Just off Main Street in Haines, a large field sits in the shadow of Mount Ripinski.
For a few years, the land sat empty. Local Liz Landez would look at it and think: “Why isn’t that full of food?”
Now it is. Or at least, it was in September, during a tour of the property at the tail end of the harvest season.
After pulling on her rubber rain gear in the high tunnel, Landes walked into a downpour and weaved through rows of kale, herbs, pumpkins and sunflowers. She pointed out black and red currants, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus and fava beans she said were “desperately ready to harvest.”
“We've already surpassed 1,000 pounds for the season,” Landes said. “And honestly, we could easily have another 1,000 more with what's still left to harvest.”
Local farmers rented the site until 2021. But then it sat unused until a new venture, known as Henderson Farm, started up before the 2024 growing season. The effort is funded by a Portland-based nonprofit called Ecotrust and fueled by the work of volunteers and local contractors, including Landes.
The farm is a bright spot for the local food system and southeast Alaska, both of which rely heavily on food that’s shipped in from incredibly far away. That process results in less fresh, less nutritious produce, Landes said, and it leads to extraordinary amounts of waste.
As she sees it, nothing encourages cutting down on waste more than toiling in the soil week after week. She points to some healthy-looking purple cabbages, which she says require a lot of time – and effort – to grow.
“I'm gonna use every freaking leaf of every cabbage that I harvest,” Landes said. “And the pieces that I can't are gonna go into compost to make my cabbages next year.”
This year was the farm’s first full season. As of early November, seeds planted on about three quarters of an acre had yielded more than 2,800 pounds of food and counting. Landes says there will be greens to glean through the first snowfall.
None of the produce is sold. It’s all shared throughout the community, either in exchange for work or for free.
A significant chunk goes to the farm’s volunteers and contractors. But it also goes to the local senior center, a food pantry in Klukwan, a food hub in Mosquito Lake, and other community groups – like volunteer firefighters.
Helping distribute the food is one of the best parts of the job, Landes said.
“Generally, I get to go around and be the little vegetable fairy and say, ‘Thank you for the time that you give to other people, here's a bag of peas,’” she said.
The operation is far from easy. But the farm is in somewhat of a sweet spot when compared to other parts of the Chilkat Valley and Southeast more broadly.
Taken together, the property’s workable soil, Alaska’s long summer days, and Haines’ relatively dry and warm climate are a big help.
“It’s not perfect,” she said. But “in many, many ways, the daylight itself here, with the right distribution of rain, does the work for you.”
Looking ahead to next year, Landes said she wants to continue recruiting more volunteers and potentially expand the growing area to a full acre. She also has a more specific, personal goal: making an all-Alaska gumbo.
That will hinge in part on how her okra – which grows well in hot, dry conditions – does next year.
