What a great opportunity to learn about Megan Schulze and about her small but diversified farm in Interior Alaska, called Frontieress Farm.
Megan Schulze likes to grow vegetables and flowers. She offers shares in CSA, which is community supported agriculture for flowers and now, since my conversation with her, she has started offering CSA for her vegetables as well. That’s good news for all those who go to the market as she sells out of her vegetables in a couple of hours. You’ve got to get there early to get any of her vegetables! She sells flowers at the farmers market, and makes beautiful wreaths with dried flowers in winter season, again to diversify. She grows flowers as a way to express her creative side and feed the soul. She grows flowers “For celebration, commemoration, acts of love, healing, or pure pleasure, flowers express emotion when words falter and cultivate positive connections to each other and nature.”
She farms only one and a half acre of land and grows the full gamut of vegetables and over 30 varieties of flowers including tulips. Seven years into working on her farm, she is making a satisfying and viable career on her organic small farm. Megan is a huge proponent of small, diversified farming. Take a listen to her story and her settling in Fairbanks, Alaska after traveling all over the world.
Every time I speak with Megan, I am surprised at her quiet, unassuming and low key manner. She makes her work at the farm appear so casually easy and fun! But we all know that farming is hard work and is 16 hrs. a day seven day a week all summer long. Her farm is no different. Long days, and a daily bike run to the farm in the middle of the night to make sure, her plants are doing ok! Now, that’s dedication!
There are weather challenges, staff challenges, transportation issues, clearing fields, building hoop houses, putting in apple orchards and simultaneously working on a SECOND piece of property getting it ready to do additional farming! Where does she get the energy? She always comes across as someone who knows what needs to be done and goes about doing it. It’s amazing to note that this is fun for her as she uses that word regularly.
Megan started her farm, Frontieress Farm, seven years ago on half an acre. She is now farming on the same property but has expanded to an acre and a half. Not a lot of land for farming, but surprisingly more that enough. She does not believe in farming on acres and acres of land. She believes that small tracts of land farmed efficiently and by using diversification as a revenue enhancement strategy, anyone can make farming a viable career. In seven years, she is generating revenue, with her potential growing annually. She successfully adds products that boost earnings during the “shoulder season.” For example, she is growing tulips in time for Mother’s Day and ginger in fall as well.
Her mission is to build and advocate for small, local farming in Interior Alaska. Her farm is chemical free and uses organic growing practices.
Megan is business savvy and has diversified from just growing vegetable to growing flowers which she sells at the market as market bouquet, provides flowers for special events; like weddings and receptions, and also creates arrangements with dried flowers during the winter months. One has to have the talent and artistry to create beautiful fresh and dry arrangements and Megan loves doing this. Half of her revenue is generated by flowers.
Check out the video that shows the viewers her farm and gives us all a peek into her world of flowers. Heidi Rader is the interviewer on his video and has skillfully shown us the beautifull Frontieress Farm.