Farm is second full-time job with the best benefits
July 19, 2011
907-474-5042
7/17/2011
If slow and steady truly does win the race, Nancy Davidian and Chris DuBois are on the right track at Arctic Roots Farm.
When the couple bought their 74 acres four years ago they weren鈥檛 even seeking to purchase that much land. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 buy five acres,鈥 DuBois said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e either zoned inappropriately or priced for prime real estate.鈥
Davidian considers the property to be a heavenly place so they went ahead and settled on the old homestead. It took the first year to clean everything up, and because it came with three residences, they focused on getting the houses up to par to provide income for the farm.
Slowly, the couple has been working to get the farm operating. Every corner of Arctic Roots is ship-shape and the animals are fat and happy. In addition to 25 acres of hay, Davidian and DuBois raise geese, ducks, turkeys and chickens and they have bee hives. They are also steadily working to create a perennial garden in a one-acre moose-proof fenced area with gooseberries, cranberries, raspberries, currants, asparagus, horseradish and a variety of fruit trees.
Since Davidian and DuBois are both nurses, the farm is a second job for them. Davidian is a public health nurse and DuBois works at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. They rent their 鈥渆xtra鈥 houses as 鈥渂ed and breakfast鈥 lodging or as temporary lodging for newcomers.
鈥淲e are still trying to get off the ground,鈥 Davidian said. 鈥淲e spent a lot of time on infrastructure.鈥 Carefully strategizing for the future, the couple created marketing plans for an on-site market, a you-pick farm and a community supported agriculture model where customers pay a flat fee at the beginning of the summer and get shares of whatever grows all season.
Davidian and DuBois greatly admire Calypso Farm and Ecology Center in Ester. 鈥淭hey are a role model for us,鈥 Davidian said. 鈥淧romoting health and community are what we are trying to do too.鈥 Though Calypso is a nonprofit and Arctic Roots is a business, the couple admires the foundations that Calypso has laid.
They even created a mission statement: 鈥淚n a warm inviting atmosphere, Arctic Roots Farm is dedicated to a sustainable approach toward the production and sales of diverse, naturally grown whole foods and agricultural products that promote community, nutrition and health.鈥
While DuBois grew up on a wheat farm in eastern Colorado, he said he didn鈥檛 really have a strong knowledge of farming. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been a gardener,鈥 he said. The rest has been self-taught.
Davidian hails from an Ohio suburb and though she had an appreciation for the outdoors she wasn鈥檛 familiar with farming at all. But she appreciates the 鈥渂ack to basics鈥 kind of life at Arctic Roots where it鈥檚 easier to see where food comes from and to make a cup of tea with herbs growing on the land.
Butchering their own birds causes Davidian to pay more attention to what she is consuming and to have more intention about what she eats, she said.
鈥淚 love being here,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 love the animals and dream about having more.鈥 She finds it particularly sweet to share farm life with children from the neighborhood. The downside? Farming puts a damper on travel. 鈥淭he animals depend on you, which is a nice thing but you鈥檙e always thinking about them.鈥
DuBois finds that farming keeps him physically fit. 鈥淚t gives us a little better control of what we eat,鈥 he said. The challenge to it is trying to stay out of debt. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing everything out of pocket so it is taking so long. By the time I鈥檓 70 maybe it will be done.鈥
One thing he is wistful for is the close-knit farm community he recalls from his childhood. 鈥淵ou knew all the other farmers,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like that here.鈥
Arctic Roots supplies Homegrown Market with honey and Julia鈥檚 Solstice Caf茅 with eggs. The couple looks forward to establishing a CSA, even if it is only to people on their street, Esro Road at 4 mile Chena Hot Springs Road.
In the winter they enjoy cross-country skiing and Davidian knits, but this time of year they are devoted to the farm when they are not at their nursing jobs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a learning place,鈥 Davidian said.
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This column is provided as a service by the 性欲社 School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Nancy Tarnai is the school and station鈥檚 public information officer.