Goosefoot Farm grows turnips and a dream
August 11, 2014
Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
8-11-2014
In its first year of production, Goosefoot Farm has grown a bumper crop of turnips.
“It’s been a wild year,” said Brad St. Pierre. He owns the farm with his wife, Christine, and their friend, Matt Springer.
“Turnips take the crop of the year award," Springer said.
Goosefoot is growing the Petroski variety, which is a pure line, not a hybrid. Nearby school districts have placed orders for 400 pounds of turnips, so it’s a good thing they are producing so prolifically. They are also a popular item at the Tanana Valley Farmers Market and the Co-Op Market.
“It’s a successful crop no matter what,” Christine said of the turnips. “It’s been so wet, but they are doing fine.”
Goosefoot also grows delicious onions, peas, herbs, radishes, beans, carrots and potatoes. The Midnight Sunflower adds an element of beauty to the rows.
The trio of farmers grew nearly everything from seed.
The St. Pierres and Springer had long dreamed of starting a farm together. Springer and Christine grew up as childhood friends in Fairbanks. All three have worked at organic farms, and Springer has been growing food at Gray Owl Garden for years. Christine studied ecological agriculture and Springer permaculture. “It’s all been serendipitous,” Springer said.
“It’s so natural to all work together,” Brad said. “We love the simple life and being connected to the food system. The basis of what we do is food and how people get food. We want to be the change we want to see in our community.”
The Quist family, who leases five and a half acres to Goosefoot, enthusiastically supports the farm, renting equipment to the young farmers. “They’ve been a huge part of making this possible,” Springer said.
“This is our dream farm,” Brad said. Last summer, the trio built a fence and installed two ponds. The farm was planted in cover crops to get ready for production this season. After 2013’s heat and this summer’s rain, Springer said, they have had a pretty good look at the spectrum of Fairbanks’ weather.
“Last year, we were worried about water, but, this year, the ponds are overflowing,” Brad said. “We even had to divert the water.”
Goosefoot’s soil is perfectly suited for agriculture.
“It’s really rich glacial deposits,” Christine said.
“We love working with the soil,” Brad said. “We dream of a big red barn. The small family farm still lives.”
The farm was named after the goosefoot plant species, of the amaranth family. Indiegogo.com, a crowd funding website, helped the farm get up and running. When Christine thought of trying it, Springer said no one would donate.
“I had a couple of examples from friends who are artists, and I thought 'Why wouldn’t a small farm get funded?'” Christine said.
Local people and strangers from around the world donated money.
“We were 110 percent funded,” Brad said. The money was used for fertilizer, seeds, tools and a pump.
They also got funding from another online site, Kiva Zip, where they set a record for the most lenders. More than 500 lenders from 20 countries made microloans.
"Local people and people all over the world believe in this dream,” Brad said.
Friends also donate their time to help keep the weeds under control.
“Our vision started with a small-scale vegetable farm," Springer said. "Now we are learning hay and other things. The sky’s the limit out here. We want to develop a sustainable agriculture model for the Interior.”
“Farming keeps us on our toes,” Christine said. “We like to make it fun. We want to grow healthy food in a way that’s healthy for Fairbanks.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: https://www.facebook.com/goosefootak; www.goosefootak.com
This column is provided as a service by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Extension and the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Nancy Tarnai is the school and station’s public information officer. She can be reached at ntarnai@alaska.edu.