Anchorage Daily News

PALMER -- Spring came a little later this year at the VanderWeele farm on Outer Springer Loop. After disking the ground earlier, Ben VanderWeele said the ground temperature 4 inches deep was still 50 degrees.

"That's pretty marginal," he said Tuesday morning. "Undisturbed, it would probably be 40 degrees."

He didn't notice if any other farmers were out planting.

"I'm not one of those coffee shop farmers," he said, but estimated the planting time "is probably a week later than usual. The ground was too cold."

Still, he said, "We're making good progress."

He should know. VanderWeele, vice chairman of the state Board of Agriculture and Conservation, is one of the patriarchs of Valley farming. He and his wife, Suus, immigrated to the Valley from the Netherlands.

Asked how long he'd been farming, VanderWeele said, "Too damned long."

He said they planted their first crops in 1967.

Doug Warner, development specialist with the state Division of Agriculture, agreed with VanderWeele, saying the soils are a little cooler than usual.

WEATHER NOT IDEAL

"But what's usual or normal? We're a little behind," Warner said. "It's a bit cooler than what we think of as normal."

That's partly because of that big snowstorm that rolled in a couple of weeks ago, he said. "That snowfall set us back."

The recent winds aren't helping either.

"The young transplants are just like us. These winds dry them out. It would be nice if we could have a cloudy day with moderate temperatures," he said. "But who knows? The sun might come out and warm everything up."

VanderWeele's crew of planters was out last week planting the first crops of the season.

On May 6 they planted lettuce. May 7 the cole crops went in. Thursday and Friday they planted onions; potatoes were planted Saturday.

VanderWeele has 25 acres in production that include four kinds of lettuce, red and green cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, onions and potatoes. He said he hoped to put in the first of three plantings of carrots this week.

The 25 acres is only about 20 percent of his available farm land, but he said that number is a little skewed because he can plant and harvest lettuce every week off the same patch.

ALL KINDS OF CROPS

Mark Rempel, who farms in the Butte area, was planting snap peas Tuesday morning, his wife, Tammy, said. He also has some carrots in.

Tammy Rempel said planting season might be a little late, but nothing significant.

Planting time never concerned Rempel much. On a lark in 2003 he planted a few carrots in February as an experiment because the area had a mild winter. They grew but were nothing to brag about.

Over at the Dinkel farm on Fairview Loop, crops are still covered with plastic. Lesley Dinkel said it seems about normal for planting time, but not early by any standard.

They have onions, green beans, strawberries and pickling cucumbers waiting to bask in the sun.

Pyrah's Pioneer Peak farm has potatoes and snap peas in the ground, said Janet Dinwiddie, daughter of Ted and Katie Pyrah. She's going to run the you-pick farm this summer while her parents are in Ohio on a church mission.

All in all, it looks as if farming has begun in earnest around the Valley, so those who like to eat locally grown food will soon start finding it at farmers markets and on some grocery store shelves.

Find T.C. Mitchell online at adn.com/contact/tcmitchell or call 352-6716.

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