Wednesday, July 29, 2026
My goal this summer was to visit as many markets as possible and especially to get off the road system for at least one farmers market.
For me, diving into food systems work in Alaska for this must include observing indigenous foodways, considering the price and quality of fresh food off the road system, supporting indigenous agriculture initiatives, and respecting the thousands of years of life in this beautiful place. Years ago, before I lived for a decade in southern Africa, I worked for RurAL CAP, and my job involved travel to rural villages. I knew that was special at the time, but I don’t think I knew how special- how rare it is to have a way to visit rural villages, and how important it is to understand how different the reality of food access is. On Thursday, I had the very special opportunity to visit the Native Village of Tyonek, with Food and Agriculture Senior Program Manager and AFMA board member Cayley Eller, to see the Tyonek Grown program in action.
Thursday is farmers market day at the Tyonek Grown Farm & Garden. The farm is a 1.5-acre production farm and community garden with indoor hydroponic systems, educational opportunities, and food security initiatives. There are 50 households in Tyonek and no store. The farm is staffed with the local teenagers (there are 6) and grows 3000 pounds of diversified produce annually. Amazing!
We left Anchorage on the 9:30am flight on Spernak Airlines to take the 26-minute flight to Tyonek. Cayley actually got to say aloud “sorry about our foliage” to pilot Kendal as we exited the tiny plane with our fruit trees for luggage. She estimates we saw 50 beluga whales as we flew over the Cook Inlet. Emma picked us up at the airport, and we were greeted at the farm by Naomi, a previous youth intern and current conservation technician,l and her mom Crystal. All three work on the farm. It was a sunny day (after the rainiest July on record in decades) and one of the last of the fishing season, so the youth interns were out fishing. Biologist Andy stopped by to check-in about planting the fruit trees after he and Naomi set up a fish weir (“kill pike, count salmon” was how Andy explained his job to me). After a tour of the farm- complete with high tunnels, wash station, solar panels, and a newly built educational yurt (where Emma is sleeping this summer), it was time to get ready for market.
“Harvest everything you see” was Cayley’s delightful advice to the assembled team of Crystal, Emma, and me. The market opens at 12p and we dove in- harvesting rhubarb (lovely photo of Crystal in the rhubarb patch), greens, radishes, garlic scapes, honeyberries, chives, squash blossoms, and more- all with music playing in the background (see the music wishlist on one of the signs for the teenage employees). We picked flowers to make the market beautiful and give to people who came to shop. There were Alaska Grown imports to boost the July harvest- tomatoes from Bell’s Nursery, lettuce and potatoes from Vanderweele Farms, and eggs from Polaris Farm. Emma mixed up salmon dip with pilot crackers to share with market shoppers. There was a quick run to Crystal’s dad’s house to get ice to keep the salmon dip cool, Cayley made a facebook post of all that was on offer today, and it was time for the market to open.
The market itself was beautiful. Tyonek Grown labels marked everything we harvested that morning, more music played, and our first shopper was a community member named Gwen, who I learned used to be on the AFMA Board. As a flagship program for remote tribes growing food off the road system in the state of Alaska, Tyonek Grown has held a seat on the AFMA board for many years. I enjoyed interacting with everyone who came to market- kids, elders, folks in fishing gear. And I loved seeing how people got home with their produce (see 4-wheeler picture taken with joyful permission). There was lots of talk about the sunshine, some people checked on their community garden beds, and we started selling out- of the Tyonek Grown things first. Anything left over from market day harvest becomes part of the food hub options community members have to fill a weekly farm box.
One innovative piece of the market is that money didn’t change hands. The farm is supported by a Local Food Purchasing Assistance grant that makes that possible, but that is in its last year. The market could return to doubling SNAP dollars or other ways of making local produce affordable, but for now the focus is getting that healthy food out into the community. Cayley is thinking about the teenagers too- about all the ways, beyond the direct farming, that they can engage- leading cooking classes, supporting marketing efforts, running programs for youth about food and the farm.
We ended our day by getting the fruit trees in the ground- 4 apples, 2 pears, and 2 plums. I loved imagining coming back in a decade to see those trees bearing fruit and the next generation of teenagers leading projects around them. Cayley had shown me an aerial picture of the farm when she started 4 seasons ago and one of now, and it made abundantly clear how much has happened here and how much will continue to happen in the years to come.
Thanks so much to the Tyonek Grown team for sharing a taste (literally and figuratively) of all that you have created. It is inspiring!
