Anchorage Daily News

It was a beautiful holiday weekend, and that weather is impacting local farmers and what's available at the markets.

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Mark Rempel warns this warm autumn weather won't hold.

"This may be the last for green beans, zucchini and some other frost-sensitive crops, so now is the time to stock up," he says. The Rempel Family Farm will have carrots, beets, potatoes, celery and tomatoes along with other items at today's Northway Mall market and the South Anchorage Market on Saturday.

Sarah Bean from Arctic Organics and the Anchorage Farmers Market on 15th Avenue and Cordova Street says the warm nights are delaying some crops.

"We're still waiting for a freeze in order to harvest our potatoes," she says. "Whether we'll have them at market this weekend depends entirely on whether we get a frost in time to kill the plants and cure the potatoes. Realistically, it's not looking likely.

"This is quite the balmy fall we're having this year."

While her potatoes may be on hold, plenty of other items are available this week. Those include carrots, beets with greens, cauliflower, onions, celery, zucchini, broccoli, purple top turnips, green and red cabbage, daikon, kohlrabi, scallions, radishes, lots of greens and plenty of herbs. The Beans will also have cut flowers including sunflowers, asters and cosmos, along with apple trees that are hardy for Alaska.

Additional items at the market include shelled peas, tomatoes, Copper River salmon, fresh rustic breads and baked goods and local dairy products from Matanuska Creamery. The market is open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

At the South Anchorage Farmers Market this weekend expect extended-season strawberries from Glacier Valley Farms, along with artichokes, zucchini, carrots and tomatoes. VanderWeele Farms will have celery, carrots, beets, broccoli, onions, radishes, cabbage, several varieties of cauliflower and plenty of lettuce varieties too.

Arctic Choice Seafoods will have fresh halibut, cod, silver salmon and rockfish fillets. Also available from the ocean are live oysters, clams and scallops. Rise & Shine Bakery will have three 100 percent whole-grain pan loaves this week -- spent grain, Alaska baked potato and raisin and toasted pecan. The bakery also will provide toasted seed hearth loaves packed with pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds and polenta or kalamata olive loaves.

Vern Stockwell will bring in lots of potatoes including red bliss, German butterballs, Yukon golds and many other items.

Alex Davis from AD Farms will have lots of potatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, carrots in five colors, beets, fava beans, snow peas, zucchini, lettuce and fresh eggs at today's Northway Mall market and Saturday's Center Market at the University Center mall. Duane Clark will be at the same markets with 25- and 50-pound bags of Yukon gold potatoes.

This weekend is the final one for the popular Downtown Market and Festival. You might find a good deal on Valley produce and Alaska items that tourists didn't pick up this summer.

And for those looking to pick their own produce, Katie Pyrah from Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm says that "now's the perfect time to come to the farm ... the crowds have thinned, the surroundings are beautiful and most items are still available." Those items include broccoli, cabbage, artichokes, zucchini, potatoes, carrots, greens, peas, lettuce, radishes, turnips and others.

Where are the markets?

Daily: Butte Farmers Market, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, Mile 12 Old Glenn Highway.

Wednesday: South Anchorage Farmers Market, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., south side of the Dimond Center; Wednesday Market, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Northway Mall parking lot; Wasilla Farmers Market, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., behind the Wasilla Public Library.

Friday: Friday Fling, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., pavilion across from the Visitor Center in Palmer.

Saturday: Anchorage Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., 15th Avenue and Cordova Street; South Anchorage Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Subway/Cellular One Sports Center at the corner of Old Seward Highway and O'Malley Road; Anchorage Market and Festival, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Third Avenue between C and E streets; Center Market, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., University Center mall; Eagle River Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Business Boulevard and Old Glenn Highway.

Sunday: Anchorage Market and Festival, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Third Avenue between C and E streets.

Tuesday: Eagle River Farmers Market, 3-7 p.m., Eagle River VFW Post parking lot.

Steve Edwards lives and writes in Anchorage. If you have a suggestion for a future Market Fresh column, please contact him at sedwards@adn.com.

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