Sunrise Creek Farm

At Sunrise Creek Farm, we do our best to follow organic guidelines and nature does the rest.  The rich valley soil lies over a deep bed of gravel that drains and works well for gardening. 

It all begins right here.  CJ sits down with me and we look over our garden diary that includes maps from previous years' gardens.  We check our notes and then plan the new garden.  CJ gets busy with the seed trays from mid-February to March.

We tried an experiment in this test greenhouse. Cameron built shelves and put them on 55 gallon drums that we filled with water.  We closed up the greenhouse and let the trapped heat warm the drums up in the daytime.  Once the temperature stablized, we moved the seed trays out.  We didn't have to use additional heat because the ambient temperature from the heat sinks (water barrels) kept the greenhouse warm at night and re-heated in the lengthening spring days.  Most of the seedlings were transplanted in the garden, but the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers stayed inside all summer.

Raised beds were also added to the farm this year.  We found that they really were beneficial, especially for the strawberries.  We turned out a bumper crop that continued to produce right up to mid-October!  If you live in these conditions, you might really appreciate how incredible this is.

Here's something else new we tried this year.  This is an eight ball zucchini.  They aren't very practical, but they are novel.

We grow a lot of boc choi because we prefer it to regular cabbage in our Asian dishes.  We use old hay bales throughout the entire garden to retain moisture, keep down the weeds, and improve the composition of the soil once it is tilled in in the fall.

Of course this would not be an Alaskan garden if it didn't include our winter staple of potatoes.  We grow Yukon Golds, Yukon Reds, and Denali Whites.  Not very fancy, but very practical, great for all around baking needs, and all three store well all winter long.

We only had four regular plants and one eight ball zucchini plant, but despite our demand for fresh eating and freezing, we were giving away excess squash this year.

We really enjoy the Savoy cabbage for its unique texture and ability to produce side heads all year long after the main head had been removed. 

We prefer to grow Green Goliath Broccoli because of its heavy yield of production that continues until we decide to till it under.  This is a real freezer filling crop on stems and branches that remain tender and sweet.

Vegetables:

zucchini squash, broccoli, spinach, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, green onions, garlic, shallots, leeks, carrots, collard greens, swiss chard, potatoes, boc choi, green cabbage, savoy cabbage, celery, tomatoes, peppers, & cucumbers

Fruits:

red raspberries (3 different types) , strawberries (3 different types), rhubarb, apples (2 different varieties), & kiwis

Herbs:

dill (two differnt kinds), cilantro/coriander, chives, basil, oregano, sage, peppermint, and catnip 

Wild Harvest:

Huckleberries, Red Currants, Red Raspberries, Cranberries, & mushrooms

Flowers: 

Too many to list!

This picture was taken the first week of October! 

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