Spring Creek Farm in Palmer, Alaska

Click on a link below, or scroll down to read more about:

• What is a CSA?
• How does it work?
• What is the cost ? 
• Harvest Charts
• How do I sign up? (Includes the CSA Commitment form)
  
• Directions to the Farm
  
• Employment opportunities at the Farm

CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a partnership between a local farm and a community of “shareholder” consumers.  The shareholders pay an agreed-upon price at the beginning of the summer and receive a weekly supply of vegetables throughout the growing season.  In an era when food travels an average of 1500 miles before reaching the dinner plate (and about 3500 miles for Alaskans), the CSA relationship provides a direct link between the production and consumption of locally grown food.  As a shareholder, you receive wonderfully fresh and nutritious hand-crafted, high-quality seasonal produce that is picked the day you get it and is grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides.  We practice sustainable, ecologically responsible agriculture with a focus on improving soil quality and biodiversity, minimizing fossil fuel inputs, and working with our natural environment instead of fighting against it.

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Once you purchase a share, you receive a weekly delivery of fresh seasonal produce lovingly grown for you.  We guarantee 16-20 weeks of produce starting late May/early June through September/early October.  The length of the growing season is dependent upon weather, but has run 19 weeks for the past 2 seasons.  The season will start slowly with early lettuce and spinach and hit its peak by August.  One share should provide enough vegetables for a family of four, though this is difficult to quantify as eating habits vary!  Your share can be picked up at one of two possible locations – at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, or at Spring Creek Farm.  Location days and times will be announced at the beginning of the season.  In addition to delivering your produce share, we hope to continue our tradition of holding an impromptu farmer’s market during our Anchorage drop-off so that you can purchase extra produce and fresh-cut flowers or invite your friends to come share the bounty.  As a member you will receive a weekly newsletter with recipes, cooking tips, and farm news and events.

Members are welcome to enjoy Spring Creek Farm on Alaska Pacific University’s Kellogg Campus, a beautiful 800-acre property nestled under the Talkeetna Mountains just outside of Palmer.  We encourage you to come and look at how we grow your food, and to enjoy being part of a system that supports healthy, environmentally sound and sustainable agriculture.  Children are always welcome!

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We have three share options available:

Full Vegetable Share:  this share includes a full array of vegetables as listed below.  We will grow several varieties of most vegetables, including some that may be new to you.  Let us introduce you to some obscure but lovely produce that you’ll never find at the grocery store!  We’ll include recipes to help you become acquainted with vegetables you might not have cooked with before.  Included with your share are weekly lettuce and/or mesclun mix and assorted culinary herbs.

Cost: $555

Salad Share:  this is the share for those of you who are less likely to cook the majority of your meals at home, but who want fresh salad daily.  Included will be two varieties of head lettuce and ½ pound of mesclun mix weekly.  The salad share might run a few weeks shorter than the Full share, dependent on weather. 

Cost: $135

 

Pig Share:  This will be the first year that the farm will be raising pastured pork for sale.  The pigs will be rooting up new land to grow vegetables iin next year.  Their pasture will be rotated once a week and they will eat barley grown in Delta Junction. The pigs will be sold in halves and wholes and be freezer ready in the beginning of October .

Cost: Varies. Call Mimi Rooney at 746-2795 or email for information. See Below.

Some of our Vegetables: arugula, beans, beets, choi, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, Chinese cabbage, cucumbers, fennel, edible flowers, garlic, stir-fry greens, herbs (chives, cilantro, marjoram, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, thyme, basil),  kale, kohlrabi, leeks, head lettuce, mesclun mix, onions, parsnips, shell peas, snap peas, snow peas, hot peppers, potatoes, radishes, rutabaga, shallots, spinach, summer squash, swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips, winter squash/pumpkin.

You will enjoy about 140 different varieties of vegetables!

Please see the 2007 and 2008 Season Harvest Chart (links below) for a basic idea of what crops were delivered when through the season.  Please keep in mind that this will change from year to year due to both the weather and the farmer’s continued attempts to spread out the harvest! 

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Click on the links below to open the Harvest Chart, showing timing of vegetable harvests for 2007-2008:

CSA_2007 Harvest.xls

CSA_2008 Harvest.xls

Call us at 746-2795 or email: Mimi Rooney at:

mrooney@alaskapacific.edu

 There are a limited number of shares available, so reserve one early!  We ask that 50% of the share cost be paid at the time you sign up, and the remainder by May 1.  Please feel free to call if you have any questions.

Click on the link below to download our commitment form; this is the agreement between our shareholders and Spring Creek Farm CSA:

csa commitment form 2010.doc

pig commitment form 2010.doc

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From Palmer – Take the Glenn Highway heading east out of Palmer.  Drive 2.7 miles past the last stop light and take a left onto Farm Loop Road.  Drive 0.3 miles and take a right onto Lossing Road at the Spring Creek Farm/ DeWolf-Kellogg Campus sign.  Drive past the farm buildings onto the gravel road with a “Private Drive” sign.  Continue up the hill to the parking area in front of the flag pole.

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Click here to go to our employment opportunities page. 

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