land use planner for the State of Alaska, and Dan and I opened our very own Rise & Shine Bakery. We bake our whole-grain sourdough bread in a small commercial bakery attached to our house, and sell it at the farmers’ market on Saturdays throughout the summer.

Also in 2007, I volunteered to help Arthur by writing the weekly email newsletters for the South Anchorage Farmers’ Market as the Market Reporter. These bulletins include what’s fresh at the market, tips on processing and storing vegetables, and lots of healthy, delicious recipes. I learned so much from the farmers and the farmers’ market that year, visiting farms, talking to the farmers, and getting great feedback from my customers and newsletter subscribers.

Then, in 2008, I took on a couple more big projects. First, I published my 2008 South Anchorage Farmers’ Market Cookbook, filled with all the delicious, healthy vegetable recipes I’d been sending out in my email newsletters (but indexed and organized for easy use in the kitchen). And second, I launched the South Anchorage Farmers’ Market website, complete with a weekly newsletter, searchable recipes with photos, social networking options, a photo gallery for my photographs of the farmers and their produce, vendor information, and lots more! Talk about a learning curve—this internet world is something else! I was having so much fun I launched my very own blog & website: Alison’s Lunch, all about cooking and eating local food!

The birth of the CSA program

All summer long, as Arthur and I worked to promote our market, we couldn’t help noticing the hundreds of Full Circle Farm produce boxes stacked in coffee shops all around town. These boxes of produce are air-freighted from Washington, and subscribers pick them up once a week. (I subscribed to Full Circle a few winters ago, and it was a fun way to get through the winter, when our Alaskan fields are frozen and the farmers’ markets are closed. But I stopped my subscription as soon as the farmers’ markets opened, so I could support our local farmers, take advantage of the wonderfully fresh local produce, and pick out my own mix of vegetables.) So we felt disappointed that all these stacks of boxes from Washington were filling people’s pantries and refrigerators all summer, instead of the gorgeous and fresh (not to mention economical!) local produce that was for sale at our farmers’ market.

We talked to a lot of our customers, friends, and neighbors, and learned that many people prefer the convenience of getting a weekly box of vegetables, rather than shopping at the farmers’ market. They love the convenience of a pre-paid, pre-selected box, complete with a newsletter with recipes for how to cook the week’s bounty. Arthur and I decided it was time to stop grumbling about the Full Circle Farm subscriptions, and offer a local alternative! Between Arthur’s expertise in farming and produce management, and my writing and internet skills, we figured we’d make a great team.

So Glacier Valley Farm CSA was born! Soon after we started offering the vegetable boxes in August, we started getting produce not just from Arthur and his wife Michelle’s Glacier Valley Farm, but also from many other farms in the Mat-Su Valley! We began pulling different varieties of vegetables like collards, potatoes, beets, carrots, and turnips from other farmers: VanderWeele Farms, Three Bears Farm, Stockwell Farms, Bush’s Bunches, and Lewis Family Farm. And next summer we have plans to source even more produce from these and other farms; for example, from Kenley’s Alaskan Vegetables. We are thrilled to be able to ask the farmers to ramp up their production to fill our weekly boxes!

We are so excited about the enthusiastic response from our customers! And we are thrilled to be forging a link between the farms in the Valley and our subscribers! Our members are steadfastly supporting their local farmers and preserving our Alaskan farmland all year long, as they cook up healthy local meals with our nutritious Alaskan vegetables!