I am very impressed with the success of Tim and Lisa Meyers and their family farming operation in remote Bethel, Alaska.
If Tim and Lisa can be as successful as they are in Bethel with all of the challenges that they have to overcome - then anybody can at least learn to supplement their own food supply almost anywhere. There are no excuses.
In addition to growing fresh food the Meyers developed their own low tech system to store their produce over-winter by using a simple underground root cellar that was at one time common to nearly every farmstead in America.
Click on the image above to read all about their farming operation. Hear Tim speak to the Bioneers in Alaska conference on October 16, 2011 recorded by the Alaska Public Broadcasting Network below.
There is a warehouse supermarket outlet just a few miles from my home near Wasilla. Those Alaskans that don't live on the road system are at a particular disadvantage. This includes all of the rural towns and villages where all of the food supply is dependent on summer barge and winter air shipment,
Depending on the food distribution system in Alaska can be expensive and troublesome especially during a natural disaster. The ever increasing cost for transportation has to be paid for by the consumer. Growing part of our personal food supply is not always possible and eating fresh produce is a luxury most Alaskans have learned to live without. Subsistence fishing and hunting are a way of life, in rural Alaska. Even the produce for sale in local supermarkets that was picked weeks ago and shipped north is usually very bland and tasteless when compared to fresh picked backyard produce.
Gardening in Alaska can be a challenge even when the weather cooperates. Dealing with frozen soil, late frosts, short growing seasons, cool rainy summers, insect pests, fungal disease, and the ever lurking neighborhood moose can be frustrating at best. I still supplement the vast majority of my food supply at the near by supermarket.